In researching a Literary analysis paper on Frank Herbert I found "Frank Herbert" by Timothy O'Reilly to be moderately helpful. The subject of my paper was the the ecological motif which Herbert almost, if not, always includes in his works. Mr. O'Reilly tends on focusing on other maters and portrays the Dune series as Herbert's view on the dangers of a messiah or superman, and while this is a very valid portion of the work, it does not cover the ecological issues adaquately.

On the other hand it is a much more diverse book than most other sources I searched and in this sense proves its worth.

Accomplished stage and screen actor, Mr. Langella mentions in the preface to Cyrano that adapting Edmond Rostand's classic Cyrano de Bergerac had been nagging away at him for many years. As an actor who had played the part of the long-nosed swordsman twice in his career he realized that the challenge existed to strip Rostand's Cyrano down to a minimal cast, with less battle scenes, no more hordes of nuns and reducing the epic music that accompanied the original. Langella's attempt at paring down this classic makes for a very enjoyable read. What prevails by the final page of the book is the realization that Langella has, by taking away some of the pomp and ceremony, left the reader with the realization that this isn't a story about a guy with a big nose but rather one of the most painful love stories ever written. The love triangle that exists between the beautiful Roxane, the handsome, yet tongue-tied Christian and of course, Cyrano the poet has been revamped to appeal to a younger generation. The language is more contemporary than the original and by removing some of the many superfluous characters from the original cast page it is a far quicker read. Langella's Cyrano is however not without it's faults. He tries to add a new twist on the original by focusing too much on the character of Lise, the mute servant girl being in secret admiration of Cyrano. In the same way that Cyrano feels himself too ugly to be noticed by Roxane, Cyrano is considered at fault for never recognizing the adoring Lise. Perhaps if this adaptation was actually seen on stage this sub-plot might make more sense, but as a reader it seems an unnecessary part of the plot to focus on. In conclusion, Langella has done a fine job. It's certainly no classic but it is a great attempt at giving Rostand a new contemporary feel. I would certainly recommend readers getting back in touch with the most famous long-nosed literary character to grace the pages of a book. It won't disappoint!

I got this one dirt cheap. Another book on Wright to ad to your collection. Better than some, but I imagine there is better ones out there.

This book is very good to understand the works of Wright. The biography put always in parrallel his life with his works, so it is interesting to understand why he makes one project or another at a certain time. the books has also a good selection of photography and drawings not seen in must of the others books.

This book is truly one of the first significant books on Wright. Some of Manson's conclusions have since been proven wrong since publication, but every author who has written about this period has to have addressed Manson's work.

An essential part of any FLW book collection.

This book has a fairly decent amount of photos of FLLW's glass designs, and the quality of the photos is decent also. I haven't read much of the book since I'm mainly interested in the photographs of his windows. There's not a lot of quality books out there for his stained glass (unless you want to spend $... on the Glass Art book), so this is a worthwhile introductory purchase.

Another Frank Lloyd Wright book to ad to my collection, got it real cheap to. Out of print, but there are tons of other ones in print.

How much you enjoy this book probably depends on how much of a Wrightaphile you are. It is not an easy read, but is the best book I have read about his "organic" architecture philosophy. It also emphasizes how much his mother played a part in his life in appreciating nature and developing the foundations for his later architecture. Some times I felt like I was getting the Olgivanna marketing slant, but overall I felt she was very true to his vision of architecture. You will learn a to appreciate what Wright was attempting to do even if you don't agree with whether he actually accomplished it.

His views on life were timeless, what a better way to get to know Frank L. Wright as a man than hearing his own words. The interview covered many topics, media(they did not even have a word for it), sex, politics, etc. Frank Lloyd Wright favored 'bottom-up, non-artificial' approach to life and his philosophy reflected in all of his work.

In "Plays One," all of Frank McGuinness' major plays are offered in their entirity, edited by the playwright himself. Compared to legendary Irish playwright Sean O'Casey, McGuinness' plays are simutaneously striking and complex, and inspire tremendous reflection within the reader. With the exception of the rather simple "Factory Girls," the remainder of McGuinness' plays included in "Plays One" are filled with layer after layer of substance, likely to inspire even the most simple and passive of readers to consider the playwrights many feasible intentions. Whether one is a scholar of Irish Literature or not, it is unlikely that anyone could be disappointed with McGuinness plays. In "Plays One," Frank McGuinness proves that the comparisons to O'Casey are not unwarranted.