A different style of short stories. A book you would want to read again

I enjoyed the simple approach that Moore used in handling his study. I had just previously studied several theological textbooks. The terminology and frequent use of Greek and Hebrew words made understanding them difficult. I didn't have that problem with Moore's book. It did not, however delve as deeply into theological arguments. If someone has questions about Theology and doesn't want to spend a lot of time with a dictionary this would be a great place to start.

My seven year old was able to read most of the words. Words were large, easy to read. Story was humorous. Pictures were very funny.

Maxfield Parrish black and white drawings complement L. Frank (Oz) Baum's expanded versions of the Mother Goose tales. Includes his versions of Sing a Song o' Sixpence, Little Boy Blue, Cat and the Fiddle, Old King Cole, Mistress Mary, Jack Horner, Man in the Moon, the Jolly Miller, Hickory Dickory Dock, Little Bo-Peep, Tommy Tucker, Tom the Piper's Son, Humpty Dumpty, The Woman Who Lived in a Shoe, LIttle Miss Muffet, and others. 1986 introducyion by Patricia Barrett Perkins. 265 pages.

This book is a delight, not so much for the mystery, but because McConnell has taken obvious care and attention to creating full characters and capturing the atmosphere of Chicago in winter. The mixing of a hardboiled detective and a former Catholic nun leads not only to comedy, but to subtle tender growth in both characters. The closest you can come to a modern G. K. Chesterton.

In the book, The music of the inferno, Frank Lentricchia, as he did in other novels, creates a mysterious character, Robert Tagliaferro. Tagliaferro has been "adopted" and reared by an African-American couple living in Utica, New York. Lentricchia devises to have Tagliaferro take the role of Hermes - the bringer of the message - to a select group of the Italian-American community in Utica. By this ploy, Lentricchia has set the stage for establishing an interlaced set of creation myths. The origin myth for all the mythical Tagliaferros - representatives of the migrating Italians who spread over the Americas and Australia - attaches to the myth that Robert's black parents have created to explain his origins. Morris and Melvina Reed tell him only that he is not their son, but that they carried him to their home "From someplace else. Why does it matter? You were carried. You're here." The Italian-American couple who admire his skills in the outdoors - hunting, trapping, mushroom picking - exclaim; "More dark? He couldn't be more dark." "The boy, who is ambiguous, and feels his ambiguity, but cannot plumb it, and so regards himself an an inexplicable freak" (p. 4). At age 18, Robert summarily disappeared from Utica, leaving no clues about the place into which he disappeared. Lentricchia's Robert Tagliaferro spent forty years working and living in a New York City bookstore, cogitating and studying on the formation of the societies and subsocieties inhabiting the city of Utica. Tagliaferro returned to his home community to interpret for the inhabitants of that community the nature of its social organizations - just as Frank Lentricchia figuratively returned to Utica after his long absence to offer his perspective on the nature of the social organizations of that city. Robert Tagliaferro becomes the medium through which Lentricchia explores and transmutes a series of the myths of Utica's Italian-American community. Through Robert, Lentricchia tells of the first of Utica's Italian immigrants; a family who prospered as a result of their having inserted themselves into the commerce associated with the Erie Canal. Lentricchia explores with particular intensity two elements of the origin myth which stands as a salient reality among the Italian immigrants. He portrays a man - Alessandro Lucca - of immense physical strength, immense diligence and immense generosity. Lucca did not charge rent to newly arrived immigrants with whom he shared his living quarters. When he died he willed his home/tavern to one of his boarders. A second feature of the origin myths in Italian-American communities is embodied in the character to whom Lucca had willed his tavern - Primo Cesso. Cesso was well-remembered by his descendants, for he verbalized a construction which defined many of the heroes of Italian-American myths. "I never took a vacation, because all you do is waste time." Mythic characters such as Primo Cesso have become standard in Italian-American communities. "Our parents and grandparents came to this country with nothing - no education, no financial resources, unable to speak the English language - and they worked hard, saved their money, educated their children, and now enjoy the benefits of their ideology." I continue to be puzzled about one aspect of all of Lentricchia's writings, even after reading The music of the inferno, which is less sex-infused than are his previous two frankly creative works. I cannot understand his frequent insertion of passages describing outlandish sexual events!  I regard those passages as strained and lacking purpose. As I read The music of the inferno, I found it pleasing to expend my cognitive activity on calling up associations to the flow of Lentricchia's poetic recording of the myths of the Italian-American community of Utica. I know of no other writing that records such myths in so stimulating a fashion. I hope that Frank Lentricchia has not expended either his store of such myths or his ability to incorporate those myths into very readable text.

I took to this book very quickly as the descriptions that the author gave of growing up in Cork were right on the money. I found myself walking with him, having spent some time in Cork I could vividly picture the city. I also felt as though I knew the people that he spoke of in the book. I found it to be a pleasant trip back to Cork, as well as a well written story.

Alot of good mysteries about sea creatures and odd happenings. It is a good read. The only problem is it ends with you wanting more stories!

The Creation Myth of the Zuni Pueblo is fascinating to say the least. This book begins with a short preface relating the current location and brief history of the Zuni. The introduction tells us of Frank Hamilton Cushing's life and research among the Zuni. The body of the Work sets forth Editor Barton Wright's versions of the original Myths. Mr. Wright also illustrates the Myths with original and descriptive scratchboard etchings. The original Myths were recorded by Frank Hamilton Cushing in the late 1800's, however, none of Mr. Cushing's particular style of writing is demonstrated in this book. An excellent modern interpretation follows the immediate Myths telling what the myths are describing and how they were formed. Because the Myths were recorded from Zuni Oral Tradition the possibility of misinterpretation is always present.

The book also includes two helpful appendices. In the first appendix Mr. Wright gives us a list of the sources of the Myths he has presented. The second appendix is a glossary of Zuni and Hopi names and terms. The Glossary falls short by not including some of the very basic terms and concepts used in the Myths. This might encourage an interested reader to use the bibliography at the end of the book, however, the lack of basic terminology could be frustrating for the casual reader. Although well done, the book is not for someone without a fundamental knowledge of the Southwest Native American history.

From 1935 to 1973 Gertrude Johnson first founded and then ran the Australian National Theatre based in Melbourne, Victoria. During the war years it operated exclusively as a fundraiser for the armed services and had its glory days from 1945 to 1960 running professional Ballet, Opera and Drama Companies as well as Performing Arts Schools. Frank van Straten captures all the madness of this company which only ever just paid its way and yet continued to dream of national and international glory. Three theatre fires in the 1960s only slowed Miss Johnson down and the bricks & mortar National theatre housing Schools of Opera,Ballet and Drama opened in 1974 - one year after her death. An invaluable CD was included with the book so you can hear many rare recordings of opera stars. The internationally known Australian Ballet and Australian Opera arose from the foundation layed by Miss Johnson and her Schools still run in Melbourne today making them Australia's oldest professional arts company. Lots of good archival photos. Apparently the book is still available from the National Theatre PO BOX 1173 St Kilda Sth 3182 Australia though now a rareity. In both the National Library and state Library collections.