What is tragedy and how does it work? These are questions you will understand better after reading this book. Set sometime in the second half of the 19th century, the story concerns the fortunes of the Gourlay family in the small Scottish town of Barbie. John Gourlay, a big, domineering, but intellectualy challenged man dominates the local economy and has a monopoly of the carrying trade. He is harsh and powerful, of bull-like stature, and famous for his glower. On a brae overlooking Barbie he has built the House wIth the Green Shutters. This house is both the symbol of his dominance and an object of hatred and envy to the townsfolk.

Aristotle defined tragedy as a story depicting the downfall of a great man. At first it is hard to see this stupid, cruel, and grasping merchant as a great man, but The House With the Green Shutters will also improve your notions of what greatness is. John Gourlay is great because there is no fear or compromise in him. Although he may wish to be well thought of by the small-minded, two-faced gossips of the town, he is not prepared to go one inch out of his way for them, scorning even the banal pleasantries of small talk or phatic communication. He wants only their respect not their love, and respect him they do even though they also hate him.

With all true tragedy the tragic element comes directly from the greatness. It is his greatness that destroys John Gourlay. His stubborn pride and unflinching courage are qualities more suited to some heroic age of battles and revolutions. They do not fit into the petty, hypocritical world of 19th century Scotland. In this unheroic world his heroic qualities can only work towards his downfall. The thought constantly in one's mind as you read this novel is, 'If only he were a lesser man . . .' His inability to compromise by lowering himself to the same level as his fellow citizens, works to his disadvantage. Unable to plot, maneuver, and dissemble, his little empire is soon undermined by the arrival in town of Wilson, a glib self-seeking nobody with no real passion, but a much abler businessman in tune with the times. Affable and manipulative, false and corrupt he starts to squeeze Gourlay out of one thing after another. This is ,in effect, the triumph of style over substance that so bedevils our modern age. Although grim, proud and dour, Gourlay is an honest man, inept at chicanery, and unable to bend to suit the occasion.

The House With the Green Shutters is a tragedy in the full classical Greek sense of the word; the preordained fall of a hero who doesn't fit into an unheroic world; a great bull sacrificed to appease the Gods for human hubris. It is even more poignant from the fact that its keynote of tragedy was reflected in the life of its young author who had the misfortune to die only one year after writing such a masterpiece.

What is tragedy and how does it work? These are questions you will understand better after reading this book. Set sometime in the second half of the 19th century, the story concerns the fortunes of the Gourlay family in the small Scottish town of Barbie. John Gourlay, a big, domineering, but intellectualy challenged man dominates the local economy and has a monopoly of the carrying trade. He is harsh and powerful, of bull-like stature, and famous for his glower. On a brae overlooking Barbie he has built the House wIth the Green Shutters. This house is both the symbol of his dominance and an object of hatred and envy to the townsfolk.

Aristotle defined tragedy as a story depicting the downfall of a great man. At first it is hard to see this stupid, cruel, and grasping merchant as a great man, but The House With the Green Shutters will also improve your notions of what greatness is. John Gourlay is great because there is no fear or compromise in him. Although he may wish to be well thought of by the small-minded, two-faced gossips of the town, he is not prepared to go one inch out of his way for them, scorning even the banal pleasantries of small talk or phatic communication. He wants only their respect not their love, and respect him they do even though they also hate him.

With all true tragedy the tragic element comes directly from the greatness. It is his greatness that destroys John Gourlay. His stubborn pride and unflinching courage are qualities more suited to some heroic age of battles and revolutions. They do not fit into the petty, hypocritical world of 19th century Scotland. In this unheroic world his heroic qualities can only work towards his downfall. The thought constantly in one's mind as you read this novel is, 'If only he were a lesser man . . .' His inability to compromise by lowering himself to the same level as his fellow citizens, works to his disadvantage. Unable to plot, maneuver, and dissemble, his little empire is soon undermined by the arrival in town of Wilson, a glib self-seeking nobody with no real passion, but a much abler businessman in tune with the times. Affable and manipulative, false and corrupt he starts to squeeze Gourlay out of one thing after another. This is ,in effect, the triumph of style over substance that so bedevils our modern age. Although grim, proud and dour, Gourlay is an honest man, inept at chicanery, and unable to bend to suit the occasion.

The House With the Green Shutters is a tragedy in the full classical Greek sense of the word; the preordained fall of a hero who doesn't fit into an unheroic world; a great bull sacrificed to appease the Gods for human hubris. It is even more poignant from the fact that its keynote of tragedy was reflected in the life of its young author who had the misfortune to die only one year after writing such a masterpiece.

In his story of the downfall of an arrogant and essentially stupid man, George Douglas Brown is relentlessly unsentimental. His portrait of life in a tiny Scottish town in the late 1800's leaves the reader with no illusions about the narrow-mindedness of the inhabitants. Bleak as their existence is, the novel is not depressing, but fascinating. While many readers will have trouble with the dialect of the speakers (the narration is standard English), the effort required to "translate" is well rewarded.

Being a real fan of Newfoundlands and their incredible abilities, I bought this book years ago and actually read it often. I loved the pictures (although I agree with the other review stating some pictures are difficult to discern - the all black version of the breed is sometimes difficult to photograph) and learned from the text, despite its being billed as a children's book. One Sunday morning, I didn't have anything to read to my Kindergarten church class (the cirriculum was a "helping" theme) and I grabbed this book before darting out the door. The kids in the class LOVED it and even my chronic fidgeters were riveted by the pictures and text. By the end of the book, they all wanted Newfoundland Dogs and when we went onto the art project of drawing "helping" animals every picture was of a Newfie!

Arrgh! This is terrible! We just gave away our copy to a friend with a six-year-old kid, because she loved it so much. We just assumed we could get another. This book is charming! It CAN'T be out of print. It CAN'T. It CAN'T...

Hugger to the Rescue is a great depiction of working search & rescue dogs. For parents who prefer non-fiction children's books, this book is great. Shows great photos of the huge Newfoundland dog "flying" under a helicopter, being moved across a ravine on ropes, and working in mountainous areas. "Hugger" also gets the point across about caring for others, volunteering and dedication to search and rescue. Shows independent and capable women working with the dogs. It does not put words into the dog's mouth and does not show scenes that would cause small children to fear for their safety. The only downside is that the photos, no doubt due to realism, seem less than crystal sharp. I wish there were more books like this one! A very nice read for adults, too.

My three year old twins love this book. They pour over the photographs. They puzzle over the vocabulary (the older sister, Jill is a 'pill' It was a challenge to figure out how to explain that to three year olds! I settled on 'an annoying person')

Anyway - the girls mostly know their letters and some of the sounds. I noticed one of my daughter's noticing that 'mad' and 'Dad' differed only by one letter. A very interesting moment, to be sure.

What fun!

We bought this book along with several other first readers recommended by a library. This is my favourite. My son likes reading it, and I still enjoy reading it with him. It makes us both laugh - sometimes a few simple words can really capture a great little story.

This is a great first reader. Each page has one or two sentences with words that are easy to sound out or easy sight words. The pictures are actual photographs of what appears to be a five or six year old girl. There's also a parent page at the back which tells what words were used in the book and gives little phonic hints to help your child read those words. The story is about a girl who makes a mess with paints -- something all kids can relate to. My child loved the feeling of accomplishment at being able to read a real book. What fun.

This is one of the best books about the Northwest. Corr does a great job blending the story of an activist family with the rise of Seattle after World War II. Next to "Skid Road," my favorite on Seattle. Should be a movie. A great female lead character in Dorothy Bullitt.

Corr's book is more valuable than the narrow title suggests. More than a history of a powerful Seattle family and its TV-Radio empire, Corr's larger theme is the post-war growth of Seattle, the price of its progress and the universal tension between idealism and commerce. This story is interesting because Dorothy Bullitt did not set out to make money in the new medium of TV. Rather, she and her son, Stimson, created a new media force that shook up the sleepy newspaper-dominated local media. Well into the 70's KING-TV scooped many big stories. Corr does a masterful job of tracing the early deviations from the "King ideal"--Dorothy's dumping of her son in favor of Ancil Payne, the shift from hard news to TV celebrities, and the ultimate cash out by Payne and Dorothy's daughters. Along the way Corr paints many colorful portraits--the Machiavellian Payne, Dorothy's hopelessly dysfunctional grandchildren, the bright and attractive Jean Enersen--the lone remaining link to the glory days, the irasicble Don McGaffin--a throwback to the hard drinking, hard working, macho muckrakers of the turn of the century, and the glib, shallow Jim Foreman--the self-described "ratings machine" and low water mark for KING's television journalism. There is much to savor in this well written and colorful book. One hopes that Corr will soon devote his considerable talent to a subject with broader appeal.

Corr has done lovers of radio, and television, specifically those of us in the Pacific Northwest a tremendous favor, capturing the drama of the Bullitt family. His writing is lively and the story is compelling in its narritive detail. You'll learn of the struggles, gambles and tremendous paybacks the Bulletts made as they began and grew their broadcasting kingdom. If I had any criticism, it would be that the book is a little short of details concerning KING-AM and KGW-AM's heydays as Top 40 Rock N Roll outlets. The author completely fails to include, KINK-FM, one of the most interesting and hybrid FM radio stations in the country. If you are at all interested in radio, television or Northwest business history, this is definately a book worthy of purchasing.

Ante todo resulta incómodo ver valoradas con estrellitas (de 1 a 5) las obras maestras de la literatura universal.
La Celestina forma parte de esa veintena de obras maestras que forman lo más destacado de la literatura en cualquier idioma y de cualquier época. Sin lugar a dudas, la más fascinante, moderna, entretenida y asequible de su época. Una auténtica novela (dialogada) moderna.

Entre sus mejores momentos: la comida en casa de Celestina con los criados y prostitutas, el primer encuentro de Celestina y Melibea, Melibea esperando a Calixto en el jardín, y un final que te deja un nudo en la garganta. Ah!, y por supuesto la sabiduría popular de Celestina.

La comparación con Romeo and Juliet de Shakespeare no tiene sentido. Las dos obras son opuestas. Por otra parte no cabe duda de que La Celestina es muy superior (más compleja, densa, apasionada, humana, personajes más solidos y destacados...)

Cito a Riquer en su extraordinaria Historia de La Literatura Universal:

Cuando Calixto llega al jardín de Melibea por vez primera persiguiendo un halcón y queda herido por la belleza de la joven (escena de caza frecuente en las novelas cortesanas medievales, por ejemplo en el Cliges de Troyes), se levanta un vendaval que lo arrasará todo, lo bajo y lo elevado, el afecto más gratuito y la codicia más interesada. Y el lector tras tanta belleza, tantos primores, tanta poesía, tanto realismo y tras una tan bien conducida historia de unas almas en desasosiego, ve que la tragicomedia de Rojas, a pesar de su declarada intencion moralizadora, cae en el vacío, como Melibea al arrojarse de la torre, porque después de la muerte de los dos jóvenes Rojas sólo deja entrever un "infierno de enamorados"

Celestina is amusing, ironic, and while the prose and dialogue is long and descriptive, it is never boring- I really enjoyed this play.

Fernando De Rojas captures the truth of the love between man and woman in a time when novels were rarely written. This book plays out of a drama that inhabits the first concepts of the tragedy of love. It is what books like Romeo and Juliet are compared to.

I am very surprised at how quickly I became engrossed in Shawhan's novel. I had just finished reading another book before I picked up "Lizzie". My previous book was an exceptionally satisfying read and my evening was already drawing to a close. I don't usually embark on a new adventure when I have just finished one. I like to let the previous book soak into me for a while. But my curiosity about Shawhan's "Lizzie" was overwhelming. It took all my will power to not stay up and read it all night! I can't wait to get home this evening and pick it up again!

Four months after reading "Lizzie", I am still thinking about this woman! Dorthy Shawhan has done a remarkable work of creating a living, breathing woman. I feel like I should make arrangements to call on Lizzie and see how she is getting along. Shawhan's craftsmanship as a researcher, writer and storyteller is superb. Here's hoping Shawhan has been busy writing us another wonderful book!

A fine example of Southern fiction, blending traditional and contemporary sentiments. As Lizzie's character develops she is increasingly compelling. Ms. Shawhan's use of multiple points of view is dazzling; setting the book in the matrix of twentieth century arts and letters adds both depth and texture. Highly recommended.

This happens to be the life story of my grandmother. I loved it for the obvious reasons but also for some less obvious ones. The story confirmed many things and events that I remembered from childhood but it also brought to light other things I had never heard about. My mother often referred to her mother as a "tough old bird" and I defy anyone who reads this book to disagree. This truly is the story of every immigrant family and it reminds us of how tough life was for them and how incredibly easy it is for us nowdays. I suspect many younger readers will not believe many of the stories related but I can vouch for the autenticity of most of them. I was often told how my great-grandfather left Poland because he was going to have to serve time in jail for picking up wood in the forest. Now I know the rest of the story! Everyone I have given the book to has loved it. Bravo Aunt Dottie!

I was unable to put this book, written about Dorothy's mother and family, down. From the opening paragraph to the epilogue, this story was exciting, engrossing and best of all true. I found myself laughing in one chapter and crying for the Strasky family in the next. This is not only the story of one family's struggle, it is the story of all families. It relates the happiness, the sadness, the births, the deaths, the everyday encounters that we all must deal with. Dorothy Murphy tells this story in an upbeat positive manner that gives the reader hope and inspiration for their own life, and what better tribute could there be to her mother. Well done, Mrs. Murphy. My hat is off to you.

"Mary Strasky: All the Way to Cooperstown" is Dorothy Murphy's second major work. It is a fictionalized account of the life of her own mother, whose family immigrated to the United States at the turn of the Twentieth Century. It examines the events in her mother's life, and also the cultural and economic clashes experienced by immigrants arriving in America, after having set out from their homes in search of a better life in a far away land. In that sense, this book tells the story not just of one woman, but of every immigrant in America.

Since the vast majority of us are ourselves immigrants, or are descended from immigrant families, this book tells us, on a deeply personal level, what our parents and our grandparents went through as they started their journeys, arrived here, confronted their own fears and weaknesses in the face of enormous demands placed upon them, and then set about building new lives for themselves and their children.

Dorothy's knack for natural dialog and realistic speech rhythms make this tale intensely real. Her sense of humor will often surprise you, and there are many places you may find yourself laughing out loud. But her sensitivity to the depth of these characters' struggles is also strong, and there are other places you may find it hard to fight back the tears. Laugh or cry, you will be deeply moved by this book.

I loved it.

"Dorothy Cave uses her extensive experience and travel of New Mexico to show the world the beauty she has discovered. She skillfully spins a story rich with cultural and linguistic details. She expertly captures the innocence of small town life. Cave brings Descano alive with her vivid description of its residents and their customers. By the end of the novel, the reader dreams of giving up the hustle and bustle of today's world and going back to 'that forgotten pocket of God's overall,' where nothing is too important and everything can wait until manana."

Dorothy Cave has given us an unexpected gem, a work that radiates with a love of the blended cultures of the remote villages of Northern New Mexico. In "Mountains of the Blue Stone", we experience life as seen by an Anglo man, Drake, as he discards the trapping of his own life in hopes of finding his true self. Drake becomes "Carlos" and discovers the roots of his own soul, and in so doing, finds that life lived simply, near to the old gods of the earth, is life at its best. Ms. Cave demonstrates considerable talent as a mature writer who knows and cares deeply about her subjects. I look forward to her next work.

If you enjoyed Rudolfo Anaya's "Bless Me, Ultima", you will treasure this work.

I recently lived in El Paso and traveled throughout New Mexico. And Dorthory Cave's novel, Mountains of the Blue Stone, captures the land, the people, and the intense mystical spiritual realism of New Mexico. Through the eyes of Drake Cavanaugh, a near burntout "modern man," we view the book's main characters: the people of the land who are still giving meaning and birth to the spiritual.

The book is a journey of the soul, a trip up one of the many paths of the mountain to meaning. "But first we have to find the mountain!" Cave has found the mountain, and she and Drake happily allow us to travel with them and the proud and beautiful people of the "Land of Enchantment."

You are going to love this book. I am an ordained minister of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), and my wife is a school teacher. We have both read this book and found our way up the mountain enlightened. Perhaps you will too.

As a preschool teacher, I look for books that actively engage young children and are able to pull them in to the story. This book certainly does that. Children quickly pick up the rhythym of the story. They relate to the characters. In our preschool, we have a teddy bear that we send home with the children, along with a copy of the book. The children love to be able to "read" the story to their family. They then "write" a story about the bear's adventure while at their home. This book is a perfect link for this activity. Parents and children alike love this story. Thank you Dorothy Butler for a wonderful story!

My almost-two-year-old really enjoys this book. The pictures are very bright and colorful, the situations familiar. The different "lists" for each scenario are engagingly highlighted, and each list is made up from a master group, stimulating young minds to remember what has been used more than once, and in what situations. The pictures of each activity also can serve as a kind of "where's waldo?" game, where your child can find the brown bear. Very lyrical sound, pleasant to read, which is good, because in my house, its requested more than once.

This book was reviewed in a graduate course in reading that I was taking. My Brown Bear Barney is a predictable print book. Such books are excellent in the very early stages of reading. Children memorize the book as you read it over and over and over again. Repetition the very thing our adult mind questions, children ask for repetition that they need. They learn to "read" you the book even when the book is not there. This stage of memorization is the first stage of reading. The child then moves to recognizing the words. For example, "Is this word 'bear'?" So both kindergarten teachers and parents can use this book. It is good to have a half dozen of these predictable print books at home. (Look up: Sue William "I Went Walking".)

This was a great book. All Farrell devotees should read it. As for one of the other comments. Dorothy B. Farrell, James' wife is still very much alive, trust me.

This fine book is remarkable for many reasons. It presents an excellent portrait of Farrell just as he was getting underway as a soon-to-be prominent novelist. Additionally, it offers an unusual and refreshing look at literary Paris in the early 1930s-recreating the scene as the Farrells (still in their 20s) saw and experienced it. Previously neglected writers such as expatriate Bob Brown (and his wonderfully zany Roving Eye Press) are given their due here. The amount of day-by-day detail in this book is amazing; what's more, it is both scholarly and loving. As always, Edgar Branch has done wonderful field work too (in both Chicago and Paris) with his trusty camera. This book is a must for JTF devotees. Further, it ought to be read by anyone with an interest in the intense American/Parisian literary and publishing scene of the late 20s and early 30s; or the making of American literature, period. It reads like something of a novel itself.Dorothy Farrell, who is still very much alive, must have been amazed by it. You will be to when you buy the book.

James and Dorothy Farrell are dead. They are not co-authors of this book. They are the subject of the book. Someone was either asleep or smoking funny cigarettes when they prepared this entry, which needs to be fixed. The only author is Edgar Marquess Branch. After you get this fixed, you might also note that the book is a finalist in this year's Society of Midland Authors Awards for biography. Thank you.