This book has a lot words in Japanese that you will have to know when visiting a country that speaks the language. If you mispronounce words from the book while speaking to someone, don't worry, they will correct your pronunciation and anunciation. I highly recommend that you get audio tapes so you can not only learn the tranlations from English to Japanese, but you can learn to pronounce them correctly as well. I am currently on a seven month deployment in Okinawa, Japan, as an Infantry Officer in the United States Marine Corps. This book has been a great help and it is small enough to stick in your pocket and read later when you are waiting for an appointment, etc. The trick to learning words from this books is to learn a little at a time.

Richard Hugo, The Lady in Kicking Horse Reservoir

Two decades after Hugo's early death, he's finally starting to get the recognition he deserves as one of the twentieth century's masters of poetry. His output was sparse, starting relatively late in his life and covering less than a half-dozen books of poetry, along with a few other prose books. But what little there was was some of the best American poetry ever written.

Hugo writes with a rhythm and style that compares best to novelist Cormac McCarthy; it's a little difficult getting over the first hump, but once you've settled into his diction, everything inside is magic.

I got three bulls and a native cutthroat, lover.
I'm phoning from the bar in Victor.
One drunk's fading fast. The other's fast
with information-- worms don't work in August.I found
a virgin forest with a moss floor.
You and I can love there. Pack the food....
(from "Phoning from Sweathouse Creek")

The book is divided into four parts, two of which focus on one of Hugo's trips to Europe, and two on Montana. There is a strong sense of place in this work, a connection to the culture, however long-dead, of what Hugo is writing about. It's all excellent, every last line. One of the best books of poetry I've read in years. **** 1/2

This abridged version by Fawcett is an excellent choice. I have not read the unabridged version and I couldn't read it in the original French if I wanted to. But you don't have to do that to really enjoy this classic. Books rarely make me cry but this one did. Don't be put off by the hard core literary buffs that make this story sound too erudite to be enjoyed by the masses. This was written for the masses and is easily understood and more easily enjoyed. And if you don't read this because the unabridged version is too long or you can't read it in French, you will be missing something.

The story follows Jean Valjean from his release from a 19 year imprisonment (which started for stealing bread and got tacked on through several escape attempts) through meeting up with the Bishop who makes him see things a little differently, his success in business and his pursuit by Javert. But there is so much more than that! There is also Cosette! You simply must read this - you will NOT regret it.

I read alot, but this is the first book that I have read that had affected me so much. The characters are memorable and the plot is fantastic. This is a book where you don't have to look very hard in order to find a conncetion to your daily life. Javet, Jean Valjean, Colette, and Marius among others will remain with you for the rest of your life and wherever you go you will surely find someone who will remind you of them. Read this book!

I saw the play of "Les Miserables" several years ago in New York and have never been as emotionally moved by any book or play. The story of Jean Valjean is a powerful and compelling story of social injustice and the power of love and faith that leads to redemption. It is a story told on a personal level of one man's journey, yet at the same time, also tells the story of oppressed people everywhere. Victor Hugo was a brilliant writer able to convey his personal and political beliefs through the use of this fictional tale. Kathryn Grossman's examination of Hugo's life and the literary and historical context in which "Les Miserables" is set, also demonstrates that she is a brilliant writer and historian who has thoroughly researched her topic and has a masterful understanding of the book and of Napoleonic and post-Napoleonic France. I would highly recommend this book for anyone who has read the book, seen the play, or heard the music and been moved by its power. By reading her book, this beautiful and important story comes alive with even greater meaning and significance.

Why is this book out of print? This book is a Gem. Here are Hugo Enomiya-Lassalles thoughts on the consciousness as Jesuit Priest and Zen Master from his both his vast experience and influences of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin's "Omega Point," to the Christian Mystic Johannes Tauler on meditation, to the contemporary German thinker Jean Gebser's analysis on man's development of consciousness to the Indian spiritual leader Sri Aurobindo. Comparing mysticism, Zen and contemplative thinking with the physics of Karl Jaspers, Jean Gebser, Fritjof Capra (the Tao of Physics - 1975), and Karl Albrecht truly makes this book a masterpiece - all written in short, concise, non-exhaustive summaries. The copy I have was originally published by Shambhala publications.

When you are in love, it's the loveliest night of the year," sang Ann Blyth in the movie The Great Caruso (1951). Later the song ("The Loveliest Night of the Year") was recorded by her starring partner, Mario Lanza. Almost everyone has heard the melody, and just a few know that the song is an English version of a Mexican waltz, but who would ever have imagined that it was written by a Mexican-Indian composer, Juventino Rosas (1868-1894). It is his very best-known piece, originally titled "Sobre las olas" ("Over the Waves"). In contrast to the world-famous melody beyond the borders of Mexico, at present very little is known about the composer and musician who was able to devote only a scant decade of his life to composing. This being lost in obscurity seems somewhat unusual, as he not only was the first Mexican whose music gained recognition internationally but also was his music very popular in the late nineteenth century, especially in the United States.

Hugo Barreiros book is the reconstruction of Rosas's last 175 days of life, when he toured with an Mexican-Italian orchestra through Cuba in 1894, where he died at the age of 26 years. The publication includes an extensive documentation of sources, many of them as facsimiles. The monograph is one of the most exactly researched and most serious publications on Juventino Rosas.

In The Mechanics Of Wonder: The Creation Of The Idea Of Science Fiction, Gary Westfahl presents a sustained and documented argument for the importance of magazine editor Hugo Gernsback as being the true creator of what has become known as the science fiction genre. After initial chapters on Gernsback, Westfahl goes on to examine the way in which the Gernsback tradition was adopted and modified by later magazine editors and early critics., including a re-evaluation of the importance of John W. Campbell to the history of science fiction. The Mechanics Of Wonder will prove of immense interest to scholars of science fiction literary history and scifi enthusiasts with an appreciation of how a literary subgenre came to be a commonly accepted category of American literature and popular culture.

This book is an absolute delight, as much for the prose as for the glorious photographs. As well as recommendations for planting in various Mediterranean conditions, the author gives splendid professional advice on local problems such as water shortage, salt air damage and so on.

If you have had failures in your ex-pat. garden through trying to acclimatise plants which only thrive in more northerly regions, this book will help you never again to make those mistakes.

No-one should be without it; I have two of them. Yvonne Gregson.

This book brings a hurricane to life. It is a terrific book for teachers to read to students when doing a weather unit, and it is a book that children will simply enjoy reading themselves. It shows how a hurricane starts out small and builds as it move across the ocean. The hurricane is personified, and isn't satisfied until it becomes larger and larger. I like the book because it is about a real occurance that affected the lives of many people, but is explained in terms easy enough for children to understand. It is based upon the actual hurricane that hit Charleston, SC, in 1989. The pictures are great, also. I read the book to my class and they loved it!