In a Midsummer Night's Dream, Shakespeare's loveliest comedy, the world of four lovers collides in a magical woods one night during midsummer with hilarious results. Pandemonium reigns and misunderstandings abound; nothing is as it seems, or should be, and that is what makes this play so perfect.

In A Midsummer Night's Dream, Shakespeare's extraordinary talent for creating poetry that is unrivaled is effective in both establishing character and demonstrating the theme. The characters of this play all speak in poetic form with the exception of the English rustics who speak in prose. This helps to place the fairies and the lovers on a higher and more transcendental plane that the artisans. The artisans, as a result, become even more comical and serve to heighten the misunderstandings of love.

The poetry of Shakespeare's genius also helps to clarify the play^s theme of the extreme confusion and blinding power of love. The rhythmic words help to create a magical setting while the rhyming scheme serves to portray the confusion each character feels while under the power of love.

Those who think that love is only a blissful dream, will find that Shakespeare, in this play of clever intrigue, shows also that love can be a place of extreme confusion. As the audience ponders the revelry they have just seen on stage, Puck steps forth to conclude the confusion:

If we shadows have offended/ Think but this, and all is mended/ That you have but slumbered here/ While these visions did appear/ And this weak and idle theme/ No more yielding than a dream.

The audience is left in as much ambiguity as it felt throughout the performance; the play appropriately ends in a puzzling state of confusion.

The majority of events is this play take place during the night, even the rehearsal for the farcical play-within-a-play. All of the mishaps occur during the nighttime hours and the confusion is not cleared up until the next morning when the four lovers are discovered. This setting of night allows the audience to drift into the idea that the entire play could well have been nothing more than a fantastic dream.

Sleep in another theme that threads its way throughout the play. All of the mishaps and mistakes occur through the guise of sleep. One of the major influences of sleep is that it allows Puck and Oberon to make use of the magic love flower whose power is only effective if its intended victim is fast asleep. The flower, however, causes an hilarious love triangle that is not set straight until Oberon once again finds all of the confused lovers asleep. When they are discovered the next morning and asked to explain their crazy night, the only explanation that can be given is that it was all a dream.

There seems to be no other way for Shakespeare to end this riotous entanglement of lovers, mythological beings, fairies and artisans but to explain it as a dream. Throughout the play, with its nighttime atmosphere and frequent occurrences of sleep, the dreamy state of the characters is passed on to the audience. The play itself is still in an inconclusive state when the characters leave the stage and many questions remain in the mind of the audience. Puck's closing monologue, however, explains that puzzlement is the appropriate emotion to be felt during the course of the play. Puck then goes on to persuade the audience that the only logical explanation for the ambiguity of the play, itself, is that, just as the characters themselves experienced, the audience has just awakened from a comical and fantastic dream.

Yes, Shakespeare has a sense of humor; he proved it in A Midsummer Night's Dream. I have enjoyed all of his books, especially Romeo and Juliet and MacBeth, but A Midsummer Night's Dream is, in my opinion, his best work. There are many love stories in this book, one of which is about Hermia and Lysander. They hide in the woods because Hermia's father wants her to marry Demetrius, a wealthy man. In order to win over Hermia's father, a woman named Helena tells him where Hermia is, and they immediately go after the two lovers. What happens to Hermia and Lysander? Does she marry Demetrius? You'll have to read it in order to find out. There are other great stories in this book, including the one of Theseus and Hippolyta -- two royals that are about to get married. With Shakespeare's ability to write a beautiful love story with a touch of poetry and precise comic timing, this is a classic that everyone should read. I highly recommend it!

Paul had to do a lot of research to put this delightful story together and she has done a superb job of portraying historic opera stars in a fictional situation. Geraldine Ferrar is the heroine; Enrico Caruso and Arturo Toscanino share the action with fictional characters in this romp through murder at the Metropolitan Opera.

Phillippe Duchon is an annoying, egotistical personality and everyone at the Met has just about had all they can take of him. Suddenly someone replaces his throat spray with ammonia. His vocal chords and his life are finished.

"Rico" Caruso is hard on the trail of the killer but Police Lt. O'Halloran of the NYPD threatens to lock him up if he doesn't quit meddling. Geraldine Ferrar takes over for Rico and the fearless and gorgeous diva throws caution to the wind to find the killer.

This is lightweight entertainment, sheer delight with every turn of the page. Prepare to laugh out loud -- you'll dread finishing it.

This mystery is a follow on to the Cadenza for Caruso mystery. Caruso has been forbidden to interfere in a murder investigation by the police, so he convinces Geraldine Farrar, a soprano at the Met opera, to investigate for him. Narrated in the first person by Geraldine, the novel provides amusing portraits of many famous Met singers and the life they led in WWI New York City. Ms. Paul's portrait of Geraldine is apparently fairly close to the real thing -- a passionate, intelligent, witty, talented, and beautiful woman. Though not a big fan of opera (but a big fan of NYC), I enjoyed this humorous mystery tremendously. I liked it so much, that if I were not an honest woman, I'd have told the public library I lost the book and paid the fine. Hello, publishers! This is one of many vintage mystery novels that deserve to be back in print so a new generation can enjoy them!

This winter break I went on a Shakespeare buying spree, and this book is one of the fine gems I found. A large, but fascinating book, this work of great scholarship and excitement takes the reader on a whirlwind tour of Shakespeare, even into rather obscure corners of his works (Trollius and Cressida, Timon of Athens). This book is a must read for any would be deep thinker about Shakespeare.

Shakespeare as Political Thinker is a must for everyone interested in the political thought of William Shakespeare. This reprint will finally allow new comers to become familair with a commonsensical approach to Shakespeare's plays. The introductory chapter by John Alvis is worth the price. Perhaps the best Shakespearean critic alive, Alvis has an uncanny ability to show Shakespeare's moral seriousness without making the bard an unquestioning adherent to any political school or theological creed. Many of the essays that follow are also well done: Jaffa's chapter on Shakespeare's entire corpus, Laurence Berns' meditation on Lear etc.

The second printing of Shakespeare as Political Thinker gives hope to those interested in relearning ancient wisdom and pays tribute to its inspiration, Shakespeare's Politics (Allan Bloom).

Zarzyski is the perfect guide to take us on a journey through the cowboy life - his heart and his soul. But these poems aren't just for cowfolk, horsefolk, and rodeo lovers. "All This Way..." contains some of the most poignant, soul-touching lyrics. The poems seem rough, but once the reader catches the rhythm, it's a beautiful ride! Van Cleve's photos, honest and real, set Zarzyski's works off perfectly. If you are a horse/cow person or just a lover of fine poetry, please experience "All This Way for the Short Ride"! You will be greatly rewarded.

This book is an excellent compilation of (all?)the research on what actually works in community building. It is an absolute "must-read" for anyone or any organization who/which is interested in community building. Their organized listing of key elements which must be considered is very helpful and good checklists to the practitioner to determine if all bases are covered.

The book, "Devices of Wonder: From the World in a Box to Images on a Screen", is the catalog for an exhibition that has just opened. The first two reviews provide perspectives and understanding that are quite different from those offered in the preceding review from Publishers Weekly.

Leah Ollman (LA Times, 11/18/01) comments that, "We want to know the world and have experiences beyond the ordinary. We want to extend our vision beyond its familiar capacity. These are timeless desires, born with the species. They thrive on wonder, ... 'Devices of Wonder' traces those impulses and the technologies designed to act on them during the past 400 years. Full of serious toys, marvelous instruments and art resonant with the theme of discovery, the show [and catalog] track a history of visual thinking, 'from the world in a box to images on a screen,'..."

Speaking of both the exhibition and the catalog, the hard-nosed and insightful reviewer, Christopher Knight (Los Angeles Times, November 19, 2001) remarks that, "The Wunderkabinett is back, their show asserts--bigger, now nearly ubiquitous and considerably more far-reaching than any Baroque prince could ever have dreamed. Today's Wunderkabinett is sitting on your desk at home or in the office, or perhaps it's resting in your briefcase or on your lap." "Looking at wondrous things in a Wunderkabinett becomes the launch pad for the wonders of looking. Sight connects with insight. Mirrors facilitate reflection. Images are themselves ideas. ... Playful and unexpected connections get drawn. ... The show [and the catalog] is filled with these sorts of surprising delights, which can send your mind off in unexpected directions." (...)

Here's what's in it:

1. The Proper Treatment of Quantification in Ordinary English:
Richard Montague.
2. A unified analysis of the English bare plural: Greg Carlson.
3. Generalized quantifiers and natural language: Jon Barwise and Robin Cooper.
4. The Logical Analysis of Plurals and Mass Terms: Godehard Link.
5. Assertion: Robert C. Stalnaker.
6. Scorekeeping in a Language Game: David Lewis.
7. Adverbs of quantification: David Lewis.
8. A theory of truth and semantic representation: Hans Kamp.
9. File change semantics and the familiarity theory of definiteness:
Irene Heim.
10. On the projection problem for presuppositions: Irene Heim.
11. Toward a semantic analysis of verb aspect and the English 'imperfective'
progressive: David R. Dowty.
12. The notional category of modality: Angelika Kratzer.
13. The algebra of events: Emmon Bach.
14. Generalized conjunction and type ambiguity: Barbara Partee and Mats Rooth.
15. Noun phrase interpretation and type shifting principles: Barbara
H. Partee.
16. Syntax and semantics of questions: Lauri Karttunen.
17. Type-Shifting Rules and the Semantics of Interrogatives: Jeroen
Groenendijk and Martin Stokhof.
18. On the notion affective in the analysis of Negative-Polarity Items:
William A. Ladusaw. Index.

Barbara Paul is one of the great "unknowns" in the mystery field. Although her amazing, witty, funny, suspenseful, brilliantly crafted (enough adjectives?) novels have been keeping fans enthralled for years, she has never been accorded the due that is her... er... uh... due! GKS is as good a place as any to start. It really doesn't matter, in a way, because wherever you start, you're going to want, nay NEED, to read 'em all! As for titles, good as this is, wait 'til you meet "Liars, and Tyrants, and People Who Turn Blue"!

Barbara Paul is both a wonderful and wonderfully-inventive writer. My own particular favorites of her large list of books are the ones featuring the operatic soprano/part-time detective Emmy Destin, with a little help from Enrico Caruso and other such notable luminaries of the time.

The books in which she incorporates her theatre background would stand out for that reason alone, (to me, at least) even if they didn't possess all the other star qualities necessary to produce a first-rate, entertaining book.

This quirky book is no exception, with former stage director Gillian Clifford, now a theatre-museum director, as the main protagonist. In her younger days, she had been married, all-too-briefly, to Stuart Decker, younger brother of the renowned venture capitalist Raymond. Stuart was the victim of a hit-and-run driver. The male Deckers, along with twin sisters, Michelle and Annette, comprise the current generation of a Boston family, which will immediately bring to mind other noted New England families, in more than one respect.

Raymond and his wife Connie, had one son, Theo; Annette, married to Tom Henry, a son, Ike; Michelle, married to Rob Kurland, Raymond's partner, had two sons, Bobby and Joel. Uncle Oscar and Aunt Elinor Ferguson had a daughter, Lynn. Theo had been the first to die, some years earlier, during a botched kidnapping attempt. But now, just in the last three months, Ike, Bobby and Lynn had all died, too, in apparent accidents. The final death was Raymond himself, in a fire at his home on Martha's Vineyard. "Whom the gods smile upon . . ."

While reading her Chicago newspaper, Gillian stumbles over the death notice for Raymond, and is compelled to travel to Boston, to re-visit the family of which she was once a member. The family, however, thinks differently. Once a Decker, always a Decker. In many more ways than one, it would appear.

Connie thinks Raymond was murdered, and in a short time, convinces Gillian to agree with her. From then on, it's no holds barred, as Gillian allies herself first with one, then another of the Deckers to get to the bottom of this murderous marry-go-round. Delicious!

This is a great book! I stumbled across it and thought the title was amusing. I ended up reading it in 1 day. I actually couldn't put it down! The story itself is great, her sense of humor shows through, but there is one problem with it... it's too short!! This would make a great series!! I highly recommend it if you can find it. I'm keeping my copy though!