Related Subjects: Author Index Reviews Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Book reviews for "York,_R._A." sorted by average review score:

Personal Name Index to "the New York Times Index": 1975-79 Supplement
Published in Hardcover by Roxbury Data Interface (1984)
Authors: Byron A. Falk and Valerie R. Falk
Amazon base price: $48.00
Average review score:

Absolutely indispensable.
Absolutely indispensable - the best thing for research since the Xerox machine.


Pine Tree Book
Published in Hardcover by Brandywine Press (1980)
Author: R. Peterson
Amazon base price: $14.95
Collectible price: $50.82
Average review score:

Easy-to-read, beautiful illustrations!
I weave pine needle baskets, and am doing research for a basketry class I'm teaching this month. The Pine Tree Book by Peterson is the clearest, easiest to read book on pine trees I've found so far. The material is very well organized, not too technical, and the illustrations are beyond compare! I certainly hope the publishers reprint it so I can buy a copy - I found it at my local library!


The Victim's Song
Published in Hardcover by Prometheus Books (1985)
Author: Alice R. Kaminsky
Amazon base price: $36.00
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Collectible price: $15.88
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Articulate, Gripping, and Powerful
In this chilling account of the murder of her son and subsequent trial of the cold blooded killers who took him from her, Alice Kaminsky makes the strongest argument I have seen in favor of capital punishment. If you have ever felt that executing murderers was somehow immoral, you must read this book. As you progress through this sad, sad all-too-real life tale, you will feel a mother's pain and likely lose whatever small sympathy you might have felt for the killers. I read this book years ago, and have recommended it often. Nobody I know of has been disappointed.


Wit's End: Days and Nights of the Algonquin Round Table
Published in Paperback by Harcourt (1979)
Author: James R. Gaines
Amazon base price: $6.95
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Average review score:

Best book ever on the subject
Anyone interested in the Twenties, the writing of the Twenties, the birth of mass media, the culture of the Lost Generation or the Algonquin Round Table writers must BUY THIS BOOK!


It Takes a Village Idiot : Complicating the Simple Life
Published in Hardcover by Simon & Schuster (09 May, 2001)
Author: Jim Mullen
Amazon base price: $16.10
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Laughing Out Loud
Jim Mullen (known for his ascerbic and clever "Hot Sheet" column in Entertainment Weekly magazine) has written a very, very funny account of his indoctrination into a rural community in upstate New York. Mullen and spouse experience the horrors and, ultimately, the joys of life outside the crowded, dirty, and crime-ridden Big Apple when they buy a weekend home. The culture clashes between uber-urbanite (Mullen) and the farming community makes "Green Acres" look like an O'Neill drama. I read it in one sitting and couldn't stop laughing. I hope there is a sequel.

Very enjoyable!
I picked this book up after having read a few stinkers, and I felt so grateful because it's truly enjoyable. Jim Mullen is very funny, his observations and comments are so comical, and he often had me laughing out loud. He also handles some more serious, or sad, issues with a touching sensitivity that doesn't stray from the wry humor, but makes his heartfelt point (without beating us over the head, thank you). Despite the premise, this story is an original. Love his wife. Love his neighbors. Hope he is working on a follow-up as we speak.

A super fun book
I read this book in one afternoon. Like many others we too have had dreams of a fantasy "country house". Like the authors wife, we have made forays in Northern California to look for such a dreamplace. But luckily, everything here is either five hours away or costs three quarters of million dollars. So instead I read books like Jim Mullen's and feel smug about not having actually gonr and done the "fool" thing. This book actually has a great story, progresses beautifully, is very funny and is an all-around pleasure to read. If you like humourous books about suburban/urban life then you will love this book.


New York City With Kids (New York City With Kids)
Published in Paperback by Prima Publishing (25 February, 2003)
Author: Ellen R. Shapiro
Amazon base price: $11.87
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Wrong information in this book
When you are limited on time the last thing you want to do is
waste it going to places in which have changed thier hours and
days they are open. Some stores had moved. It should have only been a 2001 guide not 2002! There were to many errors! They might have been related to 9-11 as far as the hours changing
However, it is not fun to waste precious time.

New Edition, New Information
The new 2003 edition of this great guide book contains a ton of new, updated information -- particularly openings, closings, and new hours and events in light of 9/11 and the major resulting changes in downtown Manhattan. It's still a good idea, as the book says in many places, to call ahead before you make plans based on hours and locations printed in any source, but the information has been right 100% of the time that I've used this new, fully rewritten edition.

A wonderful guide for families visiting NYC
I highly recommend Ellen Shapiro's book. I just returned from a trip with 7 family members to New York and I used the book to help decide where to stay and planned our daily outings based on her excellent recommendations. The book is well organized and fun to read. Ms Shapiro's reviews of resturants and shopping areas are particularly helpful. I used this book along with the green Michelin Guide to New York City which contains wonderful maps and descriptions of the sights. These two books gave us everything we needed to have a wonderful stay in NYC!


Frommer's(r) New York City with Kids, 8th Edition
Published in Paperback by Frommer (02 January, 2003)
Author: Holly Hughes
Amazon base price: $11.19
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Not practical
While this seemed like a good guide while planning the trip, in actual fact it was not terribly useful. It's poorly organized, so trying to figure out, on the fly, if there is a decent restaurant near an attraction means flipping back to the index too many times. The author also gave starred attraction prominence to a couple of places where she qualified it in the description with, it may take too long to get here for too little to do. Hmmm. Also the restaurant guidelines needed some sort of a noise index. This is one of those books that assumes kids will only be happy in an atmosphere of Disneyland-like frenzy. I like my kids to eat a normal variety of food (not chicken fingers or cheeseburgers only) in normal restaurants. The two restaurants we tried from the book were so unbelievably loud with non-stop sensory stimulation we couldn't speak to one another. After that I ducked into a bookstore and bought Fodor's Around NYC With Kids and packed this one permanently in the suitcase. I want a guide that lets me know if a place can tolerate a crying baby -- I don't need the waiters always dressed in "character" doing floor shows to get my kids to eat.

Great source for families traveling in NYC
Our family just returned from a long weekend in NYC. We found the book invaluable. The book recommended the Doubletree Hotel as the best 'kid-friendly' place to stay, and they were right on. The rooms were spacious, modern and clean. The hotel also had a great location right on Times Square. The book also suggested John's Pizza which turned about to be a great call. The pizza was great, the restaurant loud enough for our kids and we were able to walk right in and get a table on a Saturday night.

Great book for family travel in NYC
Our family just returned from a long weekend in NYC, and this book was invaluable. The book's recommendation of the Doubletree Hotel as the best 'kid-friendly' place in town was right on. Spacious rooms, modern, clean and a great location. The book suggested John's Pizza which was another great call. The pizza was great, the restaurant was loud enough to handle the kids and we were able to get a table quickly on a Saturday night.


Adirondack Style
Published in Paperback by Clarkson N. Potter (21 May, 2002)
Authors: Ann S. O'Leary, Gary R. Hall, and Elizabeth Folwell
Amazon base price: $19.25
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Not simply for those who love the Adirondacks region
Yes, some call the look "Adirondack," but the style is, of course, much broader than that-a true American classic with variations that have abounded for decades and decades in many parts of the U.S. Personally, the book reminds me of the classic camps and vacation lodges of the Missouri and Arkansas Ozarks. So, no matter where you live, if you love rustic style, you'll be inspired by this book.

A nice look at one style
As I just wrote in a review of Cabin Fever, this book, too, is a delight to look at. But it is limited (as its title says, of course) to one style that is a bit more rustic than what we have in mind. Still, this is a lovely book to peruse. As we gather information on vacation homes, our favorite book is a new one called Second Home, which includes visits to everything from oceanside homes and lake cottages to mountain cabins. Second Home also includes information on how to shop for a second home, how to decide what location is right, and tips on building, decorating and so on. I've never met a vacation house book I didn't like, and I like them all. But Second Home is our favorite because it has such variety of home styles and helpful tips in it.

Excellent depiction of "Adirondack Style"
Ann O'Leary's "Adirondack Style" is the kind of book you curl up with in front of a roaring fire with a cup of tea. You can dream about a rustic retreat that makes you feel comforted and relaxed. This book is not to be missed if you live and love the Adirondacks.


Times Square Red, Times Square Blue (Sexual Cultures)
Published in Hardcover by New York University Press (1999)
Author: Samuel R. Delany
Amazon base price: $35.00
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Prelude and fugue
Samuel Delaney has done the near imposible - he has written a book that is both titillating and informing. Dividing his cogent 21st Century social philosophy into two parts is at first disconcerting: Why are we reading (buying) a book that lets us in on the gossip of firsthand observation of Times Square New York, then in a page turn becomes a sophisticated academic treatise on our current social problems, in the City, and in a Country? Once past this mirage of a hurdle Delaney makes it patently clear why he chose this format. If we are introduced to a problem in a seductive manner, we pay closer attention to the bigger issues. This superb little book is illuminating in its exploration of where we are in our interpersonal relationships, our interplay with those around us (street, neighborhood, city, country), and our current drive to homogenize our world. Beautifully written, immensely readable, and a very important contribution to our social perceptions!

An intelligent, touching book
I always thought of Samuel Delaney as a writer of science fiction, my least favorite genre, so this is my first book by him. I was impressed and delighted. The worst thing I can say about it is that Mr. Delaney has a love of dependent clauses strung along inside comma-copious sentences that were sometimes hard to read. But he has awesome insights too, and compassion and wisdom lace every page. Makes me wish I was old enough to partake of that culture.

Sex and the City
A remarkable book, with both the frankest discussion of people's sexual desires and needs of any book I've read in years, and a compelling argument about the crucial role places like the old Times Square play in the life of a city. A paeon to America's cities and an intimate history of a culture being destroyed. Delany's masterful prose makes this brief book a treat to read. A great stocking stuffer for the intellectually and sexually adventurous.


The Age of Innocence
Published in Paperback by Collier Books (1920)
Authors: Edith Wharton and R. W. Lewis
Amazon base price: $9.00
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Average review score:

Great literature; really deserves to be more widely read!
"The Age of Innocence" is a wonderful read on many levels for all kinds of readers. It shouldn't just appeal to "literature" buffs but also to romance readers, those interested in history or psychology, and anyone looking for an interesting and involving story.

Wharton weaves an intriguing tale of New York society in the late 19th century, where old ways have not yet made way for "modern" views, but it's evident that it is only a matter of time. For example, what would have been considered socially unacceptable in Newland and May Archer's time, such as marrying your mistress after your wife dies, is perfectly alright by the time May and Newland's son, Dallas, is ready to marry. Dallas is to marry the daughter of the previously mentioned union, demonstrating that by the early 20th century, the old social conventions of Old New York have gone by the wayside. Unfortunately this didn't happen in time for Newland and the Countess, and in fact, it appears that he wishes that everything could remain the same as it was in his youth, which is seen by his reaction to Countess Olenska at the end of the novel.

What makes the book truly great, though, is Wharton's detail of EVERYthing, from how a dinner was served, to an evening at the opera, and more. It's almost impossible not to enter the mind of the characters; they are so completely and complexly developed that this book should be required reading for every writer!

I really give this book 4 1/2 stars; the only reason it isn't 5 stars is because the ending was a little disappointing to me, although it was quite in keeping with the characters and the story. We tend to satisfy our curiosity as soon as possible, but a hundred years ago one had to look at other issues as more important than personal satisfaction.

a classic but troubled love story
The Age of Innocence, Edith Wharton. The classic story of a 19th century love affair between Newland Archer, a married New Yorker and Ellen Olenska, who is separated from her husband in europe. When Olenska leaves her husband and returns to her family in new york, a scandal ensues. Olenska is beautiful and attracts a wealth of suitors, the most prominent being Archer who understands her best and shares her ideas about freedom from social constraint. Archer is a lawyer and intervenes in Olenska's marital dispute and suggests she not file for divorce to save the public embarrassment. Meanwhile he pursues a relationship with her that can't work out because of his own marriage to May Welland, a dainty beauty, and Olenska's own troubled past. This social drama is set in old New York, a highly refined world that seems British, with all the well to do Protestants living lives of privilege and social custom. The story is how these customs are challenged but preserved by the failed relationship between Archer and Olenska and how love is hindered by convention in this rarefied world.

Be careful what you wish for
The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton. Highly recommended.

A classic novel made famous by a recent movie, The Age of Innocence is the story of a society man, Newland Archer, caught between two very different women. On the one hand is May Welland, the virginal Diana of New York society, whose seeming frankness and innocence discourage and oppress him: "Untrained human nature was not frank and innocent; it was full of the twists and defences of an instinctive guile." All this is "supposed to be what he wanted, what he had a right to, in order that he might exercise his lordly pleasure in smashing it like an image made of snow." Her counterpart is her cousin Countess Ellen Olenska, vaguely exotic, vaguely dangerous, forbidden-primarily because she is not the "artificial product" of society, but a genuine, sensual woman whose independent way of thinking is enough to tacitly and then overtly banish her from the very company that Newland's life is built around. She is !"different," as Archer will later discuss with one of his children. No one else would say, "Why not make one's own fashions?" thus giving a voice to what Archer himself deep down believes but can't put into practice.

Ironically, it is May who first forces he and Ellen together, against his will, in her efforts to be kind to her cousin, who has just returned from Europe. As he sees more of "poor Ellen," estranged from her emotionally abusive husband and seemingly vulnerable to the wiles of the wealthy outsider scoundrel Julius Beaufort, he finds himself returning again and again to her until he realises he is in love with her-long after the reader has reached that conclusion. He resolves the dilemma by rushing his marriage to May, or makes it that much worse. Thus ensues a delicate balance between the life he has chosen with May, with whom he now realises he has no emotional bond, and the life he would choose if he were more sure of himself, more sure that being true to !oneself is more important than being true to one's system.

Nearly every character is memorable-from the massive Mrs. Manson Mingott, May and Ellen's grandmother who is old enough and skilled enough to intuit all and manipulate all; to the womanizing Lawrence Lefferts, whose behavior is acceptable because he knows how to play the game, how things are "done"; to the frigid bastions of society, the van der Luydens; to May's mother, who cannot be exposed in any way to "unpleasantness"; to Archer's virginal sister Janey, who lives life vicariously through gossip and guesswork.

Many scenes and locations are equally vivid: Beaufort's lavish house and party; the contrast of the van der Luydens' dinner party; Archer and May's conventional and stifling honeymoon, more sporty than romantic or passionate; Archer's pursuit of May in Florida and his following Ellen to the Blenkers' and then to Boston; a revealing ride with Ellen in May's brougham; Mrs. Mingott's house in the m!iddle of "nowhere," where she rules like a queen and where the politics are only slightly less complicated than those of Elizabeth I's court-all unforgettable places and scenes.

In less intelligent or skilled hands, the plot could have become mere melodrama, but Wharton knows how her society worked, who inhabited it, what it forgave, and what it could not pardon. Affairs are pardonable; treachery, real or perceived, to the framework of what holds these people together is not. In the end, May saves Archer from himself-and dooms him to her kind of life by doing so. When he gives up all his dreams, he looks into May's "blue eyes, wet with tears." She knows what he does not and remains cold as the moon that the goddess Diana rules.

It could be said that May and Ellen represent two sides of Newland Archer-both are people he is afraid to become. If he is like May, he experiences death of the mind, death of the soul, death of the emotions, becoming what he is expected t!o be to keep the foundations that society is built upon steady, strong, and standing. (It is no coincidence that a theme in Wharton's The House of Mirth is the vulnerability of that house to the influx of modern ways.) If he becomes like Ellen, he will lose everything that he has built his own foundations on. In the end, he is neither, nor is he himself. His tragedy is not that much less than that of The House of Mirth's Lily Bart, both victims of a society they need but cannot survive.

Diane L. Schirf, 28 April 2001.


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