I was somewhat disappointed by this book, which is supposed to be Ginzburg most famous novel. Even though it is essentially a biography I still expected it to have a logic plotline, such as was the case in let's say Frank Macourt's Angela's Ashes. In Frank Macourt's memoir it was clear where the plot starts and how it is directed. Lessico famigliare mainly deals with the small details of life. For example, her mother's showering with cold water or Natalia being unable to give orders to her housekeeper. There is nothing wrong with giving those details, which could make the novel more human and vital. But when there is not much more than details the reader is bound to feel confused, or at least I was. It is basically a matter of proportion. She spends more time on describing her mother taking piano lessons than on her own entire married life!

Ginzburg's Lessico Famigliare (Family Sayings in English) is one of the most beautiful, sad, funny, touching, powerful novels of the twentieth century. It focusses on what its title says it focusses on -- the little sayings, catch-phrases, that every family has, that make up the family lexicon, and that her family had an abundance of. Just out of focus, beyond the brightest light of the narrative, are the events of the times -- the rise of fascism, the Second World War, the Mussolini racial laws. In between are the family's experiences -- births, deaths, marriages -- and characters -- her parents, siblings, friends, husband. The seemingly inessential turns out to have great import, and the incredible understatement that results from not focussing on great events paradoxically gives those events an overwheliming reality.

I bought this book several years back. The grammar that was in it was very basic and was not always helpful in understanding how to use Russian grammar properly. But if you are just starting out and you only have room to fit it in your pocket, then I'd say go ahead. But I would recommend a more comprehensive grammar book for those who want to speak a little more clearly.

This book is an excellent quick reference on Russian grammar. The information is very well organized and concise (including very useful tables of all the case endings in the back), so it's easy to find what you need very quickly. In conjunction with an English-Russian, Russian-English dictionary I can have conversations over ICQ in Russian for practice. I wish Barron's would publish these books for more languages. They are excellent for learning the language or if you're just curious about how the grammar works.

Like a whisper amplified in a courtyard, Natalia Ginzburg's novel of war and love in World War II Italy resonates with understatement, building from a monologue of normalcy to a shout of anguish. "All Our Yesterdays" is the story of two families, neighbors in a small town in Italy whose lives become intertwined by affairs of the heart and mind, politics and sex, and by the ultimate commonality: death. Anna, the youngest daughter of the poorer family, becomes the central figure in this epic, and when she finds herself pregnant by the unthinking neighbor boy she agrees to marry an "uncle" who will provide for her. "Up till that day she had lived like an insect," Ginzburg writes. "An insect that knows nothing beyond the leaf upon which it hangs." Cenzo Rena, Anna's new husband, pledges to show her the world, but instead the world comes to them when German forces occupy their village, and the passive Anna finds herself caught in the unrelenting movement of war.

In Angus Davidson's translation of Ginzburg's spare, luminous prose, life-shattering events avoid melodrama through straightforward rendering. Just as Cenzo Rena finds it impossible to hate the Germans on an individual level once a soldier stumbles into their kitchen, Ginzburg's cry for peace finds its most powerful argument in the mundane details, in deft and sympathetic characterizations of flawed humanity, and through the "insect-like" observations of Anna. The story flows through family connections with the fluidity of gossip, but with none of the condemnation.

During a decade when war disrupts so much of "everyday life" in townships worldwide, it is worthwhile to rediscover a book like "All Our Yesterdays" which lets us in the front doors of ordinary families and leaves us sorting through their dirty laundry with a shock of recognition, with empathy, and with the desire to open our own doors to them.

Fascinating, absorbing, upsetting and boring -- these diaries are all of the above.Soviet Russia's not replete with oral histories of the 30's (they didn't have a WPA; they had Stalin), nor with many trustworthy contemporary accounts. They're in here, though. It's heartbreaking to read of everyday annoyances and delights, and to know the fate that was soon to befall many of these diarists. "A Chronicle of the Year 1937" is almost more than I could bear. A sad and good book, well worth reading.

Baranskaya swears this is not a feminist work, but it's hard for American women to read it and not think about feminism. The thing is, there is no thesis here, no statement of injustice or plea ofr reparation: Baranskaya's novella has a "suck it up - this is how it is" tone. This tone makes the work uniquely Russian and it maddens most Western readers. Must read for anyone interested in Russian daily life, comparative cultural studies and women's studies.

This book should have ended with the story of the Locusts. The rest of the book seems desconnected and the characters are not developed. It was one of the worse books I have ever read. There is no plot, direction, climax or anything else that holds your interest.

Bleak....I'm a devoted fan of Antonio Lobo Antunes and if you have read (and enjoyed) South of Nowhere then you are destined to like this book.How to describe it...imagine lethargy induced by overwhelming humidity and a knowledge that all action is futile-this effectively was the atmosphere which I attributed the novel...it is a rare novel which has the capacity to leave such an impression.

If you do subsequently read this novel(or have read it),others of potential interest include:South of Nowhere,Pedro Paramo and The Plain in Flames,Under the Volcano,The Gates of the City and Little Mountain...the others I forget,no matter.

This field guide is unfortunately the only readily-available guide to the birds of the former USSR and environs. The presentation style reflects its 1989 origins. Reminicient of other early bird field guides, the color photographs are in a separate section from the text and map of each bird. Needing to jump between sections is unwieldy. Another negative is that only the breeding plumages of birds is given, many birds look very different when not breeding. To its credit, the distribution maps are on the same page as the textual descriptions of each bird. The text seems to be complete and very helpful. In summary, this book is a valuable resource to birdwatchers in the former USSR, but only because it is the only game in town.

i just started listening to galib.. it's been 7 days.. the more i listen.. the more depth i find.. each of his 'sher's could have possibly multiple interpretations.. but actually that strngthens the point that they are really have a deep & 'dard'-filled meaning..

i am amazed....

u know about 30 years back when my father was my age.. he used to read galib & used to try understand it.. & now i am doing it .. 30 years later.. i actually realized that there is something in galib's 'shayari' that would just go on for ages to come......

This book isn't really worth the paper its printed on. The code examples are very incomplete, and the book covers the subject matter very poorly in my opinion. I don't know how well Mastering Delphi 5 covers ADO, but Delphi 5 Developers Guide barely mentions it, which is why I purchased this book. The examples in this book are terrible, and it skips over a lot of information that I had to hunt down in newsgroups. All in all, I'm sorry I purchased it, and did better using newsgroups and mailing lists then with this book.

Based on the title of this Delphi and ADO book: Advanced Delphi Developer's Guide to ADO, I expected "only" coverage of ADOExpress in Delphi. However, that's only a part of this book. The book consists of 23 chapters, starting with the Microsoft Data Access Components (MDAC), OLE DB Providers, ADO and its role in the Delphi Database Architecture. ADOExpress components like TADOCOnnection, TADOCommand, TADODataSet etc. are covered in a lot of detail - as expected. However, apart from these "basics", the book also contains chapters that explain how to actually build ADO Applications, and how to do Business Graphics and Reporting with ADO. Even after those chapter, we're only still halfway the book.
Further topics include OLAP and ADO, ADOX in Delphi, JRO Objects, and a very helpful chapter on deploying ADO applications. Chapter 19 and later introduce Distributed Computing; Windows DNA (Distributed interNet Applications), including RDS and MTS with ADO. There's even a chapter on MIDAS ADO Applications.
There are also a number of appendices; and the most interesting one covers BDE to ADO migration issues!

Well, to begin with I'm don't understand why the book got so many bad reviews. While it may not an advanced text, it does cover the Delphi side of ADO very well. I have an almost complete Delphi reference library (haven't added the D6 stuff yet). I can absolutely say that this book covers more ADO than the other books I've bought (D6 Developer's Guide devotes 6 pages to the topic, D4 Unleashed devotes NO pages, and Mastering D5 devotes less than 10 pages).

I don't think the bad reviewers did read the book at all. This book covers Delphi ADO use and not ADO technology basics. If you are looking for an "Inside ADO Nuts-And-Bolts" type of book, buy another book, like the Microsoft Press series since ADO is a Microsoft technology. But if you want to learn how to use the ADO Express component suite for Delphi, then this is the book for you. I've been doing Delphi for 6 years now and I am no novice, and I certainly found the book helpful.

On a side note, I would add that while the grammar in the book may not be perfect (it definitely needed better proofing before press time), the Authors unquestionably know the material. It's worth an A+ in my opinion, and I am thankful to have gotten ahold of solid material for a change. I do find that using Newgroups isn't helpful since the people tend to rant and rave about things completed unrelated to the posted topics. This book delivers focused material, and it has practical examples that you can apply and test right away. A companion CD is included, which I find to be a nice touch.

Great book, great topic, and useful information. The bottom line is try it for yourself. I did.