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The Ravenous Hyenas and the Wounded Sun: Myth and Ritual in Ancient India (Myth and Poetics)
Stephanie W. Jamison
Cornell University Press, 1991
Vedic Sanskrit literature contains a wealth of material concerning the mythology and religious practices of India between 1500 and 500 B.C.--a crucial period in the formation of traditional Indian culture. Tracing two key myths through a variety of texts, Jamison provides insight into the relationship between early Indic myth and ritual as well as offering a new methodology for their study.
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Un Lun Dun 46 reviews
China Mieville
Del Rey, 2007
Brilliant-- one of Mieville's best.
+ Good book for pre-teen readers
+ Charming, modern fairy tale
+ Fantastically bizzare
+ Un Lun Dun
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Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values 528 reviews
Robert M. Pirsig
HarperTorch, 2006
Couldn't put it down.
+ Neat
+ About this book
+ A book about overcoming intellectualism and becoming whole
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I've Heard the Vultures Singing: Field Notes on Poetry, Illness, and Nature 3 reviews
Lucia Perillo
Trinity University Press, 2007
A book worth your attention
+ A thoughtful, reflective, autobiographical narrative about adapting to severe change, highly recommended.
+ Buy now while still in first edition
It used to be one could recommend only three books that dealt with the complexities of multiple sclerosis in a manner both truthful and stylish: Diary of a Disappointed Man by W.N.P. Barbellion, Baroque 'n' Roll by Brigid Brophy and Lost Property by Ben Sonnenberg. Now I've Heard the Vultures ...
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Where the Sidewalk Ends: Poems and Drawings141 reviews
HarperCollins, 1974
quirky yet sentimental
+ For Ages 9 to 120
+ One of the best childrens books ever.. also great for adults!
+ Every child should have this.
+ The Best
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How to Kill a Dragon: Aspects of Indo-European Poetics7 reviews
Calvert Watkins
Oxford University Press, USA, 2001
AWESOME & EXHAUSTIVE MASTERPIECE
+ Extremely interesting work
+ A good first step to enter indo-european "poetics"
+ The culmination of a lifetime of singular scholarship
+ "Technical" but well written.
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One Hundred Years of Solitude (P.S.)55 reviews
Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2006
Hater of Magic
+ Garcia Marquez is great!
+ Excellent, but not typical of Marquez.
I knew I would hate the book. I can't stand magic, fantasy books or huge sprawling books. The short elegant novel is for me. But I thought I'd just try a few pages. A day later, my work copletely ignored, I emerged exhausted but exilerated. Yet, this is one of the greatest books I've ever read ...
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On Bullshit 174 reviews
Harry G. Frankfurt
Princeton University Press, 2005
Reference guide to business ethics
+ Two Key Points -- No BS
+ Thin and Expensive but interesting
Quirky and very small (67 pages in a pocket-sized hardback format), this purports to be an academic consideration of the meaning of the titular word. And in fact it does give serious thought to the distinction between lying and BS-ing.
Intriguing is the best review I can think of for this book, ...
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The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse (Gollancz)58 reviews
Robert Rankin
Gollancz, 2003
Not For Everyone, But Worth Giving It A Try
+ I have to read everything this author has ever written.
+ Fun and Silly Nior Comedy
I don't know if I can put this book in the same league as the Discworld and Hitchiker's novels that the author is often compared to, but I found it delightfully hilarious and literally laugh out loud funny. I was traveling quite a bit for work while reading this and found myself not being able to ...
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Wild Ducks Flying Backward27 reviews
Tom Robbins
Bantam, 2006
Robbins & Ducks
+ i'm torn
+ Contrary to popular belief
Tom Robbins has been a favorite writer of mine since the 70's. However, I was only aware of his fiction. In Wild Ducks, I found a whole new genre of his writings and musings. Some essays, some reports, some simply not available for a pigeon hole but all highly entertaining. If you have been a ...
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The Flowers of Evil (Oxford World's Classics)22 reviews
Charles Baudelaire
Oxford University Press, USA, 1998
The first (and one of the best) modern poet's of our time
+ McGowan's Baudelaire
+ The lurid and arabesque world of Baudelaire
Baudelaire's poetry is a potent brew of Poe's mystery/terror, Flaubert's realism, Byron's brand of romanticism and a touch Sade's sexual philosophy. Having said this however, I do not wish to say that Baudelaire's Fleur du Mal is derivative, far from it! In many ways, Baudelaire's poetry is like ...
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Neverwhere579 reviews
Neil Gaiman
Avon, 1998
Mythic magic
+ If you liked Alice...
+ Fantastic narrative
+ The perfect book...
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A Brief History of Everything99 reviews
Ken Wilber
Shambhala, 2001
amazed at wilber's ability to turn the dense lucid
+ An interesting book on truth and knowledge
+ Kosmology 101
wilber is worth all the hype:
he is a true pioneer of
the emerging phase of planetary evolution.
this book is a great primer.
here he masterfully weaves multiple threads
from hugely diverse sources;
from science to mysticism,
from history to philosophy.
the result is stunningly ...
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The Beast That Shouted Love at the Heart of the World3 reviews
Harlan Ellison
St Martins Pr, 1984
Eleven stories and a lousy introduction.
+ Mostly 60's-era Ellison, and very good
A lot of people skip introductions to books which is just as well in the case of this one but the contents really do not need an introduction. The eleven stories here, first published between 1957 and 1969, can stand up and speak for themselves very well indeed. From the opening shot of the title ...
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Squee's Wonderful Big Giant Book of Unspeakable Horrors108 reviews
Jhonen Vasquez
SLG Publishing, 1998
Classic
+ Don't want to share a seat on the bus?
+ Hilarious
+ wonderfully dark sci-fi/ horror comic
+ Squeeeeeeee!!!!!!!
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Out of the Loud Hound of Darkness: A Dictionarrative3 reviews
Karen Elizabeth Gordon
Pantheon, 1998
Elixir of Wit
+ Great
To read any of Karen Elizabeth Gordon's books is to be happily drunk on words. By turns informative, giddy, erotic, hilarious, mysterious and wondrous, it is almost incidental that this and her other books are also penultimate authoritative sources on English language grammar, usage and meaning. ...
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Scientific Progress Goes 'Boink': A Calvin and Hobbes Collection28 reviews
Bill Watterson
Andrews McMeel Publishing, 1991
Hysterical and bittersweet
+ Thanks-Calvin and Hobbes Collection
+ Scientific Progress Goes 'Boink': A Calvin and Hobbs Collection
+ Wickedly funny comic strip
+ Calvin and Hobbes-the Dynamic Duo
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The Deluxe Transitive Vampire: A Handbook of Grammar for the Innocent, the Eager and the Doomed33 reviews
Karen Elizabeth Gordon
Pantheon, 1993
I think everyone should own a copy!
+ example-driven rather than explanatory
+ Grammar goes beyond boring
This is my very favorite grammar reference book of all time. With Karen Gordon at the chalkboard, learning grammar does not have to be boring.
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The Magical Monkey King: Mischief in Heaven5 reviews
Ji-Li Jiang, Youshan Tang
Shen's Books, 2004
Good version of Journey to the West for kids
+ More Money King Please!
+ A Magical Hooray!
+ Magical Monkey King: Mischief in Heaven
+ Amazing, enjoyable, and whimsical read for all ages.
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The Unquiet Grave: A Word Cycle by Palinurus8 reviews
Cyril Connolly
Persea Books, 2005
Unwittingly, a masterpiece
+ A voyage towards a masterpiece?
+ Famous Word Cycle
+ It makes you think
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