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by Philip B. Crosby
ISBN: 0850132665
Audio Cassette
Condition: Used: Like New
Comments: Sold with pride and shipped with confirmation for US addresses. Audio Cassette Book and original case in like new condition.
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by Anne Tyler
ISBN: 0375403086
Audio Cassette
Condition: Used: Very Good
Comments: Sold with pride and shipped with confirmation for US addresses. Audio cassette book from private collection, in great listening condition. Minimal wear on the original case.
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Customer Reviews
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Patchwork of simple truths
Rating  (4)
Date: 2009-08-07
0 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
A Patchwork Planet doesn't draw the reader in with heart-pulsing action, or great tension. This is a novel of emotional conundrums, of everyday life. It deals with the nature of ambition, showing how recognition and private achievement are two different things. It deals with self as a social product versus self as the embodiment of choices. It also is a coming-of-age story of a kind.
Its (anti-)hero is Barnaby Gaitlin, an ex reform-school pupil, divorced at the age of twenty-nine, penniless, and a rebel to his conventional, well-to-do family. Barnaby is stuck between what he knows is the right path: finding fulfilment in his low-paid job helping old people with odd jobs, being himself with his kid daughter, looking for a partner who respects him - and what is expected of him: superficial success, money, falling in line with parental bigotry. Two women, after a few twists, come to represent these alternatives: the outwardly perfect, angelic Sophia and the moodier Martine. Though Barnaby isn't a character one necessarily identifies with, Tyler's feat is to make us accept his chosen course as right. Modesty matters, she says. Her style, as simple as can be, devoid of a single metaphor, is adapted to her narrator's voice, though it also seems to be how she likes to write. It makes her message all the more convincing.
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Must be an acquired taste
Rating  (2)
Date: 2009-07-29
1 out of 2 customers found this reveiw helpful
I have friends who LOVE Anne Tyler, and keep prevailing upon me to try (and re-try) her books. So I have, with this one... But this kind of writing must be an acquired taste. I'm almost halfway into "A Patchwork Planet" -- and really, nothing has happened yet. Once again, we have this charmingly, almost poignantly purposeless character, incredibly passive, waiting for something to HAPPEN to him. Just as the reader waits for something (anything!) to happen to him. I want him to get up off his leisurely arse, take charge, and DO something! -- but he doesn't seem the type, so I doubt I'll bother finishing the book. This is probably due to a shortcoming on my part: I'm far too impatient to be deliberately set adrift in this casual, aimless sort of story.
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Interesting one time read
Rating  (3)
Date: 2009-04-07
2 out of 2 customers found this reveiw helpful
If you are looking for an action packed book with real plot and character development skip "A Patchwork Planet." This book is just like the quote above there are epiphanies on one page by our main character Barnaby and then the next page we are right back to where we started. In fact the book comes full circle in Penn Station with a mysterious envelope that needs to be delivered to a woman on the other end. However just because I make the bold claim that the book and Barnaby are shallow does not mean it is a waste of time to read. There are moments that are absolutely wonderful. When Barnaby looses a client to death it is absolutely a heartfelt moment where he has this stunning realization that material possessions mean nothing when you die (it is stunning for Barnaby because often he seems to be in a world of his own just bouncing along). The book works wonderfully with time. There are so many explorations of how time changes things, does not change people and seems to slow down once a certain age is reached. Those portions of book are worth it. Overall it was an interesting read but like many of the books I have read throughout my life it will be traded for another and probably not revisited.
I write more about this on my blog Amanda's Weekly Zen.
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Seamless Style
Rating  (5)
Date: 2009-03-08
1 out of 2 customers found this reveiw helpful
"A Patchwork Planet"--what a terrific title--has a dark edge and all the rich assortment of Anne Tyler detail we've come to expect. Barnaby Gaitlin isn't exactly likable. He's a bit clueless and under-powered. All the Gaitlins have a story about an angel and he's looking for his own. He's boastful at odd times and tells "geeky, unnecessary lies." He's divorced when we meet him and later learn that he woke up one day and realized he was married to a "station wagon mommy." But he has an eye for clothes, challenges the notion that a spot of comfort and privilege had been reserved for him in life and goes about his business working for "Rent-A-Back," a service company that helps old and infirm people with their lifting and moving projects. He knows his life is "muddy" and he's constantly filtering what people say and how they act, studying the things that annoy him.
The plot has a mildly Patricia Highsmith quality to it--a mostly good but down-and-out sort who lives in a basement apartment and struggles against the expectations others have for him. He's easily deluded by his own curious and over-active imagination. But he knows he can delude himself and even scolds himself for pursuing his delusions. And then one particular pursuit pays off and the book is off and running, as he connects with a woman. The woman represents hope and a chance to start clean. Or does it? "Couldn't people change?" Barnaby asks at one point. "Did they have to be who they were from cradle to grave?" He's thinking about others but asking about himself, too. And that's the book in a nutshell--can Barnaby escape his reputation and move up in the eyes of others? And, does he really want to? A wonderful series of mix-ups and miscommunications leads to a juicy, fine finish that's ripe for multiple interpretations.
Tyler puts together a fine ensemble cast of characters--each of the elderly clients of Barnaby's are sharply drawn as are the members of Barnaby's extended family and his closest co-worker, Martine.
The details are wonderful. The "fragile, sore-looking" skin. The dress form--or is it a twin form?--in the attic. The "creak, pause, creak" of a rocking chair upstairs. The "little white, pipe-cleaner shins." There are little Tyler gifts throughout, enriching the entire experience. The planet may be a patchwork, but Anne Tyler's style is seamless.
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Yawn yawn yawn, not well written
Rating  (1)
Date: 2008-12-02
1 out of 4 customers found this reveiw helpful
This book is poorly written. It's too boring to even put me to sleep. The main character is not likable, not someone I"d want to know, not someone I care about. I just started reading this and am trying with all my might to keep reading, but it drags on. The main character is missing something, I want to feel like I like him, but I can't! he is a rebel but not well crafted enough so far to be heroic in an every day way.
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by Jayne Lewis
ISBN: 1570421633
Audio Cassette
Condition: New
Comments: Sold with pride and shipped with confirmation for US addresses. Factory sealed, brand new.
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Customer Reviews
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Informative, but.....
Rating (5)
Date: 2000-04-01
1 out of 5 customers found this reveiw helpful
I purchased the Study Guide from a local bookstore the other day. It is very informative for the modern high school student, as I am. Although it is very detailed, I imagine the reader should read the poem for themselves, and interpret it to their views and use the guide as a reference guide. Somoene who loves poetry, I highly reccomend Paradise Lost as long as Paradise Regained. Both beautifully done, as I said in a previous review, "Milton is an absolute genius"
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ISBN: 0788745719
Audio Cassette
Condition: Used: Good
Comments: Sold with pride and shipped with confirmation for US addresses. EX LIBRARY audio cassette book in very good listening condition. There is moderate wear on the original case.
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by Griswold
ISBN: 1558488057
Audio Cassette
Condition: New
Comments: Sold with pride and shipped with confirmation for US addresses. Brand new, factory sealed.
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by Neale Donald Walsch, Deepak Chopra
ISBN: 156170735X
Audio Cassette
Condition: Used: Good
Comments: Sold with pride and shipped with confirmation for US addresses. Cassettes in very good listening condition. Moderate wear on the case.
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Customer Reviews
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Hell-o
Rating (1)
Date: 2004-07-30
0 out of 18 customers found this reveiw helpful
There is such a thing as Hell, m`dears, its listening to the meanderings of two geezers who both think they`re God but can`t decide which it is.
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Very Enjoyable for Chopra and Walsch Fans
Rating (4)
Date: 2001-10-04
34 out of 34 customers found this reveiw helpful
I love Deepak Chopra and Neale Donald Walsch, therefore I enjoyed listening to this tape. They threw out some new ideas that really resonated with me and emphasized some old ideas that I had neglected to put into practice, but need to. However, I don't know that everyone would like this tape. Anyone not familiar with these two men would probably find the dialogue cumbersome and hard to follow. Mr. Walsch in particular has a tendency to say things like "The most important concept in spirituality is... here it comes now....and I mean this.... here it is..." before he tells what the concept is. Additionally, this really is not a "dialogue" as I would define it, i.e. a conversation between two men. It is two separate mini-lectures followed by some question-and-answers. But both men are wonderful teachers and very funny at times. So if you already are interested, go ahead and get it. If you aren't, wait til you've read their books.
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To the two you.....
Rating (5)
Date: 2001-01-16
23 out of 34 customers found this reveiw helpful
This review does not have anything to do with the book. I just wanna leave the following line to the two reviewers above: There's no such thing as right or wrong....you'll see.
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give me a break!
Rating (3)
Date: 2000-05-17
84 out of 96 customers found this reveiw helpful
This review has nothing to do with the book. I am writing in to say how taken aback I am at the narrow minded reviewer who said that the author is on his way to hell because he is going against what the bible says and taking everyone who even considers this book with him. Spoken like a true Christian-NOT! Maybe he should slow down on the hateful reviews and re-read that book that he and people of his ilk quote so confidently from all the time and broadcast their ignorance of Jesus' teachings to the world. I in no way pretend to know the bible from front to back, but I do seem to recall Jesus saying something or another about tolerance and love. Well if the author is on his way to hell, he'll be in plenty of company--and I'm sure they will still be quoting the good book there too. I'm sorry about being so outspoken but I have had enough of this bull! Sir, you are an embarrassment to the Christian community.
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heard from god? youre on your way to hell...
Rating (1)
Date: 2000-05-14
7 out of 131 customers found this reveiw helpful
i dont know what religion this author claims to be apart of, but it is not christianity. if you are a curious person searching for spiritual answers, the bible is the perfect place to look, or at least read books from authors that believe what the bible has to say. walsch constantly contradicts the bible and says the most outrageous things that are obvioulsy only to make people feel comfortable. i honestly believe that this author is on his way to hell, and every poor, innocent reader that is caught up in his sugarcoated religion, unless he comes to terms with the true facts of the bible and forms a real relationship with god. why would "god" contradict himself as he has done so many times in walsch's books? this is crazy.
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by William Langewiesche (Narrator: Richard M. Davidson)
ISBN: 1402556209
Audio Cassette
Condition: Used: Acceptable
Comments: Sold with pride and shipped with confirmation for US addresses. EX LIBRARY. All cassettes are in a very good, listening condition but the casing is lightly worn.
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Customer Reviews
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Ignore Negative Reviews
Rating (5)
Date: 2010-02-25
This is a wonderful piece of work, though obviously controversial. Langewiesche pulls no punches in showing some of the grimy underbelly of NY Fire Department behavior at ground zero in the weeks and months immediately after 9/11, and it's almost certain that most of the negative reviews are by folks seeking to maintain the cult of hero worship that has grown up around the rescue workers. None of this diminishes what those workers did, but the book does present a more balanced picture of what motivated those people. How many of us, for example, realized that fire fighters were in the act of looting one of the underground shops beneath the World Trade Center when it collapsed? Weeks later, when a fire truck was finally unearthed, it was found to contain hundreds of items of clothing that had been ransacked from nearby shops.
Conover has been widely attacked for showing this side of things, but this strikes me as quite unfair. The NY firefighters do get knocked off their pedestal a bit, but they aren't villainized, either. Rather than super hero, they are seen as merely human. Unlike most of the media covering this story, Conover is acting as a legitimate journalist.
I wholeheartedly recommmend this book.
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American Ground
Rating (4)
Date: 2009-07-22
Not finished with the book, but I am enjoying it so far. I received it very fast as promised, and I would recommend this seller any time !
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Exception story about the unbuilding
Rating (4)
Date: 2009-01-02
William Langewiesche was the only journalist who was at the 9/11 trade center site when they were unbuilding twin towers. American ground is his story about what happened in the months after the terrible attack on the towers.
The book is constructed as series of short stories all linked together to show the big picture. The focus in the book is on the actual unbuilding, the deconstruction of the "pile of rubble" that was left after two planes crashed in the WTC. It is also about the different groups that existed on the site, how they worked together and, especially, how they didn't. It is about how people automatically form tribes and create rituals. It is about being human.
The story starts with a couple of stories about the unbuilding process itself, a couple of months in the cleanup. After giving the reader some view of "the pile", the author moves back in time and constructs the WTC attack from different perspectives to show the different reactions and how different people got involved in the cleanup. From there, the story mainly continues chronologically. It describes the hard parts of the cleanup. There is a lot of focus on the arguments that happened between the different groups. It ends, as it should be, with the end of the unbuilding and showing how different people has been so involved... that they will actually miss the experience.
The existing amazon reviews are worth checking. Seldom do books get an either very positive or very negative rating. This is because the book covers some sensitive issues that happened -- looting by different parties and fighting between the tribes on the site. Whether these taboos are true or not, I found the book a easy ready. The book kept me reading.
I'd rate American Ground between four and five stars. I moved to the four because it IS a good book and I thoroughly did enjoy it. Though, it is not exceptional enough to warrant five stars. I would recommend this book to anyone who would want an insight in the unbuilding of the WTC.
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Worth a look
Rating (5)
Date: 2008-11-09
0 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
Considering the emotions of the various factions involved Langewiesche does the best he can in an impossible situation. He is forever tittering between the two sides wanting to tell the truth as he sees it and coming off too hard in the various points that he makes or careening to the other side and glossing over the truth.
We (most of the reading public at large) were not on the site nor did we have family involved either in the direct attack or in the cleanup so Langewiesche tries to tell a story about what it was like to be at ground zero for a few people a living history in the present tense. While I would say he did a good job someone who lost a family member might have a different perspective but he is absolutely correct that there is a fine line between respect for the dead it doesn't matter if it is civilian, NYPD, FDNY or Port Authority and an unhealthy cult of martyrdom.
Overall-Whatever the case and whatever your point of view the country is going to continue to grapple with these issues for years to come.
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Down In The Hole
Rating (3)
Date: 2008-07-27
2 out of 2 customers found this reveiw helpful
William Langewiesche's "American Ground" reads like something Edward R. Murrow might have written, if he had been born on the planet Vulcan and beamed down to the site of the World Trade Center right after the 9-11 attacks. Emotionally detached, with a faint hint of contempt for the heavy passions the attacks unleashed, it's not a book of comfort or pride, but of stubborn facts, nervelessly related.
For that some praise its bravery. Others say it reeks of disrespect, especially toward the members of the Fire Department of New York whose energetic response to the WTC fires cost them hundreds of comrades. To me, it's a book about a hole with a hole, that being Langewiesche's unwillingness to deal with the emotions of 9-11.
Reading the Amazon.com reviews, one might think the entire book is about a fire truck loaded with looted blue jeans, or the last words by one of the flight attendants on a hijacked aircraft. "American Ground" only mentions these things in passing, focusing instead on the massive clean-up of the ruined WTC site, a leaky cofferdam with rickety steel beams, potential Freon gas leakage, and a sometimes chaotic command structure worsened at times by "tribal" issues regarding jurisdiction and the handling of human remains.
What Langewiesche doesn't write about is the suffering of widows, the national mourning, episodes of bravery right after the attacks, or even the other two planes hijacked that day. Its subtitle: "Unbuilding The World Trade Center", is what it's about, not a metaphor for demythologizing the 9-11 attacks but the actual demolition work around the ruins.
I think Langewiesche missed an opportunity his access provided him, to use the clean-up as a framing device for getting more into the larger story of 9-11. To me, the clean-up of the World Trade Center by itself is just not that gripping. Langewiesche writes with energy and an eye for detail, but he doesn't seem to get much past the four or five guys in charge of the clean-up work, civil servants and construction guys of commendable energy but minimal charisma or vision.
To Langewiesche's firefighter critics, the anger of their response is something "American Ground" seems to prefigure in its account of how FDNY personnel made themselves unpopular with others at the clean-up site by languishing in bitter recrimination:
"Some had lost family when the Trade Center fell, and nearly all had lost friends. Their bereavement was real. Still, for nearly two months they had let their collective emotions run unchecked and they had been indulged and encouraged in this by society at large - the presumption being something like: 'It helps to cry.'"
For his part, Langewiesche is having none of it. It's probably this as much as that story about the fire truck with the jeans that contributes to the animus. Detractors might have more of a case if they didn't write with the same sense of entitlement-through-tragedy that Langewiesche notes clouded judgments and colored actions at the WTC site.
But Langewiesche's impartial tone lacks for something, too, more now than when it was first published in 2002, when emotions were so raw and overpowering that it was a relief reading a 9-11 account without them. Now it reads as a story about a giant hole, and the day-to-day decisions that were made to keep things running at a complicated worksite. The New York Times called the book "coldblooded" - cool-blooded might be a better term. But it's disengaging read from this remove in time, and I suspect it will be less essential reading in years to come.
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by Stephen R. Covey
ISBN: 1883219639
Audio Cassette: 3 pages
Condition: New
Comments: Sold with pride and shipped with confirmation for US addresses. New, factory sealed.
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by Avi
ISBN: 0788711601
Audio Cassette
Condition: Used: Good
Comments: Sold with pride and shipped with confirmation for US addresses. EX LIBRARY audio cassette book in very good listening condition. There is moderate wear on the original case.
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Customer Reviews
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Avi never wrote anything better and never will
Rating (4)
Date: 2010-02-07
As his village is tumbled by English soldiers, Patrick O'Connell, 12, throws a rock at Lord Kirkle's agent, who threatens him with arrest if he doesn't leave Ireland in two days. He and his sister Maura, 15, sail to Liverpool. Does he stay out of trouble there? No. He meets Laurence, 11, a runaway who doesn't give his surname. It's Kirkle, and he's trying to avoid being found by various parties. The boys form a plan to stow Laurence on the ship the O'Connells are sailing to Boston on. You have to admire someone willing to break the law for someone he met yesterday.
You also have to admire an author who can create a girl who's both strong and completely believable as a person of her time. Maura's prudent, compassionate, and brave. She's never ashamed of her poverty or religion or country. She doesn't hesitate before heading into burning buildings, and she slaps one of the best tricksters in Liverpool. (Although I maintain that Chapter 67 works best if you assume Toggs's offer to take her somewhere better is sincerely meant. No professional liar would repeat a lie to the same person and expect them to believe it. He already has her money; what's he interested in now is her.)
One of my favorite elements of this book is that all the characters have appropriate prejudices. Maura is initially reluctant to help an English boy. Laurence notes Patrick's dirtiness and "puts on airs" with Fred, who scorns his naïveté. Half-Irish Mr. Pickler looks down on emigrants, and Patrick doesn't want to be near a Protestant minister.
The plot, as the cover proclaims, is suspenseful. Even the second or third time through you can't help but worry about the kids. There are some ironic or comically absurd scenes and some nice turns of phrase, like Pickler lifting his candle to consider Clemspool "in a new light." There are allusions literary and historical - Lady Glencora, Robert Peel, the Iron Duke, "'Look at his togs, Fagin,' said Charley Bates." Also, there's a floating church.
I recommend it for anyone with the slightest tolerance for historical kidlit.
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Good characters, good story, good writing: yay history!
Rating (5)
Date: 2009-09-08
Avi is one of those authors who I get all giddy over, even if I don't go to extreme lengths to read all their books. I've read only three or so of Avi's, but every one of them has been so good that I know anything else of his will be good, too. And so it is with The Escape From Home!
It's hard for me to separate my giddiness of Avi yay! with the awesomeness that is the book, so this review might be a little fangirl-y. First off, I love the setting. Avi does history fiction very well, and this is no exception. The 18th century has a lot of potential for depressing situations (which I hate), but with Avi I don't worry about it so much because he always does it with so much elegance and sympathy. The Escape From Home has depressing things in it, like Patrick and Maura getting kicked out of their home after nearly starving and freezing to death in it, but, again, Avi didn't make it anything more than it was and it worked for me. The characters helped a lot: Patrick and Maura are so strong and brave that they override any crappy bits they may have to get through. No woe-is-me wailing here, folks!
I also liked Laurence, the runaway rich boy. I can understand why he runs away (I probably would have, too), and though he's really naive and somewhat stupid, I think he'll grow up into a good man (and hopefully a smarter one). He just has to not get himself killed first.
The writing is pure Avi. It's elegant, exciting, and somewhat sophisticated. I don't know if that comes from the fact that it's a historical novel (and so the language is different already), or if it's just Avi, but whatever it is, it works.
The only thing I didn't particularly like was how Maura was always portrayed as a frail, beautiful damsel in distress. I don't think she was a damsel in distress! And sure, she's pretty, but that doesn't mean a weak woman who needs protecting, like some of the male characters seem to think. I wish Avi had made that point stronger- I think he was trying to say that, but it wasn't coming across as effectively as it might have.
Anyway, The Escape From Home ends on a kind of cliffhanger, so I can't wait to read the next book!
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The Escape From Home (Beyond the Western Sea, Book 1)
Rating (5)
Date: 2009-03-29
I purchased Avi for students in my after-school History Club, then became a fan myself. Both books in this set are hard to put down, typical of the author, but also an easy way to get history into my students.
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Interesting series
Rating (4)
Date: 2008-09-26
Great series indeed because it combinesd inspirations from many Charles Dickens novels (mostly Oliver Twist), Mark Twain's Prince & The Pauper, as well as somewhat realistic descriptions of Ireland's citizen's plight after the potato fsmine. Quite adventurous and funny at times too.
One interesting thing I just realized is that at one point in the story, the one boy is made to hide in the hulk of an abandoned ship on the shores of Liverpool. The ship happened to be The Seahawk, the same ship Charlotte Doyle sailed in her story, twenty years earlier...
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Beyond the Western Sea: Great book by a great Author
Rating (5)
Date: 2007-04-15
1 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
I have always been a fan of Avi, and I have to tell you that this is probably my favourite book by him.
(Don't worry, no spoilers ahead)
Beyond the Western Sea begins in the poor village of Kilonny, in Ireland, where Maura, Patrick and their mother struggle to survive. Their little brother has passed away recently, their father left for America a few months ago, and they are very poor.
One day, a letter arrives. It was written by their father, and he says that he has settled down in America, and he wants his family to join him. He has put money and tickets inside the envelope, so Maura, Patrick and their mother start their journey toward America. The kids and their mother get separated soon afterwards, so Maura and Patrick have to continue their dreaded journey alone.
They arrive at Liverpool (where their ship to America will sail from), where they meet Ralph Toggs, a young man with no good intentions, Mr. Drabble, a poor actor that soon becomes like a father to them, and Laurence, a troubled kid that fled from home back in London, looking for justice away from his father, Lord Kirkle, and his annoying brother.
Beyond the Western Sea is a must-read, and I highly recommend it to people of all ages.
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What customers are saying…
Amazon.com Feedback Rating:
4.9 stars over the past 12 months (989 ratings)
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Recent Feedback
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5 out of 5: 2010-03-11
Item in "said" condition with fast shipping. Great Seller! A++
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5 out of 5: 2010-03-11
a great book, packaged well, thanks so much
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5 out of 5: 2010-03-10
the person of UPS didn't take the package to the house. have to go to UPS Office.
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5 out of 5: 2010-03-10
World-class! : )
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5 out of 5: 2010-03-09
quality as advertised. quick delivery. thanks much.
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