Discoveries: Vuillard: Post-Impressionist Master (Discoveries (Abrams))

Book Description

Best known for his intimate scenes of domestic life, Edouard Vuillard (1868- 1940) was one of the great Post-Impressionist artists. Yet—in contrast to contemporaries such as Bonnard, Matisse, and Gauguin—relatively little has been published about him. This book covers all of Vuillard's work and explores his association with a number of important stylistic groups, such as the Nabis and Symbolists. The plentiful illustrations are sure to appeal to all fans of Post-Impressionist painting.

Book Description

Paper dolls fans and history buffs will treasure this collection featuring one of the world's most famous and fascinating couples. Figures of Napoleon and his empress, Josephine, are accompanied by lavish costumes for their wedding, coronation, and other important occasions. 2 costumed dolls; 14 additional costumes.

Customer Reviews:

PAPER DOLLS .......2006-08-31

A RANGE OF PERIOD COSTUMS THAT GIVE A GREAT IMPRESSION OF CLOTHING IN THE NAPOLEONIC ERA .BEATIFULL AND IMPRESSIVE

Napoleon and Josephine.......2005-04-16

The illustrations in this paper doll book are lovely and colorful, reflecting the return to luxury after the horrors of the French revolution.
It's a pity that the paper used is not card, but rather softer paper with card used only for the cover and dolls.
The costumes are well drawn with great attention to detail, however Josephine has a pregnant silhouette, which was not the shape of women's fashion during the time. The preganant look is ironic since the reason Napoleon divorced her was her inability to conceive a child by him.

Book Description

The primal image of the black-caped vampire Dracula has become an indelible fixture of the modern imagination. It's recognition factor rivals, in its own perverse way, the familiarity of Santa Claus. Most of us can recite without prompting the salient characteristics of the vampire: sleeping by day in its coffin, rising at dusk to feed on the blood of the living; the ability to shapeshift into a bat, wolf, or mist; a mortal vulnerability to a wooden stake through the heart or a shaft of sunlight. In this critically acclaimed excursion through the life of a cultural icon, David Skal maps out the archetypal vampire's relentless trajectory from Victorian literary oddity to movie idol to cultural commidity, digging through the populist veneer to reveal what the prince of darkness says about us all.

Customer Reviews:

More than you ever wanted to know about Dracula..........2005-09-16

I first heard of David Skal from the Universal Classic Monster series of DVD's. David was on the accompanying documentary and did the audio commentary for Tod Browning's 1931 classic, Dracula. If you own the set and have run the documentary and, particularly, the commentary, then you've already experienced about three chapters of this book. What remains is a rich mine of details about every aspect of Dracula, the book, movies, and culture. And what a lot there is.

David's writing, like his speech, is precise, educated, and loaded with literary allusions. While no dilettante, I consider myself well read and was still left with the occasional "what the hell is talking about?" moment. The language is rich and occasionally reminds me of the mental images drawn by Anne Rice at the height of her powers. However, David is no snob and is not merely parading his impressive intellect - it's just that he knows so darn much about the subject.

And if I had any criticism of the book that would be it - David seems driven to exhaustively document every possible aspect of Dracula's existence. The detailed (and seemingly never ending) battles between Florence Stoker and the makers of "Nosferatu" is described in such detail that I wanted to scream "OKAY!! We get it! Nosferatu was a Dracula rip off and Flo didn't like it!!" But eventually the tale moves on and sets the stage for intricate negotiations between the Stoker estate and Universal. In retrospect (and considering how handsomely the studio profited) it's interesting to see that Universal bought almost unlimited use of the vampire for the paltry sum of $25,000.00 and is still making oodles of money hand over fist today. David covers all aspects of vampire lore from Byron's "The Giaour" (1813) to Mel Brooks' "Dracula, Dead and Loving It" (1995). And everything in between. Trust me, if it can be construed to be in any way connected with Dracula, it's in this book.

If you have any interest in gothic culture, or the movies that spawned it, this is a must have. Reading it is like enjoying an evening of conversation with a much beloved, if slightly eccentric, old friend, preferably over brandy in front of a glowing fireplace on a cold, cold night.

"I want no souls. Life is all I want." .......2005-08-28

Down deep, we all agree with the fly-eating Renfield. That's why we can't get his Master out of our system. David J. Skal's book Hollywood Gothic explains a lot of the reasons why.

Hollywood Gothic is like David Skal's Screams of Reason: Mad Science and Modern Culture. Hollywood Gothic and Screams of Reason both take horror motifs we know mostly from movies and trace them back to literature, where they originated.

Screams of Reason looks at the mad scientist figure in fiction, from central European vivisectionists like Dr. Frankenstein to postwar American A-bomb scientists. Hollywood Gothic is more narrow - - it covers Bram Stoker's novel Dracula, the plays adapted from it, and then the movies inspired by it - - F.W. Murnau's silent film Nosferatu, then the Universal and Hammer horror films.

Skal goes into detail about Bela Lugosi's career as Dracula on stage and film. He also digs up a lot of interesting information about the Spanish-language Dracula made simultaneously with the Bela Lugosi movie by producer Paul Kohner and cinematographer George Robinson - - who was responsible for the look of later Universal horror films like Dracula's Daughter and House of Dracula.

Kohner fell in love with and married the real star of the Spanish-language Dracula, Lupita Tovar as Eva - - the Mina Harker character - - and who could blame him. Skal calls her a "truly ingenuous ingenue." In Mexico she could barely go out in public without being mobbed.

Except for Bela Lugosi himself, almost everything about Kohner's Spanish version is better than Browning's. (That's my opinion from watching the movies, not just reading Hollywood Gothic.) Skal quotes people who worked on Tod Browning's Dracula that Browning was barely paying attention to the movie he was making.

For instance, when Dracula welcomes Jonathan Harker to his castle from the top of the staircase, in the English version a huge spider web is off to the side behind Dracula, but in the Spanish version Dracula is framed in the center of the web. We see Dracula rise from his coffin in the Spanish version where Browning just shows him suddenly standing there. (Seeing Christopher Lee rise from his coffin, or be destroyed in it, was always a high point of the Hammer movies for me.) Every night Kohner's director George Melford looked at the film Browning's crew shot during the day and improved on it for their version.

But there was (and is) something in the idea of the vampire that makes readers and audiences forgive hack storytelling.

If you haven't seen them already, you should watch the films before reading Hollywood Gothic. The Universal Legacy Collection of Dracula contains the Lugosi film, the Spanish-language version, Dracula's Daughter, and Son of Dracula. (There's more, but those are the best. Universal's release of the Legacy Collections of Dracula, Frankenstein, and the Wolf Man are the only good thing to come from the marketing of the movie Van Helsing.)

Hollywood Gothic has a lot of illustrations, many of which are theatrical and film ephemera from Skal's personal collection. (Yesterday I saw The Aristocrats - - Penn Gillette's documentary about the world's filthiest joke - - and one of the comedians was wearing a T-shirt with Dracula's face from the cover of the first Modern Library edition of the novel. SIDE NOTE: See The Aristocrats - - it's about how to tell a story and keep an audience hooked as much as it is about the history of blue humor.)

Reading Hollywood Gothic made me finally read Bram Stoker's novel. Because I've seen so many movies that tell the story I never read the book. While the writing style isn't great, at least it moves along, and you're introduced to Dracula right away.

I read over half of the 600-page novel The Historian - - apparently foredoomed to be a bestseller and a blockbuster movie - - and the character Dracula still hadn't made an appearance. I skimmed to the end and read the climax, but I was disappointed. When you build Dracula up as such a powerful being, it's hard to destroy him in a way that doesn't seem anticlimactic. (That's one of the reasons Kim Newman has given for why he started writing his Anno Dracula series - - if Dracula is such a terrible force, how could he be tracked down and killed so easily by an insane Dutch doctor and three upper-class twits who belong in the Drones Club with Bertie Wooster?)
And why do characters in The Historian struggle to find copies of Bram Stoker's novel at university libraries? It's been out in paperback all over the world since the early 1900s. Go to any W.H. Smith.

Filmmakers who've told the Dracula story understand something novelists sometimes don't - - Dracula shouldn't be just a menace offstage, he's the protagonist of the story. Dracula is the hero. He's the one we want to see - - and be. That's why our mothers were displeased when they caught us watching monster movies on TV when we were kids. Mom knew what we were thinking. The reason Stoker's novel works at all is because we're introduced to Dracula at the beginning, when Harker comes to Translyvania. What makes the novel disappointing is that we hardly see Dracula again after that.

But Skal reminds us that "La sangre es la vida." Dracula isn't going anywhere.

ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDATION: Check out Vampires: Los Muertos (see my review), the sequel to John Carpenter's Vampires, and an underrated movie. To me, it's a vampire movie that shows the monster as a Third World victim of globalist Van Helsings. (A rich white American woman can get the medicine she needs to stay alive (un-undead), while the brown vampire, stolen from her peasant family by a rich landowner, has only one way to get the sangre she needs. (I also like vampire movies that show how vampires might experience time differently than mortals - - Queen of the Damned also does this in an interesting way.) There's a scene of slow-motion slaughter in Los Muertos that the monstrous child in me responded to. Los Muertos also has the most sexist line I've every heard in a vampire movie, but you still identify with the female master vampire.

Fascinating History of Dracula's Path to the Silver Screen........2005-05-06

In "Hollywood Gothic" David Skal tells the story of "Dracula" that came after the classic of gothic horror was published in 1897. It's a fascinating, fact-filled tale of colorful personalities, legal battles, Hollywood politics, and a culture still captivated by the King of Literary Vampires. The book's seven chapters begin with author Bram Stoker, end with the Count's recent incarnations on stage and screen, and include the most insightful analysis of "Dracula"'s origins that I have read in the course of my minor obsession with the novel.

Chapter 1 explores "Dracula"'s literary and theatrical predecessors before moving on to discussion of the intellectual and sexual climate into which the book was published in 1897, the life and elusive character of its author Bram Stoker, and how the novel was received in its own day. David Skal does an impressive job of pulling together the relevant details, from diverse perspectives, of the novel's birth.

Chapter 2 details the legal battle waged by the Bram Stoker's widow, Mrs. Florence Stoker, to suppress the first cinematic adaptation of her husband's novel, 1922's "Nosferatu", the unauthorized German production directed by F.W. Murnau, now recognized as a masterpiece of silent cinema. Chapter 3 sees Mrs, Stoker finally authorize an adaptation to British dramatist Hamilton Deane, whose wordy, plodding "Dracula" play nevertheless achieved great financial success, attracting the attention of American theatrical producer Horace Liveright. Liveright enlisted journalist John Balderston to rewrite the play for Broadway and make it a smash hit on this side of the Atlantic.

Chapter 4 moves to Hollywood for the protracted negotiations over "Dracula"'s film rights. "Dracula"'s path through the early 20th century was mined with legal battles, and it is a credit to author David Skal that he is able to make interminable and constantly mutating negotiations into absorbing drama. Chapter 5 follows the winding road to the production of the first Hollywood "Dracula", the 1931 film starring Bela Lugosi, which, although made cheaply and lazily, was the first horror talkie and a financial life preserver for Universal Studios. Happily, Skal has dedicated Chapter 6 to the superior Spanish language version of "Dracula" that was filmed simultaneously, on the same sets, as the English version of the 1931 film, but with a different producer, director, cinematographer, and cast.

Chapter 7 tells us what became of the principle person's associated with the two 1931 films. Then it follows the legacy of "Dracula" from the 1930s forward, through its incarnations in film, plays, musicals, ballets, and other performances. Appendix A is a list of notable stage performances of "Dracula", 1897-2003. Appendix B is a list of about 200 films, 1921-2004, which feature the "Dracula" character or name. Thankfully, there is an index.

In outlining the contents of "Hollywood Gothic", I may have made the book seem dry. But the story of "Dracula"'s continuing life in film and on stage is as lively as the novel that inspired it -and it is written a good deal better. David Skal's tireless research and engaging style never fail to impress. "Hollywood Gothic" is an absorbing literary and cinematic history that "Dracula" fans shouldn't miss.

Nice Revision to an Already Great Book.......2005-01-05

David J. Skal is as readable as ever is this newly revised edition of the definitive Hollywood Gothic as he covers the history of Dracula from his creation by Bram Stoker to the various and multiple version on screen and stage. The thrust of the story is, of course, on the novel and the iconic Bela Lugosi movie, with an additional nice, but smaller, chunk on Nosferatu. The author is particularly effective in combining, in an interesting fashion, the creative, financial, and legal elements. His analysis is always clear and interesting and will definitely send the reader on a viewing frenzy. Vampire movies seem always to be streaming forth from Hollywood and Dracula is and always will be the most tempting of the bunch. This book brings this fascination to life, as it were. A very good job.

Nifty little book about the granddaddy of vampires.......2004-10-08

I read this book years ago. It's good to see it's coming back into print.

Skal charts the history of Stoker's book, beginning with early drafts extant, following the tangled film history, including the legal battles over Murnau's "Nosferatu", Universal Studio's struggle to get the rights for the Lugosi pic, and everything that happened after.

It won't change your life, but its fascinating stuff. Skal's style is quick, clean, and to the point. This book is a lot of fun, giving insights into publishing, film, theater, and the audience reaction to and participation in all of those mediums. A must for all vampire buffs, film students, and those who are curious about the inner workings of popular culture.

HOLLYWOOD GOTHIC: THE TANGLED WEB OF _DRACULA_ FROM NOVEL TO STAGE TO SCREEN

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HOLLYWOOD GOTHIC: THE TANGLED WEB OF _DRACULA_ FROM NOVEL TO STAGE TO SCREEN
David J. Skal
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton and Company New York and London
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000IWOXWG

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Exploring the Fingerboard
Russ Barenberg
Manufacturer: Homespun
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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Russ Barenberg Teaches 20 Bluegrass Guitar Solos: Repertoire Tunes for Intermediate Players (Listen & Learn)

ASIN: 0634011650

Book Description

This six-hour course teaches guitarists to find and play any note in any position on the neck, build chords and improvise melodies. Russ Barenberg, one of America's premier acoustic guitarists, provides a road map for fully understanding the entire guitar fingerboard. He also covers music theory (as it pertains to the guitar), ear training, improvisation and exercises to strengthen the left hand. Highly recommended for all serious guitar students. SIX CDs * INCLUDES TAB * LEVEL 3

Book Description

Find out what it takes to become a puzzle master. More than 500 IQ brainteasers--some of the most devious ever published--offer a challenge that will stretch anyone's analytic and lateral thinking abilities to the limit. The requirements for cracking these puzzles include a sharp mind, keen mathematical skill, and a supremely logical approach. Go through a group of grids, determine the logic in their organization, and decipher the missing pattern in the final one. Check out the time on four different watches, and then figure out what hour the fifth watch should read. Look at dominoes lined up side by side, and calculate what number should appear on the last domino to complete the series. Every puzzle is brainy fun.

Average customer rating:

A Great Logic Challenge
A good introduction to Logic Puzzles
The Fantastic Book of Logic Puzzles

Fantastic Book of Logic Puzzles
Muriel Mandell
Manufacturer: Sterling
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Puzzles & Games | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

Logic & Brain Teasers | Puzzles & Games | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

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All 4-for-3 Deals | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
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ASIN: 080694756X

Book Description

Magicians, ogres, dragons, genies and wizards show how to do the most popular logic puzzle types: elimination, crossing the river, measurement, probability, more. 128 pages, b/w illus. throughout, 5 3/8 x 8 1/4.

Customer Reviews:

A Great Logic Challenge.......2004-10-09

This is a great book for anyone that enjoys logic puzzles. These are challenging for all ages. The illustrations and creative stories prove these aren't just for the older generations.

A good introduction to Logic Puzzles.......2002-11-30

This book provides a good brief introduction to logic puzzles. Readers get to explore classic problems involving those who (always) tell the truth and those who (always or sometimes) lie; how to cross rivers with limited capacity boats, etc. Each chapter begins with simple riddles that introduce the ideas of one particular type of logic problem. Successive problems are more difficult. By the end of each chapter, readers can solve very complicated problems.

This is an excellent introduction to logic problems. An entire chapter of hints can help those who are unsure of how to proceed. It is particularly useful for me as a teacher. These problems give students some fun work to play with when they are done with their regular assignments. Those more familiar with logic problems may want to find a more challenging book.

The Fantastic Book of Logic Puzzles.......2000-06-27

This book would be a very good book for a teacher to read aloud to her kids as a starter for the day. The questions are pretty hard, but they're nice in that they get you thinking. It's a pretty good book.

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Fantastic Book of Logic Puzzles
Muriel Mandell
Manufacturer: Sterling Publishing Co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000K0B6OE

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The single best book on investing!

Ecellent book about mutual fund

Good Source of Info on Mutual Funds

Another happy long time Bogle-Head

Introduction to Mutual Fund Investing

Bogle on Mutual Funds: New Perspectives for the Intelligent Investor
John Bogle
Manufacturer: Dell
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Introduction | Investing | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Mutual Funds | Investing | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0440506824
Release Date: 1994-10-04

Book Description

John C. Bogle, founder of the Vanguard Group of Investment Companies, has built a $100 billion mutual fund company on principles of candor, fairness, and low cost. The most outspoken critic of the mutual fund industry, Bogle speaks to the serious mutual fund investor, both novice and seasoned, in this straightforward assessment of an industry Bogle himself helped revolutionize. Here he offers the essential principles of canny mutual fund investing, as well as caveats to protect the investor. Readers will learn how to: Ask three critical questions before investing. Evaluate risk tolerance and design a portfolio to meet current financial objectives. Develop a diversified portfolio of equity funds, bonds, and money market funds that will weather the market's short term variations. Apply Bogle's eight model portfolios to achieve their own financial goals. Always find themselves in a winning money market fund. Protect themselves from inflation Use index funds to effectively balance risk/return. Anyone who is serious about mutual funds can apply the dynamic investment principles of Bogle On Mutual Funds to establish a winning, long-term investment portfolio.

Customer Reviews:

The single best book on investing!.......2007-08-28

If you're going to read one book on investing and one book only, this is the one! Really, you won't need any other - it's that complete and that good. Not everybody can invest in index funds, but you can and you very probably won't get a better result any other way.

Ecellent book about mutual fund.......2007-06-27

One of the best books about mutual funds in the market even though it is over a decade old.

Good Source of Info on Mutual Funds.......2007-03-31

I thought that this was a very thorough book on mutual funds. Bogle brings to light many things that I wouldn't have known. The only problem is it requires good concentration to get through parts of this book as it can be a bit dry at times. Very good source of information overall. I would recommend it for someone to have as a reference.

Another happy long time Bogle-Head.......2007-03-08

Im a long time fan of John Bogle - few men in private industry, in particular the financial saector,have brought this much integrity to the business. Bought this book when it first came out in'93. Have given copies to two sons, a son in law, and 2 grandsons since then. The advice is priceless in the book. There are only 9 books about mutual funds worth buying, in my experience, 7 have been written by John Bogle, 1 about him and Vanguard (that I know of) and 1 by Venita Van Kaspel (not sure of the spelling)about mutual fund investing. It's hard to understand why one would choose any fund group other than Vanguard. [...]

Introduction to Mutual Fund Investing.......2006-03-28

I found this book to be an excellent "primer" for the novice investor who wants to learn about the basics of investing in mutual funds. Bogle describes the various types of mutual funds in simple plain language.

Bogle on Mutual Funds : New Perspectives for the Intelligent Investor

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Bogle on Mutual Funds : New Perspectives for the Intelligent Investor
John C. Bogle
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill Education Group
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000KPACX0

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Bogle On Mutual Funds: New Perspectives for the Intelligent Investor
John C. Bogle
Manufacturer: Irwin Professional Pub.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000IN5CZM

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Bogle on Mutual Funds: New Perspectives for the Intelligent Investor
John C. Bogle
Manufacturer: Dell Publishing Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000N7773S

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Bogle on Mutual Funds: New Perspectives for the Intelligent Investor
John C.; Bogle, John C. Bogles
Manufacturer: Dell Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000NXRVHO

Bogle on Mutual Funds: New Perspectives for the Intelligent Investor. (book reviews): An article from: Southern Economic Journal

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Bogle on Mutual Funds: New Perspectives for the Intelligent Investor. (book reviews): An article from: Southern Economic Journal
Ronald L. Moy
Manufacturer: Southern Economic Association
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Southern Economic Journal, published by Southern Economic Association on July 1, 1994. The length of the article is 1079 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Bogle on Mutual Funds: New Perspectives for the Intelligent Investor. (book reviews)
Author: Ronald L. Moy
Publication: Southern Economic Journal (Refereed)
Date: July 1, 1994
Publisher: Southern Economic Association
Volume: v61 Issue: n1 Page: p237(3)

Article Type: Book Review

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