Amazon.com's Best of 2001
Diane Ackerman relishes the world of her garden. As a poet, she finds within it an endless field of metaphors. As a naturalist, she notices each small, miraculous detail: the hummingbirds and their routines, the showy tulips, the crazy yellow forsythia. Of visiting deer she writes, "I love watching the deer, which always arrive like magic or a miracle or the answer to an unasked question."
In her popular book A Natural History of the Senses, Ackerman celebrates the human body; in A Natural History of My Garden, she turns her attention to the world outside the body, outside the human sphere. Structured by seasons, this is a book of subtle shifts, but the reader never feels lost. Her prose is so welcoming, at times it feels like she's talking directly to you, although her lush, poetic language is the opposite of speech.
Distracted urban readers craving a book that will transport them would do well to spend time immersed in these pages, as will gardeners who've lost appreciation for their plot. Ackerman is a generous writer--a teacher who will share treasured, obscure passages from Beckett or Hawthorne. She's emotional and highly charged, and her descriptions are so clear they're small marvels. She's remarkable for her ability to find mystery everywhere. --Emily White
Book Description
In the mode of her bestseller A Natural History of the Senses, Diane Ackerman celebrates the sensory pleasures of her garden through the seasons. Whether she is deadheading flowers or glorying in the profusion of roses, offering sugar water to a hummingbird or studying the slug, she welcomes the unexpected drama and extravagance as well as the sanctuary her garden offers.
Written in sensuous, lyrical prose, Cultivating Delight is a hymn to nature and to the pleasure we take in it.
Customer Reviews:
Cultivating Delights.......2007-10-14
What a remarkable account of one's love for gardening. This is quite an inspiring book for anyone interested especially in gardening. Also, it is an introduction to those who are not familiar with the gardens and nature and would like to be.
I can relate to all Ms. Ackerman, the author, is involved with. It was a friend who introduced this wonderful and uplifting book. It just makes my day and night as a few paragraphs are read prior to the end of my day. What creation as to offer is breathtaking and so rewarding.
I hope you will enjoy as much as I did and continuing.
In sharing my purchases with others, I find it a special gift like not other. I know they will feel the same way I do.
Thank you, Ms. Ackerman.
not what I was looking for.......2006-01-12
In an earlier book, Ms. Ackerman congratulates herself on being open to experience more than most people. In light of this, I found that in this book she is too self-absorbed in herself (ironic for someone who does at times describe the natural world so beautifully) and too enamored of her ability to write prose.
She's good at throwing in fascinating factoids on everything from space to psychology to animal behavior, but alas, seems to flit from topic to topic like a bee gathering pollen. That is to say the flow of her writing is haphazard (though a bee may indeed be more purposeful than I give it credit for here).
If most people don't seem to have as much time to smell the roses as Ackerman, perhaps that is because they work away from home full time and have children and a spouse whose needs must occasionally come before theirs. It can be hard to be open to the natural world when you're worrying about being fired or demoted or if your child has come down with the flu. I never get the sense from her books that Ackerman lives in "the real world" what with her tales of meditating, biking, rose gathering, etc.
That's lovely for her, but don't pass judgments on people with different lifestyles.
I wanted to learn more about plants and the best conditions for growing various ones. Instead, I got a book of poetic, and sometimes purple, meditations, which was all right, but not what I had expected.
brilliant, meditative, poetic and charming.......2005-05-27
i checked this book out from the library during the drab winter months of oregon, and i was so enraptured with it that i kept it for 3 weeks, reading it as slowly as possible, savoring every page. it's on my list of books to buy for myself, as well. i thought her writing was fluid and descriptive. i thoroughly enjoyed meandering along with her through her garden and through her life. i imagine her garden must be incredible. i'm no book reviewer, but i can say this: i haven't read any of ackerman's other books (yet), but this one is spectacular.
a gardener's deligh.......2004-05-23
I read this book from the library and then bought it for myself because it is definitely a re-reading book. I have read it several times now and it amazes me every time. The depth of knowledge and the decriptions of her plants along with the distractions of her life are interesting, engaging and wonderful to read. Diane is one of my favorite authors but this book combines her scientific wordy writing style with one of my loves - plants and gardening. I read it when I'm sad and it reminds me of the wonders in the world and in my yard and neighborhood. I envy her spending so much time in her garden. I highly recommend it to plant people who like to read books besides the plant manuals that tell you how to grow things, enjoying the plants is the ultimate pleasure.
I loved it, and Iým not even remotely a gardener.......2004-02-25
Gardens. They're great, and I have a lovely one in my front yard. But I can claim exactly none of the credit. My style of gardening is to sit on the front steps chatting with Teri, my gardener, while she prunes the shrubs and tucks primroses and lobelia and cyclamen into the little bare spots.
But I love reading about people who DO enjoy gardening, and Diane Ackerman is a consummate writer on the subject. I've read The Moon by Whale Light and A Natural History of the Senses, two others of her several books, and find myself equally charmed by this one. It's a casual tour through the four seasons of her upstate backyard garden. But, as she's a naturalist, a poet, and a philosopher, she doesn't stop with just the plants; she uses the plants and their interdependent roles as metaphors to browse mentally through a wide variety of topics, including what gardens can do for people more than how people can tend a garden. It's like a role reversal of sorts. Some of the subjects that her free- and far-ranging mind roams over include: how we are like plants, plant's self-defense mechanisms, why we see faces in nature, etc. Her lyrical writing and vast, encyclopedic curiosity sometimes remind me of Annie Dillard's nature writing, a comparison that should be considered a compliment to both authors.
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Boston: A Pictorial Souvenir
Carol Highsmith , and
Ted Landphair
Manufacturer: Crescent
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Boston Then and Now (Then & Now)
ASIN: 0517201437
Release Date: 1997-08-19 |
Book Description
Boston, that historical center of colonial charm, splendid parklands, superior universities, and technological development, is an endlessly fascinating place. It is the cauldron, not just of American freedom, but also, arguably, of modern democracy itself. The great names of Boston—Revere, Hancock, Adams, Kennedy, Lodge, O'Neill—are American legends. The stops along the Freedom and the Black Freedom trails are cornerstones of Early American life. Luckily for visitors, this old port city is compact, easily walkable, and eminently photogenic.
Gleaming skyscrapers have asserted their place in the skyline, but Boston seems little changed from the days when Henry David Thoreau dropped in on the Old Corner Bookstore. In this stunning new collection of full-color portraits, renowned photographer Carol M. Highsmith captures the principal historic landmarks from the African Meeting House to John F. Kennedy's birthplace in Brookline; neighborhoods from tony Beacon Hill to the eclectic South End; thriving downtown shops and restaurants; the major universities and celebrated museums; and the "Emerald Necklace" of parklands. A lively, information-packed introduction and captions by award-winning writer Ted Landphair offer the perfect complement to Highsmith's outstanding images.
Boston: A Pictorial Souvenir celebrates the enduring elegance of New England's hub city. It is the perfect souvenir of a memorable visit, and the ideal gift for anyone who savors history, unforgettable architecture, cultural vitality, and high-tech innovation—the diversity that is truly Boston.
Customer Reviews:
Boston.......2002-09-01
This is a good book as a souvenir and after having visited Boston six times, I know many of the places photographed and can vividly recall the moments I spent there. There's a detailed introduction looking at all aspects of Bostonian life, including some fabulous old photographs. The rest of the book presents the modern-day town, from the architecture to its people, traditional and contemporary. A lot of the photographs focus on detail, with some good camera angles, but I feel some more general views could have been used to get a better impression of this fantastic town.
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- FALLS WAY SHORT OF THE MARK
- Wish I was there.
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New England: A Pictorial Souvenir
Carol Highsmith , and
Ted Landphair
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The Most Beautiful Villages of New England (Most Beautiful Villages)
ASIN: 0517201453
Release Date: 1997-08-19 |
Book Description
If ever the word "character" fit an American region, it perfectly describes New England: principled, patriotic, conservative here, liberal there, colorful in fall, forbidding in winter. Linked by a common past of colonial settlement and the search for religious and political freedom, these six historic states—Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont—are as notable today for their differences of terrain and temperament. From Maine's bouldered coast to the mountains of New Hampshire and Vermont, from historic, cultivated Boston to the beautiful Berkshires, New England is a visitor's paradise. Throughout, there is a seemingly endless array of covered bridges, grand hotels, old-fashioned general stores, stone fences, colonial battlefields, and quaint bed-and-breakfast inns.
Carol M. Highsmith, eminent photographer, celebrates the diverse and varied landscapes of New England, from architectural masterpieces to majestic sunsets; little villages to lofty mountain peaks; historic lighthouses to living-history museums. Award-winning writer Ted Landphair's lively and informative introduction and captions offer insights into the area's historical roots, cultural vitality, and the distinct personalities of these six individualistic states.
New England: A Pictorial Souvenir explores all the treasures of this picturesque region. It is a wonderful keepsake of a memorable visit, and the ideal gift for anyone who savors unforgettable architecture, the lure of history, and the incomparable natural beauty of the Northeast.
Customer Reviews:
FALLS WAY SHORT OF THE MARK.......2004-04-19
I expected this book to be filled with beautiful shots of the New England countryside, scenic lighthouses, and historic sites. While there are certainly some fine photos here, there are way too many shots which are nondescript at best. The first twenty pages are devoted to brief history and old b/w photos from from 1890's and this section is enjoyable. Unfortunately, its downhill from there. I was not looking for photos of the Kennedy birth home, a full page devoted to an 8-yr-old girl sunning on the beach, a two-page spread of a rusty "junk shop", a full page showing only a boat shed with buoys hanging off it, single photo spread of a barge on the river (yuk), two pages allocated to a diner in RI, etc. The photography is sharp and colorful and the few photos of the NE countryside, Sturbridge Village, and the like are stunning. Unfortunately the less interesting subjects prevail.
Wish I was there........2002-08-05
Masterfully photographed, and printed on high quality paper, this book is a must have for any armchair traveller.
The book provides a map of the region on the inside cover, and then follows a brief and informative historical overview, which introduces the region to the reader. From that point onwards the book consists of one splendid photograph after the other, very often on a full page, or even spread over double pages, all with short descriptions to accompany them.
I am also the proud owner of Ireland (Photographic Tour) by the same author and photographer and as such, I can highly recommend any one of the books in this series.
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Frightening Phantoms and Haunted Habitats (Strange Unsolved Mysteries, No 10)
Phyllis Raybin Emert
Manufacturer: Tom Doherty Assoc Llc
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Very exciting!.......1998-07-05
My favorite story was "Is There A Ghost In The House?" All in all a very good book
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Palaeobiology II
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Evolution of Fossil Ecosystems
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Hydrogen And The Noble Gases (True Books)
Salvatore Tocci
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The chemistry of the noble gases (Understanding the atom)
Cedric L Chernick
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Hydrogen and Noble Gases (True Books)
Salvatore Tocci
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Neon and the Noble Gases (The Periodic Table)
Nigel Saunders
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Noble Gas and High Temperature Chemistry (Structure and Bonding)
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Noble Gas Geochemistry
Minoru Ozima , and
Frank A. Podosek
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
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ASIN: 0521803667 |
Book Description
Noble Gas Geochemistry gives a comprehensive description of the physical chemistry and cosmochemistry of noble gases, before leading on to applications for problem-solving in the earth and planetary sciences. There have been many developments in the use of the noble gases since publication of the first edition of this book in 1983. This second edition has been fully revised and updated. The book will be invaluable to graduate students and researchers in the earth and planetary sciences who use noble gas geochemistry techniques.
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Noble Gases (Elements)
Jens Thomas
Manufacturer: Benchmark Books (NY)
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ASIN: 0761414622 |
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Noble-gas Chemistry (Science paperbacks)
John Henry Holloway
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Convergence Analysis of Recurrent Neural Networks (Network Theory and Applications)
Zhang Yi , and
K.K. Tan
Manufacturer: Springer
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ASIN: 1402076940 |
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This volume provides a comprehensive study of the convergence of recurrent neural networks, which has been increasingly used in applications relating to associative memory, image processing and pattern recognition. Throughout the book, the authors present their original research results of recent years. While the main objective is to disseminate these results in a unified and comprehensive manner, the book is also written to be helpful to readers requiring basic information, such as methods and tools commonly used in the analysis and design of recurrent neural networks.
Audience: This volume is suitable for professionals and researchers, as well as advanced graduate level students in neural computations, and neural networks.
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- Phineas Finn the intriguing Irish MP returns to London in a fine sequel to :Phineas Finn
- A Darker Phineas Finn
- Spinning his wheels
- Five Stars On Any Other Scale
- Good sequel to "Phineas Finn."
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Phineas Redux (The Palliser Novels)
Anthony Trollope
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
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ASIN: 0195208986 |
Book Description
The fourth novel in Trollope's Palliser series, Phineas Redux stands on its own as a compelling work of political intrigue, personal crisis, and romantic jealousy. Phineas Finn lives quietly in Dublin, resigned to the fact that his political career is over and coming to terms with the death of his wife. He receives an unexpected invitation to return to Parliament, and jumps at the chance, whereupon old romances and rivalries are revived. When his adversary, Mr. Bonteen, is murdered, suspicion immediately falls on Finn, and his former friends and lovers seem only to add to his shame.
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Phineas, on the other hand, made two or three great speeches every evening, and astonished even Mr Ruddles by his oratory. He had accepted Mr Ruddles's proposition with but lukewarm acquiescence, but in the handling of the matter he became zealous, fiery, and enthusiastic. He explained to his hearers with gracious acknowledgment that Church endowments had undoubtedly been most beneficent in past times.
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Phineas Finn the intriguing Irish MP returns to London in a fine sequel to :Phineas Finn.......2006-10-06
As the novel Phineas Finn ends the Irish member leaves Parliament for marriage with a beautiful Irish lass. As Phineas Redux begins Mr.Finn is widowed and has returned to resume his career in the British Parliament.
This novel is one of Trollope's works in the Parliamentary series featuring such old favorites as Planty Pall and his wife the Duchess Glencora. Finn returns to find Laura Kennedy eager to win his favor after her mad husband Robert Kennedy casts her out of house and home. Kennedy is enflamed by jealousy of Finn (he courted her when she was Laura Standish). Along the way Kennedy attempts to murder Phineas. Phineas is himself tried for the murder of his politcal rival in the Liberal ranks the odious Mr. Bonteen who has been elevated to President of the Board of Trade.
We also meet the sexy, dark and beautiful continental belle Madame Max
who loves Finn helping him in his time of trouble with the law. She lives after almost 140 years in the vibrant pages she graces with her beauty, wit and tact.
The novel devotes several chapters to Trollope's love of fox hunting which to this reviewer is abhorrent as a blood sport. Some American readers will be confused, bored and bewildered by the machinations afoot in the House of Commons.
A good subplot concerns the triangle existing between Gerald Maule and
the farmer Spooner over the hand of Adelaide Palliser. Meanwhile, Gerald's wastrel father seeks the hand of Madame Max.
Trollope doesn't have the genius of Dickens; the intellect of Eliot or the imagination of the Brontes but he did produce good stories of realistc
characters. This novel is a good way to spend a few nights with a wonderful novelist of the Victorian age.
A Darker Phineas Finn.......2006-02-19
In PHINEAS FINN, Anthony Trollope wrote about a happy-go-lucky young Irish Member of Parliament who romances the ladies and achieves a minor ministerial rank in the Liberal government. A dispute with his party regarding the Irish question, however, results in his leaving politics and returning to Ireland.
PHINEAS REDUX brings Phineas back, but the slogging is now harder. The vicious infighting between Daubeny (Disraeli) and Gresham (Gladstone) has soured Phineas somewhat. He is repeatedly slandered by a yellow journalist named Quintus Slide; and many in his party, including some of his friends, believe that the Irishman is carrying on an adulterous affair with Lady Laura Kennedy. At one point, the aggrieved husband takes a pot shot at Phineas, but misses. Matters turn still darker when J. Bonteen, a political rival to Phineas, is murdered one night in the street shortly after a quarrel with Phineas at the Universe Club.
The major set piece of PHINEAS REDUX is the trial of Phineas Finn for the murder of Bonteen. Opinion is evenly split on the question of his guilt and the issue seems to be in doubt until Mme Max Goesler, whose love Finn had rejected in the earlier volume, conducts her own investigation and produces evidence that turns the tide and results in a resounding acquittal.
If Trollope were a lesser author, everything at this point would be all sweetness and light. Here, however, Phineas suffers what appears to be a nervous breakdown and contemplates pulling out of politics altogether. What Trollope presents us with is an updated version of the Book of Job, with the difference that Phineas averts his face from his new good fortune and concentrates on his losses. His good friends rally round the young M.P. and slowly wean him from his depression.
The pot of gold at the end of this dark rainbow is Mme Max. Phineas proposes to the wealthy young widow and is accepted.
Spinning his wheels.......2004-02-17
Trollope supposedly wrote this book in response to public disappointment at the ending of _Phineas Finn_. I can't imagine why; it seemed to me that the former novel's ending was quite brilliant, really, and Phineas himself was always rather a cipher. In both novels, he seems to represent little more than a conduit for the influence of womanly wiles (as Trollope conceived of them) upon the political process.
So what we get here is Trollope's _Merry Wives of Windsor_. The plot trundles along through a minutely reported debate between Liberals and Conservatives upon the disestablishment of the church, followed by a very run-of-the-mill murder trial that pales in comparison to just about any one of John Mortimer's Rumpole stories. One gets the sense that Trollope is marking time, here.
Nonetheless, there are some wonderful character sketches sandwiched inbetween the long passages of reportage, and it's a fairly quick read. The Palliser completist should approach it with only mild apprehensiveness, not outright dread.
Five Stars On Any Other Scale.......2003-12-13
How can one criticise a delicious chocolate in one's favourite box? Sheer enjoyment though by no means a perfect novel. The Bonteen murder thing does not survive re-readings. Madame Max never comes to life and as such one cannot envision Phineas's married life with her, though one is pleased that he ends the novel wealthy! The Phineas in this novel is a weaker depiction than the hero of "Phineas Finn" and this is not a consequence of the author's deliberate attempt to depict a more mature and jaded Phineas - Trollope presumes we should know him. What works in "Phineas Redux" are the tiny details which provide bulletins of the maturing marriage between Glencora and the Duke, virtually all of the contributing characters, and the world of Victorian politics; in this novel we are not quite so subject to the slavish accounts of parliamentary 'to'ings and 'fro'ings as we were in the first Phineas novel. And whilst we miss the energy of the wonderful "Eustace Diamonds" sandwiched between the two, we are grateful that Lizzie and her revolting husband reappear to be reviled and admired on cue. Trollope's depiction of Lizzie shows why he is an incredible novelist, and how, despite himself, he thought wildly outside the Victorian sphere of morality. He loves her as one would love a creature or specimen held within one's control, pinned to a butterfly board or caged in a zoo. He loves her animalism. And then he is dragged back down to Victorian ignorance by the anti-semitism rampant in his depiction of the reverned Emilius. Unfortunate, but it was of its time and few can escape their time - Dickens certainly could not. One closes this novel feeling they have partaken of the politics and society of Victorian Britain. One has brushed coats with the Duke of St Bungay, compassionated the fall of Lady Laura, and shared the warmth of the Chiltern drawing room. It's not Trollope's best work, but it would make stunning television were it to be remade with the modernity required by current audiences, and it carries the reader on to Trollope's next novels, with full assurance that he is one of the greatest pleasure givers of all time.
Good sequel to "Phineas Finn.".......2002-03-27
The Pallisers carry on in this rambling Victorian novel. Phineas Finn's wife dies, and he again enters politics. He picks up with the various women in his life. Violet Effingham is now happily married. Laura Standish is married, but estranged from her husband. Marie Goesler is the eternal enigma. Love and money again wreaks havoc with Phineas's life. Trollope mesmerizes the reader with polished prose that adds a touch of elegance. Style prevails over substance in his novels. British politics are bewildering, but Victorian manners and morals are the real story. The mating dance that unfolds in drawing rooms and country weekends is amusing. Subplots abound. The novel has more drama than usual. Phineas is accused of murder. Trollope manages unexpected tenderness in his depiction of Laura Kennedy. She longs for Phineas, who once was her lover. Fearing scandal, she suffers a lonely life, and regrets what might have been. Lady Glencora and Plantagenet Palliser play a role in the book. They are now the Duke and Duchess of Omnium. Consequently, a new dilemma confronts Plantagenet. Lady Glencora is the tireless meddler, regardless. Marie Goesler is ever more important in Phineas's life. Trollope's work is lightweight, but refreshing. This book is good down time reading to escape the clamor and fast pace of modern life. ;-)
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Phineas Redux, Volume I
Anthony Trollope
Manufacturer: Aegypan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Trollope, Anthony
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| Literature & Fiction
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Contemporary
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Literary
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Trollope, Anthony
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ASIN: 1603120882 |
Book Description
When the Whigs are determined to overturn the Tory majority in the Parliament of the United Kingdom, they ask Phineas Finn to run for office again. But when his opponent wins the election, is it a true win or is something nefarious in the works?
Phineas Redux was originally published as a serial in Graphic. It is the fourth novel in the "Palliser" series. This volume is the first of two.
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The Palliser Novels - Phineas Redux
Anthony Trollope
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Trollope, Anthony
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ASIN: B000P18QD2 |
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The Pallisers - Phineas Redux
Anthony Trollope
Manufacturer: Panther
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Trollope, Anthony
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ASIN: B000UIS4L4 |
Average customer rating:
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The Pallisers - Phineas Redux
Anthony Trollope
Manufacturer: Panther
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Trollope, Anthony
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ASIN: B000QRD4GE |
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PHINEAS REDUX
ANTHONY TROLLOPE
Manufacturer: Unknown
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Trollope, Anthony
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ASIN: B000S5N5B8 |
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