3 comments about Chicago Churches: A Photographic Essay.

1. Great photographs are herein presented of 100 Chicago-area churches. A must-see, must-have for any Chicagoan--for any Midwesterner, for that matter. The cross section includes the "bold and beautiful" as well as the "plain and ordinary" and the store-front church. The book is not limited to Christian churches, but features worship sites of other faiths as well.



2. This is a brilliantly crafted, mature work from a remarkably young artist. The photographs are magnificently rendered to show not only the architectural beauty and diversity of Chicago's many churches, but also the neighborhoods they are a part of. This is a book to pour over again and again, a must-have whether you're religious or not!



3. this is simply a beautiful book, both the photographs and the over all design of the book. as a photographer/designer i was inspired by such a wonderful book.

5 comments about 52 Adventures in Chicago (Revised Edition) (52 Series).

1. These cards are great romantic movie suggestions, perfect for a date with your sweetheart. I was expecting to see mainly classic old films and was pleasantly surprised by the wide array and selection. There's something for everyone here!



2. It appears this another great card series which was just published. I'm glad I got mine right away. I wish it were in the form of a book instead of cards, but nevertheless, the cards are great. They illustrated, well written and easy to follow. They offers many tips on how to pamper yourself in ways I never even dreamed about. The best part is that they're all affordable. It covers everything from spoiling yourself with foods, applying home remedies to your body for sofe and silky skin and hair, to steam baths and pedicures. There's lots more. I thought the little cards were great. You don't need to be rich, famous, or spoiled to treat yourself to a little (or a lot) of pampering. These cards prove that.



3. This was the worst waste of money I ever spent. All of the short, simple "tips" are self-explanatory; I can't even imagine anyone over the age of 9 not already knowing them. Unless you spend most of your spare time mugging people, I can't imagine that it would add anything to your life. I would very strongly suggest that you save your money and skip this one. YUCK!



4. These cards are filled with good ideas and reminders of what it takes to find the right person. It's easy to get into a rut but these cards have ideas on how to get out of the house more and hopefully put yourself in a situation where you'll meet someone. These cards are well worth the money to give yourself a boost especially if you've been out of the dating scene for awhile.



5. "Don't wait until you're retired or on your deathbed to make your wildest dreams come true. In fact, don't even wait until next week. Seize the day!" - From the deck
   
   52 Ways to Celebrate Life Deck features 52 small, whimsical cards dedicated to celebrating life. The front side of these cards depicts a colorful image and state a particular theme. The other side offers suggestions on how to implement the theme of the card.
   
   For example, the Life as Art card says:
   
   "You life is like a work of art. Step back and see for yourself by making a collage. Start with a big piece of cardboard. Look through magazines for pictures that capture different elements of your life-the people, places, and things you love; the adventures you've had; your achievements and accidents. Add phrases, feathers, glitter, and pictures of your own. Include images that represent your inner life, hopes, and dreams. Find images to represent your bright side and others to convey your shadow. When you're done, take a good look at this masterpiece of your life. Then give someone you love a guided tour. This life collage can be fun to make alone or with friends."
   
   Some of the themes featured in the 52 Ways to Celebrate Life deck include:
   
   * Synchronicity
   * Why Not?
   * Guardian Angels
   * Sky Gazing
   * Comic Relief
   * Buried Treasure
   * Thank Goodness!
   * Ah, Wilderness!
   * Make a Splash
   * The Hills Are Alive
   * Sowing Seeds
   * My Day
   * Down Load
   * Big Time
   * Golden Years
   * Buddy System
   
   52 Ways to Celebrate Life deck is a wonderful way to be grounded, appreciate life, and stay mindful. The cards serve as a reminder to enjoy the people, places, and surroundings that make up our lives-including our very own Selves! If you're looking for a thoughtful gift for those in need of self-care or would like to keep in touch with the pulsating core in all life, this deck would certainly meet your needs. However, please note that the print on the back is rather small, so those this might prove problematic for those with sight difficulties.
   
   (To see 3 images from this deck, visit the Reviews--Decks section at JanetBoyer.com)

5 comments about Coast Of Chicago, The.

1. Stuart Dybek is truly a gifted writer. But moving beyond my humble opinion, this unique collection of short stories shines. Dybek's prose is haunting, his language at times startling and spare, at others languid and nearly musical. His characters are alive and absolutely believable in their mistakes and victories. Each story stands as a reflection on everyday beauty; Dybek that takes time to notice the details other authors overlook or dismiss as mundane. In 'The Coast of Chicago' Stuart Dybek has managed to do something quite rare in the all-too self-conscious realm of short story writing-- create stories that are rich yet still real without trying too hard to be so. Allow yourself to get sucked up into the twisting paths of his Chicago-- it's a journey you won't regret.



2. Lovely stories that take place in the intersection of dream and waking life, stories you'll want to read again and again from one of the most original and lyrical writers working today.



3. It is only fitting that this collection of 14 short stories was chosen for the One Book - One Chicago program hosted by The Chicago Public Library this spring. What a better way to promote communal reading in Chicago than to sponsor a book about life in their own city. While reading each short story it is apparent that Stuart Dybek has an intimate knowledge of Chicago. He successfully uses his memories and fondness for the city from his childhood of growing up in the Little Village and Pilsen neighborhoods during the mid-20th century. Each short story details with the passage of time and what it means to live in Chicago. A sense of place is an important factor running throughout each story and successfully unites each story into this collection. The story that resonates the most for me is "Chopin in Winter" about one boy who is immensely affected by an upstairs neighbor who plays the piano each night. The portrayal of the grandfather Dzia-Dzia and his relationship with the principle character are noteworthy and memorable. THE COAST OF CHICAGO is a wonderful collection of short stories that will remain in a special spot on my bookshelves for enjoyment for years to come. I love living in Chicago; and these stories resonated strongly with me. Highly recommended.



4. You would have to search long and hard to find stories anywhere with this originality and beauty. They will stop you in your tracks. Dybek has staked out a territory purely his own, the lost and dispossessed of Polish Chicago. Chicago has proudly produced Dreiser, Norris, Algren, Levin, Bellow and Farrell--and now Dybek. His work is enduring, funny, incisive and unforgettable.



5. I have read all of Stuart Dybek's books and have even had the privilege of having lunch with him and discussing his works. Being of Polish descent, I have lived in the neighborhoods that he describes. All of his books accurately depict real Southside Chicago people and their histories, their hardships, their heartaches, their woes and their lifestyles. I read his stories and I am transported back 20 years to my childhood neighborhood. I am always overcome with a feeling of nostaglia after I finish one of his books.

No comments about Russian Refuge: Religion, Migration, and Settlement on the North American Pacific Rim.

3 comments about They Wrote on Clay: The Babylonian Tablets Speak Today (Phoenix Books).

1. Before the beginning of this century, the only information we had about Ancient Babylon was from the Bible. Consequently, most of the literature that I have read on the subject (written during the height of Iraqi Archeaology in the 1920's and 30's) has been on a religious note rather than a historical one. This book changed all that. It brought a highly academic subject to the layman. It is a simple, informative account of how the real Babylonians lived. It describes the Babylonians as an advanced people who appreciated art and literature, as well as entering into contracts and having mortgages. It is a great introduction to an ancient civilisation.



2. THEY WROTE ON CLAY : The Babylonian Tablets Speak Today. By Edward Chiera. Edited by George G. Cameron. 235 pp. Chicago and London : The University of Chicago Press, 1964 (1955). (pbk.)

   The civilizational achievements of the Sumerians, Babylonians, and Assyrians only started to become known over the course of the last century or so. For our new understanding of the past we have to thank archaeology, in particular for its discovery of many tens of thousands of baked clay tablets which have miraculously preserved the complex cuneiform writing system, languages, and literatures of the ancient Mesopotamians, and for the patient decipherment of these tablets and other cuneiform-bearing artefacts by a small and dedicated group of international scholars.

   The literature on this subject today is vast, and much of it is accessible only to specialists. Of the studies that are generally available - such as those by A. Leo Oppenheim, Samuel Noah Kramer, and Thorkild Jacobsen - most tend to be aimed at a more scholarly type of audience, the kind of people who like detailed footnotes, precise references to sources, bibliographies, etc., and little seems to be available in the way of a more popular treatment for the general reader.

   This is where the present book comes in. Edward Chiera, though a competent and respected scholar, was exceptional in having an ardent desire to share his knowledge by making the results of his research readily and entertainingly available to the general reader. Consequently, instead of giving us, for example, a lengthy and detailed analysis of the religious ideas or political history of the Babylonians, he has chosen instead to offer an absorbing excursion into the common life of this ancient civilization.

   Chiera's 'They Wrote on Clay' is both well-written and easy to read since the pages are small, the font used is gratifyingly large and readable, and there are numerous black-and-white photographs and line drawings which illustrate various aspects of life in the near East : people, places, animals, domestic scenes, archaeological sites, buildings, artworks and other artefacts etc. These illustrations perfectly supplement Chiera's written account, and although many are contemporary, they do serve to suggest something of what life must have been like in the past.

   Chiera has managed to pack an awful lot into this small book. We learn about the discovery of the ancient cities, the amazing libraries of clay tablets that were unearthed, the exciting story of the decipherment of the complex cuneiform writing system, the worlds of business and religion, of kings, priests, scribes and ordinary folk, and of their multifarious doings, and of much else besides.

   The author clearly loved his subject, and it's invariably from such writers that we get the best books. So if you're looking for a well-written, well-illustrated, easy-to-read popular treatment of this fascinating world, a world that is vastly more important to you than you may realize since it is there and not in Greece that the real roots of Western civilization lie, you'd be hard put to better 'They Wrote on Clay.'

   And if Chiera succeeds in whetting your appetite, as I'm sure he will, you might go on to read one of the best-loved stories to come out of that world, the deeply moving story of the adventures of Gilgamesh, his friendship with the wild man Enkidu, and his search for immortality. I'm pretty sure that, if you don't already know it, you would very much enjoy that too. One good popular edition of this story that can be recommended is:

   THE EPIC OF GILGAMESH : An English Version with an Introduction by N. K. Sandars. Penguin Classics Revised Edition. 128 pp. London : Penguin, 1972 (1964) and Reissued.




3. I found this interesting book to be a very good source of translated inscriptions, some of which found their way into my own recent compilation "Wetlands of Mass Destruction: Ancient Presage for Contemporary Ecocide in Southern Iraq". From all the reference books I consulted for my writing project, this particular one was of a handful of those I found to be most useful in terms of the diversity of material presented.

2 comments about Adventures in Africa.

1. After reading Adventures in Africa, we think that this book was not the best book ever. We thought that it was rather dull throughout almost the whole book. One reason that we might have thought that it was dull is because, the book is written like a journal. We haven't ever read a book written like a journal before, and I don't like that style of writing. That could have had an impact on us not liking the book, or just simply because we didn't like the way it was written. Also, the story line was not too interesting. Each journal that he would write each day would just tell about what he did that day. It is like reading a book about a person that sits at home all day. The main character was a tourist in Africa, and would meet new people and travel to different places. Most of the day's he would do the same thing. We found this book to be very repetitive, and we find that pretty boring about books. He would always tell about how he would go to this river and watch all the people bathe. He would do that everyday for a long period of time, and it just got old. After that he would go to a cliff and climb it everyday. Most days though, he would take a tour bus somewhere. While he was in Africa he made many friends, sometimes it was hard to keep them straight. His friend Jean, was his best friend, they went almost everywhere together. This book isn't the best book, and we wouldn't recommend it unless you like to read other peoples' journals. We just didn't find it interesting at all. It didn't grab my attention or make me actually want to read the book. The only reason why we read it was because we had to for a grade.



2. Maybe there are two ways of writing about travel. First, you write about startling things or things that other people normally might not notice. Second,you present a somewhat ordinary world but you do so in high-flown prose that---because of the quality of the writing---carries the reader along no matter what. This journalistic travel book seems one that a publisher might have picked up ONLY because the writer is well known. It is neither well written nor particularly acute in what it sees and reports. Too often there is a grim habit of stereotype, and always there is a languid sense of a prose style that suggests little more than some jottings in a loose-leaf along the way. A Graham Greene brings heart, keen perception, and inspiration to his "Journey without Maps" into Africa, and may other writers encounter people who remain in your mind. Celati just putters along.

2 comments about Get a Life! In the City: Chicago.

1. I travel for business quite a bit and Chicago is one of the cities I spend a good deal of time in. I got tired of leaving my daily routines at home and was looking to make my trips to Chicago more enjoyable and wholesome. I was so excited to find this book, and more so to find a studio which offered yoga classes of the same style I take at home. I've begun to rely heavily on GET A LIFE prior to and during all of my trips to Chicago now. Next week I'd like to fit in a visit to the Chicago Botanic Gardens - and this winter, I'll take my skis and hook up with one of the local ski clubs! Thanks for this book, Sheena - now please write one which will help me find things to do in Boston, Seattle, and all the other places I travel to!



2. I was thrilled when I discovered,Get a Life! In the City: Chicago.
   
   As a native Chicagoan, I thought I'd exhausted all there was to do and soon developed a routine existence. Get a Life! In the City: Chicago, is wonderful, insightful resource and guidebook to help natives and those traveling to Chicago discover all there really is to. Plus, Jones provides thorough details and contact information for each venue, restaurant, etc. It's all there.
   
   I'm really amped about visiting some of the places mentioned in Get a Life! In the City: Chicago, that I didn't know existed, and I know that you will be, too.
   
   We have only one life, Get a Life! In the City: Chicago
   will inspire you to live it the fullest (and then some!)
   
   Highly-recommended!
   
   Reviewed by Marina Woods for GoodGirlBookClubOnline.com

No comments about Round about Chicago.

1 comments about Michelin Green Guide Chicago (Michelin Green Guides).

1. I was very happy with the Michelin Green Guide to Chicago both in planning and touring on a recent visit. I could count on the guide for clear, concise descriptions of everything worth seeing -- enough to know if I WANTED to check something out AND very good narrative to help me find my bearings or learn interesting background (but not TOO much!) when I was actually 'on-site'. I never felt either overwhelmed or underinformed by this guide -- which to me is one real test of a travel guide. I also appreciated that phone numbers are listed for virtually everything.
   
   I'm not giving it five stars because it offers basically no help/ratings with local restaurants or hotels (and doesn't really pretend to), and because a more comprehensive listing of web addresses is needed.

No comments about Michelin Green Guide Chicago (1st ed).