Of the two recent translations of this classic of Italian gastronomic literature, this one is the winner. The other, entitled The Art of Eating Well: Italy's Most Treasured Cookbook (Random House, 1996), translated by Kyle M. Phillips III, halves the number of recipes and excises large amounts of text in pursuit of readability. Unfortunately, the result is more like an old-fashioned Italian cookbook than the idiosyncratic masterpiece that Artusi wrote. This volume, on the other hand, contains the complete text of the definitive Einaudi edition, and the translation is, on the whole, more trustworthy. Readers should be aware, however, that Artusi wrote when the art of recipe writing was at its infancy; it will be a bold cook who uses this book to learn Italian cooking.

This is a fantastic book, not just for the recipes, but also for Artusi's interesting and humourous asides. It contains a selection of recipes ranging from complex to very simple, yet elegant. IMHO it is far more than "marginal" as a cookbook. Because it is non-specific about quantities, Artusi seemed to assume that the audience reading this book knows what is what. Quantities are always adjustable according to individual taste, and that is the nature of real cooking. So in that sense, it is not a connect-the-dots cookbook, but a very good way to experiment with different variations of flavour.

He obviously recognized that his readers already knew how to cook. This is a book to give the reader various ideas about recipes and menus. Beginners beware, it will not tell how many teaspoons of something to put into your sauces. We're supposed to know how much is too much or too little.

It's a great book, and very unique among a plethora of same old-same-old cookbooks.

Late 18th century cooking master Pellegrino Artusi created the "ethics" of modern Italian cooking, as evoluted from that which the Italians taught the French. The basis is that foods are to be tasty, but also healthy and digestible. The emotional value of Taste is thus spelled out by the Alchemist of Italian Cuisine. An absolute master with a hearty sense of humour. Not to be missed.

I picked this book up at the library because my 5 year old daughter is named Maya. I thought she might like it. Well, thankfully I read it first, because it was too much for a child of that age. It was too scarey. Having said that, one of the other reviewers said he had read it to his 7th graders. I think this book would be great for maybe 4th grade and up.

Rudolfo A. Anaya's wonderful re-telling of the familiar folktale is just in time for the begining of Hisapanic Awareness Month, and is a perfect prelude to the Halloween season.

I used this book as a "read-aloud" book for my 7th graders and they were mesmerized by the story and the beautiful illustrations. This book helped my students understand perspective, mood, setting and other literary terms. There was some discussion about the different men that helped Maya, the title character, create her children, but the fact that she was the immortal daughter of the sun god, and had her children over a span of time made Maya, "La Llorona" more plausible to them.

This book provided the impetus for genuine discussion among my students, and left them yearning to read more of Mr. Anaya's work.

I read this book when I was pregnant with my daughter, and was, in fact, considering naming her Maya before I read this book. The story offers a very mystical and beautiful stance to the legend of La Llorona, and, although somewhat haunting, the pictures really emphasized the message that the story was trying to convey.

Sonny Baca is a private detective investigating a cult murder of his cousin Gloria. The story weaves together a fabric using the old Native American, the Hispanic, and the Anglo traditions that are so juxtaposed in Albuquerque, and most of the Southwest. Anaya keeps us involved and entertained well by the cast of characters from the beginning to the dramatic climax. He shows us the good and the bad aspects of these traditions. In the end the reader is left with a greater appreciation for the natural beauty of the Southwest and a greater feeling for the traditions and beauty of both the fantasies and realities of these indigenous peoples. It helps to know a little Spanish to catch some of the brief phrases used, so a Spanish dictionary is helpful at times. However, the story never taxes the Anglo with Spanish since most of the words are either very common expressions or are explained in the text (except for the curses!). Hopefully, we can look forward to more about Sonny (and Rita) in the future.

The novel is admittedly uneven -- I suspect that hard-core mystery fans will become impatient with the see-it-coming-a-mile-away nature of some of the occurances -- but worth reading. Anaya's prose is frequently lovely and the characters resonate. In addition, it's a pleasure to read an author who presents the mystical/spiritual with respect. In my opinion, Anaya wasn't preachy, but he clearly agrees with Jung's assertion that the religious impulse in human beings is as ineradicable as the sex drive.

This was a book that I could hardly put down. Sonny Baca is one of a kind. Bring on more like this, Mr. Anaya!

I liked this book for its insight on the different points of view. As a SOC 101 student, this was a good reference for my intro into Sociology. However, there is more to sociology than Dukheim and Marx. There are the theories of Max Weber and Herbert Blumer that come into play. The Interpretive paradigm is (once again) totaly ignored. I think this is a great introductory manual, but I also think that there should have been some stronger reference to the micro-subjective level of analysis. Hopefully, in the 9th edition, they include theories such as: Symbolic Interactionism and Dramaturgy.

Great work. I liked the more profound connection between the scientific study of sociology, theory, etc with social events and realities.

What a great read. I enjoyed the hell out of it. I wish there were more details about his adventurous life. It seems that a great deal of the story came from Mr.Baca himself and if the way he lived his life is any indication; then the "facts" he relates must be taken with many many grains of salt. That said this book is one heckuva roller coaster ride, short but action packed leaving you thirsting for more. More! please.

In December of 1917, Mabel Dodge Luhan, a wealthy patron of the arts, arrived in the very rural community of Taos, New Mexico. She arrived with an emotional need that drove her to be a focal point and a catalyst in the New Mexico art community. Although she died in 1962, she is still a controversial figure in Taos, where her spirit lingers in her house; now a Bread and Breakfast frequently used for artists retreats. Her personal artistic expression is found in the books she wrote, but she is best known for the amazing role she played in drawing painters, writers, and other artists to Taos and Santa Fe.

"Mabel's Santa Fe and Taos" gives a brief biography of Mabel and of many of the most famous people whose lives she influenced. The people covered in this book include Charles Lummis, Adolf Bandelier, the Taos Society of Artists, Alice Corbin Henderson and William Penhallow Henderson, Witter Bynner, Spud Johnson, Andrew Dasburg, D.H Lawrence and Frieda Lawrence, Dorothy Brett, and Georgia O'Keefe. This book also contains historical information about the culture of Taos and Santa Fe from 1900-1950, weaving together the people and the places in Mabel's world.

The text is informative and well written. Black and white photographs of the people and places are found throughout the book. Although this is an excellent overview that could be appreciated and understood by those new to the subject, it can also be used to summarize previous knowledge of the Santa Fe and Taos art colony during this time period.

"Rio Grande Fall" picks up where "Zia Summer" left off. Sonny and Rita are back, along with most of the other original characters. Anaya introduces a few new, intriguing characters as well. The story will certainly grab your attention, and the final chapters will have you on the edge of your seat! Things certainly end with a bang! or perhaps, to be more precise, a zap! A must read for both Anaya and mystery fans.

This second book by Anaya, regarding the adventures of his detective hero Sonny Baca and his companion Rita, has wonderful contrasts between the three layers of culture in the Rio Grande valley in New Mexico. We are shown the modern American culture in the setting of this novel during the Hot Air Balloon Festival in Albuquerque, where we encounter modern life and modern villains and some heros as well, even among that modern phenomenon of a homeless population. The Hispanic culture is included in the cantina, the bar, knife fights, and gun battles in the predominantly Spanish barrios in parts of Albuquerque, as well as in the Church of San Felipe de Neri. This book is most appealing in the poetic beauty that Anaya brings to this complex tale by carrying the story deeper into the magical thinking of the mysterious culture of the Native Americans. Anaya brings the magical fantasies in slowly but reaches a grand climax in the heroic battle of good versus evil as if it were out of a Navajo legend. It is great fun to go on such a fast tour through these different cultures. In the end, it leaves you with a greater appreciation of the unreal beauty of the Native American cultures. It is helpful, but not essential, to know a little bit of Spanish to understand the brief interchanges in Spanish between some of the characters. This use of Spanish is at a basic level and never too taxing, since Anaya often explains the action also in English.

I had not read "Zia Summer" when I stumbled upon "Rio Grande Fall." Rudolfo Anaya's second Sonny Baca mystery filled in the "Zia Summer" gaps enough that I had no problem following "Rio Grande's" exciting and intricate story of murder, deception and spiritual power. Anaya's carefully crafted use of Spanish without translation adds to the flavor, as do his descriptions of Sonny's shamanic journeys, as he learns to use his power animal, Coyote. When religion appears at all in popular literature today, it usually is in the mainstream. Thus, it is refreshing to find a hero who devoutly espouses an alternate belief system. Also, Anaya packs this page-turner with Hispanic-American socio-political history, working it in so entertainingly that you don't realize till later how much you have learned. "Rio Grande Fall" is an all-around good read.

This book was chosen by my professor because it gives a very liberal view of social problems in the world today. Being more down the middle on most issues, this book seemed to always be whining about how the government isn't doing enough and all the people affected by poverty or racial discrimination should blame the government for their problems. Too much system-blame, no victim-blame possibilities explored even partially.

I've read all three books in this trilogy: "Zia Summer," "Rio Grande Fall" and now "Shaman Winter." Each book was more disappointing than the previous. I had picked up "Zia Summer" because I'd heard good things about Anaya's work and wanted a "different" mystery than the type I usually read. Although "Zia Summer" was a good "long-plane-ride" book, the other two got extremely involved in Sonny's spiritual side and became increasingly "hocus-pocus"; they didn't spend enough time developing the now flaky mystery with Sonny and his nemesis, Raven. The problems Sonny got himself into seemed misplaced and didn't move the mystery along very well and the ending, especially in "Shaman Winter," seemed too make-believe. From now on, I'll stick with Agatha Christie's Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot!

Third in the series after well written Zia Summer and Rio Grande Fall, I found this book to difficult at times and down right hokey.

The opening chapter 'tries' to set the stage of this 3rd tale, but when your done you're trying to figure out if you picked up a sequel or not. Events go way back, many centuries to when the America's were newly discovered and we are introduced to the 'Dream World of the Spirits' if you will. At this point you notice this novel will be a big departure from the previous installments. Then throughout the book, the current story is suspended as the reader is forced to shift gears and read about the Dream World and the going's on there.

Soon after the strange opening, your favorite characters return only few short weeks where Rio Grande Fall left off. Sonny, now in a wheel chair takes a very spiritual or supernatural turn of events that the reader may have trouble adjusting to, as these elements were not as strong in the first two novels. At the very least you can see that Sonny Baca makes a huge spiritual transformation, but this gets way out there....Sonny and nemesis Raven now do battle on the plane of Dreams. Sonny now has 'the power' (?) to enter dreams at will and how the dreams play out ends up affecting reality! When did this detective series become Science Fiction or a X-Files episode?

Also like the previous novels, you need to have a working Spanish vocabulary, as the author tends to switch from English mid sentence to Spanish. You may get the gist of what the characters are trying to say, but when it is in paragraphs you get frustrated because you have no idea what is being talked about.

The hokiest part of the novel is this...Sonny has a morning epiphany that in this day and age you need a computer with access to the Internet to help catch criminals. Just so happens (coincidence) that he dials a friend at a Library who just so happens to have a cliché latch-key kid expert who hangs out on the net all day. So of course when Sonny visits young 'Cyber' (how original), the computer just so happens have been donated by the same agency Sonny is investigating (gee...another coincidence). Even more eye-brow raising is the fact that Cyber is also there doing his own research in the same field that Sonny is seeking information on. To make it even worse Sonny gives Cyber some very minimal information and by the time Sonny gets home from the Library and has a meal Cyber calls and has like 90% of all the info Sonny needed in like 2 hours! The author basically has no idea on how the Internet works, and anyone who does, your eyes will roll at the absurdity of these events.

Finally, nothing is really new in this novel. It's Sonny vs. Raven again, thick in metaphors, a never ending battle that has now spanned three novels. The climax was a let down, and there were two events that just miraculously fixed themselves with nor real or pliable explanation.

If you were a fan of the 1st two, (which I was) you will definitely have to suspend your obvious intuition of logic and reality to truly enjoy this.

This is the third book in the series by Anaya involving his heros Sonny Baca and Rita Lopez and their battles with Sonny's opponent Raven. To appreciate this book, you really need to start at the beginning and follow the story through the various phases. The first book "Zia Summer" sets the stage with the principal characters in the context of the New Mexico Pueblo Indian culture. The second book "Rio Grande Fall" takes you through the battles of Sonny and Raven in the context of the multiple layers of culture (Native American, Hispanic and Anglo) in the Rio Grande Valley. You get a wonderful tour of the cultures in each of these books. This third book "Shaman Winter" is the height of the mystical battle and the Pueblo Indian cultures interpretation of dreams. In this book there also is more of a direct message to the Nuevo Mexicano people that your existence is destroyed by those who rob you of your dreams and who rob you of your historical context. "History belongs to those who write it." Certainly this is a powerful message to the Hispanic people who must feel acutely the loss of their heritage in the Anglo culture and the denial of their dreams of a homeland and a peaceful existance. One of the most powerful moments in the book is the depiction of the Long Walk of the Navaho people and the impact on their women. This is conscience-raising but not distracting from the story line. The story is fascinating in the mystical interpretation of dreams. You have to be willing to suspend disbelief and go along for the ride to enjoy this story. If your are able to do so, the journey is a wonderful one, full of twists, and goes off like the finale of a July 4th fireworks display in all the plots and subplots at the dramatic ending. Note that the ending leaves room to look forward to another book in the series.

This book goes as far back as the Moors in Spain to explain mission style architecture. There is a great deal of discussion of exterior mission style and relatively little example of interior design. A great reference if you want to study the foundations of mission style, and view current examples of the architecture. Not very useful in interior decorating.

this book focuses on the history of actual missions. It is not meant for a person looking for suggestions or ideas on early american architecture/arts and crafts/mission style interiors.

I think the other two reviewers here are kinda missing the point. There are scads of other books out there showing interior decorating ideas for Craftsman houses. This book, while superficially resembling those, has something else in mind. It traces the mission style from the actual missions, through the style's collision with the Arts and Crafts movement, and the subsequent development of what we know as the Spanish style house. It continues on from there, showing how the style then went on to influence Modernism (through Irving Gill). Yeah, so it doesn't have lots of pictures showing A&C interiors. The terms "Mission" and "Arts & Crafts" are used a little too interchangeably by most people. There is a difference, and this book explains it. If nothing else, it's got a little more meat to it than most of the picture books.