Above the Universe Below (Kindle Edition)

Above the Universe Below (Kindle Edition)
By Elias Barton

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First tagged by Dee H.
Customer tags: abuse(2), new adult(2), grim reaper(2), shunning, art, modern fantasy, magical lands, jehovahs witnesses, fiction, family secrets, dark comedy, novel

Review & Description

"Brilliant writing carries this pleasantly odd tale of an agoraphobic artist, Carder Quevedo... Carder's road is not an easy one, but readers will be rooting for him in this unusual and beautifully written book."
- Publishers Weekly

An agoraphobic artist in our world but a grim reaper in another, Carder Quevedo hides at home, immersing himself in the paintings which commemorate the strange deaths he's witnessed. He ventures into public only when necessary, scrambling to his hospital job to extract corneas from deceased donors or darting to the diner to share a meal with Darren, his only friend. That's Carder's existence - and he's content.

Until...

Haika changes that. As the bored, beautiful owner of an art gallery - who also happens to be married - she stumbles into Carder in a chance encounter and soon becomes obsessed with his art. As they forge a quirky, electric relationship, Carder is reluctantly pulled into Haika's social world of wealth, status and the peculiar characters that come with it. Carder is pushed further to the edge when his teenage niece visits, rebelling against her ultra-conservative upbringing. All the while, Carder's hidden history threatens to ruin his developing chance at normalcy, and on the opening night of his art gallery show, his past finally catches up to his present. Will its tentacles entwine them together, or wreak havoc upon them all? Read more

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American Gods: A Novel (Paperback)

American Gods: A Novel (Paperback)
By Neil Gaiman

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First tagged by Dee H.
Customer tags: neil gaiman(133), urban fantasy(100), mythology(94), fantasy(72), modern fantasy(67), science fiction(39), fiction(37), dark comedy(23), popular fiction(12), archetypes(8), gods(6), america(5)

Review & Description

Released from prison, Shadow finds his world turned upside down. His wife has been killed; a mysterious stranger offers him a job. But Mr. Wednesday, who knows more about Shadow than is possible, warns that a storm is coming -- a battle for the very soul of America . . . and they are in its direct path.

One of the most talked-about books of the new millennium, American Gods is a kaleidoscopic journey deep into myth and across an American landscape at once eerily familiar and utterly alien. It is, quite simply, a contemporary masterpiece.

American Gods is Neil Gaiman's best and most ambitious novel yet, a scary, strange, and hallucinogenic road-trip story wrapped around a deep examination of the American spirit. Gaiman tackles everything from the onslaught of the information age to the meaning of death, but he doesn't sacrifice the razor-sharp plotting and narrative style he's been delivering since his Sandman days.

Shadow gets out of prison early when his wife is killed in a car crash. At a loss, he takes up with a mysterious character called Wednesday, who is much more than he appears. In fact, Wednesday is an old god, once known as Odin the All-father, who is roaming America rounding up his forgotten fellows in preparation for an epic battle against the upstart deities of the Internet, credit cards, television, and all that is wired. Shadow agrees to help Wednesday, and they whirl through a psycho-spiritual storm that becomes all too real in its manifestations. For instance, Shadow's dead wife Laura keeps showing up, and not just as a ghost--the difficulty of their continuing relationship is by turns grim and darkly funny, just like the rest of the book.

Armed only with some coin tricks and a sense of purpose, Shadow travels through, around, and underneath the visible surface of things, digging up all the powerful myths Americans brought with them in their journeys to this land as well as the ones that were already here. Shadow's road story is the heart of the novel, and it's here that Gaiman offers up the details that make this such a cinematic book--the distinctly American foods and diversions, the bizarre roadside attractions, the decrepit gods reduced to shell games and prostitution. "This is a bad land for Gods," says Shadow.

More than a tourist in America, but not a native, Neil Gaiman offers an outside-in and inside-out perspective on the soul and spirituality of the country--our obsessions with money and power, our jumbled religious heritage and its societal outcomes, and the millennial decisions we face about what's real and what's not. --Therese Littleton Read more

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First Position: A Century of Ballet Artists (Hardcover)

First Position: A Century of Ballet Artists (Hardcover)
By Toba Singer

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First tagged by Lynn M. Plummer "dewdroppe"
Customer tags: russia, art, ballerina, balanchine, ballet and dance, tchaikovsky, ballet, documentary, dance, nycb

Review & Description

The dancers profiled in First Position represent the pinnacle of their art over the last century. Author Toba Singer polled scores of dance critics, dance teachers and professors, and active and retired professional dancers to create a list that represents the best of the various styles of ballet from the last hundred years. The result is a collective biography that introduces the reader to dancers both with household names and those known mostly to ballet aficioinados. Profiled dancers include Carlos Acosta, Alicia Alonso, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Erik Bruhn, Lazaro Carreno, Margot Fonteyn, Carla Fracci, Gelsey Kirkland, Li Cunxin, Muriel Maffre, Natalia Makarova, Arthur Mitchell, Rudolf Nureyev, Anna Pavlova, and Maya Plisetskaya.

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Color Mixing: Understanding color behavior through mixed swatches (Paperback)

Color Mixing: Understanding color behavior through mixed swatches (Paperback)
By Morgan Murray

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First tagged by Outskirts
Customer tags: color mixing, teaching of art, art, art techniques, artist, color, color theory, study of art, visual presentation

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Review & Description

There are many books out there that address color and plenty of them focus on color theory as the bulk of their teachings. However, seldom is there a book that presents the behavior of color in the language most artist understand more- visual presentation. That is what this book addresses. How color behaves through charts of mixed swatches that the artist can observe rather than merely read about. Read more

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The Tap Dance Dictionary (Paperback)

The Tap Dance Dictionary (Paperback)
By Mark Knowles

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First tagged by Spicysenor
Customer tags: choreography, art, tap dance, guide, american history, how to, reference, dance, tapping, dictionary, learning, performance

Review & Description

The language of tap dancing is as rich and varied as that of any art, and different choreographers, teachers and performers often use totally different terms for exactly the same step. The various names of all steps and clear descriptions of them are collected for the first time in this reference work. The emphasis is on all variations of a name, from universally recognized terms to simple "pet" names that individual performers and choreographers have created, with extensive cross-references provided. Each of the steps is fully described, with appropriate counts, explanations and history. Many antique and unusual steps such as the Patting Juba, the Quack and the Swanee Shuffle are included. Read more

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The Art of David Hinnebusch (Hardcover)

The Art of David Hinnebusch (Hardcover)
By David Hinnebusch

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Customer tags: california artists, contemporary art, california art, art, venice beach, modern art, malibu artists, figurative art, nudes

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Ancient Maya Art at Dumbarton Oaks (Pre-Columbian Art at Dumbarton Oaks) (Hardcover)

Ancient Maya Art at Dumbarton Oaks (Pre-Columbian Art at Dumbarton Oaks) (Hardcover)
By Joanne Pillsbury

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First tagged by Reiko Ishihara
Customer tags: art, maya, mesoamerica

Review & Description

This introduction to Maya art is based on study of one of the most important collections in the United States, assembled by Robert Woods Bliss between 1935 and 1962. The catalogue, written by leading Maya scholars, contains detailed analyses of specific works of art along with thematic essays situating them within the context of Maya culture.

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