Two Words, One Answer.
fifth book
 The Fifth Black Book of Horror $14.00 Are you hungry for some more horror? Do you have an appetite for the abominable? Then you need The Fifth Black Book of Horror. Thirteen morsels of the macabre for those with a taste for terror. With stories by Reggie Oliver; Paul Finch; David A. Riley; Craig Herbertson; Rosalie Parker; Ian C. Strachan; David Williamson; Marcus Gold; Richard Staines; Anna Taborska; Raymond Vaughn, and two by John Llewellyn Probert, it's a veritable feast of fear!  The Fifth Book of Peace $14.95 Maxine Hong Kingston's The Fifth Book of Peace exhibits a journey through human conscience. Kingston lost the manuscript to her Fourth Book of Peace in a house fire in 1991, and through the process of reviving or regurgitating the contents of the book, she came up with The Fifth Book of Peace. The contents of this book was inspired by Kingston's personal experiences, such as the loss of her father, coincidently, Kingston returned home from her father's funeral only to see her neighborhood in a blaze of fire, as well as Vietnam Veterans' accounts of the war and during a writer's workshop that Kingston hosted. The Fifth Book of Peace derives from Kingston's own view of war from a noncombatant and rather bistander perspective intertwines the issue of war and human suffering that come from thought and memory -- World War II, the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the first Iraq War. Possibly, she is attempting to encourage thinking and awareness. It is the overtones of education that Kingston states are the purpose or reason for being, "Educate America. Teach everybody"(60). Although these are the words taken from her mother as she asks Kingston about her purpose in life, "What have you done to educate America? Have you finished educating the world yet? You go educate America?" (60) The book is divided into three enormous chapters that can be considered three separate books. There is plenty of information within these chapters that change in tone, and may take some quiet reading time to discern which parts are fiction and which parts are autobiographical. The first chapter, Fire, is the introduction to The Fifth Book of Peace, and presents an inkling of where the book will proceed. There is much dialogue between the characters in the book, as well as dialects and ethnic references to describe the characters and people that helped Kingston write the book. The book has quite a number of notable passages, and one particular passage may possibly sum up the book: "Peace begins in thought. Thoughts enworded go from mind to mind, and mind makes the world. Peace, illusive, abstract, negative Yin, dream, would take a long writing-out to make real. Its book has to be longer than war books -- longer than a bumper sticker, longer than a sound bite. As we read, neuropeptides in the brain grow longer, longer than in nonreaders. Though becomes body. Sudden fast change is a method of war. The logic of peace has to be spoken out at length" (54). I recommend this book for the pure purpose of expanding your mind or to add another perspective to the meaning of war.  Monteverdi: Fourth and Fifth Books of Madrigals $9.49 This is a very fine presentation of some of the greatest madrigals ever written. Part of a whole series of recordings of the famous Books of Madrigals by Monteverdi, this double CD presents earlier recordings made by a group of distinguished singers led by Emma Kirkby together with Anthony Rooley's Consort of Musicke. One of the seminal groups of the Early Music movement, the Consort is known for its contributions to the performance of Renaissance music through the 1970s, 80s, and 90s. I found this collection useful for the historical connotations of the program. One of the most important aspects is the birth of the new style in the first years of the seventeenth century. With the last six pieces of the Fifth Book, Monteverdi specifically demands the use of continuo instruments and through this he clearly marks the transition to the Baroque era. The seconda pratica (second practice) characterizes most of these two books of madrigals. The opening of the madrigal "Sfogava con le stelle" (Communing with the stars) represents an ensemble declamation on one chord in the rhythm of the text. In the new style, the words should govern the music, the sonorities must be in accordance with the textual images and ideas. The theatrical style is reinforced in the pieces of the Fifth Book by the particular dissonance treatment, such as unprepared sevenths and ninths. They were characterized at the time as improper. The importance of the text is also evident through the thinner textures that Monteverdi uses at different moments in a piece. The composer writes passages where only alternating pair voices sing or if there are three voices at a time, one of them has a functional role while the other two move in parallel thirds, as in "Io mi son giovinetta" (I am young). Polyphony is not abandoned (a few madrigals have reminiscences of the prima pratica), but enhanced to smaller groups of voices competing or completing with each other. The present recording sets apart through the clarity of the voices and the delicate ornamentation of certain passages, including a perceptible vibrato often used to enrich the sonority of such a small group. An impeccable vocal technique, which doesn't show off but serves the communication of emotions, an elegant treatments of the dynamics, including expressive accents, and an impeccable Italian diction are defining elements of this performance. Balance is sometimes a very difficult task in the context of Monteverdi's madrigals, but these singers are well coordinated and prove a highly trained sense of awareness. To give this recording an even more interesting angle, the collection is rounded off by other four substantial accompanied madrigals. "Con che soavit¸«¢" and "Tempro la cetra" come from the 7th Book, while "Mentre vaga Angioletta" and "Ogni amante ¸«² guerrier" are taken from the 8th Book. These pieces give the listeners an idea about the direction of Monteverdi's music. |
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