Cart
|
|
my account
|
wish list
|
help
|
800-878-7323
Hello, |
Login
MENU
Browse
New Arrivals
Bestsellers
Featured Preorders
Award Winners
Audio Books
See All Subjects
Used
Staff Picks
Staff Picks
Picks of the Month
Bookseller Displays
50 Books for 50 Years
25 Best 21st Century Sci-Fi & Fantasy
25 PNW Books to Read Before You Die
25 Books From the 21st Century
25 Memoirs to Read Before You Die
25 Global Books to Read Before You Die
25 Women to Read Before You Die
25 Books to Read Before You Die
Gifts
Gift Cards & eGift Cards
Powell's Souvenirs
Journals and Notebooks
socks
Games
Sell Books
Blog
Events
Find A Store
Don't Miss
Big Mood Sale
Teen Dream Sale
Portland Like a Pro Sale
Powell's Author Events
Oregon Battle of the Books
Audio Books
Get the Powell's newsletter
Visit Our Stores
Powell's Staff:
Five Book Friday: In Memoriam
(0 comment)
Every year, the booksellers at Powell’s submit their Top Fives: their five favorite books that were released in 2023. It’s a list that, when put together, shows just how varied and interesting the book tastes of Powell’s booksellers are. I highly recommend digging into the recommendations — we would never lead you astray — but today...
Read More
»
Brontez Purnell:
Powell’s Q&A: Brontez Purnell, author of ‘Ten Bridges I’ve Burnt’
(0 comment)
Rachael P.:
Starter Pack: Where to Begin with Ursula K. Le Guin
(0 comment)
{1}
##LOC[OK]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]##
##LOC[Cancel]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]##
##LOC[Cancel]##
Customer Comments
Marilyn Stachenfeld has commented on (9) products
A Good Man Is Hard to Find and Other Stories
by
Flannery O'Connor
Marilyn Stachenfeld
, July 29, 2008
Flannery O'Connor writes like no one else. Until I read a collection of her letters and got some understanding of her judgment of her characters--she judges them on a scale of spiritual honesty--I was puzzled by her writing. Now I am just thrilled by the mind that could create such unconventional (mostly Southern) people and put them through so many spins of the wheel. I can't put down any one of her stories in the middle.
Was this comment helpful? |
Yes
|
No
(5 of 12 readers found this comment helpful)
report this comment
Short History Of The Long Ball
by
Justin Cronin
Marilyn Stachenfeld
, July 23, 2008
I can't add a comment. I'm too discouraged by your not publishing my comments! Whatever are your criteria!
Was this comment helpful? |
Yes
|
No
(5 of 10 readers found this comment helpful)
report this comment
Turtle Feet The Making & Unmaking of a Buddhist Monk
by
Nikolai Grozni
Marilyn Stachenfeld
, July 22, 2008
In a way this book reminds me of the novel about another young man on a quest, Somerset Maugham's "The Razor's Edge," and, interestingly, the narrator in that novel claims it's not a novel but a true story. Notable in each book is a worldly, brawling man who introduces the seeker to spiritual life and broadens his vision. The Zen aspect of this tale (though far more wordy than any Zen manual) is important in today's world to show that spirituality is not something to be isolated and labeled, but lived.
Was this comment helpful? |
Yes
|
No
(210 of 236 readers found this comment helpful)
report this comment
Wedding
by
Dorothy West
Marilyn Stachenfeld
, July 08, 2008
I couldn't put this book down! It's Henry James with a feminine touch, a deftly rendered account of four generations of a multiracial family whose beloved, beautiful, blonde-and-blue-eyed black daughter is on the verge of her wedding. West weaves conscious and unconscious choices into a tale that explodes in unexpected yet inevitable violence, a "wedding" of all the forces that have divided our country racially since its very beginning. This is a great novel!!!!
Was this comment helpful? |
Yes
|
No
(8 of 14 readers found this comment helpful)
report this comment
Crime Of The Century
by
Kingsley Amis
Marilyn Stachenfeld
, July 02, 2008
The Daily Telegraph asked Kingsley Amis to write a mystery serial, and according to him, he took the job to pay his bills. The title lets you know it was an ironic task for him, and he says that, like all writing, it proved difficult as well. Amis writes well, but this is a not really a mystery but rather a book written to resemble a mystery with clues and some character development and a ridiculously unsatisfying resolution. The fact that the newspaper ran a contest where the author could choose the best alternate ending by a reader shows how randomly plotted and developed this story is! Any character could have committed the murder and the one that did is a silly choice. I was greatly disappointed in this book.
Was this comment helpful? |
Yes
|
No
(3 of 6 readers found this comment helpful)
report this comment
Complete Novels
by
Dashiell Hammett
Marilyn Stachenfeld
, April 16, 2008
If you're learning to write fiction, study this book! Description of movements--face and body--which characterize as well as the slow, steady build up of character underlie Hammett's plots and their resolutions. His character study makes him a master, and the intricacy yet clarity of his plots force close and well-repaid attention. Dialogue adheres to each character's eccentricities like glue. I just re-read "The Glass Key" and and found consistencies I'd overlooked at first reading. Well worth studying.
Was this comment helpful? |
Yes
|
No
(1 of 2 readers found this comment helpful)
report this comment
Scent of Desire Discovering Our Enigmatic Sense of Smell
by
Rachel Herz
Marilyn Stachenfeld
, March 08, 2008
Rachel Herz writes smoothly about her field of study, the influence of the sense of smell on our lives and its potential in science. Occasionally the studies she quotes are not sufficiently documented (for my needs), such as her discussion of cases where inbreeding is prevented by smell's directing potential mates toward those with less similar gene pools. But mostly Herz's studies are based on sufficient information. Her major interest within her field is the severe loss of interest in life that accompanies losing one's sense of smell. She proves that often what is understood as taste is really smell, or a combination of the two, and how the loss of the one sense affects more areas than we would imagine, such as response to one's mate. To me, the most interesting aspects of her book are her presentations of harnessing the sense of smell to advance human and environmental benefit: how animals such as bees, wasps and dogs can be trained to detect specific smells and thus detect cancer, land mines, and other specifics that provide enormous benefits to mankind.
Was this comment helpful? |
Yes
|
No
(4 of 5 readers found this comment helpful)
report this comment
Road Less Traveled 25th Anniversary Edition A New Psychology of Love Traditional Values & Spiritual Growth
by
M Scott Peck
Marilyn Stachenfeld
, January 13, 2008
When I first read this book, in the early eighties, I was distracted by the author's personality, which comes across strongly. One chapter in particular put me off by describing a woman who was seeking the author's "love" as evil. I felt the author, because he was a psychiatrist, should help her. Twenty-plus years later, I begin to understand the warning given about people who use illness, particularly mental illness, to drain other human beings, calling this "love." This habit of sucking others into weakness is one of the dangers Peck identifies. A man who has lived through enormous changes in his own life, Peck gathers his experiences into discernments that become more and more timely as we try to evolve into fully developed humans, loving ourselves and the goodness in each other. "The Road Less Traveled" offers pathways of genuineness to readers who are willing to dig deeply to understand its message. I recommend this book to a new generation of readers and to anyone who had not made acquaintance with this author's fascinating profundities.
Was this comment helpful? |
Yes
|
No
(4 of 5 readers found this comment helpful)
report this comment
Adam Bede
by
George Eliot
Marilyn Stachenfeld
, December 10, 2007
What kept me enthralled through a long, rainy afternoon was the goodness of the two main characters in Adam Bede, Adam and the Methodist preacher Dinah Morris. Both are handsome specimens of English youth, strong and brave and hard-working, and Dinah is filled with love. The details of the Methodist movement are provided here, so there is historical interest; it is Dinah's love for God and humanity that leads to the redemption of the pitifully fallen woman, Hetty Sorrel. Every detail is richly rendered: the color of the countryside, Hetty's dark curls, Adam's strong, manly frame. It's the physicality of the book and the strong foundation of goodness in the Methodists' beliefs in humanity's redemptive possibilities that make this book into a lovable, engrossing, cheering read.
Was this comment helpful? |
Yes
|
No
(16 of 19 readers found this comment helpful)
report this comment