Ulysses has been labeled dirty, blasphemous, and unreadable. In a famous 1933 court decision, Judge John M. Woolsey declared it an emetic book--although he found it sufficiently unobscene to allow its importation into the United States--and Virginia Woolf was moved to decry James Joyce's "cloacal obsession." None of these adjectives, however, do the slightest justice to the novel. To this day it remains the modernist masterpiece, in which the author takes both Celtic lyricism and vulgarity to splendid extremes. It is funny, sorrowful, and even (in a close-focus sort of way) suspenseful.
With overtones of Chasing Vermeer and The Borrowers, this inventive mystery involves two families that inhabit the same Manhattan apartment: the Pompadays-a slick, materialistic couple, their infant son and thoughtful James, from the wife's previous marriage-and a family of beetles, who live behind the kitchen sink and watch sympathetically as James's charms go unappreciated.
'Affairs of the Heart' is a quilt with 36 appliqued blocks on a black background, each integrating a heart motif in some manner. The blocks are intricate in appearance, yet easy enough to be tackled by novices with basic applique skills. Even the experts will find themselves engaged in the delicacy of the exquisite design elements and the vividness of the florals, influenced by the author's Burmese background. Aie (pronounced a) adds scrolls and scallops to her borders. The blocks are a manageable size, so each one can be completed within a single sitting.
Often typecast as a menacing figure, Peter Lorre achieved Hollywood fame first as a featured player and later as a character actor who trademarked his screen performances with a delicately strung balance between good and evil. His portrayal of the grisly child murderer in Fritz Lang’s masterpiece M (1931) catapulted him to international fame. Lang said of Lorre: "He gave one of the best performances in film history and certainly the best in his life." Today, the Hungarian-born actor is also recognized for his riveting performances in The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934), The Maltese Falcon (1941), and Casablanca (1942).
This fascinating work profiles Abu Hamid al-Ghazali (1058-1111), the foremost Islamic scholar and mystic of the medieval period. Appointed head of the Nizamiyyah College at Baghdad, he attracted interested audiences from across the Islamic world. Due to a spiritual crisis, he went into self-imposed exile, during which he wrote the Sufi masterpiece, Revival of the Sciences of Religion. This is a stimulating introduction to the great man's life and work.
![Ulysses [ABRIDGED] [AUDIOBOOK]](http://englishtips.org/uploads/posts/2008-07/1215218393_joyce.jpg "Ulysses [ABRIDGED] [AUDIOBOOK]")
