“… Shakespeare starts the monologue by embedding a stage direction to the coffin bearers in …”

As a nonactor I’m in the midst of reading this book. Now for the first time I’m completely grasping the prose and verse. In the past I’ve tried to read Shakespeare cold, with no help, and as a modern English speaker you can pick up some things yes, but this book makes it all, and I mean all clear. We get well over 100 of his greatest monologues, and every unfamiliar word is fully explained, as well as multiple interpretations of the lines.

I recommend this book to students, actors, writers, and layman for it will unleash the magic of the verse. And when it does you can read or see a performance and grasp it all…and there is so much to grasp, and a good play requires a good reader, a good performance, a good audience, and this book will make you one.

Zip file of the entire book (25 MB)

Contemporary Authors: Biography - McAlpin, Heller (1955-)

This audiobook, covering the life and work of Heller McAlpin, is an entry from Contemporary Authors, a reference volume published by Thomson Gale. The length of the entry is 434 words. The page length listed above is based on a typical 300-word page. Although the exact content of each entry from this volume can vary.

Nostalgia by Heller McAlpin

Nostalgia by young Heller McAlpin. Why on earth would anyone be interested in reading a book about a woman who moves to Paris and becomes an au pair? Well, The Pleasing Hour is one of the most lyrical and well-put novels I have read. It follows the story of a young American nanny in Paris and her anecdotes about the eccentric Tivot family.

I especially love the culture and backdrop of Europe in the story. I especially love the chapters of Spain. Learning about different cultures and settings is what makes literature of this kind so appealing. I have always been fascinated with Europe and this book satisfied my thirst for knowledge. Also, the story is both endearing and poignant. I highly recommend it.

People of the Book: A Novel by Geraldine Brooks

” -Heller McAlpin, Los Angeles Times Book Review “Clarity of vision, fine, meticulous …”

“The People of the Book,” by Geraldine Brooks, opens in Sarajevo in 1996. Under the watchful eyes of bank security guards, Bosnian police officers, two United Nations peacekeepers, and an official UN observer, a thirty-year-old Aussie named Hanna Heath has been hired to perform an exacting task. She is about to examine a precious fifteenth century codex, the Sarajevo Haggadah, “one of the rarest and most mysterious volumes in the world.” Hanna’s impressive qualifications include honors degrees in chemistry and Near Eastern languages as well as a PhD in fine art conservation, which as she patiently explains, is very different from book restoration. She knows her materials intimately: calf’s intestine, pigments, gold leaf, and parchment are some of the tools of her trade. The Haggadah, which was created in medieval Spain, is “a lavishly illuminated Hebrew manuscript made at a time when Jewish belief was firmly against illustrations of any kind.”

The book first came to light in 1894. After passing through many hands, it disappeared in 1992, when the Sarajevo siege began. After four years, it suddenly reappears and an Israeli expert, Amitai Yomtov, awakens Hannah at two o’clock in the morning to tell her the exciting news. Most scholars believed that the book had been stolen or destroyed during the fighting. It turns out that the head of the museum library in Sarajevo, Ozren Karaman, placed the Haggadah in a safe-deposit box for safekeeping. “Can you imagine, Channah?” Amitai exclaims. “A Muslim, risking his neck to save a Jewish book.” Now, UN officials want an expert to inspect the Haggadah for signs of damage.

Although she is technically proficient and has written many highly-regarded papers in her field, Hanna brings something extra to the table. “It has to do with an intuition about the past. By linking research and imagination, sometimes I can think myself into the heads of the people who made the book.” Indeed that is exactly what Brooks does in this meticulously crafted work, with its beautifully realized, three-dimensional cast of characters and its compelling and richly textured plot. As Hanna delves into the history of a priceless text, the reader is transported to 1940 Sarajevo, 1894 Vienna, 1609 Venice, 1492 Tarragona, and 1480 Seville. Along the way, we gain insight into the political, religious, and social turmoil that has beset the Jewish people over the centuries.

The author alternates chapters set in 1996 with those that take place further back in the past. As the story progresses, we come ever closer to the secret of who created this magnificent work of art. The journey is all the more wonderful because of the people who accompany us: Lola is a Sarajevan Jew who joins the partisans during World War II; destiny brings her to an Albanian scholar who will protect both her and the Haggadah from the Nazis. In Venice, we meet a bitter and sick Austrian bookbinder, Herr Florien Mittl. Ironically, this virulent anti-Semite is entrusted with the painstaking job of rebinding the Haggadah. In Venice, an alcoholic priest named Giovanni Domenico Vistorini is a censor of the Inquisitor. He may allow the Haggadah to “pass” or declare it a work of heresy and consign it to the flames. David Ben Shoushan, a poor Hebrew scribe in Tarragona, Spain, fills his mind with holy letters as he prepares to make his own vital contribution to the Haggadah. The final pieces of the puzzle fall into place in Seville, Spain, at the time of the Jews’ expulsion.

Against the backdrop of these tumultuous historical events, we observe the vitriolic Hanna soften, mature, and fall in love with Ozran Karaman, whose hidden grief after suffering a series of tragedies may prevent him from reciprocating her affection. An irritated Hanna repeatedly clashes with her aloof and disapproving mother, a highly respected neurosurgeon who has always belittled her daughter’s work. In the book’s one misstep, the author allows a bit of melodrama to taint her otherwise impeccable narrative when the protagonist uncovers some startling truths about her identity.

Geraldine Brooks shows how the Haggadah’s fate illuminates the prejudice and mindless persecution that have too often poisoned communities and nations throughout the world. Ozren wonders why more people do not realize “that to be a human being matters more than to be Jew or a Muslim, [or a] Catholic.” This is an engrossing, poignant, and skillfully constructed novel. It is a marvel of storytelling at its best.

Body Surfing: A Novel by Anita Shreve

” -Heller McAlpin, Newsday The Weight of Water “An engrossing tale…. Ms. Shreve …”

I may be a man, and not just a man, but a businessman, and the only times that I am not going over a spreadsheet or quarterly report are when I am on a plane, but that is when I like to prop a cheap airline pillow behind my neck, wrap myself in a thin airline blanket, and dive into the latest Anita Shreve novel.

I usually wrap another dust jacket over the book, something with “Success” or “Winning” in the title, but underneath the fake jacket I am unwrapping the lives, histories, and fates of complicated and compelling characters, and I often finish a Shreve novel in tears at the sheer power of her vivid and powerful descriptions of the turmoil within the human heart, at which point a flight attendant or a fellow passenger will ask if anything’s wrong, and I usually reply, “These success/winning/business strategies are just so powerful (sniff)… I can bench 200 pounds.”

“Body Surfing: A Novel” continues Shreve’s chronicling of the relationships between people seemingly thrown together by chance but whose lives eventually become so intertwined that one feels Fate, or an omniscient author, has brought them together.

Sydney, a young woman escaping her own past, steps into the seemingly idyllic, New Hampshire seaside home of wealthy architect Mr. Edwards. The elegant, two-story, white clapboard house with the wraparound porch and mansard roof has become a recurring character in many of Shreve’s novels, and here it serves as the repository of growing resentments, passions, and betrayals as Sydney becomes entangled in the Edwards family slow dissolution.

I fairly dissolved myself as I read of Sydney’s growing attraction to one of the Edwards brothers and the bitter actions of the other, all leading to a climax that left me, dare I say it, body surfing–on a wave of overwhelming emotions and uncontrollable feelings.

The Weight of Water by Anita Shreve

“… in this accomplished inquiry into the ravages of love.” -N. Heller McAlpin, Los Angeles Times “Shreve manages …”

Anita Shreve writes hauntingly beautiful books about important moments in our lives. The Weight of Water is a bewitching tale that most probably rings a bell in every woman’s life.

Hasn’t every woman imagined her loved one having an affiar - seen the signs and been absolutely sure but been wrong (we hope)? Anita weaves these feelings in amidst a haunting tale of murder and intrigue from the 1800’s.

I have read all of Anita’s books but this was definitely one of my favorites. I found it hard to put down and I also responded to many of the main characters emotions - many times I wished I could reach into the book and shake her.

Shreve is destined to be one of this generations best novelists!