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by: Bill Holm  List Price: $14.95 Amazon.com's Price: $11.21 You Save: $3.74 (25%)Prices subject to change. Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Binding: PaperbackDewey Decimal Number: 910.4 EAN: 9781571312594 Edition: 1 ISBN: 1571312595 Label: Milkweed Editions Manufacturer: Milkweed Editions Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 368 Publication Date: September 09, 2001 Publisher: Milkweed Editions Studio: Milkweed Editions Related Items:
Browse for similar items by category: Click to Display Editorial Review: Product Description: Bill Holm, often called “the bard of the Midwest,” takes readers on an excursion to islands both real and symbolic. He journeys to five physical islands: Iceland, Madagascar, Molokai, Isla Mujeres, and Mallard Island. And he travels to conceptual islands, including the Necessary Island of the Imagination, the whimsical Piano Island (located in a man-made lake under the atrium of an upscale hotel in the far interior of China), and the acute isolation of the Island of Pain. Writing with the mind-set of a 19th-century traveler for whom the journey is as important as the destination, Holm appeals to the traveler and the philosopher in everyone. Average Rating:
 Rating:  - Building bridges to islandsUsing the concept of islands as a metaphorical vehicle, Bill Holm speaks to the intellect and to the soul. Bill Holm is amazingly descriptive and beautifully human. Recounting his visits to real islands we grasp the human (transcending culture) values of neighborhood and community. Islands of the imagination are explored, as places of retreat, creativity, and reflection. In a final powerful closing caveat Holm warns against allowing the imagination to turn inward on itself and to play ... Read More Rating:  - A Good Introduction To Icelandic Literature!The best thing that can be about this book is Bill Holm's obvious love of Iceland, its people, its culture and especially its literature. Unfortunately, this love is not extended to his students (who he seems to not miss an opportunity to belittle) or his readers, who it always feels he is talking down to. The structure of the book is also another drawback. Holm interspersed empty headed touristy reminices with authetic insights and experiences, and this only serves to water down the book as a whole. ... Read More Rating: - A wonderful tour of real and imaginary islandsAuthor Bill Holm has produced in this work a wonderful, eclectic, almost at times rambling (but wonderfully so) tour of a number of islands. Many are actual islands he writes about, places where one can journey to; Madagascar, Isla Mujeres or the Island of Women near Cancun off the Mexican coast, Molokai (part of the Hawaiian Islands, once a leper colony, that chapter fascinating and touching centering as it does on the saintly efforts of Father Damien de Veuster and his care for the unfairly maligned and ... Read More Rating: - Not a book for those without soulAlthough I'm a travel essay collector and snob, never has any author told me a story that made me break down in sobs for four pages (236-240). This is now one of my favorite books. I found it by accident, due to an interest in Madagascar and Iceland, but every island described here will enlighten you. There are a million average writers out there, knocking out non-fiction books on the most menial of topics, but Bill Holm is that rare author who not only feels his topics thoroughly, he has the ... Read More Rating:  - Eccentric Islands: Is it worth reading about these travelsI dove into this book with an avid interest. The writer takes the reader through his various travels abroad and through his own lifetime. Sounds great. Except just like any travel companion, after some time you've heard all of the stories again and again. The writer is from Minnesota, he's so proud of this fact he tells us this more than 50 times. He's of Icelandic descent ( also interesting the first time ) he tells us this fact many many times. Repetition turns to redundancy. Then to scorn as ... Read More 
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