Hotel Insomnia Review

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(More customer reviews)Charles Simic, Hotel Insomnia (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1992)
If I ever meet Charles Simic, I am likely to ask that one question every author really hates: "Where do you get your ideas?"
It's not that the overarching, grand design of Simic's work is incomprehensible or anything. In fact, in Hotel Insomnia, if anything, it's more noticeable than ever; for once, the book's title really does tie into almost everything in the book. Insomnia is a major theme in these poems, and it runs throughout like a bad infomercial on late-night TV in the background, bleary-eyed, beer in hand, in its boxer shorts, and yet strangely appealing.
No, it's not that. It's in the details, those damnable little snippets of poetry that make Charles Simic's poems little gems of wide-eyed brilliance:
"There's a painting over the cash register:
Of a stiff Quaker couple dressed in black.
They hold a cat under each arm.
One is a tiger, the other is Siamese.
The eyes are closed because it's very late,
And because cats see better with their eyes closed."
(--"Caged Fortuneteller")
This is a guy who knows something about you. No matter who you are. And in every book he releases, he will reveal a little of it, until you're paranoid, hiding in a darkened room, peeking out of the blinds, unable to sleep, just waiting for Charles Simic to come knocking on your door, because you're convinced he's coming for you.
And isn't that what it's all about? **** ½

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The Story of the Coco Palms Hotel: The Grace Buscher Guslander Years 1953-1985 Review

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(More customer reviews)Fabulous book - I was fortunate to stay there twice - once at the same time as John Wayne, Lee Marvin, and
Cesar Romero..

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Lyle and Grace Guslander built their hotel empire fromwhat started out as a 24-room hotel with five employees,that everyone on the island of Kauai had bet would gounder, especially when they heard that a pretty, blondehaole from Pennsylvania had arrived on the island tomanage it. Previously, all of the former operators of theCoco Palm Lodge had failed miserably.Within a year, Grace Buscher (as she was known in thefifties) had created one of the most famous destinationsin the world by incorporating the host culture she hadlearned from her Hawaiian friends and fusing it with herown unique creativity and vision. Grace had conjured upa magical tropical fantasy that people from all over theworld had dreamed they would find in Hawaii, and theCoco Palms became renowned as one of the first hotelsin Hawaii that actually celebrated Hawaiian culture.Within a decade, Grace Buscher was named the mostsuccessful hotel manager in the travel industry.Movies and television shows were filmed at the CocoPalms Hotel, most famously Blue Hawaii starring ElvisPresley. Paramount producer Hal Wallis was quoted assaying that the grounds of the Coco Palms was chosenfor filming because he couldn t find any hotel in theHawaiian Islands as authentically Hawaiian or asromantic as the Coco Palms! The hotel has also seen itsshare of dignitaries and celebrities; among them, theShah of Iran, Prince and Princess Hitachi of Japan, andBing Crosby.Even after Lyle and Grace had married and had soldtheir Island Holidays hotel chain for twenty milliondollars to American Factors in 1969, the Coco Palmsstory continued for another two decades. Lyle became amajor force in the hospitality industry, overseeing hotelsfor American Factors, and Grace continued to managethe Coco Palms Hotel until her retirement in 1985.Tragically, the devastating effects of Hurricane Iniki in1992 left the Coco Palms Hotel severely damaged. Asthe island of Kauai grappled with a recession and adownturn in tourism in the wake of the hurricane, theresort was eventually left to decay as repairs andinsurance issues proved too costly. However countlessthousands around the world can still recall a time whengentle tradewinds blew through hundreds of coconuttrees beside a silvery lagoon; where Hawaiian hospitalityand the true aloha spirit reigned supreme, all because ofGrace Guslander.

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