A History of Light [Paperback]

Alvaro Cardona-Hine (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1997

Do you remember your first love? A History of Light, a memoir, by Alvaro Cardona-Hine, is set in 1930s Costa Rica and written in a series of translucent meditations that shimmer with a tenderness as irresistible as memory itself. This glimpse of a different world and a young boy awakening to his own heart is sensual, yet profoundly innocent.

Cardona-Hine wrote this book while stranded by a blizzard in a small town in Minnesota. "Suddenly, there she was, this apparition from the Thirties. In five days all white with tons of snow the book wrote itself, so effortlessly I had to change nothing, not even the names I felt incumbent to leave out so that those who read the story can supply their own, out of their own unsullied past."

The author has thirteen previous titles including translation, memoir, and poetry. The smaller size (6 x 6 1/2 inches) is intended as an invitation to take the book in hand to read aloud to friends or lovers, or carry in a pocket to remind you to open your heart to love. Gate flaps add to the elegance of the edition along with the exquisite cover drawing by Cardona-Hine.

Editorial Reviews

Review

All the desperation, simplicity and anguish of a first love are captured. -- Arizona Daily Sun

Give it to someone you love and light up the way they view the world. -- The New Mexican

From the Publisher

Cardona-Hine was a finalist for the 1998 Small Press Book Award for "A History of Light". He translated César Vallejo's "Spain, Let This Cup Pass From Me," was awarded an NEA fellowship in 1978, and a Bush Foundation Fellowship in 1978. Cardona-Hine served as editor of Mankind Magazine from 1971-1975. His art work graces the bookcovers of "The Practice of Peace", "Small Mercies", "A History of Light", and "Thirteen Tangos for Stravinsky".

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Sherman Asher Pub (October 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1890932000
• ISBN-13: 978-1890932008
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,218,390 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #69 in Books > History > Americas > Central America > Costa Rica

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I wanted to fall in love when I read this book, October 12, 1999

By 

Aubrey Davis ([e-mail]) (Arkadelphia, AR.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A History of Light (Paperback)

I met Alvaro Cardona-Hine the summer after my Sophomore year in college, at his home in Truchas, NM. He was a charming man, who invited me in to his studio, and his home. He offered water or wine to drink, and then signed a gallery book of his paintings for me.

Two years later, I discover The History of Light.

I loved reading this book, I savored every minute of time that it took to read, and I walked away thinking love should be just like this

It is an adult version of childhood romance; it's also a remembering of loss. Sometimes on the border of being sentimental, it's very sweet. The prose is elegant,the words and ideas simple, without being simplistic. My favorite passage reads "Whatever seemed unfinished once now is undefinable. I had thought God interested in creating puzzles out of life when He had meant for me to stand in awe of beauty. What an easy thing to feel that is when it's messenger stands before me."

Another passage, worth noting, reads "Your fingernails, little as they are, have small white moons sailing over their crests. And your face has freckles, as though it had lain a whole night exposed to the elements and your skin had photographed the stars."

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What a woman really wants is love, February 1, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: A History of Light (Paperback)

Forget perfume! Read me words of love.

"A History of Light" is straight from a bottomless well of the real stuff. This is the intensity, recklessness and sweetness I want from a lover. The innocence and abandon of a twelve year-old boy's first headlong plunge into his own heart, told over fifty years later with the seasoning and wisdom of a poet.

Light the candles. Pour the wine. Turn the page. Read me words of love.

5.0 out of 5 stars poetry and notalgia, August 21, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: A History of Light (Paperback)

A lovely book; it somehow transcends the childhood experience at the same time that it does evoke the joys and pains of first love. It can be read as an experience in the present, or how such an adult experience should be. A fresh, charming book.