Fiction Literature Books

The copy that Amazon sent was misbound at the printer: pages 119 through 150 appear twice in succession, while pages 151 through 182 are missing. My copy is the 46th printing of the 7th edition (Grove Press). Unless you can confirm in advance that your copy will be a corrected printing, or you are willing to return the book, I recommend getting the book where you can inspect it first.

(Note: I'm required to give the book a star rating in order to post this warning. Please discount this rating as an evaluation of the book's content.)

My father used to read this book to us as children and I have read it to all of mine. It is way more than just a story. The main story concerns an actual historical figure who was hugely significant as the monk who in the 7th century brought Mahayana Buddhism to China. In part the book is a teaching text, containing instructions on certain practices encoded into the story. The Monkey of course represents human consciousness which must be tamed before it can be useful, and the early part of the book contains an explanation of why this cannot be achieved by traditional Taoist methods alone. Having been controlled by the Buddha, Monkey is then able to gain mastery over Pigsy, who represents the gross physical body with all of its appetites. I am told that Arthur Waley's 1935 translation, while making a rollicking story, may not be strictly accurate in the scholarly sense, but I think it makes such a great read that who cares? Not only is it readable, but although written in the Ming Dynasty, it reamins as fresh and lively as any contemporary novel. Look for the hidden meanings as you read it and learn.

Some people know the character Son Goku, from the Japanese cartoon series Dragon Ball Z. Others are familiar with Pokemon's Infernape. And still more know a similar character from a TV miniseries shown in the US in 2001 called The Lost Empire. Rumor has it that Jet Li will collaborate with Jackie Chan to portray a Sun Wukong-like character in the forthcoming movie The Forbidden Kingdom. What fans of these characters may not know, is that they are all based on China's infamous Sun Wukong--or The Monkey King.

The tale of the Sun Wukong is one of the four major Chinese literary classics. His 81-chapter story, called Journey to the West (Xi You Ji), was written by Wu Chen-En in the 1500s. Monkey's legend is based on the true story of a well-known monk, Xuan Zang (602-664), who traveled to Inida to bring the Sutra--the Buddhist holy book--to China to enlighten the people and improve their lives. In Journey to the West, however, reality gives way to a much more entertaining and fantastic version of the story.

Journey to the West is a hero's quest, elaborated with Monkey's supernatural powers, interlaced with Taoist and Buddhist practices and beliefs as well as common superstitions, embellished with fairy tales, monster stories, legends, and fables. Some of the chapters read like superhero comics, others like instructional Bible stories. Some parts of the story, as when Monkey, Pigsy, and Sandy are hiding in a Temple and outwit the priests, are downright hilarious. The Sun Wukong legend can be read as a hero-journey-quest, a political and social satire of rebellion against a corrupt government, or as pure fancy. No wonder Journey to the West has endured for so long.

It's hard to believe that as popular as Journey to the West has remained over the centuries, its author would never have admitted to writing it. Wu Chen-En was a scholar and a statesman. During the 1500s (Ming Dynasty), it was considered unfit for educated and high ranking men to read any kind of comic or popular literature. Wu was influenced in writing this tale by the super-hero stories he read secretly while in school.

The entertaining escapades of Sun Wukong have remained popular through the ages, inspiring operas, cartoons, and now movies. The tale has even spawned a Sun Wukong festival, which features recreations of many of his adventures, and a statue of Monkey stands at a Buddhist temple in Sau Mau Ping in Hong Kong. Chairman Mao was also a fan, who mentioned Monkey as a role model in many of his speeches. He said people should emulate Monkey's fearlessness in thinking, doing work, striving for his objectives, and extricating China from poverty. Sun Wukong is well-known and well-liked in modern times among children in Vietnam, Thailand, Japan, and Korea. I think Wu Chen-En would secretly be very pleased!

If you're a Harry Potter fan, you'll love the magic.

If you're a college student, you'll love the high-spirited freedom and roaming.

If you remember the '60s, this book will remind you of a really good double-barrel Orange Sunshine trip, without any of the negatives.

A blurb from The Nation describes the book as a "combination of picaresque novel, fairly tale, fabliau, Mickey Mouse, Davy Crocket, and Pilgrim's Progress." I would add to that list The Divine Comedy, The Odyssey, Huckleberry Finn, 1001 Arabian Nights and modern political satire. But despite the seemingly esoteric description, it is a light, breezy novel. The reader doesn't need to know who Lao Tzu is to laugh when he pinches Monkey and tells him "Be off with you, be off with you, and don't let me find you hanging round here [heaven] anymore." The reader doesn't need to have a few University years of Chinese fiction or philosophy under the belt before laughing at Monkey stuffing himself with the Jade Emperor's peaches. Nor, even, does the reader need to be steeped in morality, for, though having early attained immortality and, we all know, on fast track for Buddhahood, Monkey still likes to crack a dragon joke before clobbering one over the head with his cudgel in "a real garlic-pounding blow that will finish him off for good and all."
Waley's translation flows lightly, using a vernacular that is simple, easy and inviting, and, at the same time, reminiscent of the sagacity of the veteran Boddhisatvas, many of whom make guest appearances. It is a beautiful, wild, fun story centered around a stone-born ape, aka Monkey, aka "Aware of Vacuity," who tromps the world over in search of mischief, power, peaches, sacred texts and enlightenment. Strikingly similar to 1001 Arabian Nights in both form, wisdom, and content.
"I wonder whether a knowledge of the True Scriptures would not cause some improvement in them? Do you yourself possess those scriptures?'" asked the Bodhisattvas! `Yes, three baskets of them,' said Buddha," and the journey begins...

i thought this would be a stupid book becuz we had to read it for an english class, but it was actually pretty interesting. i read to the end before the class, for once

If you're a person who likes stories with lots of action and an exciting plot, then this book probably isn't for you. If you're a person who likes unique and fascinating characters, then this book is DEFINITELY for you. Cannery Row is about everybody's hometown. It follows the lives of a handful of townspeople--a group of bums led by Mack, a scientist, a whorehouse madam, a shopkeeper--and somehow Steinbeck manages to get me to sympathize with and understand each of them while at the same time making them very real and very flawed. While I might cross the street in real life in order to avoid an encounter with an aggressive "bum," I fell in love with Mack and his boys living in Cannery Row.

This book is more similar to East of Eden than to Grapes of Wrath. It's short, very easy to read, and I didn't want it to end.

Chapter 6 of CANNERY ROW opens with a rich description of a Pacific tide pool. "It is a fabulous place: when the tide is in, a wave-churned basin, creamy with foam, whipped by the combers that roll in from the whistling buoy on the reef. But when the tide goes out the little water world becomes quiet and lovely. The sea is very clear and the bottom becomes fantastic with hurrying, fighting, feeding, breeding animals. Crabs rush from frond to frond of the waving algae. Starfish squat over mussels and limpets, attach their million little suckers and then slowly lift with incredible power until the prey is broken from the rock. And then the starfish stomach comes out and envelops its food." The passage continues for two pages, reveling in grace and beauty, but also in danger, violence, and death, ending at last with the tide filling the basin once more while "...on the reef the whistling buoy bellows like a sad and patient bull."

In her fascinating but rather academic introduction to the Penguin Classics edition of CANNERY ROW, Susan Shillinglaw suggests that the tide pool is also a metaphor for Steinbeck's study of the inhabitants of the ramshackle buildings behind the old sardine canneries in Monterey, California. Certainly, these characters have a lot in common with creatures hidden under rocks that come out only at certain times of day. But they are fascinating when they do. Other readers have rightly commented on the wealth and humor of the loosely-connected series of anecdotes that make up the novel; this is a heart-warming tale that almost simultaneously brings a smile to the lips and a tear to the eye. The Steinbeck that could look with such sympathy into the gentle heart of simple Lennie in OF MICE AND MEN, or applaud the desperate will to survive of Tom Joad in THE GRAPES OF WRATH, paints this collection of marginal characters with affection and without judgement. Describing them as "whores, pimps, gamblers, and sons of bitches," he changes that in the next sentence to "saints and angels and martyrs and holy men" and means the same thing; the book proves his paradox.

But I look at the passage about the starfish quoted above, and read further in Steinbeck's description of the pool, "tranquil and lovely and murderous," to his account of the black eels, the snapping shrimps, the seductive anemones, and that "creeping murderer the octopus... [attacking] ...as ferociously as a charging cat." Although there is danger, death, and tragedy in the human tide pool of Cannery Row, it is relatively muted. Perhaps Steinbeck, writing at the end of WW2 with several tough novels behind him, wanted to leave violence behind. The pay-off is the warmth of what remains; the danger is occasional sentimentality. While there is tragedy implicit in the novel, it is suggested in softer tones.

The tide pool is seen through the eyes of the one character who rises above the others: old Doc, who makes a living collecting zoological specimens. As an observer of the human world as well, Doc might seem the writer's surrogate, but while Steinbeck treats him with empathy, he also keeps a certain distance; this is not autobiography. The character is based on Ed Ricketts, the book's dedicatee, a marine biologist whom Steinbeck accompanied on the extended study trip immortalized in THE LOG FROM THE SEA OF CORTEZ. Doc is well-liked but solitary, his life cheered mainly by classical music on the phonograph, occasional women, and continual beer. Although we meet him early on, we realize only gradually that Doc must be very lonely -- a realization that makes us aware of the essential isolation of most of the other figures in the book. A very few go under, but most manage to rebound by doing something at once outrageous and life-affirming. At the height of a wild party in his honor that brings the whole community to his door at the end of the novel, Doc recites an old Sanskrit poem of lost love. I am not sure that the actual poem completely works, but the combination of sadness and joy, like the two masks in the old theater, is a perfect summary of this marvelous book.

What John Steinbeck does so well, time and again, is show us real people, living real life. Nothing really fantastical, yet just a bit out of the ordinary. But real as dirt.
Reading him makes me wish I did not have to use the past tense when speaking of how he writes.
I just finished his 1945 novel, Cannery Row.
I thoroughly enjoyed it.
The book is not so much about plot, as it is an evocation of time and place. Almost, at times, a panoply of connected vignettes.
Short, economic chapters; never a suffocating moment.
The "cannery" district of Monterey California comes alive, as we meet people like Lee Chong, the shrewd, yet good-hearted general store owner.
From aspirin to zippers, if Lee Chong ain't got it, you ain't need it!
Then there's Mack, the self-appointed ringleader of a veritable posse of down-and-outers. These guys don't work. [I envied them all the way through...] They just sit around all day and cause unintentional mayhem for the whole town, the main victim being Cannery Row's one seeming intellectual, the marine biologist known as "Doc."
The central thrust of Steinbeck's novel is that Mack and his boys want to throw Doc a party. Doc is such a "nice guy" and he is always out there helping others, Mack figures it's time to repay him with a bit of a shindig.
Amazing how such good intentions can go awry!
The first attempt at a party is a complete disaster. The second attempt, this time the event being Doc's alleged birthday, is not much better, but by now Doc has taken precautions. Getting wind of his own party plans, he himself does most of the organizing, and feigns surprise when people start arriving.
But what's the use?
At the end of this second party, his front door is again knocked off its hinges, and by now even the police have given up on arresting these well-intentioned hooligans!
It's a terrific little novel [almost a novella] in which my lasting impression shall be the fact that all friendships, indeed, all human relationships, must be willing to embrace imperfection. Not just in the other person, but also in our own self.
In a subtle way, Doc learns through his bumbling friends, that he is not an island. In fact, he may even need these guys, from time to time.
Even he, self-sufficient Doc, may be in need of someone!

I often look into Steinbeck's Letters [a book] to get a better appreciation for the time frame of some of his writings. Of Cannery Row, he said, back in 1943, to a friend... "I'm working on a funny little book and it is pretty nice."
I concur.
It is funny. It is nice.

The character of "Doc" was based on Steinbeck's real-life friendship with a man by the name of Ed Ricketts.
I read Cannery Row in preparation to reading a new book I recently picked up, entitled Beyond The Outer Shores: The Untold Story of Ed Ricketts, The Pioneering Ecologist Who Inspired John Steinbeck and Joseph Campbell.
It's by Eric Enno Tamm, and I look forward to beginning it, next week.

I highly recommend Cannery Row, to all and sundry.
It's not East of Eden.
It's not Grapes of Wrath.
But it's definitely Cannery Row!

This is the seventh Steinbeck novel I have read, and also one of the worst (The Short Reign of Pippin the VII is worse). I loved The Red Pony and Of Mice of Men, so I branched out, reading some of his lesser known works. Big Mistake. This novella has no focus, no character you can relate to, no plot to speak of, no definitive climax, and no business being read. I daydreamed through most of it.
The reason I don't give it one star is because Steinbeck, like in most of his novels, provided a great description of post-war Cannery Row, and did a decent job of presenting violence on the periphery (kind of like the news today). We see glimpses of violence but we, nor the characters are ever directly affected. Furthermore, the novel's ending is decent, comparing Doc's lonely isolation to that of a gopher being attacked while trying to seek out a mate. Unfortunately, most things leading up until the ending is uneventful, constantly interrupted by dead-end subplots, and lacking in intrigue.

I'm reading this to my daughter, who loves the story. Some of the writing is a little complex for a first grader to understand, but this version has a beauty to the poetry of the writing that the DK version, though straightforward and more easily understood, does not.

Highly recommended.

Hello,

We love this book....The artwork is fantastic and the kids really love it when it is time for me to read to them.....They beg me to keep going when we start....I stop every once in a while to reword some of what I have read so they are completely understanding what I am reading....For the most part they get it......Then they illustrate pictures for me and write some written words to go with what they have just heard....Completly enthralled....

I read "Black Ships Before Troy" and "The Wanderings of Odysseus" to my then 8-year-old son, who was enthralled by both. Rosemary Sutcliff's prose is rich and lyrical, and the illustrations in our copies (by Alan Lee) were beautiful.

I have read several versions of The Iliad and after checking this book out from the library, decided this was the one I wanted in my permanent library. The illustrations (in the hardback version) are really beautiful and emotive and the story itself has maintained the integrity of the original with the fluency of language even young children can understand. Highly recommended.

Black Ships Before Troy is a marvelous retelling of the story of the Trojan War. The book goes beyond The Iliad to include the stories leading up to the war and what happens after the Iliad closes with the burial of Hector. Rosemary Sutcliff has managed to capture the feel of the Homeric epics in her retelling of Troy, and Alan Lee's illustrations beautifully illuminate the text. The illustrations include scenes depicting Menelaus and Paris fighting and the battle between Ajax and Hector (when Hector has been knocked down by a huge stone) but also smaller embellishments, such as the stylized lion head that appears at the end of a chapter.

I have a Classical Studies degree and have read the ancient epics from the time I was a teenager; the interest that my initial discovery of the Trojan War instilled in me was recalled when I picked up a copy of this book. The dust cover says that the book is for all ages; I think adults whose only contact with the story of Troy is the film with Brad Pitt would find this book highly interesting and learn much about the story of the war that films cannot portray. Black Ships Before Troy was created with a beautiful feel for the story and I hope that the children who read this book would be inspired to someday read the Iliad and Odyssey. This is the kind of book that one wants to keep and recommend to others.

Although it doesn't make as regular an appearance in our bedtime reading schedule, the Stinky Cheese Man does produce giggles.

My kids are too young to know all of the fairy tales this book is busy shredding in the name of parody. That's OK. I plan to reintroduce this to them when they get older.

For now, all I have to do is provide the Stinky Cheese Man with a high-pitched, pseudo-Spongebob voice and read the text as "fast as I can" and I've got a happy audience at bedtime.

This is a great read to keep kids and parents entertained alike. The play on the original fairy tales is great. This is a must for a library.

be careful here. i ordered a book that was supposed to be in "very good" condition and it arrived with bits of food stuck on the pages and animal bite marks in the corners. thankfully i contacted them for a refund and the sent me another book that was in good condition at no additional charge. that was nice of them but it still made me weary.

I read this book when I was 10-11 years of age. Its sarcastic humor and wit was the perfect "transition" book for me to move into pre-teen and teen novels, and eventually adult literature. Anyone reading this to a child below 9 years of age is potentially confusing them and depriving them of a great book.

I have purchased this book for every child in my family and as gifts for other children it is funny and sarcastic in a nice way and adds spice to fairy tales I love this book

This was a favorite of mine as a child, and even when I picked it up again for a reread I was blown away by the sheer majesty of nature that Ms. George manages to inject into this story. In the tradition of Thoreau (which is actually brought up in the story) we get to witness the bond between boy and nature when a city teen runs off into the Catskills. And why not? So many in our modern world are tragically bothered by the encrouchment of so-called civilized society. Our recent turn to Green culture echoed to me as I read this. Why wouldn't anyone in their right mind want to run away into the woods and live freely? Have a chance to discover themselves away from society's input? Who wouldn't just want to camp indefinitely for the sheer pleasure of it? Sam's character is incredibly believable--reminiscent of any fervant Boy Scout, and you appreciate his love of his new world as well as his attachment to the civilized world he had left, which is seen with his relationships with the select few citizens that find their ways to him in various mindsets: The college professor enchanted by his life, Sam's father who is torn by jealousy and his responsibilities as a working father, a local kid so blinded by soceity that he sees Sam's authentic dear clothing as fakes. But wow, they are all such wonderful characters that I don't care, and none of them can be considered bad, just examples of different people in the world. Ms. George has truly created a wonderful story, all themes aside. The descriptions are quietly beautiful and thoughtful, the characters understated and entertaining. Those looking for a fast-paced action-packed novel will not appreciate the quiet, observant story, but I enjoyed the journalistic pace of Sam's experience and the occasional extract from his notes. This is an amazing classic for anyone who appreciates the natural world. Trust me, it will make you want to run away to live in a tree.

When I first picked up this book,I just could not put it down! It's true there is no straightforward plot, but I really, really enjoyed it. After reading it(I also read the second book)I was more appreciative of nature and became very interested in trees and plants. I liked reading about what Sam did to live off the land. I wanted to run away and do the same! This was a spectacular book, yet I am still looking for a fictional survival book where the main character knows ABSOLUTELY nothing about surviving, and where he/she does not have luck as do many of the main charcters in other stories. But this was one of the best books I have ever read.

My Side of the Mountain is a very catching book it had me jumping out of my seat the whole story!. It told you some facts about the wild and also it had a sad story of a kid living off the land. I learned alot of facts about the Catscill Mountains too. I think evrey outdoor kid should read this thrilling book. Its truth, fiction and wildlife mixed! This is truly one of my favorite books. READ THIS BOOK!

My Side of the Mountain is a great book. Jean Craighead George must have spent a lot of time in the forest. Her descriptions of the landscape and anecdotes regarding the animals are vivid. The only thing that doesn't ring true is the fact that a young kid goes and lives on his own in the wild and no adults appear to be concerned. A very enjoyable read.

I realize this book has already been anointed as a great children's book, and a great book for boys, but it doesn't mean I have to like it. My 14-year-old son loved this book when he read it in elementary school, and my 9-year-old daughter is loving it in fourth grade presently.

That being said, the people at Puffin dodged the issue of a child in the wilderness by making a cover where Sam looks like a teenager instead of the 11 or 12-year-old he looks like in Jean Craighead George's illustrations. There were numerous occasions in the book where Sam could have been seriously injured or killed, and George just blurbs or whooshes past them.

The back cover said Sam was terribly unhappy with living in New York City, but the book doesn't suggest that anywhere

I was impressed with the level of natural knowledge Sam possessed, and I was impressed that my children could come up with plausible ways that he acquired this knowledge. I considered the bit about hunger having an intelligence to be particularly clever.

Maybe the moral of the story is that as a parent, I could tell my kids without fear of contradiction that they are nowhere near as knowledgeable regarding the wild as Sam Gribley was, and that Sam was rather lucky in a few spots.

This novel both condemned and redeemed itself in the main characters, namely Florentino Ariza and Fermina Daza. Although extremely sad, the story as a whole truly makes one think: Does love like this exist? How many people have wasted away their lives with the wrong person in order to be "safe"?

Although more dialogue would have made it an easier read, the author's beautiful and flowing descriptions kept me interested. I feel that this book is both a wake-up call/reality check and a wonderful concept for the hopeless romantic.

An achingly beautiful story of Fermina and Florentino, adolescent sweethearts unable to consummate their love until old age. An exceptional half-century story of unrequited love. Highly recommended.

After much fanfare by Oprah Winfrey and several weeks on various bestseller lists, I had high expectations for Gabriel García Márquez's Love in the Time of Cholera. However, I found this story to move as slowly as a snail stuck to a glue board. Dense descriptions interfered with the plot.

García Márquez's fifth novel is set in a 19th-century fictional South American port city. A young telegraph operator, Florentino Ariza, carries on a romance--through an exchange of love letters only--with the beautiful but rebellious Fermina Daza. When Fermina's father finds out about the relationship, he sends his teen-aged daughter away.

Upon her later return, Fermina no longer has feelings for Florentino Ariza and marries the respectable Dr. Juvenal Urbino, a man who the reader is twice told likes to eat asparagus and smell the odor of it in his urine.

Despite being spurned by Fermina, Florentino Ariza continues to pine for her for over 50 years, on occasion almost stalking her. He claims to be saving himself for Fermina but has affairs with hundreds of women. During this period, the reader is often treated to Florentino's intestinal ailments and his need for enemas.

At one time, Florentino considers pursuing his secretary, Leona Cassiani, and she him, but when she is raped on the beach by an unknown assailant who, we are told, provided her with the best sex she ever had, she no longer has any desire to bed Florentino Ariza. Instead, she walks the beach at night hoping her rapist will ravish her again. As a woman, I was insulted by this passage in the novel, a passage only a man could write. And I was shocked that Oprah Winfrey, a woman who has been so open about her own sexual abuse, could recommend a story in which a character felt this way.

Quill says: Don't bother taking Love in the Time of Cholera to the seashore this summer; it's one book you can leave on the shelf.

Several people have indicated that this is a difficult read. It is. Perhaps it's the translation, perhaps it's the abundance of imagery. But whatever it is, it's worth the effort.

Having read One Thousand Years and The Handsomest Drowned Man, I'm familiar with his use of prose and magical realism tendencies. If you can get past the linguistic hurdles, you're in for a wonderful story of the commitment of one man's heart.

This is the worst book I've ever read. I put it down half way through and read something else. Then I went back to it. Still awful. I shared it with two friends and they couldn't finish it either. It was boring, the writing is terrible and the story is preposterous. Save your money (and time) read anything by Jodi Picoult and enjoy!

I've kept Thoreau at arm's length over the years. I sensed his brilliance yet secretly accused him of purposely unconnecting from the world. I was recently lead to him while looking for some essays on gardening. The first subject he covers in Walden is ecomomy. Economy rates low on my reading list. I was further warned by the difficulty of his text in general. Still, I was close to discovering his writings. In the beginning pages he takes me on a tour of opinions needing to be voiced in my life. My fear of crankiness is dispelled with freshness on every page.

How does one review a classic? In this day of eco-spirituality, Thoreau is a must-read. This edition is easy to read, but not the best quality paper. I don't expect it to have a long shelf life.
Thoreau is one of the saints of American ecology. His writing takes one to a different time and place, and yet one in which the rape of the landscape was already taking place. I suggest following Walden with Annie Dillard's marvelous Pingrim and Tinker's Creek.
Emerson's essay on Thoreau is a happy bonus.

My first copy of this book was indubitably from some other publisher. So I'm not commenting on this particular volume but the content of the work itself.
I have always loved this book but it wasn't until recent years that I realized what a controversial book this was. Thoreau published this book at his own expense and he sold very few copies. Later on he stored most of his unsold copies in an attic. He once claimed to have the largest collection of book published by Henry David Thoreau than anyone alive - and I'm sure he did.
But why didn't people buy this book? Well, for one thing it was critical of "the neighborhood". For another thing it was critical of "the values of his neighbors". For another thing it was critical of the values of his countrymen; it was critical of Capitalism; it was critical of modern life; it was critical of the "consumer mentality"; it was critical of the work ethic; it was critical of buying things; it was critical of "getting ahead" and "accumulating; it was critical of working for a living; it was critical of achieving; it was a critique on the civilization of the day - and it was not positive.
So why did it make me feel good to read it then and why does it have the same effect on me today?
I don't know but whenever I get lonely to go have a talk with an old friend I go to the book shelf and pick up Walden by Henry David Thoreau.

I wonder if Thoreau wrote the way he did as a way of imparting to his readers how much hard work he put in to living in the woods. If so, he was successful.
This book contains many, many little gems of clever witticism and solid advice, but it's quite difficult to sift through all of the pointless and trivial paragraphs in order to separate Thoreau's genius from his madness. It is almost not worth it. I've lived twenty-two years having not read Walden and I did not live them as a hillbilly. Therefore, I probably would have been perfectly able to function in society without reading this monster.
Again, though, the gems in this book cannot be denied. They are a mirror, in front of which is standing American society.
Some have called Thoreau arrogant. I disagree. Although Americans might not want to see what Walden has to show them, they should not take this disgust out on the messenger. Thoreau did not imagine what he had to say about American society, but rather he observed it. That is not arrogance, it is realism and bravery.
I do, however, truly wish I'd not read this book. Someone should sort out the passages of value and publish them in a small volume that most people might actually be able to get through. American society would be the beneficiaries of valuable knowledge and information without the drag of the rest of Thoreau's book.

Strangely surprising how pertinent many of Thoreau's perceptions, opinions and insights on habits and values are to modern day society and culture. And impressive how vehemently he professes these views in some sections. No sugar coating here. This is raw stuff, presented with language and skill we've lost over the years.

My favorite quote: "One generation abandons the enterprises of another like stranded vessels"

Thoreau is inspired and inspiring.

"The Symposium" is one of those books that everyone should read. In it, Plato explores, through a series of speeches, the nature and origins of love and passion. However, the Penguin edition fails to clearly distinguish when one speech begins and one ends. It will be confusing for students studying this work to reference a certain speech; however, the "paragraph markers" in the text are helpful. Also, the text incorporates "end notes," but for lay readers of Greek Literature, footnotes may be more useful.

If there are few things that almost all species seems to discuss, it's love. that desire, the longing to connect with another human being in this chaotic world. although there have been many plights about the desire for love, lack of love, or the quest to get love, it all seems to tie back to one of the most popular (and i will guess earliest?) works on love published, Plato's symposium.
The plot, like all Greek works, is pretty simple. A couple of men get together, get drunk, and talk about praising Eeros, the god of erotic love. Some of the speeches (I can't really remember them) are in praise of a god, and other speak of how to respect Eros properly, whom to love, and how poeple came to love others. Some were dry, some were entertaining, but all were informative and made me think of love in a new light.
There's not much action in this play, but I think that is a trait of all Greek plays. Plato is more concerned about the philosophy and dialouge than the action behind it. Symposium i think inspired many of the dramas and romantic comedie currently out there. I just wish films about love were as smart and as intelligent as this one.

I was assigned this book for a college class. I read it a couple times, and overall I think it was a good read.

This story details a night of speeches and eulogies on the ways of love. Some of the speeches are entertaining, and others are rather dry. Towards the end, I got the feeling that no one really knew anything about love. Gill's translation is up to par with the subject he writes of, and the language flows nicely.

I guess the reason I gave it four stars is because there is not much excitement here. If you are the intellectual type who gets excited about dry recollections of speeches, then you will enjoy this and contemplate what has been said. But if you prefer something more interesting, then try something a little more modern and enjoy that.

We all like to chat about romance around a dinner table but what is romance and love all about? Well, Symposium is one of the most serious discussions about this issue datable to the 5th century BCE. At that time, Greeks at dinner parties used to sprawl themselves on couches with food and wine and a little music, be ministered by slaves and while eating or after have a spirited conversation/discussion. Well this "soire" takes place with Socrates, and its details are related second hand by the author Plato.

As translations go, this particular issue is one of the best on the market and the author had discussed it's details with a Kabbalist teacher of mine Glynn Davies. A translation is dependent to a greater or lesser extent on the author's appreciation and interpretation of the sorts of contents involved - and this translation is pretty current. There is a good introduction about the characters, especially Alcibiades and Xenophon who were real people from the time.

I think this book is a wonderful evocation of deep thinking from the Greek world starting with sensual love and then going on to describe a sort of spiritual love that subverts our expectations of what we would understand by Love personified as a deity. Socrates is in the beginning seen to enter into a meditational reverie which probably indicates that some such sages did meditate as in Indian traditions in order to obtain wisdom. Later, Socrates recounts the wisdom transmitted by an Oracle called Diotima (almost as if to say, "this is not what I think (though it is actually) but it was conveyed to me as follows by this trustworthy source".

Some of your friends should appreciate the wisdom of this book. Above all, it is The Symposium, the important conversation among friends at dinner talking about something of the sublime in a way that echoes but also seriously deepens the level of our own more mundane discussions on romance and true love that crop up regularly if you're at that sort of age.

SPOILER ALERT: DON'T READ THIS REVIEW TILL YOU READ THE BOOK!SPOILER ALERT!


I waited and I was not dissapointed either. I was glad it picked up where it left off. I must say I enjoyed this book. I think Deja did a good job and developing the character's letting them find growth and giving them ending.

I was a little ticked off that somethings happened that I felt was over the top. I would have liked to see Chantal go to the nut house even if it was only for a minute. She still needs therapy and Tyler too. When people experience turmoil and truama like they have, the need to seek therapy. So I was a little dissapointed that they didn't get medical attention. But I guess they were "Doctor heal thy self." type of people.

I am ready for these characters to end. (Sorry Glittergul), but I love happy endings. I was ready for Tyler to love and be loved. I was glad Chantel got Andre got her system and instead of coming a complete pyscho she recgonized she needed to find some who loved her in all her flaws. I don't think T-Roc and William will every really get over losing Tyler, not so much because of love but because everything with a man is a competation and then men just don't like losing. But I think with the ending Joy give them, in time they will realize you can't go back.

I won't say I loved Superstar, but I really really really liked it. Very much. LOL.

Deja has brought us back to the scene where a jilted Chantal has pressed the pedal to the metal and is in the process of mowing Andre or Tyler down in her silver Mercedes Benz. Will it be her or him? Jailed in her expensive designer wedding dress sits a befuddled Chantal Morgan feeling the aftershocks of her actions in a moment of insanity.

Tyler Blake and Andre Jackson recover from Chantal's latest maniacal act even more dedicated to pledging their undying love for each other. Tyler's mom, Maria, enters the scene with her haughty aura and brings more confusion to Tyler's already drama filled life. Andre wrestles with his responsibility in Chantal's antics as he has to make decisions regarding staying true to Tyler as well as still helping the mother of his only child Melanie.

Past skeletons have opened doors that have been sealed for eons to cause more disruption as Ian Addison re-appears, T-Roc plots, William has plans of his own, and Tyler battles visible and invisible adversaries throughout this dramatic read!

Deja has penned an well rounded conclusion with Superstar as she finishes previous storylines with past acquaintances making relevant appearances. I commend Deja as she has painted a poignant portrait of a better Tyler Blake as she has evolved into a beautiful woman that put aside childish ways and her strength is immeasurable. An enchanting novel that evokes feelings of forgiveness, redemption, acceptance, love, flaws, addiction, discovery, and yes Deja, mos def fulfillment!!! Super job!!! 4.5****

I've been waiting on this book forever. I finished last week but waited to leave a review because I know a lot of people still haven't read it and I didn't want to say too much and give the story away. But I will say this, Ms. King please don't let this saga be over! Tell us that you were playing when you wrote "The End" on the final page. I need to know if the characters who ended up together actually stay together or does it all fall apart for them. T-Roc, Tyler, Chantal and Andre got too much drama left to bring this story to a close.

On the upside, I love how you brought back Tyler's mother, Maria and Ian Addison along with the rest of the crew. You tied up a lot of unanswered questions as to why some of these crazy characters behave the way they do. Again, I'm amazed by your writing skills and you are definitely an undeniable talent. Can't wait for Trife Life 2 Lavish and Stackin' Paper 2. Keep them coming Ms. King!