Fiction Literature Books

When I first spotted the book on the shelves at one of the local bookstores, I stared at it for 2-minutes. It wasn't the glossy jacket that stood out, nor was it a particularly catchy title that made me want to buy the book. It was the author's name: Meir Shalev.

An Israeli author's book being sold here? I could tell the author is an Israeli from the name. I picked the book out of curiosity and treated it as a window into a forbidden culture.

I gave the book 5 stars not because I think it is extraordinarily imaginative or extremely engaging, but simply because I found it very human. It is certainly original. I could easily describe Shalev as the Amin Maalouf of Israel, but I wish to remain politically correct.

The story is set at modern day Israel, but stretches back to a time shortly before the Nakbah (or what is referred to by the author as Israel's War of Independence). Yair is an out-of-place, ugly-duckling-member of his family that consists of a biological mother; an adoptive father; and an unscrupulous younger half-brother, who is everything Yair isn't.

Yair's almost miraculous birth, and the story revolving around it, as well as the relationship he had with his mother and her influence on him - is what the story is mainly about. What the story tells us, metaphorically, is that carrier pigeons deliver much more than coded messages in tiny capsules. They carry hope; love; perseverence; dedication and a lot more. The messages they deliver are sagas of all kinds. Pigeons are the hidden warriors; the love messengers; and the deliverers of the gift of life - a life like that of Yair's.

I was delighted to have discovered this Israeli author. It felt like humanity triumphed over imposed cultural censorship and isolation. We may very well be political enemies (or made to feel as such), but the culture of arts and narratives transcends geographical borders and checkpoints. Something for our cultures to celebrate.

The book was quite different to read- one had to go back into the book several times to keep issues straight. But, ending was fabulous and the last 75 pages I couldn't put it down.

A less than satisfactory read. While it tries to glorify love, and the power of love, in the end what does love mean . . nothing. Perhaps that is the real message, that love does not survive life.

The characters seem to meander through the narrative without cogent purpose. The protagonist, Yair, appears to lake will or conviction other than his desire for his own home. His wife has such different priorities that it is just not credible that she would marry him. His lover comes and goes, seemingly without a life of her own, but not really part of his life either. Her father is a caricature, and a boring one at that. The insistence of the Baby and the people around him that home must be the seat of love (or the pigeons will not return there) is repeated so often that it fades into irrelevance.

The one worthwhile aspect of the book is the feeling for the country. These people live in almost constant terror of a ubiquitous enemy. And why? They appear to be interested in a life, a fulfilling life, like any one else, and they are not allowed that luxury. But what does it all mean in the author's view. None of it means anything, apparently written with MacBeth in mind . . signifying nothing . . .

A friend from Israel notified me that this book had just been translated from the Hebrew, a friend I trust with literary choices. I will forever be in her debt. This is a moving story, actually two stories. The boy with the pigeon, known as Baby is introduced to the training and "dispatching" of homing pigeons by the Palmach during Israels' fight for independence. The love the boy has for the pigeons is eventually secondary to the love for a girl, another handler of homing pigeons. The story is narrated by Yair, a tour guide whose own story of love and growth is yet one more wonderful thing to read. Every character in this book is drawn with love and attention to the smallest virtue and flaw. Shalev's prose is what I always hoped to find in poetry. His use of personification of houses makes them come alive as Yair builds a house of his own from which he becomes a mensch.
Yair's mother sums up what is important when she says,"What does a person need?...not much: something sweet to eat, and a story to tell, and time and space, and gladioluses in a vase, and two friends, and two hillttops, one on which to stand and the other upon which to gaze. And two eyes for watching the heavens and waiting." This is "a story to tell" and beautifully done it is.

I read the book in the original Hebrew, which is far superior in its poetic qualities, rhythm, and precision to the sometime careless and awkward English translation. Of course, translation always diminishes the original, but this one seems to do so more than other translations I've read of Hebrew novels.
But even reading this novel in the original could not, in my view, hide its flaws. Indeed, there is something haunting and mystical in the novel, which sustains the reader's interest, and some of the characters--particularly Yair's mother--are drawn with deft and assured strokes. The theme of the search for home, central in the novel, also has a universal appeal. However, as soon as novel reaches its climax, which involves the pigeon, its energy seems to be spent. And there are many pages still to read, and in spite of a few glorious love scenes, they become tediously laborious and at times even incomprehensible. It is as if the writer didn't know what to do with the rest of the novel and couldn't make up his mind about the characters' motivations.

This book about Ernest Hemingway is about his life in Paris during the memorable lost generation of writers. I have one hangup about him not writing enough about a close friend, journalist, and fellow writer, Janet "Genet" Flanner from the New Yorker. All he wrote was one sentence. He writes lovingly about Gertrude Stein and leaves out the name of her partner/companion Alice B. Toklas. He had a complicated relationship regarding Stein. He also writes about the lesbians, Sylvia Beach and Adrienne Monnier, a little about Natalie Clifford Barney also known as the Amazon, and other writers like Ezra Pound. The book is easy to read and is reminiscent about Paris during another time and generation before World War II when America was in the grips of the great depression and writers became expatriates to Paris and Europe much like Hemingway. World War II shattered the lost generation's control of Parisian expatriates like Hemingway, Flanner, Beach, Stein and Toklas. He describes Paris as a moveable feast but you could be poor and happy in Paris while struggling to be a writer. I think it's when Hemingway was the happiest along with the others. The phrase of "all good things come to an end" suits the lost generation of writers like Hemingway. They never found the happiness again.

My personal reading of Hemingway has spanned a lifetime. This short "memoir" aside from 'Islands in the Stream' and 'The Oldman and the Sea', has to be one of the top ten "must reads" for any Hemingway reader...or any reader.

Why?

A Movable Feast describes that (R)omantic time after WW1 in Paris when creative life exploded in all its forms: Picasso in art, James Joyce, F. S. Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound; surealism, cubism and ultimately expressionism. Writers travelled to Paris or more so, 'gravitated' to the beautiful city and worked, starved and immersed themselves in their particular art froms.

This is a 'tale' of the 'Starving Artist', as Hemingway descibes his hunger - the smells of bread along the small streets, his belly taking over while his mind focuses entirely on food - though the writing continued no matter his lack of food or his beloved drink.

For example: "Chapter 8" "...you got very hungry when you did not eat enough in Paris because all the bakery shops had such good things in the windows and people ate outside at tables on the sidewalk so that you saw a smelled the food." (p. 50)

A Movable Feast is a general description of Hemingway's experiences without the details of gossip of the famous and infamous people he encountered.

As the author writes at the beginning: "For reasons sufficient to the writer, many places, people, observations and impressions have been left out of this book. Some were secrets and some were known by everyone and everyone has written about them and will undoubtless write more." (Preface)

Fair enough.

In a biography of James Joyce, and interesting event occurred, (not mentioned in this text). Hemingway, in awe of the Irish genius, invites him to a famous bar which he and Fitzgerald had been drinking since the morning. The dapper Joyce arrives late in the afternoon, reserved as always, when some Parisian ruffian begins to insult Joyce. In true Hemingway character, he duly throws the ruffian out the front window. If memory serves, Joyce promptly bid his adieu and left. This is without doubt Hemingway in true (drunken) character.

This is an unreliable historical document but the perspective of a man writing about a time in his life that has he will never forget because of the time and personalities he met.

One of Hemingway's best and most entertaining.

In Hemingway's own words:

"If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a movable feast." (A letter to a friend - 1950)

Guess what? A lot of people really like Hemingway. There are those who have never studied or even read another great author of the 20th century who has read Hem. This book was published after his death and I wonder if this wasn't something he wrote for his own kind of fun to attack and belittle everyone he knew in those years. Almost a practice writing exercise with malicious intent: read it carefully, F. Scott is famously viscously trashed but so is every single person he meets. My feeling is that if he was in his right mind - if you were to read anything about his last years he was in very bad shape - he would have destroyed this before he killed himself.

If you've ever lived in Paris, visited Paris, or even just dreamt of Paris, then you need to read this book.

A Moveable Feast, Hemingway's memoir of his early days in Paris, is nearly bursting with rich, poignant details of what it was like to be young and hopeful and excited. It's all there--Sylvia Beach, Gertrude Stein, F. Scott Fitzgerald, the horse chestnut trees in bloom. Perhaps more than the reminiscenses of actual people and places, however, is Hemingway's sense of how good it was to be young. At times, you almost feel that Hemingway's heart was breaking as he recalls the beauty of his youth. Whether the stories are fact or fiction doesn't matter--Hemingway creates an aching poetry in these lovely, long ago days in Paris.

Donald Gallinger is the author of The Master Planets

The book was published posthumously, and you immediately understand why by reading the first part, about Satan on holiday on earth, writing letters with his impressions of the place back to his pals in heaven. As with most collections, this one is a bit uneven, with several parts you may want to skip, or that have lost their appeal because of the different time we live in. Nonetheless, many of these pages represent Twain at its most ironic, penetrating, witty self.

I have a had an old paperback copy of this for 20 years now, so this copy is just a "newer version". I fell in love with MT as a result of this work that I originally read in 1984, and have not taken religion, or anything about it seriously since! It doesn't get any better then this!

This book has sincerely changed my life in a very positive way. It is an intraspective look into basic beliefs and conceptions (often misconceptions) about religion and discusses the big questions like "If God is all powerful and all good then why does he allow innocent children to contract unspeakable malodies and horrific diseases?". Growing up I always had questions about religion and why beliefs and teachings were held to be true--now I realize that I'm not alone in my thoughts and feelings. This book breaks down the bible and seeks to make the reader think logically about its teachings. Whether you are an ordained minister or simply curious like I was, this book will impact your life forever and improve your critical thinking skills--I promise you will not be disappointed!

This book was a gift and we had it sent to another address. No fault of Amazon's but the book delivery is very slow. The recipient assured us it is in fine shape and she is very happy with it. She says it's a very interesting perspective on the topic and is good for anyone trying to expand their knowledge.

I picked this up solely for the first story, Letters from the Earth, but I ended up reading through the entire book and find I have a new appreciation for Twain's humor and satire. Letters was very entertaining, although the religiously inclined may not find it funny at all. However, I'm not, and I did! Some other portions worth a read include Eve's autobiography (revealing!), an amusing critique of James Fenimore Cooper's writing style, a parody of an etiquette manual, and The Damned Human Race, which demonstrates the 'descent' of man. Twain died in 1910, and this collection of essays and short stories was not published until 1962.

Oh, and Mark Twain referring to "hot young blossoms" amused me to no end. :)

Death Comes for the Archbishop reminds me of a watercolor painting. At their best, watercolor is very fluid, and yet the result is often very beautiful and full of depth. This book was much the same. The story itself jumps around a lot and is more like a series of short stories, with the same main characters. It is very fluid.

However, the finished book is breathtaking in its scope and beauty. It is a book about friendship, about evangelism, about a strange and desolate country, about the way that all these elements blend to give us a picture that is humanity. Very few books are able to really carry this off successfully. Death Comes for the Archbishop is one that is successful.

A great collection of stories about two priests who leave France for the American Southwest. And in their attempt to teach the people there, they learn a lot themselves.

Others here have already done a better job than I could of describing why this book is an example of great literature. I will add that as a young Catholic who spent a semester as a missionary on the Navajo reservation, it was quite uplifting to read such a well-written account of heroic virtue in the Southwest I remember so vividly. Reading about Chimayo, Shiprock, Canyon de Chelly and Santa Fe was a reunion with old friends. Archbishop Latour is a devout man, with flaws of his own, yet striving to serve the very different cultures of the Native Americans and the Mexicans. Some of Cather's sentences were like echoes in my soul of memories from this time. Here is what I want to remember:
p. 50 "The Miracles of the Church seem to me to rest not so much upon faces or voices or healing power coming suddenly near to us from afar off, but upon our perceptions being made finer, so that for a moment our eyes can see and our ears can hear what is ther about us always."
p. p. 203 "Once again this had been his month; his Patroness had given it to him, the season that had always meant so much in his religious life."
p. 217 My one complaint about this book is here. Cather writes for the most part with incredible insight into the Catholic faith, but here she misrepresents an important theological point. Catholics (if they are adhering to Church teaching) do NOT worship or adore Mary and do NOT view her as a female image of the Divine. We honor her for the pivotal role she played in bringing Christ to this world and for her continued intercession for us, her spiritual children. Only Christ's Heart is Sacred, Mary's Heart is referred to as the Immaculate Heart.
p. 225 "Though the Bishop had worked with Father Joseph for twenty-five years now, he could not reconcile the contradictions of his nature. He simply accepted them, and, when Josph had been away for a long while, realized that he loved them all." Our world today often does not understand spiritual friendship. The deep, fraternal love between Bishop Latour and Father Valiant is beautiful and inspiring.
p. 232 "Elsewhere the sky is the roof of the world; but here the earth was the floor of the sky."
p. 273 "Something soft and wild and free, something that whispered to the ear on the pillow, lightened the heart, softly, softly picked the lock, slid the bolts, and released the prisioned spirit of man into the wind, into the blue and gold, into the morning, into the morning!"
p. 279-The story of Bl. Junipero Serra's encounter with a family is awesome!

p. 263 "I am enjoying to the full that period of reflection which is the happiest conclusion to a life of action."
Let us too lead lives of action!

Relish this wonderful novel slowly, like a ride on a good mule through the beautiful desert at sundown.

**Warning: A few plot spoilers in here.**

Will Cather's novel describing the 1851 mission of French Catholic Father Jean Marie Latour is a reverential tribute to the enchanting, indeed holy, beauty of the American desert southwest. The book is episodic in structure, each chapter a discrete, self-contained passage, only loosely connected to the others.

In her narrative, Cather cleverly turns Latour's mission purpose upside down and inside out. He has come to bring God to this wild, distant corner of the world. But although Cather depicts Latour respectfully -- as a godly, sincere, patient and resourceful man -- one is left with the feeling that this desert land brought God to him, rather than the other way around.

For example, Cather lavishes her most exalting prose, not on the church and its benevolence, but on the wonders of nature - of rock, of water, and most vividly of light - especially at the hours of the day when the shadows grow long, and the setting sun drenches the land and sky in rich, vibrant color.

The introduction takes place on the terrace of a Cardinal's home in Italy, where Cather directs the reader's attention to the light of the dying day, "both intense and soft, with a ruddiness as of much-multiplied candlelight, an aura of red in its flames. It bored into the ilex trees, illuminating their mahogany trunks and blurring their dark foliage; it warmed the bright green of the orange trees and the rose of the oleander blooms to gold." Cather very deliberately echoes this image in the first full chapter of the book, when Father Latour is received with unexpected Christian charity far out in the primitive village of Hidden Water, New Mexico. "The Bishop sat a long time by the spring, while the declining sun poured its beautifying light over those low, rose-tinted houses and bright gardens."

I was struck by the frequency with which Cather seemed to sanctify the desert landscape, even to the point where vainglorious intrusions by the European church are depicted almost as a defilement. When Father Latour climbs to the village of Acoma, high up on a giant flat rock, he is offended by the intrusive presence of the mission church there. ". . . it was more like a fortress than a place of worship. That spacious interior depressed the Bishop as no mission church had done before. . . When he blessed them and sent them away, it was with a sense of inadequacy and spiritual defeat. . . What need had there ever been for this great church at Acoma? . . . The more that Father Latour examined this church, the more he was inclined to think that Fray Ramirez. . . was not altogether innocent of worldly ambition, and that they built for their own satisfaction, rather than according to the needs of the Indians."

Contrast that with Cather's later praise of the native dwellings, which she finds beautiful precisely because they minimally disrupt the landscape: "It was the Indian manner to vanish into the landscape, not to stand out against it. The Hopi villages that were set upon rock mesas were made to look like the rock on which they sat, were imperceptible at a distance. The Navajo hogans, among the sand and willows, were made of sand and willows. None of the pueblos would at that time admit glass windows into their dwellings. The reflection of the sun on the glazing was to them ugly and unnatural - even dangerous."

I found myself wondering throughout the book just who, more literally, was saving whom. Father Latour comes to New Mexico to save souls, but when he and Father Vaillant unwittingly stumble into the home of a murderer, their lives are saved by the silent warning of the man's Native wife, who makes a silent slashing motion across her throat and clandestinely points them to the exit. Later, too, when Latour is caught in a terrible snowstorm, his guide Jacinto saves him by leading him to a secret cave, sacred to the locals.

Early in the book, Father Latour and Father Vaillant are dining together over soup made by the Vaillant, a pleasant import of one of the creature comforts of their former lives in France. Over that dinner, Vaillant begs Latour not to take him any further out into the wild than they have already gone. But by the end of the book, Father Vaillant is fully comfortable making his home in this country, spreading the Word on horseback, and sleeping under the stars. And when it is time for father Latour himself to die, he wants to return, not to France, but to Santa Fe, where he first established his mission church and, apparently, found his heavenly purpose.

Those of you who relish the incomparable beauty of the canyons, mountains, mesas, and colors of America's desert southwest will respond intensely to Cather's vivid, painterly depictions of it. Instead of depicting, the world of nature as a harsh punishment to mankind after being cast out of the edenic garden (as traditional Christianity often did), she does quite the opposite, lending a sublime aspect to Latour's journey through the wild.

Finally, to those students here who were forced to read this book for school and found it boring, allow me this observation: it's perfectly fine for your mind to wander on occasion when reading this book. Indeed, it's not a book for white-knuckled, gripping plot development, but for meandering reflection, much like a walk through the canyon country depicted in the novel, liberated from the sensory overload of so-called civilization. Give yourself time and space to visualize the scenes, to see the light of a desert dusk, to smell the juniper bushes, and for your mind to roam around aimlessly for a bit. In this book, the earthly journey means just as much as the heavenly destination.

I won't bother with recaping the story, since it has already been done BUT I will give my 2 cents.
As far as romantic intrigue books go, this is the one to read. I couldn't put it down. It has great, one-of-a-kind characters, is well written and fast-paced, describes settings so vividly it feels like you are there, and contains a very satisfying romance. What occured to me while I was reading is that the story was so believable it made me wonder whether this could really happen, and whether people like this really exist. Lethal Affairs is a book I will keep and re-read.

Lethal Affairs introduces a new adventure series featuring the Elite Operatives Organization. This is a top secret group based in Colorado that recruits children with special talents from all over the world and then raises them to be super agents with espionage and combat skills. The EOO is contracted by governments and other organizations to deal with situations that they legally can't solve. When they aren't on an assignment, the agents assume regular identities and mix in with the rest of the world.

Luka Madison has a reputation as a very skilled art restorer who travels the world working in exotic settings. That she is also the highly effective agent Domino is a secret kept by the EOO. It seems like a routine assignment when she is called in to lead a team in eliminating a drug lord, but mistakes are made and the situation isn't concluded with Domino's usual efficiency. Hayley Ward is an upcoming newspaper reporter who is looking for that one big story that will make her career. When she receives a videotape of the assassination and a note about the EOO, she knows she's found it, but now she has two mysteries to solve. What is the EOO and who is feeding her the information to uncover its operations? Luka's new assignment is to find out what Hayley knows, how she knows it and if she needs to be eliminated to protect EOO. The story spins through murder, blackmail, corrupt officials and political intrigue. When the EOO decides to go after both Domino and Hayley, Domino finds herself not only trying to save their lives, but questioning her loyalties and priorities.

Kim Baldwin has long been known by her fans for her adventure books. This series written with Xenia Alexiou introduces an edge and sense of intrigue that are new. Lethal Affairs fulfills its function of setting up the series very well. It gives enough details about the operation of EOO so that readers will understand what it is about, but there aren't enough details to cause this particular book to bog down. Set in sophisticated and exotic locales, the book shows the depth of research done by the writing team and their ability to portray scenes vividly. The action is fast paced, the bad guys are really bad and the reader can be swept up in the ability of the agents to handle any situation. If all of the books follow this pattern, this series will probably become a reader favorite.

I totally enjoyed this book, it was one I did not want to put down...the fact that love saved her and that the love was offered unconditionally was a big plus...when you find someone that loves you for all that you are you are truly blessed...I hope these two continue to write about this woman and the woman that saved her soul.

I've read all of Kim Baldwin's books and enjoyed each fast paced plot. I was concerned that a collaboration between the two authors would weaken the flow. What a nice surprise. The plot had all the energy of Kim's previous books and both Domino and Haley are strong characters. I vacillated between wanting to be them and wanting to be with them.

Kim Baldwin and Xenia Alexiou are a great writing team. This book is first-rate quality. All I have to say is, where's the sequel?!

I like and have read many books by Susan Wiggs. Although I do not like novels that include cooking recipes before the chapters, I suffer through these to read her storyline. Unlike the previous books in the Lakeshore Chronicles, this one is action-packed. The story even begins and ends in Europe, with international intrigue. But somehow, this takes away from the atmosphere of the setting of the series--upstate New York. The best parts of this book are the characters, and the realistic challenges that face each one of them. I think they were all wonderful. There is plenty of romance and plenty of action, but the mixing of the settings and the pace of the storyline is not to my liking. Perhaps others will enjoy her injection of international espionage. Not for me. Just stick to Lakeshore and I will be happy.

First, I'd strongly suggest that anyone considering this book should first read the others in the series. Knowing the other characters, and understanding their stories, is very helpful to appreciating this one.
Second, I loved the fantasy of this one, with the wounded woman finding just the right man, however unlikely the match may appear on the surface. Wiggs did an excellent job of making both lead characters three-dimensional [loved Noah's interest in STAR WARS!] and I liked the fact that other characters didn't always behave in ways the reader expects.
Third, the business of the U.N., the court at The Hague and the fictional country were all unnecessary to the plot, except insofar as they provided background on Sophie. Frankly, I skipped those parts and still enjoyed the book.
This is a good read, especially for a winter's day - or to cool off on a hot summer's day.

Well, I enjoyed the book. It is VERY light reading. You know what is going to happen from the very beginning of the book but you would be disappointed if the book did not have a happy, planned ending. Not as enjoyable as the first boook in this series. I think it is time to leave AVALON.

An easy enough read, but I didn't really care about Sophie or Noah. Worth reading just to catch up on the lives of the other people in this series.

Fans of the popular Lakeshore Chronicles by Susan Wiggs will be delighted with this addition to the series - especially pleased when it is read by the always splendid Joyce Bean.

A high powered international lawyer, Sophie Bellamy, would seem to have it all. She's seen her share of misery as much of her career has been assisting those in countries ravaged by war. Thus, it comes has no surprise that when she's visiting one of these areas she finds herself in the middle of a terrorist attack. This experience affects her in a number of ways - causing her to reassess her life, her values, and goals.

Suddenly Sophie not only feels compelled but wants to return to Avalon, a small town in the Catskills. She wants to be reunited with her family, her two children, Max and Daisy, and hopefully make up for lost years, time not spent with them.

As a divorced recently career obsessed woman she doesn't seem to be a very good candidate for romance, but this is a Susan Wiggs story! Upon arriving in snowy Avalon she finds not only a heavy blizzard but a skid that takes her into a ditch. As luck and the author would have it Sophie is rescued by Noah, the handsome local veterinarian. Despite freezing temperatures sparks immediately fly and she falls in love.

But wait, there's more to come. As she often does this author tosses in a few surprises leaving listeners to wonder for a while whether or not love can really conquer all.

- Gail Cooke

I have never been one to read a book more than once, but after reading it for a course in college, I decided to read it again for pleasure. Absolutely phenomenal book. My heart breaks for Asher Lev and how he must live as an outsider in his world because of his artistic abilities from the Other Side.

Following are two reviews written collectively by the students of my High School Junior Literature class, Spring 2008. The class gave the novel 3 stars, and this is how they expressed their thoughts:

1. "My name is Asher Lev" allows readers to imagine what life is like being a Hasidic Jew that has a fascination with art. Asher Lev turns out to be a very complex character. He goes against Hasidic tradition, his community, and his own father and does what he decides is best. Other conflicts are very interesting to get into; it's not only the usual conflict with one another, but also with religion, one self, a whole community, and even a mentor. As the novel progresses, you see art the way Asher sees it; something beautiful and amazing. In the end, who will he choose? Will he choose his community, family, and religion? Or will he decide to stick with what he knows best, being a painter?

2. Asher Lev is a book that teaches the beauty of life, love, art, and religion. It's about a boy named Asher Lev who has an incredible artistic gift but cannot express it because of his religion. What lies ahead of him are many challenges that will test himself as a religious person and an artist. The main character Asher Lev is very complex and will continue to develop throughout the story. Even though the book is about a Hasidic Jew trying to be an artist, it's also about finding oneself and others finding themselves through you. In this novel you will learn about how the Hasidic Jews live and what their way of life is like. Although Asher is trying to discover himself, he also has to watch out what he does because something drastic could happen to him or the community. You will find many intriguing experiences in this novel, whether they be good or bad. Watch as the story unfolds and this brave character develops into the person that he is. Once you're done reading this book, it will leave you wanting to know more.

Chaim Potok knows how to portray complex relationships. Asher's artistic gift is seemingly at odd with his Hasidic Jewish faith and definately at odds with his father who does not understand this gift. The sacrifices Asher makes for his gift and the artistic processes are so accurately portrayed that you have an insight into a tortured soul. This is a beautiful novel.

Asher Lev is a Ladover Hasid, a Jewish boy growing up in the mid-twentieth century. He is quiet, intense, and sensitive. And in him there trembles the beginnings of a great and terrible gift - the gift of art, the gift of painting. Asher Lev the Jew becomes Asher Lev the painter. And that transition is the most defining, fulfilling, and emptying experience of his life.

This is a layered story, filled with the rare genius of one who can write simply, yet with vivid beauty. As easy as it is to read, I could spend months poring over these pages, teasing out their symbolism and inferences and truths. The literary beauty is striking. The back cover of the book describes the novel as "a luminous portrait of the artist, by turns heartbreaking and exultant, a modern classic." This is a perfect summary of this deeply meaningful book.

Asher Lev introduces himself in the opening lines of his story. He is an observant Jew, he is the talk of the town following the exhibiting of his painting Brooklyn Crucifixion - not only do observant Jews not paint crucifixions, they do not paint at all - he is viewed as a traitor.

The still very young Asher Lev then begins to recount his life that lead to this predicament. He starts from when he was about four years old, an ordinary Brooklyn lad the only son born to a scholarly Hasidic family. But it is soon evident that he has a remarkable talent fro drawing. The story follows the difficult realisation of the talent which leads him to great critical acclaim, but ostracism from is family and home.

Having truly enjoyed Chaim Potok's The Chosen and its sequel The Promise I immediately sought out more of his writing. I was not disappointed; this is a beautiful story, Asher is a fine boy who loves his family and respects his elders, but he cannot deny what is inside him, his need to create. The characters in the story are sincere and caring, even if they do want different things for Asher Lev. The writing is excellent, Chaim Potok has a very appealing style, and I especially like the manner in which Asher relates his conversations. There is sequel which having enjoyed this so much this I am compelled to read.

So this is a story about Coleman Silk who is black. He was raised in a respectable black family, with an optometrist father and a mother who was one of the first black Head Nurses in New Jersey. The Silks however, as Coleman came to find out, were much more accepted in their NJ neighborhood because they were light skinned. Coleman especially was light with soft curly hair and green eyes. Because of this, Coleman, after dropping out of Howard University and eventually joining the military as a white man (because he learned he can "pass" and because of other reasons...) began to live his life as a Jewish man and eventually living a life of lies until the day he died. Coleman Silk would like to think that he would have kept this secret from ever coming out if only he wasn't accused of being called a racist at the university he was teaching at. He was so surprised with this racist accusation because he was the least likely person to be accused of that. Philip Roth is an acclaimed writer and I can definitely see why. This story is so well written that I find myself thinking about Coleman Silk and his life while I'm about to sleep and how if he did it this way and that maybe his life could be different. Then I realize I'm thinking about a fictional character in a book. But see, that's how good books are supposed to be. It makes you think about it even when you're not reading about it.

I'm a great admirer of Philip Roth's books, and I have no doubt that he's one of the country's greatest novelists (in fact, I don't quite understand why he hasn't been awarded the Nobel). But even the great ones occasionally hit clunkers, and The Human Stain is a clunker. I really wanted to like the book, but I just couldn't. It has its grand moments--it is, after all, written by Roth--but it's too long, too messy, too grandiose in places, too underdeveloped in others. By midpoint, I felt I was drowning in a sea of words and alternately bored and irritated, longing for the crispness and elegance of Roth's Everyman or Portnoy.

I'm not sure why Roth opted for such a baroque style in Human Stain-- endless soliloquies, teutonically long sentences, tireless and tiresome flashbacks--but it all becomes simply too much after awhile, especially since his characters are too underdeveloped to carry the narrative. The protagonist, Coleman Silk, despite everything we come to know about him, remains rather one-dimensional. Huge secrets don't necessarily make for depth. Coleman's love interest, Faunia Farley, is even less alive. She seems little more than a shadow, which is especially odd given that the tragic events of her life are surely rich fodder. Lester, Faunia's ex-husband and screwed-up vet, is a caricature who seems to do nothing but rant, rave, and sweat. The Chinese cafe scene which serves as part of Lester's "therapy" is worthy of a bad movie. The only character that really has color is Delphine Roux. Would that she was more present.

In all fairness, there are some good moments in the novel. I've never been as totally surprised by a novel as I was when, in the book's second part, Coleman's ethnicity is revealed. I just didn't see it coming, and it took me ten or so pages before I fully grasped what was going on. This was masterful on Roth's part. Additionally, his depiction of small college politics and political correctness was deliciously barbed, and enjoyable for anyone who's ever taught at such a place as the fictional but all too real Athena College. But such Lucky Jim-like dissections of academia aren't, after all, uncommon in fiction. They may be fun to read, but there's no shortage of them.

At the end of the day, the tragedy of Coleman Silk that serves as The Human Stain's message is one worthy of an American Euripides. For all his genius, Mr. Roth was unable to do it justice.

Let me just start with the silliest comment: the only way to find out whether you like this book or not, is by reading it. Most reviews here and on Amazon.uk reflect ambivalent feelings. After turning the last page, mine was not altogether negative, but not entirely positive either. This was also my first book by Philip Roth.

Ageing but vigorous professor Coleman Silk is accused of racism in the classroom and forcefully rejecting it (in vain), he chooses to retire after a long, fulfilling and esteemed teaching career. His tale is told by his friend, writer Nathan Zuckerman. Hardly acknowledging each other for years, a friendship begins and Zuckerman tries to understand the multiple facets defining Silk's personality. Unbeknownst to him, he will later discover a secret that Silk has kept for decades, a secret which his life had been, and still is, based on.

Looping around the main theme, there are other characters who are connected with Silk and bear relevance. In the background, Coleman's parents and siblings. Their beginnings, the struggles to send all their children to proper schools for the best education possible. We then have his wife, a strong, independent personality who died during the `racism ordeal', and their four adult children (it's 1998 by then). Silk's bursting rage and pain towards these two -to him- related events (the accusations and his wife's death), find a degree of comfort through the acquaintance -later developing into something much more- of Faunia, a janitor in the Athena college where he used to teach. Faunia, a tormented soul herself, does not seem to be left alone by her ex-husband, Les, who keeps stalking her after a terrible tragedy struck at their home some years previously. Some other characters from the past who are irretrievably connected with Coleman, pop into the picture. His former girlfriend, Steena, met and loved in his twenties. The young French dean at Athena, Dolphine Roux, who supported the racism accusations. Zuckerman himself finds a niche for some of his personal details.

So many people, so many different personalities, so many tragedies. This book explores a variety of themes -race, rape, depression, death, loneliness- which make it certainly for a substantial, full-of-texture read. It also speaks of love, love for a profession, for a person, for life in general, but the intricacy with which the author interpolates this concept is open to debate. This is why I cannot define in full its identifying quality, or, for that matter, what exactly I did not like about this book. Perhaps a certain dislike for the structure of some of the chapters: sentences which do not see a full stop, a pause, for an entire page for example. This rendered the read a bit tedious. Also, I found the numerous references to the Clinton/Lewinski's `interlude' somewhat irrelevant to the core of the story and if the purpose was to pinpoint that Silk's own story began to unfold back then, in 1998, well, it was clear enough already. Not to mention the final paragraphs -and this is not a spoiler- when an incredible and unrealistic conversation ensues in a cemetery. I mean, was that to supply the reader with some final `answers' -which could not have been `real' anyway since it was all a mental image?- .

And yet. Coleman Silk is a personage. And his secret, the secret from which we are often distracted due to a number of superimposed, unnecessary (to me) details, is the central theme of this book. Like it or not, mixed feelings or not, I've never written such a long review before. There must be a reason, although I myself am not sure what that is. What I am sure about is that this tale is so imbued with wrenching issues that it cannot fail to dazzle, provoke and stimulate conversations.

A college professor is forced to resign for alleged racism and begins an affair with an illiterate woman. In my opinion, this is very close to the perfect book. The writing is genius, and the scope of the book is enormous.

...It's so obvious it hardly needs saying.

Coleman Silk is a professor ousted from his position on false charges of racism, and, at 71, carrying on a torrid and secret affair with an illiterate 34-year-old cleaning woman. But when it comes to secrets, that's the least of Silk's.

Reading Roth is often breathlessly easy, a pure joy; at other times, he's a challenge, demanding full attention and a little forbearance. But both are always rewarded. And I can't think of another writer who so accurately captures the inner workings of the male mind. An uncompromising, intelligent, complex exploration of race, identity, sex, and American morality.

One of the best works of fiction of the post war era. Williams does not get his propers. He is a little-known literary giant who deserves wide readership.

Annotation of John Williams' Stoner


In his novel Stoner, John Williams' title character is the epitome of what I'm going to call an `American Tragic Hero' (Look for action figures, coming Summer '08). As opposed to the tragic hero in the classical sense, not much personal action drives the story of his life, but instead it is existential inaction that leads to his emotional downfall, if not premature death. What at first seems like a novel in the tradition of a bildungsroman, a novel of personal development, it soon gives way to an irreversible lull in Stoner's life, feelings of regret and imposed self-sacrifice. With quiet yet affecting language, Williams portrays relationships in Stoner's life as reaching their peak at the point of introduction, and deteriorating, almost organically, from that point on.
The novel begins as a story of growth, detailing his early years in college, the years in which we believe to lay our foundation for the future ahead. With the urging of an influential, yet world-weary professor, Stoner decides to turn his studies away from agriculture and move in the direction of literature. This decision may not be the most important in Stoner's life, but, literature and his profession becomes an outlet for escaping the difficulties born out of his other choices. From this point on Stoner acts, or in some cases fails to act, so as to maintain the status quo in both his professional and personal life, regardless of the emotional detachment he feels from each.
The existential voice of sobering reason in the story comes early on from his colleague Dave Masters, who leaves Stoner's life just as quickly as he entered it, nevertheless leaving an indelible impression on the back of Stoner's mind, a place reserved for the fundamental questions Stoner has about his life. Here, Master's keenly observes the tragic personal conflict that will plague Stoner throughout his life:

You think there's something here, something to find. Well, in the world you'd learn soon enough. You, too, are cut out for failure, not that you'd fight the world. You'd let it chew you up and spit you out, and you'd lie there wondering what was wrong. Because you'd always expect the world to be something it wasn't, something it had no wish to be...you're too weak, and you're too strong. And you have no place in the world (31).

In very direct language Williams lays out the definitive problem that Stoner faces, only it is posed as more of a condition than a problem. For what does it mean to be too weak yet too strong in this world? Not surprisingly it's an existential conundrum, the solution also being the problem. Should one accept the fact that they "have no place in the world", then they in essence lower their expectations of life with cool detachment; should they deny and insist on participating in this world then they open themselves up to regret and failure. Here then Stoner's intellectual stoicism is at odds with what is considered the `good life' in this country: Good job, good kids, good wife. In all these aspects of Stoner's life, Williams shows how easily inner turmoil can quickly manifest itself into the physical world and the lives that populate it. Stoner chooses life, at least his ideal conception of it. When he looks upon his wife and child he chooses to hold fast to the ideal versions of them, despite how things really are. In this manner does Stoner participate in the world, with futile bravery, allowing himself to get "chewed up and spit out."
John Williams' writing style recalls that of post-WWI realists, using stripped down language and objective prose to capture deeply subjective moods. Williams doesn't attempt to color the prose with descriptives and adjectives; the writing is bare and the emotion raw so that the reader reacts to the actual characters and not the language that describes them. In this way, Williams brings the reader closer to the story and distanced from the writing. One of the more striking passages in the novel comes when Stoner is on his deathbed staring at his wife, reflecting on a marriage that amounted to a subtextual standoff, neither party willing to fold in to their emotions. Williams writes, "Almost without regret he looked at her now; in the soft light of the late afternoon her face seemed young and unlined. If I had been stronger, he thought; if I had known more; if I could have understood. And then, finally, mercilessly, he thought: if I had loved her more (272)." Stoner has come to terms with his failures in life, as his old buddy David Masters predicted, "Lying there wondering what went wrong." Even near death Stoner remains the tragic hero, still believing in love and its transformative powers, even though a sort of existential fatalism has trumped throughout his life.
Stoner is a novel that thrives in its quiet simplicity, striking emotional conflict with the characters' actions in equal portions to their inaction. Williams shows the futility of asserting "right" or "wrong" choices in life; rather, it's the act of making a choice that makes one a participant in this world, and its regret that affirms their love for it.

Beautiful, unaffected, elegant writing. Pacing like a thriller. Unblinking nihilism. And a sense of classic tragedy. I read it in two sittings and felt like I had been mugged by a ballet dancer.

I cannot believe I never heard of this masterpiece until this past year. I do not usually like books that are this sad, but "Stoner" grabbed me from the first page and never let go. The writing is unadorned yet elegant and the story, although sad, is so compelling and real.

Stoner is a man who never achieved much in life, with a failed marriage and not much success as a faculty member at the university. But he never gave up on life. He worked hard at his teaching and became the best that he could be. His life was one constant struggle, with much self-sacrifice, but he kept on trying despite one disappointment after another.

It was amazing to me that Williams made me care so much about this man whom some would call a "loser". As the New York Times reviewer said "a perfect book"....a fascinating story of a man and how he lives his life.

William Stoner is the only child of Midwestern farmers struggling to eke out an existence. One of the local elders mentions that the University of Missouri is offering a college degree in Agriculture and he suggests that the son consider it. Never having traveled outside of his farming community, William decides to attend college in 1910. He lives with relatives and pays for his room and board by feeding the animals and slopping pigs in the morning, going to school during the day, back to back-breaking farm work when he returns from school...and then staying up late at night to do his studies. He takes a mandatory literature course in his second year of studies which opens his mind and heart to learning, higher education and life's possibilities - and Stoner both finds himself and loses himself in books, literature and eventually teaching.

Stoner's storytelling is crisp and visual:

"He buried her (his Mother) beside his husband. After the services were over and the few mourners had gone, he stood alone in a cold November wind and looked at the two graves, one open to its burden and the other mound covered by a thin fuzz of grass. He turned on the bare, treeless little plot that held others like his mother and father and looked across the flat land in the direction of the farm where he had been born, where his mother and father had spent their years. He thought of the cost exacted, year after year, by the soil; and it remained as it had been - a little more barren, perhaps, a little more frugal of increase. Nothing had changed. Their lives had been expended in cheerless labor, their wills broken, their intelligences numbed. Now they were in the earth to which they had given their lives; and slowly, year by year, the earth would take them."

The death of his parents - a failed marriage - a mentally unstable wife who takes it out on William and their Daughter Grace - a vindictive Department Head of Literature who makes Stoners' professional life miserable - - and on and on as captured beautifully by Jefferson in this phrase:

"The years of the war blurred together, and Stoner went through them as he might have gone through a driving and nearly unendurable storm, his head down, his jaw locked, his mind fixed upon the next step and the next and the next."

This story of an ordinary man who finds his passion in his professional life and yet is still beset with challenges within that life and in living.

John Williams wrote this novel in 1965 - it still merits the "perfect novel" acclaim attributed to it by many reviewers. This novel is deeply moving.

A great resource to use in math. Wonderful story to keep students fully engaged with calculating math problems throughout the book.

Great math problem for multiplication. Great for showing multiplication of factors.

This picture book is easy to read, and presents two math concepts: the first is counting to ten. The second is factorials: If there are three kingdoms in two countries on one island, then how many kingdoms are there altogether?

Imagining some of the silly scenes (there are how many cupboards in how many rooms?) is a delight.

This book -- or at least the last half of it -- is best for kids who have been introduced to at least basic multiplication facts, but younger kids will enjoy counting and looking at the pictures even if the rest of it is over their heads. It is, therefore, a great book to read to your middle/upper-elementary student while younger siblings are looking on.

A wonderful way to introduce the concept of Factorials. Book can be used year six onwards. A must for any teacher and at least a class set for the school. It will enhance English language learning and fire up kids imagination. Just a wonderful book! What else can I say. Get hold of it and enjoy! Rama

'Nuff said.