Fiction Literature Books

This is one of the inferior novels that I have read of Isabel Allende. I could not finish it to the end. The protagonist is a strong female character set on an arduous journey with conquistadors and natives,from Peru to Chile. The part of coursing that distance was tedious reading which had to be skimmed.

I don't think I've had a book read to me since grammar school. I had resisted books on CD since I believed that I had an inadequate attention span, but a long commute and the expense of the Teaching Company classes made me reevaluate my stand. I decided to start with the "A"s, so picked up Ines of My Soul, written by Isabel Allende. And I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Ines Suarez is newly widowed and near death as she tells her story to her husband's daughter. A young woman in the early 16th century Spain, she follows her wastrel husband to the New World to find that he had already died. She initially settles in Peru, where she becomes the lover of the married Pedro de Valdivia. Ines accompanies Valdivia to Chile, which Valdivia hopes to conquer for Spain. However, the trip is perilous and the natives unwilling to allow the Spaniards to settle in their territory. The conquest led to years of brutal warfare between the peoples. In Santiago, Ines becomes a leading citizen as an advisor, nurse, and cook. She also knows how to use a sword, using one to great effect during an early battle with the Indians.

Ines of My Soul is historical fiction, based on the true story of the founding of Chile. The story was so engrossing that several times I found myself in the car, at home after a long day at work, unwilling to end the story. The characters were interesting and believable, such that I felt that I knew Ines and her family. Ines is more or less a true Spaniard, who believes that the Christianization of the Indians is essential, and she fails to see how the conquest of South America is disastrous to the native populations. That the natives are essentially enslaved to the Spaniards seems almost natural to her. That said, she is horrified by the treatment of the Indians by the conquistadors, who rape and murder Indians at will. Whether a reader should suspend moral judgment will, of course, be up to the reader. I found it hard at times to do so. It certainly inspired some contemplation about the conquest of the new world.

The book was read by Blair Brown, who did an excellent job of developing Ines' voice. I highly recommend the CD, and suspect that the book is also a great read.

This is a historical novel, very well researched and wonderful. Typical of Isabel Allende style, it transports you to a long gone time, full of of truthful Latin-American flavour.
Five stars!

Allende's imagination took incredible leaps based on non-historical documents to describe some South American early civilizations as extremely cruel and corrupt (Incas) while others were described as peaceful and loving (Mapuches). Probably untrue en both counts, based of textbooks. The book was wordy and tedious and could not even get to the end, somewhat boring.

Inés of My Soul is blandly written (or translated? or both? I'm not sure), and its plot extremely contrived. I enjoyed the history lesson, but that's not what you want your novel to feel like. And it suffers from that really obnoxious phenomenon where historical novels focus on ideas and details specifically of interest to and which reflect the values of the modern reader. Bleh.

Have you ever had one of those Blair moments when after weeks of being nice to everyone you have to finally make a decision which means that enemies are made as they see a must have dismissed? Well this is one of those moments. I have been struggling with Raymond Carver's "Where I'm Calling From" a collection of thirty-seven stories chosen from several previous collections published over 20 odd years which should therefore be an ideal introduction to his work. And... wait for it... I am going to abandon it unfinished half way despite him being seen As "the American Chekhov or the laureate of the dispossessed"

Let me say up front, that his prose, ear for dialogue and depiction of the ordinariness of every day life masking unexpressed pain and joy is the best. His stories are like photos that capture the moment frozen with no past or future with all the ambiguity that the unknown allows the reader/observer. The opposite of Norman Rockwell homeliness, more akin to the photos of Walker Evans of Let Us Now Praise Famous Men. But they have no plot, twists, surprises, or surface complexity of character. These are often blue collar workers in small-town or rural settings struggling with jobs, partners, children and booze and it's the unsaid that reveals more then the fractured words.

The stories reflect his own drink problems and failed jobs and marriage in his 20s so he turned to writing to escape and short stories could get something in quickly to pay the rent and get food on the table. His life did begin to turn around and his work started to get critical alarm in his 40's before he died of lung cancer. His accessible prose, realistic situations and comprehensible characters are seen as a counter to egghead experimentalism

But for me, I was left all too often thinking yes and what happens next even while the image created hung in my head. I also think that stories ripped from their original magazine context make the stories work harder then they needed to. I would have welcomed an edition that merged the stories with a set of photographs worthy of the writing. However, if you want to dip in and perhaps read a couple a stories a week or if you enjoy short stories then this is a book for you. As you say at the end of a failed relationship its not you it's me, and lets remain friends. Knowing it's really about the lack of passion. Yet the spurned has the chance of real love else where...will that be you?

Despite occasional accusations of obscurity or frustrating spareness, there's a reason Carver's work stands so highly in opinion: the author's ability to deliver through the written word that which lies at the center of what it means to be a human being, as in being in the world. Anyone who has lived a semblance of a life, and whose ability to form mental connections hasn't been cripplingly truncated, will see in Carver's work the essence of human existence, or at least of experienced existence. This is the art of the short story for adults, for those who've graduated from "just so" fairytales (not that there's anything wrong with fairytales) and have developed the ability to recognize and respond to the deep psychic fulfillment of a master storyteller and his deeply meaningful missives. I would go so far as to say that if Carver's work doesn't touch you in some fundamental fashion, then chances are pretty good you haven't lived much of a life. If a reader is looking to have someone hold his or her hand so as to be led down the aisle of bright and shiny distraction, then by all means go read some Wolfe. If, on the other hand, you are of a piece with the endless, sometimes grinding, and always gloriously contradictory cycle of life (and especially life as lived within human relationships) then Carver's work will resonate with your soul.

I am a hopeless lit. snob. I read only classics. When new books are presented to me, especially books with works published less than 40 years ago, I tend to be very cautious. Raymond Carver's collection may have just changed that. He's accessible to a wide array of readers, from hardcore English majors to "the working man" about whom he so often writes. Stories vary in length from a few pages to over ten, and while some seem to have impenetrable depth of thought, many are easily enjoyed without thinking TOO hard :)

Whether you aren't much of a reader or have books upon books that you've read and loved, this collection has something you can enjoy.

It's awfully hard to live up to praise - especially when said acknowledgments include "one of the great short story writers of our time - of any time" and comparisons to the great Hemingway himself (considered by many to be the all-time master of the form). Happily, Raymond Carver's estimable work stands up to the plaudits.

"Where I'm calling from" is a collection of Carver's work from four of his previous story collections with seven all-new stories to round out the volume. Originally published in 1988, the same year as Carver's death, "Where I'm calling from" is a tribute to an astonishingly accomplished career in writing. Arranged in near-chronological order, the stories follow Carver's progress as an author, and in this reader's opinion it is possible to pinpoint the exact moment he tapped into greatness, and while "Gazebo" may be the collection's first truly revelatory story, it is actually "So Much Water So Close to Home" that was published first. Both stories are the high point of the collection, which is no small feat considering the power and the heft of the other offerings.

At the height of his powers, Carver's writing is nothing short of revelatory. Subtle nuances create powerful depth and Carver's keen acuity for his characters leaves behind not one single false step in his plotlines - and how many writers could honestly make that claim? Not a whole lot, rest assured of that. If his earlier writings are less profound they are still masterful examples of the short story form from a writer who was clearly only getting warmed up.

Literature lovers take heed; Carver's collection is the real deal.

Grade: A

This ought to be called the Greatest Hits of Raymond Carver--with Bonus Tracks*. All of my own personal favorites are here: "Cathedral", "Fever", "Why Don't You Dance?". A few which appeared in previous collections are here restored to Carver's original conception. They appear more fleshed out, the characters are more developed, and oftentimes the tone is entirely changed. Some of Carver's stories will no doubt confound expectations. "Why Don't You Dance?" is told in such a sparse and poetic language that it may not be so easily accepted as a story; it seems to be more like a dance of words and images that dares its way into the heart. Carver's stories are famous for their intimacy with everyday life and everyday folk. His characters' struggles are exalted rather than belittled by the rationality of their predicaments. In "So Much Water So Close to Home" a man's absent-minded choice not to let a floating corpse interrupt his fishing trip culminates in a cosmic battle of Good and Evil between him and his wife yet right in the middle of their kitchen.

I think that many readers who express a dislike of Carver's stories are in fact favoring one Carver style over another. I can't imagine any lover of fiction with a shred of sensitivity being able to brush off "A Small, Good Thing" as a banal tale of child tragedy; the character of the baker is such a perfectly fulfilling example of the duality of human nature. However I can imagine a reader who enjoyed "A Small, Good Thing" completing the last sentence of "Fat" feeling puzzled about where to draw the conclusion between a large man gorging himself in a restaurant and a waitress's off-handed confession of rape. One story doesn't necessarily inform or justify another, and in that sense perhaps that's why this is a selection and not a "collection".

My best advice to new readers of Carver is to give each one of these stories its own personal creative license and realize that Carver was a poet. Really. He published poems as well as stories, and sometimes the accessibility of his vocabulary and the accessibility of his themes aren't consistent. What is consistent is the pleasure of his craft which can be experienced throughout these stories albeit on shifting levels.

*referring to the seven previously unpublished (in book form) stories included at the end of the book

Ms. March was entrancing and the photography was superb. It's R rated with reason, and a fairly hard R in my opinion but there is really no way around that if you're true to the book which is probably historically accurate. I would recommend the book as well.

A little book, barely 100 pages, packed with so much emotion and imagery i don't even know how to describe it. It is intense, in a way i haven't read in a while. Technically it is a story of a very poor French teenager, in Vietnam in the 1920's, who takes as her lover a wealthy Chinese man. Character-wise, he doesn't seem much more than a boy himself, though he is in his late 20's. But we get so much more information about the girl's life than we do about her affair. We hear about her mother, essentially a crazy woman, about both her brothers and their lives and deaths. The girl, who never gives her name, is weirdly detached from everyone but seems to be able to understand people deeply. The descriptions are lush and exotic. It seems to be a novel full of yearning and need.

The prose is stark at times, making this classic all the more intriguing. The narrator seems at once affected and numb, young but not naive. It is said to be a slice of the actual author's life, and certainly it seems to have been written from a place of truth and pain. The movie differs greatly from the book and is enjoyable as its own entity, but if you liked the film, read the original -- much more affecting.

After watching the movie, I just had to read the book. Some say, the book is always better than the movie, in this case though both book and movie are beautiful, but each in their own way.

The book draws so much more depth and power (which is of course only hinted in the movie). It is written with a foreign musicality to it. Sentences are structured in ways that communicate the main character's unusual background--a French girl living in prewar Indochina. The way it's structured takes the reader into the poetic, romantic and exotic mind of the narrator.

This is more literary, experimental (sure) and if you're looking for a romance novel, this ain't it. This one's artistic.

This is a novel about two lonely people - but obviously it's autobiographical, about an intense love affair between a quietly assertive 15 year-old and a Chinese man twice her age. The characters are weary, weeping, exhausted by the heat, by the failure of their dreams. The lovers are beautiful and erotic, but to me the most powerful and intense character is the girl's mother - determined, sad, loving and fiercely loved. I also loved the descriptions of the river, flowing on uncaring. The oppressive heat overwhelms and weakens the characters. The story has the atmosphere of a Graham Greene novel, without the politics. I have never seen the movie, but fear it may be soft porn.

I LOVE Kiki all of her book but the wifey books make see remember hanging out in some of those places keep up girl!!!!!!

Later
Shay

THis book started off slow. i didnt really get into Nikki to much from the second book, she was out for money and got caught up. its was crazy at the end when everybody was dropping like flies. also we never found out what was in the lock box.. it was just crazy... i hope the next book is better

The book was okay... I really didn't like the way it ended. The writer really made Nikki seem too naive.

I enjoyed this book and I look forward to Kiki's next book. This author has been consistent. Keep up the good work.

Life after wifey was ok. I enjoyed the 1st 2 books better. In this book, Nikki was trying to be Kira and was out of control with it. Also, I didn't like Rhonda because she was a snitch and also a liar. But in the end she got what coming to her for her sneaky and sheisty ways. This book was overall a good read, it just doesn't compare to the other 2 books. Nikki was basically trying to find out who killed her cousin Kira and why she was killed. She is also sleeping with the enemy and he was totally out of control in this book. He was more laid back in the last book life after wifey. I like Kiki swinson books and I think this was overall a good read.....

This book has a lot of good information about how math concepts were discovered over time by Archmedes. Some of the concepts are involved, but it is written at a level that allows young children (8 yrs and up) to access the ideas. The text could easily be used to branch off to classroom/home study science or math explorations. An excellent introduction to the possible depths of mathematics/science study in a light manner that children will find engaging.

EVERYTHING that Archimedes is supposed to have "discovered" already existed in Africa, thousands of years before "WHITE" Greeks existed. The Ancient Egyptians "THE MASTER BUILDERS" had already discovered "ALL" of the Arts & Sciences. The Greeks & Romans were students of the Ancient Black Egyptians, before they destroyed the Egyptian Civilization by raping the women, killing the Priests, forbidding the speaking of the language & burning the Library of Alexandria. Ask yourself this question, if the Greeks were such Great Mathematicians why did they go all the way to Africa to set up this Library, and where are their Pyramids? Huh?

Africa & Africans were the fountainhead of knowledge, at a time when the Whites had recently emerged from the Caves of & Hillsides of Europe, where they were walking on all fours and eating their meat raw, not having the knowledge of fire. Go back and read the ancient historical accounts by Herodotus, where he describes not only the Scientific Wonders of the Ancient Egyptians, but also describes their race as being of "Burnt Skin & Woolly Hair, & that they describe themselves as "THE" Most Ancient of Peoples.

WHY ARE THERE NO ANCIENT RUINS IN WHITE CIVILIZATIONS BUILT BY WHITE PEOPLES? (Stonehenge and other monuments in Europe were built by Blacks who peopled what is called Europe millions of years before the first Whites arrived. Google "Grimaldi Negro", the first inhabitants of Europe. Also see "The Making of the White Man" by Paul Guthrie & "Black Spark, White Fire".

THIS IS THE SAME TYPE OF RACIST LOGIC THAT POSITS THAT CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS DISCOVERED AMERICA, WHEN EVERYBODY KNOWS THAT BOTH INDIANS & BLACKS WERE HERE FIRST, BUILDING PYRAMID CIVILIZATIONS.

For further edification read: "The African Origin of Civilization" by Cheik Anta Diop (Renowned Senegalese Physicist & Linguist), "Stolen Legacy" by George M. James (Greek Scholar) & "Black Athena" by Martin Bernal (which shows that Early Greece was peopled by two successive waves of African colonization who laid the foundation of both Minoan & Greek Civilization. Take a close look at the Minoans, they are of African stock, as were the early Greeks prior to the invasions of the Barbaric White Dorians, who brought no Civilizing influence to Greece.

Racist White historical analysis cannot replace cold hard facts such as the Pyramid Civilizations appearing only in Black Civilizations such as Egypt, Mexico etc. The Pyramid culture in the Americas begins with the Thick Lipped, Broad Nosed, Wooly Haired Olmec Civilization, "THE MOTHER CIVILIZATION" of the Americas.

FURTHERMORE, WHOSE TO SAY THAT ARCHIMEDES WAS WHITE, AS GREEK CIVILIZATION AT THAT TIME, HAD BLACKS AS WELL AS WHITES.

Truth crushed to Earth will Rise Again!!!

My 12 year old and then my wife have read this nifty little book before I got to read the father's day present. I generally like less-than-one-hour biographies with pictures, particularly of inventors.
Great book for readers at 4th grade level and above.
For adults, if you admit to liking cliff notes, I would recommend this book on Archimedes first, before buying something more scholarly.

This book is about Archimedes' life. He found out how to measure a circle and the principle of buoyancy. He invented the Archimedes' screw. He moved a ship full of cargo with one hand and a machine he built. And he did all this without electricity. I think that you will love this book.

Placing scientific theory in historical context is a concept that sounds dreadful. My children loved it. They adore the comic stories of Archimedes. My eight year-old son couldn't put it down. As a parent of a boy to 'hates to read,' it was AMAZING to hear my son giggling and laughing out loud while studying history and science on his own. What was even more thrilling, was listening to him apply the knowledge to everything from playing with Knex to a catapult.

Light in August with numerous characters and plots seems to be always opening, boundary crossing, and fighting shy of borders. Lena Grove, Joe Christmas, Gail Hightower, Byron Bunch, and Joanna Burden are only a few of the people that populate this expansive novel. The different plot lines intersect at points and diverge again with little novelistic responsibility. I don't say that as a criticism because I think Faulkner was trying to cross the literary boundary of the novel and arrest life here and there and present it fresh, surprised to find itself captured on paper. The main characters in Light in August are outsiders all alienated from society. One of these outsiders the Reverend Gail Hightower has a tragic obsession with his Grandfather a figure Hightower enshrines with all the romantic heroic imagery of the doomed, chivalrous exploits of the Civil war. His Grandfather had been involved in a successful raid on Grant's stores in Jefferson and later on a looting expedition he was shot by a householder in a henhouse while stealing a chicken. Hightower manages to keep that latter detail of his Grandfather's vulgar demise blocked from his romantic vision of raids and galloping cavalry. Fresh out of seminary Hightower gets himself posted as minister to a church in Jefferson the scene of his Grandfather's exploits. Hightower's vision becomes inextricably part of his religion. His sermons are a violent mixture of christian dogma and martial glory. "up there in the pulpit with his hands flying all around him and the dogma he was supposed to preach all full of galloping cavalry and defeat and glory" Hightower finally understands that he had neglected his wife and his life for a romantic vision of the past. In this epiphany Hightower sees a vision of the church. "That which is destroying the Church is not the outward groping of those within it nor the inward groping of those without, but the professionals who control it and who have removed the bells from its steeples. He seems to see them, endless, without order, empty, symbolical, bleak, skypointed not with ecstasy or passion but in adjuration, threat, and doom. He seems to see the churches of the world like a rampart, like one of those barricades of the middle ages planted with dead and sharpened stakes, against truth and that peace in which to sin and be forgiven which is the life of man." In part of his epiphanic revelation Hightower views his time as a minister. "a charlatan preaching worse than heresy, in utter disregard of that whose very stage he preempted, offering instead of the crucified shape of pity and love, a swaggering and unchastened bravo killed with a shotgun in a peaceful henhouse.." Despite his tragic flaws I liked the Reverend Hightower and leave the novel and him with "the wild bugles and the clashing sabres and the dying thunder of hooves."

The American paperback editions of Faulkner published by Vintage are far more readable and user-friendly than the British editions due to font size, layout, page size, gutter width, paper and general design. This is a wonderful book which should be a pleasure to read. My one concern, and I am not alone in expressing it, is that the 'corrected' text is to some extent a reversion to a draft that Faulkner himself (as I understand it) agreed to change in the light of editorial suggestions which, in many cases, he accepted as improvements. To correct back to an editorial stage before the involvement of an editor is an odd editorial practice and, when a writer has been as tactfully and agreeably edited as Faulkner, rather a doubtful one. A parallel text, or a fuller description of the logic of the Polk emendation, would have been useful, for the general as well as the specialist reader. All the same, a wonderful edition to read.

I found my first Faulkner a bit too disquieting to be rated as a 5-star classic. Faulkner's flashback-filled style of writing in "Light in August" goes backwards as much as forwards, and the first major character introduced and followed through the first third of the book disappears for the middle third and most of the last third. While Faulkner makes Lena Grove likable and unforgettably strong in her straightforward simplicity, the character Joe Christmas who is introduced and dominates the middle third seems too over-the-top to be believed; he ends up reading more like a literary type than a real character.

Faulkner by toning down Joe Christmas and focusing on Lena Grove could have written a heartwarming story about the girl who redeems her youthful mistake to become a strong Southern women in, in spite of, and even because of her heritage and surroundings. But that wouldn't be the story Faulkner has in mind--every character has flaws, and one's heritage and surroundings may be greater than even the most moral character can overcome. The best one can hope, as does Lena by the end of the story, is to survive by moving on (as another great Southern writer would pen, you can't go home again).

The story is heightened and perhaps driven by its contrasts--set in the Depression-era deep South, townsfolk live uneasily alongside country folk, whites share geography but can scarcely be said to live beside blacks, cars and mule-drawn wagons share the roads, houses are lit by kerosene and electricity, the occasional open-minded unprejudiced citizen (universally hated and condemned by their neighbors) lives uneasily alongside and amidst the virulently racist majority and the atmosphere that breeds this backwards-looking, closed, feudal society.

I can tell from this first reading that I concur with the majority of literary critics that Faulkner is one of the great writers of the last century. I respect him, I'm just not sure I can say I found the story likable. The Amazon-suggested tag "southern discomfort" captures the essence of this book succinctly.

This "Absalom,Absalom", and "Go Down, Moses" are my favorite novels by Faulkner. "Light in August" has the advantage of being his most readable book. I will let you in on a little secret, though. I have found that Faulkner is much better to LISTEN to than read straight. I'd read several of his books when I discovered my local library had a number of tapes and CDs of his work. Those read by Mark Hammer are in a class by themselves. Not only does he have the proper accent, but his pauses in Faulkner's often long,involved sentences show a great familiarity with the work and add a strong element that make his words sparkle like jewels with brilliance and an uncanny insight into the characters he displays for us. After that, reading Faulkner is never the same.

A friend recommended this to me. I cannot belive how wrong he was about it. First off, I found it extremely annoying and confusing that there were several characters who had the same or similar names; it was kinda hard to keep track of who was who or what was going on. Second, and my main problem with the book is that I just could not relate with or even like one character in this book. I can't connect with a book if I hate every single character. Overall, this book was just dismal, although its one redeeming quality was its narratives about racism and the differences between whites and blacks. That is the only thing keeping me from giving this a one star review.

First off, DON'T READ THE SYNOPSIS on the book jacket, as it totally gives away the entire book! What's the point of reading the thing then? Whoever is in charge of that needs to learn the fine art of subtlety while enticing the reader.

Thanks to someone here, I was forewarned, so I resisted the temptation and just began to read. However, this book gets 3.5 stars out of 5 because of Miles' overuse of FORESHADOWING. There were so many "Signposts" along the way that all of the major climatic moments in the book were only lukewarm, "yeah-so-what" moments for me, at best, as it I was led down the road of predictability instead of anticipation. How frustrating!

It's a real shame, because this is a good story with wonderful pearls of wisdom and tangible, memorable characters. That's where the book succeeds.

But emotionally I couldn't shed a tear, as the dramatic tension had become so diluted by all of that hand-led wording (ie. foreshadowing). The art of suspense, the finess of mystery, were lost on me -- instead, it was like being shown the hills and valleys from a distance, knowing what to expect as they inched forward, with no surprises when they're suddenly underfoot. Such potential dramatic arcs were lacking for me.

After finishing reading what felt like a deflated, lukewarm ending, I decided to read that overly-revealing fly leaf. I am really glad that I waited, or I would have felt even more disappointed in the book.

JLM, please give stop hitting us over the head with word-laden mallets of forewarning. It ruins your otherwise beautifully told stories.

As an avid reader of southern fiction, i really got swept into this book and couldn't put it down. I felt like i was in this story observing everything that took place. At some points it was like recalling parts of my own childhood. This is a great book!!!

Loved the characters so much I hated to see it end. Almost wish I could catch up with them while sipping sweet tea while rocking on the porch on a hot summer day.

beware... don't read the jacket description first. I can not even believe how much of the story is outlined in the description. I think I would've enjoyed the story a bit more had I not read the inside jacket.

I did enjoy this book. It was a quick read with characters that I cared about. There are lots of little surprises in the story that keep you interested. This is the first book I've read of Miles, and I plan to purchase the other she has out.

I recommend this book. It was so interesting-it had so many plot twists that I couldn't put it down.

Adie reads the journal of a slave girl, Tempe. The journal was so gripping because it chronicled the horrible things that happenend to Tempe. After "the freedom" came, Tempe was able to enjoy her life because of her strong strength of character. Adie gains strength from the journal and is able to come to terms with a family tragedy that happened when she was 7.

The book has 2 parts: the ukrainian folklore stories - witches, devils, ogres and what not - interacting with the peasants living in the Ukraine countryside. Nice story telling with a quaint sense of humor. The second part is from St. Petersburg detailing the Russian bourgeoisie life. Mildly funny.
Some stories are a prelude to the surrealism to come out of Europe later - like Kafka. But make no mistake: Gogol is no Kafka.
Only if you have nothing better to read at the moment or the above is something you have a special interest in.

A quick note to counterbalance all of the glowing reviews. Of course, everybody has an opinion, and one can't argue with taste as they say, so let me provide - for your consideration - a representative passage from the first few pages of this translation. From the second page of "St. John's Eve": "I remember like now - the old woman, my late mother, was still alive - how on a long winter's evening, when there was a biting frost outside that walled us up solidly behind the narrow window of our cottage, she used to sit by the comb, pulling the long thread out with her hand, rocking the cradle with her foot, and humming a song that I can hear as if it was (sic) now." I don't speak Russian, and maybe this "I remember like now" expression represents a literal translation of some Russian idiom, but it would have made a lot more sense to translate the phrase into something along the lines of "I remember as if it were yesterday" - a corny expression, but one that at least makes sense in English. If this seems like a petty criticism, take into account that that kind of awkward, bizarre phrasing is repeated in just about every other sentence. The translators are fond of corny, archaic words like "mug" (for face) and "drubbing" that seem like they belong in a British translation from the 30s, not something copyrighted in 1998. I just wanted to give a warning to anyone who was actually expecting this to be a "modern" translation, i.e., a translation into something resembling contemporary English. For the record, "Dead Souls" is one of my favorite novels and "Ivan Ivanovich / Ivan Nikiforovich" one of my favorite short stories, so this isn't about disliking Gogol.

This is the kind of writing that makes me questions why movies even exist. The style, the sentences, the humor, the feel is all something unique, unpredictable, and unmistakable. These plots are bizarre, intriguing and it is nearly impossible to guess the endings. All this coming from a translated work is a success for the writer and the translators.

The Overcoat, Diary of a Madman, & the Nose are some examples of Gogol's short story brilliance. These stories are realistic yet surreal, imaginative and impressive. Gogol shows you the roots of what Russian writers continued to excel at later with works like Metamorphosis (Kafka). He calls his stories tales (there are the Ukrainian Tales and the Petersburg Tales), and they most definitely are tales. They are the kind of stories you can tell around the campfire -- they are that unnerving and exhilarating. Yet they are social commentaries as well. These stories work on many levels because they are detailed, feature fantastic characters, and delve into fantasy. All the while you find unexpected twists and occurrences. It's sheer genius.

This book is a fabulous introduction to both Russian literature and the works of this unique genius.

As well known in the east as the "Wizard of Oz" series is in the west (which was also argueably inspired by a russian tale "The Wizard of the Emerald City", this collection is every bit as enjoyable - especially for children or grandchildren.

The Night Before Christmas is an insighful look at human nature - the desire of each person to have prince/princess and live happily ever after. The stories are full of hope, humor, sadness, and tragedy.

Overall, the stories are masterpieces that can read repeatedly.

Nikolai Gogol was one of the greatest writers of the golden age of Russian Literature. As friend of the Great Aleksandr Sergeeyivich Pushkin, the Shakespeare of Russian Literature, he helped Pushkin realize his genius and at the same time wrote some of the most famous and entertaining short stories of all the Great Russian writers such as "The Diary of a Madman" (before it was a cliche' kind of expression and well before Ozzy's 1981 classic) which is the story of a disilusioned clerk or something. Gogol always had sympathy for the little guy, who was stuck in a dead end job, and the guy who had no voice like the main character in probably Gogols most famous short story "The Overcoat" which I have just finished reading, and I may say without any sort of hesitation that that lovely little tale will go with me in my treasured memories for the rest of my life (May that life be filled with such lovely literature as that of 19th century Russian!)

This volume, while it doesn't have "Tarsas Bulba" redeems itself with some of the greatest stories ever told.

Nikolai Vasilyivich Gogol
1809-1852

The main character basically is faced with two men in her life and she has to choose ultimately who is the best man for her. On one side she has jobless, sporty, sexy and fun guy and on the other a responsible, quiet, wealthy nice man. I won't tell you who she goes for but I will say that most of us at one time in our lives have been in similar straights deciding who to go for. Then you are always left wondering what would have been your life had you taken the other path. An enjoyable read!

This is my favorite book ever! It's exciting, thrilling, and 100% relatable! The wit and suspense makes you never want to put it down!

Libby Mason's Mr. Right is wealthy, gorgeous, and willing to support her in the style to which she'd like to become accustomed. So when she meets Nick, who is gorgeous, but who's also a struggling unemployed writer "on the dole" (why does that sound better than "welfare" or "unemployment"?), she knows he can't be The One. But he's so fun and sexy that she can't resist spending time with him. They embark on a relationship that they keep reassuring each other isn't serious, but it turns out to be such a great relationship that Libby's starting to reassess her criteria, and despite her denial, she's starting to fall in love with him.

And then Nick breaks up with her.

Out with her girlfriend in an attempt to cheer up, she meets Ed McMann (I know I'm not the only one taken aback by his name--the PW review spelled it McMahon!), who's everything she thought she wanted. Okay, so he's not gorgeous, but he is sweet, and one of Britain's most eligible bachelors, and he's definitely willing to spend money on her.

And so maybe he gets on her nerves, and the sex is terrible, but it'll get better over time, right?

I had such a difficult time with this book at first. Libby is unabashedly materialistic--wearing designer clothes, going to the best restaurants and clubs, all in the search of her wealthy Mr. Right. And Nick wasn't much better--blame my Puritan American background, but I had a very hard time sympathizing with a young, healthy, intelligent person choosing to go on welfare rather than work.

But along the way, they grew on me. Mostly because they grew--or Libby did, at least. Nick redeemed himself in the end. Eh--the story is about Libby, growing, changing, learning--that's why it's chick lit (or women's fiction--I still prefer the chick lit label) and not romance.

I loved how Libby changed while she was with Nick, and then I loved how she tried very hard to make the relationship with Ed work. The format was great--she grew in the relationship with Nick, and those changes were evident in her relationship with Ed. And boy, could I relate to her determination to make it work, as well as to her decision that since it didn't work out with the man she loved, she was going to settle for the one who met her old criteria.

And unlike other stories with this plot, Libby did care about Ed and worried about hurting him.

I believe I have another one of Green's books in my TBR pile. I look forward to reading it.

This book was such a great light fun read. Anyone who is going through the trials and tribulations of the dating world will love this! I was laughing out loud at some points. Great beach read.

This oh-so-relatable novel depicts the eternal dilemma that all girls face at one point: do you choose the poor useless guy that you're in head-over-heels in love with, OR the smart, rich, handsome guy that's in love with you?

My son's absolute favorite book. The boy could read this book forever and still not get enough of it.

This is a wonderfull book!!!!! It's realistic, the pictures are very good, the words used are perfect for my 3 year old son. He loves this book, and I love reading it to him over and over again.

What is impressive about this book is it's appeal to any age. The book follows a firefighter during his typical 24-hour shift. All information is based on realistic circumstances - from responding to a car accident, to inspecting stores/restaurants, to teaching children fire safety, to the infamous fighting of brush fires.
Artwork is detailed but easy (and fascinating) for a two-year old to view. Lots of little details are imbedded in the pictures for older children to find and learn about firefighting.
The book is slightly wordy for a two-year old, but perfect for ages 4 and up. We summarize each page for our 2-year old son.
I am excited that this book will continue to be one of his favorites as he grows.
A must for children who love Firemen/Fire Trucks!

My son who is 2.5 years old and is very much into fire trucks nowadays, absolutely loves this book. Everytime when I ask which book he wants to read, he says "Big Frank's Fire Truck!" He's memorized pretty much the entire book. I'm now on the lookout for another fantastic book. He also loves Fireman Small.

My five year old son loves firefighting books. I am a volunteer firefighter/EMT in NY so my son always has a lot of questions. This book is fine without explanations. My son always has to know, "Is that how you do it Daddy?"

This book stays close to reality with the help of Big Frank! Big Frank is a very likeable character for my son. I first started to read this book to him at 4 and he has loved it since.