Fiction Literature Books

I am not educated in philosophy, so I read this book slowly with the help of Sparknotes and ended up really enjoying the book, not only for its philosophy (not all of which I found agreeable, however, tremendously interesting) but also for its creativity, humor and its literary energy and complexity. It is always a treat to read writings of such a brilliant thinker of our time.

This is an amazing, but also sometimes amazingly difficult to access, work. It is unfortunate that Kauffman's is the most widely used translation, because his translation is clunky and ponderous. T. Wayne's translation, in contrast, is very lyrical and frequently simply makes more sense. In some places it does appear that Mr. Wayne tries too hard to distinguish his translation from that of Kauffman, meaning his difference in word choice does not improve the work but rather makes it worse. However, to be fair, that is rare and the vast majority of the differences mark a substantial improvement. The most disappointing thing about this edition is that the publishers/editors (Algora) did a pretty sloppy job, so there are a number stupid typographical errors that will hopefully be corrected if Algora ever re-publishes it.

Nietzsche was controversial (and reveled in it), but he was also grossly misunderstood. To pigeonhole his philosophy as simply about glorifying barbaric agresssion does a grave disservice to his quest for uplifting the human soul. Nietzsche was a man who absolutely ABHORRED mediocrity, and dedicated his work into helping man reclaim the "star" that he always potentially possesses, provided he is willing to free himself from the shackles of dogma and conventionality. "Thus Spoke Zarathustra" is Nietzsche's manifesto on how to get there.

The concept of the "last-man" is brilliant, and unbelievably prescient!! This smug. self-satisfied, herd-like man exists today in overwhelming abundance!! The "last-man," to quote Nietzsche "has no shepherd and one herd! Everybody wants the same, everybody is the same: whoever feels different goes voluntarily into a madhouse." When you look around and see the mindless banal dreck on televison, in newspapers, and throughout society in general, you see the deleterious effects of the contented "last-man" who can no longer have contempt for himself, therefore, he cannot and will not strive to advance himself!!

One may not agree with everything in "Thus Spoke Zarathustra," but it is unquestionably a brilliant work that will open up new vistas of the mind and have you examining man's spiritual condition in an utterly profound way. And Nietzsche's writing style is, at its best, almost lyrical!!

"But by my love and hope I beseech you: do not throw away the hero in your soul! Hold holy your highest hope!" ~ Friedrich Nietzsche from "Thus Spoke Zarathustra"

You ready for some Nietzsche? Let's start with how you say the guy's name shall we? You can pronounce "Nietzsche" either "knee-chee" or "knee-cha." (I prefer the latter...sounds cooler, don't you think? ;)

With that behind us, you're ready for a warning: Be warned: The man, as they say, delivers his philosophy with a hammer. As Walter Kaufmann brilliantly articulates in the foreword, Nietzsche "is a dedicated enemy of all convention, intent on exposing the stupidity and arbitrariness of custom."

In "Thus Spoke Zarathustra," we meet the enlightened hero, Zarathustra, who has come down from the mountaintop to deliver a series of scathing rants on everything from his famous proclamation that "God is dead!" to admonitions to forget loving thy neighbor and instead learn to love the farthest.

It's written in a mock-Biblical style and features Nietzsche's undying commitment to our potential. If you're new to Nietzsche and thinking about reading the book, you'll definitely want a quiet space to read but don't be intimidated. Once you get into it, it flows.

Thus Spoke Zarathustra (originally Also Sprach Zarathustra) is considered by some (myself included) to have been the crowning work of the nineteenth century German philosopher Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (1844-1900). Unlike most modern philosophical works, Zarathustra's format harkens back to the Bible and to the ancient Greek works such as Plato's dialogues. In it, Zarathustra wanders the landscape, talking to people, drawing out the fallacies of what they believe and propounding Nietzsche's philosophy.

Overall, I found this to be one of the most challenging works I have ever read. Nietzsche's use of paradox and ambiguity tends to obscure his teachings, while at the same time challenging the reader to read closely and understand what he is saying in spite of the ambiguity. But, it is well worth the effort.

In his seminal work, The End of History and the Last Man, Francis Fukuyama argues that the last philosophy standing that can possibly challenge the reigning philosophy of the West is that of Friedrich Nietzsche. And so, I do believe that it is worth understanding Nietzsche. Is this the best book to read to understand the great philosopher? I can't say. But, it is the book I started with. It is a challenging read, but definitely well worth the effort. I have had a copy of this book since college, and to this day I still periodically take it off the shelf and read it again.

Candide is another one of those books I wish I'd been forced to read at some point in my education, whether in my comparative literature classes in high school (which as previously mentioned, wasn't very comparative if the teacher didn't care for the author) or in one of my several philosophy classes in university. Either way, it's been on my list of books to read for ages now, and seeing as David had it on a shelf, unread and lonely, I decided to pick it up and give it a go.

Candide is a fast read, something that I was three-quarters of the way through after my commute on Monday (thirty-five minutes each way) and finished after another half-hour of light reading this afternoon after returning from the doctor's surgery. The only real way to describe it is to imagine what would happen if Camus travelled back in time and decided to write a book with Swift. Candide is funny, sarcastic, satirical, and incredibly entertaining, which is surprising considering I didn't exactly have the best translation in the world at my disposal. It's the story of a young and naïve servant to a nobleman and how his journey in life, most of which is taken up with seeking after his unrequited love, is filled with sadness and joy, and how his outlook determines the course of his action.

Like most satirists, Voltaire did not stop to consider friends or enemies: he took shots at everyone from the Catholic clergy to Protestants and even his own philosophers who continue to espouse beliefs even after they no longer believe in them because "it is the proper thing to do." Brilliant, witty, and clever, this is probably one of my new favourite satirical works, right up there with "A Modest Proposal." It's definitely not something that would be enjoyed in a required university class, but anyone who's studied comparative religion or philosophy, or is at least familiar with the absurdities in all philosophical systems, should enjoy this book.

In Candide, Voltaire raucously lampoons: religion, politics, philosophy, goverment and, specifically, Gottfried Leibniz and his Optimism. I won't ruin any of the fun for those of you who've never read it by spoiling a single thing about the story itself though. The best thing about Candide is, for me, how telling it is of Voltaire himself. He fancied himself an outsider and far removed from those he mocked; even during his lifetime he was considered a borderline philosopher and highly influential countercultural icon, in spite of this. Candide is one of the most laugh-out-loud stories of all time and has aged very well. I don't usually buy critical editions but I definitely recommend this one for all Candide fans as the contributions of praise and criticism include the *exact* same points. Which --- is very funny in a Voltairean sort of way.

Having enjoyed Leonard Bernstein's Candide for a long time and just read my way through the Candide inspired Sotweed Factor, it was time to get through to the source.

Upon completing the original French version, it is no wonder that this book is such an inspiring perennial classic. I very much object to the notion that this book is an anti-everything nihilist manifesto. Some words of explanation.

During the age enlightment mankind made big strides in some areas of science. The development of differential calculus by Newton and Leibniz suddenly allowed mankind a better understanding of the way "God ran the Universe". Based on these supposedly universal laws, Leibniz took the stance that our world could not be anything else than the one and only perfect solution that a divine power had found to the self-imposed problem of creation. The best of all possible worlds.

Against this backdrop Voltaire wrote his satiric redux of Homer meeting Cervantes to discuss the book of Job. In a style that (in the original French) is light and whimsical Voltaire debunks the notion that life takes place in an ordered universe. He certainly is not against everything, but rightfully speaks out against idiotic notions on the virtue of war and cruel religious blindness.

Voltaire has left us with a very light, funny and user-friendly fairytale, that may not be quite up there with the great Homer and especially Cervantes, but deserves a place on every bookshelf.

No the story doesn't change from edition to edition, but the supplementary material provided does change. Candide isn't just some hectic adventure story. It really fails as literature in this regard, and certainly Voltaire's purpose was not to make you chuckle while you whiled away a few empty hours. He would weep to think that you missed out on what he was really trying to tell you. Rest easy. I am not going to launch into a stuffy monologue on Leibnitz and 18th century French Catholicism, but in essence you should know that this is the essence of the story. The philosopher Leibnitz (who with Isaac Newton independently invented Calculus) explained the existence of evil in the world thusly: God, in his infinite wisdom, thought of all possible worlds that he could create, and he chose this one; therefore this must be the best of all possible worlds. Voltaire was also continually chastising the Catholic Church for it's lack of tolerance of other beliefs, and for its aristocratic pomp.

Enter now the Norton Critical Edition of Candide. This book presents the 75 page story along with 130 additional pages of various articles and essays on the times in which it was written; commentary by Voltaire and by his contemporaries; and critiques of the story by modern writers. Sure there are always a few dull, academic essays making their mandatory appearance in a book like this, but my suggestion is just to skip them. After all there are a lot of them to choose from.

Learn the story behind the story so to speak. After all it is the background of Candide that makes Candide the forceful satire that it is.

The French writer Voltaire's (1694-1778) novel 'Candide' is a biting, satirical, cynical, and inimical story of an inexperienced and innocent young man who is much misled early in life by Pangloss, his philosophy teacher. Tragi-comical in style, the whole work is certainly the spiritual forefather of 'Waiting for Godot', but it is vastly inventive, the satire is funny, and the action rollicks around the world in a rapid succession of colorful and exciting places. Candide alternately fights for his life, flees for his life, ponders the meaning of life, makes his fortune, or simply travels to stave off boredom. If this were a Mel Brooks film it would be a cross between 'Blazing Saddles', 'Men In Tights', and 'Life Stinks'. There is a grisly and surreal cartoon element to the proceedings with characters constantly being killed by sword, fire, hanging, earthquake, drowning, and whatever, who then come back to life when you least expect it, looking much the worse for wear.

Candide may be on a journey of discovery, but he is just not able to understand anything he discovers. In the school of life he is certainly bottom of the class, and seemingly aspires to stay there. Pangloss has taught him that however things appear, life is arranged so that, 'all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds' - which sounds to me like a parody of a famous scripture from the New Testament letter to the Romans. This absurdist Positive Mental Attitude is then slowly and relentlessly beaten out of the hapless Candide, who learns some of the practical lessons of life while never actually being in danger of learning anything about its meaning and purpose. All in all, anyone who believes in Judaism, Christianity, Islam, the empirical philosophy of the good and sensible British school, or any Eastern religion in general, will find their ideas roundly lampooned, insulted, and mocked herein.

Candide starts life in Germany, rattles around Europe, travels to South America and finds El Dorado, gains and looses a vast fortune, returns to Europe, visits Turkey and Persia, and is thrashed by three philosophers in Denmark. The narrative obiter dicta may state that 'In life everything grows wearisome', but the Candide view is: 'Everything is not so good as in El Dorado; but everything is not too bad'. An exhaustingly banal conclusion.

It is difficult to see what positive views are contained in this book. Everyone is denigrated. Nothing is sacred and therefore nothing really matters. Everything finishes downbeat, so this is a dangerous work to read with a too-open mind. In fact, the whole book reeks of what sociologists self-congratulatingly call the 'debunking motif', which explains the tenor of the whole. Voltaire was famed abroad and prolific in his lifetime, but time has proved that trenchantly 'being against things', however right you may be, does not bring a lasting fame worth having. 'Candide' is but a small sliver of Voltaire's life output, and his situation reminds me of the works of the ancient Greek Archilochus, who, a century after Homer and Hesiod was dubbed the first 'poet of blame'. But unlike the classics of Homer and Hesiod, only slivers of Archilochus' works remain to this day, whilst his waspish reputation has survived quite well.

This is a simple book of a Little Sal, and Little Sal's mother, and Little Bear, and Little Bear's mother, who get mixed up with each other on Blueberry Hill.

It's very realistically written and illustrated, and the exciting part isn't too scary for little ones.

I will note that it's a bit long - maybe better for kids with longer attention spans than shorter ones. If they're as young as Little Sal is, it might be better to wait a year before reading :)

I don't understand the positive reviews here or the caldecott award. The sketchings are artistically done, true, but in a way an adult can appreciate intellectually; they don't really evoke emotion. The story is a yawner.

I loved this book as a child so I got it for my
grandchildren. They aren't as impressed with
the pictures from 1950 as I was, but still is
a good story.

She has hundreds of books and everytime I visit she would ask me to read her this book. She loves the illustrations... especially the seal!

sweet book for little kids. It is an excellent book to read aloud to your children and grandchildren. It is about a girl out picking berries for her mom and it shows a baby bear doing the same for his mom.

This story really got me thinking. I couldn't decide whether to liked Madame Bovary or not.
She married a man she neither loved nor respected. She was trapped and trying to make the best of it. On the other hand her husband loved her and would do anything for her but she used him badly. Was she feeling sorry for herself? Was she just a spoiled little brat who could not accept the hand life dealt her?
I enjoyed this book but I finished it with a question mark.

I admit that I would never have read Madame Bovary for it not being required reading in my Humanities class. We also had to write an essay, so Madame Bovary occupied my little free time trying to get through the novel. I admit, the prose was indeed different, and many times I had to read and re-read a sentence or paragraph several times before I could understand what was in front of me. After completing the novel, I realized that it was quite a simple story, yet a masterpiece. A true classic.

Madame Bovary is one of those books that I admire more than love. As fiction it is flawlessly written, and it's scathing viewpoint on French provincial society is delivered with style and aplomb. Call it the great anti-romance of literature. The problem I have with it lies in it's failure to touch me on any emotional level. Neither Emma, nor Charles, nor any of the characters in Yonville strikes any kind of sympathetic chord with me.

Comparing Madame Bovary to that other eponymous lady, Anna Karenina, I found Tolstoy's cuckolding wife to be a much more sympathetic character. A character who thinks and feels in a damaged, yet logical fashion. A character who struggles to come to terms with her life's choices. There is very little depth to the characters in Flaubert's novel, and though I
acknowledge it as a masterpiece, it is more a cold, stylistic exercise in literary realism, than a book that enlightens, exhilarates, or moves the reader.

Madame Bovary is the greatest novel written by Gustave Flaubert. The 1855
masterpiece portrays in searing detail the tragic tale of a young girl whose dreams turned into nightmares; whose sandcastles are swept away by unfulfilled passion; whose young life is ended in a tragic death. Years before Tolstoy limned the adultress woman in his Anna Karenina we see the consequences which ensue when a middle class wife and mother breaks the seventh commandment.
The novel takes place near Rouen in the north of France. There are actually three Madame Bovarys in the story. Madame Bovary Sr. who is the mother of Charles Bovary dominates her weak son. Madame Bovary I is an ugly but wealthy woman who dies allowing Charles to wed the lovely Emma
Bovary who is the the famed woman of the book's title. Emma has grown up on a farm coddled by her widower father. She has immersed herself in romantic tales and spent time in a French convent. Emma dreams of castles in the air and a charming prince to take her to paradise. Today she would be a reader of Harlequin Romances. She is a virgin plum ripe for picking!
Charles Bovary ("bovine" meaning cow-like; also think "ovary for his scandolous wife Emma) is a dull, stupid and lethargic public health inspector. He is a good man but is a total dullard! Charles weds Emma after treating her father. At first all goes well as the couple set up house in a French provincial town where little exciting ever occurs. They have a daughter Berthe with whom Emma has little to do. She never grows up to becoming a mature woman.
Emma carries on two affairs in the novel with the law student Leon and the wealthy but callous womanizing aristocrat Rodolphe. She is sucked into a cesspool of overwhelming debt being addicted to clothing, jewelry and furniture. Emma's lovers forsake her as her disillusionment with men and life itelf takes over life. Madame Bovary ends her life by committing suicide. The account of her horrific, painful and grotesque death from her fatal injection of arsenic rat poison will never be forgotten by the
reader. Despite her many sins she deserves pity at such a sad end. Her husband dies a few years later and her daughter has to be farmed out to a relative.
What makes this novel of adultery, satirical views of provincial life, mockery of the relgious hypocrisy in the French countryside and lacerating portraits of such types as the village atheist Homais so great? In my opinion the reasons this is such a landmark work must include:
a. A picture of a woman seeking to break out of the nineteenth century bourgeoisie view of females as placid wives and mothers with no aspirations of their own. Throughout the novel there are images of birds seeking freedom from cages. Emma is a modern feminist in the nineteenth century society she finds impossible to escape. Emma is an iconoclastic rebel.
b. A satirical and cynical view of human hypocrisy drawn with skill in the pictures Flaubert draws of such figures as the village priest, scientist, merchants and moneylenders. Society is concerned with money and social status to the detriment of more spiritual and ethical values.
c. Flaubert introduces a new realism to the novel which will influence such naturalist as Emile Zola and others. The novel reads as if it was written today instead of over 150 years ago.
d. Flaubert's descriptions of the beauty of nature (and its indifference to human suffering and troubles) are beautifully etched. His use of language and the level of suspense he maintains throughout the work are excellent.
e. Flaubert is not afraid to describe female sexual longings. His sex scenes are tasteful to our eyes but viewed as prurient reading in his own day.
Penguin editons are always a joy to read with their critical apparatus and excellent introductions. Enjoy this great work of literature as soon as you can!

"The great question that has never been answered, and which I have not yet been able to answer, despite my thirty years of research into the feminine soul, is ''What does a woman want?'" Sigmund Freud

This is one unforgettable classic! I don't even know how to begin describing it, mainly because of the complexity of the main character Emma Bovary. When I finished this novel (almost in tears, for the ending is both tragic and very distressing) I walked away from it feeling extremely fortunate to be born in a time and place in which I have complete freedom. For, in a nutshell, what plagued our heroine throughout her entire life was the simple fact that she was trapped being a woman in a man's world (the novel takes place during the mid 19th century in Normandy). You see, Madame B. is no common, run-of-the-mill mademoiselle. On the contrary this gal is blessed with it all - beauty, brains, passion, etc... You name it, she's got it! She is the true embodiment of femininity - possessing style, grace, and a keen eye for artistic beauty, on top of also being a great cook, excellent piano player, having a knack for home-decor, sewing, drawing, etc... There is seemingly nothing she can't do or isn't good at.

Her tragic mistake (which is usually the case with many talented people throughout history) is that she marries the wrong person. Her husband Charles Bovary is a man who 'knew nothing, taught nothing, desired nothing' the complete antithesis of his enlightened wife Emma. Flaubert further defines him early on in the novel: 'Charles's conversation was as flat as any pavement... rousing no emotion, no laughter, no reverie. He had never ventured to the theatre... he couldn't swim, or fence or shoot...' In other words, he's boring as hell, and although he absolutely worships the ground his wife walks on, she, on the other hand, slowly begins to resent this servile, supine, sappy simpleton she finds herself tied down to. To complicate matters even further, she ends up pregnant and giving birth to a girl, Berthe (of course Emma was hoping and praying for a son, for 'a man, at least, is free...'). Depressed and engrossed with the eternal ennui, which inflicts so many women who marry men they feel no passion nor love toward, Emma embarks on her own personal crusade to find that happiness which always seems to be eluding her. A self-indulgent quest that in the end, only leads to catastrophic consequences for both her and her family.

What makes this masterpiece "Madame Bovary" such an interesting read is how totally modern this story is. Emma, desperately seeking an escape from being a lonesome, unfulfilled house-wife and mother, soon becomes a shopaholic, racking up debt all over town. When she is not shopping and spending money, she's having adulterous liaisons with men who... well, you shall have to see for yourself. While I was reading this, I kept thinking to myself, I know women like this! I see them all the time in the area (Silicon Valley, Northern California) in which I live. Beautiful women, who married their far from beautiful husbands for money and security. They don't work, have nannies taking care of the kids, while they cruise around in their new Mercedes or BMW shopping all day and hopping in the sack (although, like Emma, very discreetly) with one man after another. They hang out at upscale bars/restaurants with each other bitching about how difficult their lives are, how much they despise their husbands, their next trip to Europe, etc... while sipping on hundred dollar bottles of wine and comparing plastic surgeons. Talk about a sad, pathetic life... Just like Emma, these barracudas are completely empty inside. They can find no happiness from within, and the more material things they possess, the more their insatiable appetites go unfed... There is no price that can be placed for love. No one material item or one night of unbridled, erotic passion can ever replace the true love of a spouse or child.

The first part (there are three parts in all) of this novel was a bit slow, but once you get to part two, be prepared to be totally enraptured with this beautiful story. I am so happy, after all of these years, to have finally read this excellent classic. Truly worthy of five stars!

Audio collections focusing on the classics must have the 50th Anniversary Edition of Jack Kerouac's ON THE ROAD, narrated by award-winning actor Will Patton who lends a charged and vivid voice to Kerouac's adventure story of two friends who make four cross-country road trips.

Let me starting by noting that this was the first time I've ever read this wonderful tome. You can't be around literature or even modern American culture without hearing the name Jack Kerouac, but I had never actually sat down and read this book.

It took me a few chapters to "get into it" in terms of the style. But after a while, I couldn't wait to get home from work and read a few more chapters, and savor the goodness. I LOVED the narrative, and the stream of consciousness style added to the prose. I've since read a bit on Kerouac and his style and his friends (Wikipedia is a good place to start), and this isn't the sloppy, lazy manifesto it is often made out to be in today's times. Kerouac knew exactly what he was doing, and it was beautiful. I'm not going to summarize the story, because you probably already know it, but I will say that I wept at the end because I was touched, and because I was truly sad to say good-bye to this book.

As others have clearly noted--there isn't much else "special" about the book in terms of it being an "Anniversary edition." There is NYT review included from when the book was published, and while a nice read, that is the only "extra" you get. The jacket cover is nice, and the hardcover looks like something you might hold on to as opposed to maybe a paperback. Beyond that, if you already have a hardcover version of this wonderful book, you won't be missing much by skipping this edition.

Kerouac's prose really buries itself into your subconscious, and when your friends wonder what the hell you are talking about, remind them of what you are reading. I'm sorry that my prose falls short in capturing the joy, the utter joy, I experienced when reading this book. If you have not read it yet, you could do much worse than this.

In commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of its first printing, Viking Press has republished Jack Kerouac's seminal work in a new hardcover version. There is no question that his story still resonates because the writing is still ripe with human insight and attitudes that have changed little when it comes to seizing the day. The novel focuses on innocent Sal Paradise, who narrates the story, and his inspiration, a wild spirit he meets in New York named Dean Moriarty. As polar opposites, they share but one common bond, a pervasive feeling of desperation in a time when the Cold War produced a spiritual void and a sense of nihilism. Their response is to set out on the road and live life one precious moment at a time. Through Kerouac's stream-of-consciousness narrative, the two experience life in all its dimensions in all sorts of settings throughout the country, whether in sleepy towns, rural areas or big cities, bouncing from New York to Chicago to San Francisco to Los Angeles to Mexico and back again.

In the process, Sal and Dean meet some memorable characters along the way in places as diverse as a Virginia diner, a New York jazz nightclub and a Mexican border bordello. The jazz, poetry and drug experiences that Kerouac chronicles have a palpable feel about them as they represent how the characters dealt with their often desperate feelings about death, an ethos quite central to what the Beat Generation was all about back then. The prose can get quite maddening at times, but that is exactly Kerouac's point, the fact that life is not a carefully constructed story with a message. In fact, much of the book resulted from the author's scribblings in tiny notebooks he kept while traveling for a period of seven years. Even though there is a dated feeling in the portrayal of the American Dream specific to that period, the novel still haunts with Kerouac's imagery of people whose individual spirits either crushed them or left them still searching for greater meaning.

Everything old is new again!

I remember reading Jack Kerouac immortal novel of a road trip when I was in high school. About ten years later, I heard a Rhino record collection of Kerouac reading abridged cuts from his novel with Steve Allen (yes, author/actor/former Tonight show host) playing piano in the background. About five years later, Durkin Hayes audio had David (Kung Fu) Carradine reading an abridged version of the novel. About five years ago, Caedmon audio had Matt Dillon read an unabridged version of Road. Now Will Patton has stepped up to the audio plate, orating an unabridged recording of Road

Patton brings a southern charm to his narration of this classic American novel of an anatomy of a road trip early 1950's. This audio capture the beatnik era in the reading. Patton's vocal shading is amazing to listen to.He seem to capture the era and the characters with a quick change in his voice or tone

As I have said, I have other versions before, but this seem to be a verbal time capsule of an era gone by.

For those who have not read the book, this audio will be a perfect chance to listen to great literature.

Bennet Pomerantz AUDIOWORLD

After six months of reading Trollope (and loving it) this year, I realized it was time to put the Victorians behind me for a while and started checking out the New York Times book reviews. Coincidentally, the 50th anniversary of "On the Road" came to my attention. It seemed like gross oversight to have lived in America for 50 years and not know anything of Kerouac.

"On the Road" seems like a young man's book (both for the writer and the reader). I wish I'd come to Kerouac 30 years earlier, at which time I was living in Manhattan among a circle of friends all taking ourselves way too seriously. For a susceptible young mind, reading it might encourage indulgence in more youthful high-spirited madness and irresponsible experience; perhaps that's healthy, perhaps not, but it would create memories. "On the Road" is a great promotion for Life and Experience (and less brooding).

However, that said, reading the book (as a man in his fifth decade), I appreciated the book without finding it a consistently enjoyable or satisfying experience. Within the first hundred pages, I became impatient with the sameness of all the events of the book and its characters. I stayed with the book out of curiosity and hope, trusting that there would be development or growth of either character or plot.

But, reading of the characters' somewhat redundant frenetic buzzings here and there, the picture that often came to mind was that of a flea circus: all frenzied mindless activity without purpose or pattern ("sound and fury signifying nothing").

I suspect that, if one read only the first 50 pages and the last 50, little of the experience of reading the book would be lost, and this is hardly a recommendation for a book. The exception would be the loss of some fine passages of prose poetry. If one stops focusing on plot and development, there can be satisfaction to be had from savoring the descriptive writing.

Is it possible to care about a book without caring about the characters? I'd go so far as to say that there were no real characters. Dean is a speech pattern, a distinctive highly-energized speech pattern, but he seems little more. Reading Sal's frequent references to Dean's madness, I wondered if Sal meant that Dean was literally mad and if the book's culmination might be his total mental dissolution. But, at the end, Dean was still sweating and rubbing his belly and babbling as in the first chapter. Sal the observer, himself seems a bottomless vessel; more and more may be poured into him, but he never fills and nothing of substance pours back out. And the rest of the characters are largely interchangeable.

In the end, I think it's easy to esteem "On the Road" as a kick in the butt of literature, and as a new-sounding (for the time) and distinctive voice. But I'm not driven to seek out more.

This book is two historical novels, a family saga, and more than a couple short story collections rolled into one and told all at the same time. And it's a lot of fun. Alameddine centers it all around the gathering of an extended Lebanese family at the bedside of the narrator's father. Jumping from one narrative thread to another, one of them a long magical story within yet another one, about legendary kings, heroic slaves, and characters with super powers, reminiscent of "1001 Nights," the book is a celebration of storytelling itself.

It is also a celebration of family and life and an object lesson in how the narratives that comprise any culture shape the values, attitudes, and expectations of those who live their lives in it. In this particular version of what life means, the women are equal in intelligence and valor to the men they share their lives with, a theme that is borne out in both the modern and ancient story lines. Historical fact, of course, is never allowed to spoil a good yarn and it is no accident that characters in parallel stories have the same names.

Events themselves, like the civil war that engulfed Beirut in the 1970s, rarely intrude on the lives of the author's modern-day characters, who wait out an Israeli bombardment at one point - telling each other stories. Ethnic and religious rivalries also melt away in this polyglot world where Jews, Christians, Druze, Muslims and the many varieties thereof intermarry and make light of their differences.

Alameddine is no great stylist. The book is a page-turner, and a long one at 500+ pages. Its strength is in the vividness of the characterizations (both ancient and modern) and the wry humor that often invades the novel's situations and adventures. Readers might also enjoy "Birds Without Wings" by Louis De Bernieres.

Once in a very long while comes along a book so magical that one wishes it would never end. How perfect that Alameddine's The Hakawaiti is such a book? The title refers to the practice of a school of Middle Eastern story tellers who would entertain, often appearing nightly but drawing a story out over years, people coming back again and again to hear the next part of the tale. From the first line Alamaddine demonstrates himself to an heir to this great tradition, giving the reader a comfort that they are in the hands of a master story teller. "Listen," he begins. "Allow me to be your god. Let me take you on a journey beyond imagining. Let me tell you a story."

The narrative might sound complex in its description, but is executed so masterfully that one wants to weep. Alameddine tells the story of Osama, the modern Lebanese scion of a prominent family, returning home to wait by his father's death bed. Through this framing narrative, the reader is guided through all sorts of other stories, including the history of this particular family whose grandfather happened to be a Hakawati, Islamic adventure tales, stories of romance, stories of magic, stories of loss and joy. Some stories are short, lasting no more than a few paragraphs, while others are interwoven through the length of the narrative. Even these long stories digress into other stories, each adding another thread to what becomes a beautiful tapestry. Thus we are treated the story of Fatima, a clever capable slave who adventures across many lands encountering jinni and demons, the story of Baybar, a perfect chivalrous prince who fights evil and creates justice, and many more. Like many good stories these include twists, sex, violence, vivid characters, and much humor.

I could go on and on urging you to read this book, but really the more I write, the more time that will pass before you sink your teeth into Alamedine's delicious feast of a book. Don't wait even a minute, there is a story waiting to be told. Listen.

Hakawati means storyteller and that is what Rabih Alamenddine proves that he is with this book. It is a beautiful set of stories that are so entwined it is easy to forget who is the teller and who the characters. But ultimately it doesn't matter as it is the reader who gets wrapped up in myth, family history, and family myths. On a cultural and political level the importance of this novel is in the way that it elegantly demonstrates how the Middle-East is not a single culture, single religion, and single political outlook lacking nuance - even within the extended al Kharrat family these are expressed in so many different ways. The Hakawati demonstrates to us that there are always a myriad of different stories surrounding any subject, and truth and falsehood may be in the telling. The lesson is in the final word: Listen.

The Hakawati is a wonderful read: poignant, funny, and very engaging. Although many other authors have used stories within stories, Alameddine has done a better job than most of showing us the relationships among stories, characters, and generations. At times the book is very funny, at others quite sad, but it is always interesting and symapthetic. The modern characters in particular feel very real and make for a read that's hard to put down.

I was so looking forward to reading this book and I was disappointed, I didn't care for the style of back and forth constantly between stories of modern Lebanon and the fantasy and I got lost. Generally, I also had a problem with the politics of the text. I may be in the minority, but I put it down a third of the way through.

Hey...what do I really need to say here? I mean, this is Edgar Allan Poe we're talking about! It's an excellent collection of his stories and poems. Many people are of the opinion that Poe's works are all rather macabre. Although many of his works do fit into that category, he was also a brilliant satirist. For example, I recommend his short story, "The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether". Quite hilarious, and very witty. Poe was a highly educated member of society, and was also the 'inventor' of the modern detective mystery with his short story, "The Murders in the Rue Morgue." His incomparable literary style has gone unequaled to this day. For those already familiar with Poe, I suggest you read him again to have a fresh look at his works. For those who are NOT familiar with his works, you are missing out BIG time! Poe having been homegrown right here in America, we can be proud of his literary achievements. Check it out.

Allan F. Whitney

I bought this book as a gift for my friend. She loved it.I was so glad I was able to find it here.

Edgar Allan Poe is regarded as the undisputed master of the gothic horror genre. This collection contains all his published works, faithful reproductions from the orginals, that have made him famous. With stories like the the Pit and the Pendulum, The Tell Tale Heart and poems like The Raven, this books is a must have for any Poe fan or any one who is new to Poe.

Edgar Allan Poe is one of my favorite authors of all time. I recall reading the 'Tell Tale Heart' as an 8 year old and getting hooked. I read most any work of his that I could get my hands on, in the process inspiring in me a love of literature and mystery. I loved his works so much, many years later I coupled my biology major with an english minor just so I could have an excuse for reading during the busy college days. This work compiles the literary works of an absolute genius into a beautiful, must have volume. It would be a perfect gift for anyone who enjoys Poe and even for the child who shows growing signs of getting into video gaming...maybe catch the kid before its too late!

Edgar Allan Poe, born in Boston, Massachusetts on January 19, 1809, died October 7, 1849.

What is it that makes an author famous? I don't mean famous in the sense a news article reports that "Jack Greylea's novels sold 15 million copies last year," but in the sense that he is thought of as being profound, and seminal. That he is quoted, and scholars analyse his works, and he is looked upon as being the original voice of his style, or the font from which many imitators have drawn inspiration.

Edgar Allan Poe is one such. The very hint of his name calls up images of midnight graveyards, of crumbling mansions lit by wax candles, the home of strange and tormented aristocrats, till the description "Poe-like" can draw as vivid a picture in our minds as "elephant-like."

Yet his output was not great. Basically a short story writer and poet, he produced only one full-length novel, which received more censure than praise, and which very few people today can name. Without wishing to run him down as an author (what he did, he did well, but what he did well, was to be Poe) he was a limited writer, and all of his works over twenty-two years can be contained in one thickish book.
So what is the secret of Poe, whereby a scanty writer becomes the cult-centre of a world of horror that carries his own stamp? It lies I think in two things.

Not to place these two in any order of importance as regards his continuing fame - I leave this to you - but I would say....
Firstly, that it was his choice of subject and execution of it. The mournful, weird and macabre, in which man becomes little more than an instrument of darkness, and that usually the worst darkness, that which wells up from within, whose black light shows us as being not the pawns of evil, but the source of evil itself. But to seize on this idea - or any other idea - as inspiration is nothing, merely the starting point from which the quill hits the paper. It is in the execution of his vision that Poe's genius emerges. Not with a great deal of subtlety, nor a much complexity, but with great and disciplined fixity on the horror of his intentions, Poe moves relentless to the nasty culmination of his stories, and they come to us with all the rawness of unconsoled misery. His art was that of the short story writer, and as such he wrote little, but when reading Poe a little is more than enough.

Secondly, that Poe more than any other author is identified as a man with his works. An orphan and an outcast from his adopted family, overly sensitive and reckless, he lived wildly, lied readily, lived in poverty, married strangely to his thirteen-year old cousin, was widowed miserably, and finally died mysteriously at age forty, from uncertain causes that speculation has named as anything from drug addiction to murder. As if this were not enough, his works were controlled after his death by his executor, who attempted to blacken his name. More than any other author that I can readily think of, Poe was his own tormented, tragic hero, and his oppressed characters were him.

In the nineteen-sixties, several of Poe's stories and poems - The Pit and the Pendulum, The Masque of the Red Death, The Raven, The Tomb of Legeia and others - were made into popular, low budget films, cementing Poe's reputation firmly into the mythology of modern horror movies. It's common of course for movies to be nothing like the original written work, but all of these are based on not on fully worked out novels, but ideas that Poe dealt with in comparatively few pages.

Incidentally, the principal actor in many of these was Vincent Price, whose tall, mournful frame instantly springs to mind as well nigh inseparable from Poe's weird gems.

"The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread" (GTSSB) was published in 1965 at the beginning of a chaotic time in my life (college, war) and I missed it completely. I'm ashamed to say I had never even heard of it until recently. It has long been out of print and was only recently re-published by the estate of Don Robertson, who died in 1999. GTSSB jumps into the mundane life of nine year old Morris Byrd III in 1944 as America is beginning to look toward the end of World War II. Although the war touches young Morris only slightly, it wraps itself around his world in ways young children would notice. (Having a "C" gas ration sticker for your automobile conferred special status.)

The author tells us at the start the story will climax with the greatest industrial disaster in Cleveland history, the October 20, 1944 East Ohio Gas Co. explosion and fire. The actual fire takes up very little of the end of the story, which seems to have disappointed some of the reviewers here. GTSSB is not a story about a fire any more than "Huckleberry Finn" is a story about a river. It's a story about a nine-year old boy who commits an act of minor cowardice and decides, after hearing stories of historical courage from his teacher, to challenge himself to a personal journey of discovery. As Morris makes his way through unfamiliar streets to find his best friend whose family has moved, we meet other characters, some noble, some not, whose lives will touch one another on this grim Friday afternoon.

I got so caught up in the story that I pulled up a map of Cleveland on my computer and followed Morris' journey. The streets are still there exactly as described and the story is so plausible I felt it might have been a work of history rather than fiction. The characters are fictional but the rest of the story and tragedy, unfortunately, is not. GTSSB reminds me a lot of another favorite, "A Prayer for Owen Meany" by John Irving. Robertson's writing is not as fluid as Irving, but Robertson was a newspaper writer and tends toward more spare writing, not always a bad thing.

If you are inclined to episodic fiction this may not be the book for you. If you like character studies set against the backdrop of history, you owe it to yourself to discover this forgotton gem.

A re-issue of this 1965 book centers around Morris Bird III, a nine year old in Cleveland who lives through the horrible East Ohio Gas explosion of 1944. As a Clevelander myself, I was enchanted by the immediacy of Robertson's writing. Robertson does a wonderful job of recreating the era, and Morris' voice is consistently funny and childish - we the adults can easily see what Morris misses in the sometimes confusing adult world around him. From his crush on Veronica Lake to Morris' school problems with "that Pill," the class suck-up, to his friendship with Stanley Chaloupka, Morris Bird III is as real as a character gets.

When the fateful day of disaster arrives and Morris cuts school, we know he's heading for danger, but also that Morris will end up OK and a bit of hero too. Robertson weaves in several new characters and their fates as Morris' long journey of that day moves along - I really liked that aspect of the storytelling and found it suspenseful and a bit heartbreaking as well. What a horrible day in Cleveland, and yet how brave people can be, even in extremis.

I feel as though I must not be intellectual enough to appreciate this one. I got stuck around page 40 in the midst of some train of thought paragraph when I realized that this same paragraph had started several pages back and would continue on for 11 pages. The book rambles, and goes no where. I thought I might find this midly intriguing since I grew up near Cleveland and at least know the areas the novel is refering to, but that is not the case either. I guess I just can't appreciate the author's genius. I'm not losing sleep over it.

Morris Bird III is 9y.o. and he's s typical boy in the '40's (or so I surmise from stories my dad has told me of his childhood.) The beginning of the book is slow, but very important to get the feel of the times and the characters.
When Morris's teacher gives a speech about self-respect he decides he wants that. He plans a trip to visit a friend that moved away to another part of town. He's going to visit his friend Stanley Chaloupka, whom is an odd bird and doesn't have any friends. From the beginning of the trip, things start to happen; first his sister Sandra demands she be taken with him or she'll scream and he won't get to go. Then a school friend loans him his wagon, but for a small fee. Some friend! On the way to Stanley's house many more incidences happen and one might just turn around, call it a good try and go back home. Morris doesn't though.
He is determined to do this one thing on his own!
In the end he saves four lives; his, his sister's, a burning woman, and a legless man. The legless man tells a police officer that 'Morris is the greatesst thing since sliced bread. He saved them. He's going to grow into a real man.'
Morris wonders if this has anything to do with what his teacher had talked about when she made her speech about Ulysses S. Grant.
This is a slow moving story, but it's such a powerful story of a 9 y/o's perseverance and a tragic incident in the city where he shows his strength of character, a step towards being an adult. And the situation is a catch-22. If he hadn't skipped his field trip to visit his friend Stanley, he wouldn't have been involved in the explosion, but then who would have saved the lady and the legless man?
I highly recommend reading this book.

I loved this book years and years ago, and love it even more today. This book has the feel of Mark Twain, though set in WWII Ohio. Read this if you possibly can. It is a book that can not be beat.

Very clever - the story, the characters' names - all of it. Perfect for a grade school student! I bought it for my seven year old and it got a big thumbs up from both him and his dad.

Very cute story and a nice way of using word play to describe geometric vocabulary. Great for an introduction to the concept and as a review for older children.

This 32 page children's book tells how Sir Cumference, his wife the Lady Di of Ameter, and their son Radius solve the problems of the king's table. King Arthur and his knights needed to have a council, but there was a problem with the table around which they met. It began as too long; after that was fixed, the table had too few sides, and other tables produced more objections. Geo of Metry makes tables in several shapes before a round table solves all the problems. The illustrations are great, with medieval pageantry and geometric explanations. A few other characters from Camelot appear, such as Sir Lancelot and Sir Gawain.

This is a great book to introduce geometry to the young, making it fun and easy. Shapes and measurements are explained in the quest for the perfect council table for the king and his knights. When the round table is finally found to be the perfect shape, the king names certain measurements after Sir Cumference, Radius, and the Lady Di from Ameter. Very cute!

My kids (9 and 6) , who are homeschooled, loved this story and it resulted in them being able to instantly recall the proper names of geometric elements and classes (e.g., radius, circumference, obtuse, acute). This is probably due to the clever visual and contextual associations provided. We bought another book in the series right afterward with the same results. Plan to get them all.

My daughter has always had a problem learning Math but reading this book (along with the others in this series) has helped her immensely! The books themselves are a bit young for her but the concepts in them (Pi, Geometry, etc) are explained in a way I think she needed.

I would recommend these to anyone who has a child with problems in math concepts.

Almost everyone has seen or at least heard of the movie, Breakfast at Tiffany's, but how many have read the original story? This book is a classic almost fairytale type story of a girl who is struggling with her past and trying to make herself, as well as accept, an identity. Truman Capote's Breakfast At Tiffany's is an enchanting story, but is much darker than the movie version that the beautiful Audrey Hepburn graces the television screen in. Much of the slightly disturbing details were left out of the movie, keeping it light and airy and masking Holly's true role, whereas the novel holds a deeper interest, giving specific ups and downs in the life of the fairly subtley depicted call-girl, Holly Golightly. Happiness, pain, and a final finding herself ties the story together in a beautiful way. Also, at the end of the book, there is a sweet suprise, with three short stories also written by Truman Capote. Such a good read that I couldn't put it down, and finished all four stories within 24 hours.

Having never read anything by Capote, I decided to remedy that fault this summer. I read Breakfast at Tiffany's after In Cold Blood, and I was equally impressed with both. Unfortunately, I saw the movie Breakfast at Tiffany's before I read the book. While I liked both, they were quite different, and I preferred Capote's version. Holly Golightly is much more likable when portrayed by Capote because she's a deeper character.

Perhaps my favorite part of this book, however, was the short story "A Christmas Memory". Though some could consider it sappy, I loved the way Capote wrote it. He reveals so much about the characters and the setting in subtle ways. He has beautifully captured the way friendship affects people's lives, even if that friendship is cut short.

This collection is well worth the short amount of time it will take to read it. You won't be disappointed!

Those who know Truman Capote's alternately poignant and comic 1958 novella only through the memorable 1961 Audrey Hepburn film directed by Blake Edwards may be surprised to find that Holly Golightly, in her original incarnation, is recalled in a flashback as a nineteen-year old Manhattan "party girl" during WWII. The still provocative story is really a memory piece fifteen years later by the narrator, a struggling writer with no name except the one given to him by Holly - "Fred" - after her beloved brother. The rest of the elements will be familiar to anyone who has seen the movie, though Capote is more forthright in describing Holly's hedonistic behavior than film censors could allow in the early sixties. Revealed gradually is her background as Lulumae Barnes, a hillbilly child-bride to Doc Golightly, written with more comedy than pathos here, as well as her erratic, amoral journey to Hollywood as a starlet and then as a "companion" to wealthy men in New York who give her cash for the powder room.

Eccentric characters fill in the corners like Mr. Yunioshi, the Japanese fashion photographer who lives upstairs, and Sally Tomato, the gangster who passes messages to Holly while serving time in Sing Sing. Capote has less affinity for the romantic conventions found in the movie as he more comfortably explores the tale of two emotionally stunted people who find momentary support from one another. The melancholy ending is testament to that, and as such, the book is well worth reading for Capote's gift for illustrative prose. Three very brief stories from Capote are also included with the book, all with their charms - "The House of Flowers", the fanciful tale of two warring bordellos in the West Indies; "A Diamond Guitar", a tender story of a prison inmate who attempts to use his glass-diamonded guitar as a means to escape; and "A Christmas Memory", a childhood remembrance of his distant cousin embodied by the elderly Sook.

Breakfast At Tiffany's by Truman Capote ***


Breakfast At Tiffany's is an American literary classic, which spawned not only a hit movie, but a horrible number one hit song as well in the early 1990's. Tiffany's is a story of love, a story of loss, and a story of finding yourself, as well as staying true to yourself. We follow a man who is in love with the woman would is ultimately his best friend, though he does not realize that he is in fact in love with her until almost the end of the story, though to the reader it will become quite clear almost instantly, as the main character seems to be completely obsessed and infatuated with this women, but will not admit this to his self. That is basically the jest of the story. The girl can not find a place where she is happy living, and really is only happy in Tiffany's department store, where she believes that no one and nothing bad can happen to you there. Along the way criminals and drug charges are thrown in, but these just delay her search for happiness which she will not compromise for anyone.

In the end the plot seems to run thin and is in my opinion very, very long winded. Even for such a short story as this is I feel it could have been shorter. Capotes writing style is fantastic and it is clear why he went on to become such a legend, but honestly I do not understand the hype behind Breakfast At Tiffany's, I think Capote had plenty of better material.

Arguably the greatest writer of the 20th century, the only misfortune of Capote's work is that there is not more of it. In this somewhat peculiar collection of stories, Capote demonstrates his command of the written word. While one tale gives the book its title, another story shines even brighter in this collection.

"Breakfast at Tiffany's" is a legendary work in the cinema, though fewer Americans every year realize it is based on a novel. While certainly more crude at times, the written version adds another intended dimension to the tale. In reality, Audrey Hepburn's potrayal was far too sanitized. "House of Flowers" is an odd story of a wife that never had the approval of her mother-in-law. "A Diamond Guitar" is a tale of prison friendship in which one character almost seems to be the adolescent male version of Holly Golightly.

"A Christmas Memory" is a story that some may find too sweet for their taste much like a Christmas fruitcake. But even better than the other tales in the collection, it symbolizes a friendship that ends far too premature for the characters. The youthful recollection is engaging enough to make readers recall elders, that have left this world before them, in yearning gaze.

Though this collection is tied together with a loose theme, it is a sample of Capote's command over language. With vivid details and command of plot, the knowledgeable reader will not be disappointed in Capote.