Fiction Literature Books

After 4 years, 2 readings, a wasted week of my life, and feeling like a moron who sees glass while everyone else sees diamonds, I finally understand One Hundred Years of Solitude. In an interview, Marquez stated essentially that most reviewers don't realise the book is an inside joke. Bingo. If I interpret this waste of paper and ink as a parody of the Seven Deadly Sins then I can understand why Marquez wrote it. I hated this book but now, just like the dinner host who pours Costco champagne into a Dom Perignon bottle knowing his guests won't know the difference, I can at least get a laugh out of it.

This book was good, but at some times it was hard to follow. This novel was difficult to keep straight. It run the gauntlet from comedy to tragedy and love to death to war and everything in between witch made it very emotional. This book was also a kind of history textbook witch is ok if history is in your blood but it is not in mine. Irregardless it was emotionally satisfing. But it could have been improved if it could have been simplified. When you finish the book, don't be surprised to find yourself stepping out of a dream and back into the real world. Only in the mind of the master can a wounded arm turn into a field of butterfiles. If you like this book, you might want to try Marquez's new autobiography.

Absolutely loved it. Vivid and full of creativity, if anyone wants to read a good book I definetly recommend it. Actually not a hard book to read, but it should not be read in a hurry either.

It's so disappointing, not to mention depressing, to read the negative reviews of this book on line here. We are speaking of one of the dozen finest books of the twentieth century. The failure is not the book's. I encourage all of you to try again--let the book lift you.

When reading is a chore and makes absolutely no sense at all, what is the point? I could not have made it through this book at all without the family tree in the front since so many of the characters have the same or similar names. I read on and on thinking it was going to all start making some sense or there would be a big ending, but in the end I put it down and felt like it was a huge waste of my valuable reading time. I re-sold the book as fast as I could unload it. It is really interesting and amazing to me how so many people love this book....I'm a reader in general but this one I just don't quite grasp. It is a nightmare of a read.

Many themes of Anna Karenina are timeless: marriage, infidelity, the roles of men and women, personal fulfillment, honor, spirituality, and naturalism. If that isn't enough, then Tolstoy offers an 18th-century look at Russian society and culture, still well before the run-up to the revolution. Don't look to Tolstoy for enlightened feminism, although one of the characters argues for education and equality for women, and one of the minor threads relates to the status of peasants.

Tolstoy is not especially subtle in portraying his characters, full of emotion and conflict. Nobody is idealized, yet all still prompt some sympathy. The main characters are so richly drawn. Anna's decline was inevitable, but it's the loss of someone far from pure evil, with her significant talents and deep capacity for love.

Read Brothers Karamazov and Anna K at around the same time, as I did, and you'll get an excellent opportunity to compare two of the greatest Russian novelists head-to-head. Two thousand pages well spent.

I'm probably one of the very few people who read this classic without having a clue as to the ending (no, never saw the movie--still haven't) ... so it was a genuine surprise and it rocked me. The opening line is a killer ... nothing else like it in all of literature. Although I prefer Dostoevsky to Tolstoy, this is a genuine masterpiece.

It's really hard to understand sometimes! Anna Karenina is the famous Tolstoy tale of a wife who has an affair. At first, I wanted to quit it was such a difficult read, but once I got through it, I loved it. I have to say, I thought Kitty and Levin's relationship was really cute, especially when they finally kissed! I was super-sad when Anna killed herself, it just sucked that was so sorrowful that she felt the need to die. I didn't really like Vronsky, he seemed sort of like a jerk who just lost interest in Anna, after she left her husband and son for him. I like the parallels between Anna and Levin. Sometimes, it did get a little boring, like when Levin worked with some peasants in a field, it took like, a huge portion of the book to explain about the field-work. Also, I got a little confused when Levin started to believe in God. All in all, a good read, not for those who get bored easily, though.

"Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." That line opens and sets the tone of "Anna Karenina," a tangled and tragic tale of nineteenth century Russia. Tolstoy's story of lovers and family is interlaced with razor-sharp social commentary and odd moments that are almost transcendent. In other words, this is a masterpiece.

When Stepan Oblonsky has an affair with the governess, his wife says that she's leaving him, and now the family is about to disintegrate. Stepan's sister Anna arrives to smooth over their marital problems, and consoles his wife Dolly until she agrees to stay. But on the train there, she met the outspoken Countess Vronsky, and the countess's dashing son, who is semi-engaged to Dolly's sister Kitty.

Anna and Vronsky start to fall in love -- despite the fact that Anna has been married for ten years, to a wealthy husband she doesn't care about, and has a young son. Even so, Anna rejects her loveless marriage and becomes the center of scandal and public hypocrisy, and even becomes pregnany by Vronsky. As she prepares to jump ship and get a divorce, Anna becomes a victim of her own passions...

That isn't the entire story, actually -- Tolstoy weaves in other plots, about disintegrating families, new marriages, and the melancholy Levin's constant search for God, truth, and goodness. Despite the grim storyline about adultery, and the social commentary, there's an almost transcendent quality to some of Tolstoy's writing. It's the most optimistic tragic book I've ever read.

For some reason, Tolstoy called this his "first novel," even though he had already written some before that. Perhaps it's because "Anna Karenina" tackles so many questions and themes, and does so without ever dropping the ball. No wonder it's so long and imposing -- Tolstoy covered a lot of ground in here.

And while "Anna Karenina" was not the first book he wrote, it is probably the deepest and most moving. Tolstoy steeps the book in social commentary, and his personal philosophies. It's also one of those books that takes a very long time to move itself forward -- Tolstoy's writing is slow and ponderous, with a lot of serious discussion about religion and relationships. But his intense, slightly rough writing is worth it.

In some tragic books, you get the feeling that the author really despises his characters, and doesn't really care what happens to them. Tolstoy never gives you that feeling -- no matter how annoying his characters are, they always have something interesting or endearing. No caricatures at all -- even Anna's irritating, arrogant brother is given some quirks to make him seem real.

Oddly enough, the most moving character here is not Anna, but Konstantin Levin -- the tortured, passionate landowner is so earnest that it's difficult not to care about him. Apparently he was Tolstoy's alter ego, which explains his depth. But Anna and Vronsky are strong leads, a passionate pair who are both selfish and seductive, but never boring.

A beautiful look at living right vs. living wrong, "Anna Karenina" is a truly magnificent book. This book is undoubtedly Tolstoy's opus, and a stunning look at human nature.

Half the content is elaborate banal detail used to establish context, but in it's more consequential moments this novel is the final word on the disingenuous nature of institutionalized aspects of social behaviour. It's a theme I've pondered and seen touched on in a few other books, but I was blown away by how comprehensively Tolstoy articulates and extrapolates my own thoughts.
This novel is primarily a work of philosophy, using the characters to illustrate social observations at the expense of a fully cohesive narrative.
It's difficult to understand how fans of classic fiction, who generally consider "reading" a neccessity for respectable people, don't take offense to this book as it seems to be constantly critcizing that kind of cultural pretense.
Another interesting thing I got from the book is how culture 100+ years ago doesn't seem as formal and conservative as I had previously been led to believe. Parents were already complaining about tradition falling out of favor among the younger generation and governmental red-tape was already something criticized as getting in the way of practical goals. On the other hand the doctors of the era are presented as having no medical knowledge whatsoever.
my fave quote:
"The word talent, which they understood to mean an innate and almost physical capacity, independent of mind and heart, and which was their term for everything an artist lives through, occurred very often in their conversation, since they required it as a name for something which they did not at all understand, but about which they wanted to talk."

I'm in the middle of the book, but couldn't wait to read others' reviews of this thoroughly satisfying book. I'm listening to the audio version, which is perfection. The story is doled out in delicious drops, sort of like eating your favorite ice cream one tiny teaspoon at a time, hoping never to reach the bottom of the bowl, and yet unable to stop. Yum. The characters are exquisitely fashioned; the author is a master of detail and human nature. I can't say enough good things about this incredibly entertaining work of art.

This book received a good bit of attention upon its release a year or two ago, described as "Victorian noir" in the vein of Dickens and Wilkie Collins - two of my favorite 19th-century English lit authors, particularly Collins (The Woman in White is one of my favorite gothic mystery/suspense novels of all time!). I guess I can see where the critics came up with that, as the story is set in the Victorian period and told in the first person, but frankly, I say that's where the comparison ends.

Edward Glyver, the narrator of the story, opens by confessing to a random murder he commits in "preparation" for the one he's planning for his arch enemy, Phoebus Daunt (this is not a spoiler, as it's right on the synopsis of the book), who has managed through circumstances and luck to take a position in life and society that was meant for Glyver. The remainder of the 700+ pages serve to tell us how and why all this came about, and Glyver's preoccupation with ruining Daunt.

Although I have a sincere appreciation for Cox's obvious and exquisitely detailed knowledge of the English Victorian period - architecture, the geography and demographics of Victorian London, and the literature of the day, I did not care for Glyver's character at all. One might assume that's to be expected given that he openly commits a vicious murder right at the outset, but to me it seemed as if the author was trying to make Glyver a `hero' nevertheless. Honestly, the murder would not necessarily have predisposed me to disliking him, believe it or not. One can commit murder and still get a little empathy from me, depending on the circumstances. I just didn't like him, murder or not. He was a dishonest, insecure lout, professing his undying love for a woman and in the next breath running off to a brothel and banging some prostitute (or two or three). He had no loyalty to anyone or anything, and although I completely understood and would have shared his obsession with taking what he felt was rightfully his and wiping out his enemy, I couldn't get past the fact that he was a self-serving, whiny little pedant.

All I know about the author, Michael Cox, is that he also wrote a well-received biography of M.R. James, the classic horror writer. I think this is Cox's first work of fiction. Not a bad one, either - I'm not saying that. In a nutshell, I thought it was well-written, rich in period detail and possessing a potentially terrific plot, but I disliked the main character so much that I couldn't fully enjoy it and was left more than a little disappointed. I at least found the ending somewhat satisfying, and maybe that was Cox's whole point. I won't give it away, of course.

By volume, this book competes with 'Crime and Punishment' by Dostoevsky. By content, it fails superbly not only in story, but in writing style as well.

In a nutshell, the story is about an individual who feels betrayed by fate for his insignificant rank in society and one day decides to punish a man he believes is responsible for this misfortune. In all honesty, this is it. For 700 pages the author introduces mundane dialogs and meaningless characters and finally manages to convince me, no, to force me to ache for the death of the poor man, just so that I can see this book end. I seriously don't recommend this book.

If, however, you are determined to spend many, many, many hours reading something from the distant past, try 'The Egyptologist' by Arthur Phillips. It is a much more entertaining novel and will make the time you invest reading it seem a lot more valuable.

by Simon Cleveland

"Revenge has a long memory," Edward hisses at Phoebus as he's expelled from Eton, a victim of Phoebus' malice and deceit. Disgraced and with his scholarly ambition thwarted, Edward returns home, whereupon the death of his mother leads to the chance discovery of her letters and journals. They suggest that Edward isn't really who he thinks he is. Rather, that he has ties to a wealthy and influential peerage. Back and forth from London to Northamptonshire, from the filth and squalor of the city to the grandeur of the barional estate, Evenwood, we follow Edward as he attempts to discover the extraordinary circumstances of his birth and compile the evidence that would prove his birthright. But Phoebus, his enemy, is forever an impediment to his plans. As the scheming and criminal protégé of an unsuspecting baron, Phoebus is soon to be named heir to the fortune that Edward believes to be rightfully his, and Edward is left with only one deadly option.

Set in mid-1800s England, "The Meaning of Night" is grim Victoriana that's dense with the enduring themes of betrayal and revenge. At close to 700 pages, it is a commitment, though one that doesn't come close to the 30 years its author, Michael Cox, dedicated to it. Mr. Cox said that he wished to emulate Wilkie Collins in this labor of love, and was enthralled by Dickens (specifically "Great Expectations") as a boy. The Collins influence is easy to see--"The Meaning of Night" is packed with intrigue; the Dickens influence obvious in its complex and delineated characters, and the muck and meanness of its London underbelly. Even their names are as Dickensian as they come--Achilles Daunt, Josiah Pluckrose, Fordyce Jukes, Willoughby Le Grice, etc. But in my mind, its protagonist, Edward G (Glyver, Glapthorn, and Ernest Geddington at various times), is nearer to a Trollope creation. In "He Knew He Was Right," Trollope introduced to 19th-century literature the term "monomania," a pathological and psychotic obsession to one subject, via his principal character, Trevelyan. In TMON, the bibliophilic Edward's object of his monomania is his archenemy, Phoebus Rainsford Daunt. The struggles between the protagonist, Edward, and the antagonist, Phoebus, also hint at Doyle's Sherlock Holmes and his nemesis Prof. Moriarty. I'm guessing that the decision to make Edward an opiate slave like Holmes was not arbitrary. The huge difference, however, is that Edward is not just obsessed and stoned out of his skull, he's also murderous. No doubt that TMON is a pastiche of the 19th-century sensationalist Victorian novel; the question is: Is it any good?

The novel's structure is creative. A fictional present-day professor, J. J. Antrobus, is presenting this unique find: a manuscript, positioned as "one of the lost curiosities of nineteenth-century literature" in which an Edward Glyver/Glapthorn/Duport has confessed to his crimes in stream of consciousness narrative (which really is this lengthy novel). In a further attempt at realism, Antrobus obligingly provides hundreds of footnotes to translate, define, and clarify its Latin chapter headings, obscure colloquialisms, bibliographic references, etc., as befits the fastidious academic that he is. The confessor, Edward, is an unreliable narrator, though; his mind, after all, is periodically clouded by opium and busied by hallucinations, and his actions do veer toward insanity. Like Dickens' "Bleak House," TMON is rambling, and events/storylines keep returning. It, too, has an overabundance of characters (I stopped counting at 30), but I didn't mind at all. I found all of it highly entertaining--the contrivances of its plot, the complexity of its principals, the drama and the intrigue. Unabashedly melodramatic, and overgenerous with Victorian staples and bizarrerie, it's derivative, alright, but it was also loads of fun.

I have three reasons for rating The Meaning of Night 1 star: it's not a good mystery novel; it's not a good historical novel; it's not a good novel. What makes this book just not good is: it's too long; key plot points make no sense; and the first person narrator, Edward Galpthorn Glyver Duport--for all his self-advertised scholarship, intelligence and perception--is a self-absorbed [...].

Through clumsy attempts at foreshadowing and irony, author Michael Cox gives away all his major plot points far in advance. There is no mystery, no tension and few surprises in the Meaning of Night. There is a great deal of tedium as you turn over page after page waiting for the narrator to catch up with what you've already figured out. What happens on all those pages--quaint period detail, erotic exploits and overheated philosophical discourse of the 2 a.m. in the dorm lounge variety--pads the book without adding substance. Feel free to skim and skip.

What you have figured out makes no sense. Consider the whole episode in the Temple of the Winds. Edward goes into the abandoned folly looking for who-knows-what, happens to find a dead blackbird which just happens to have dropped dead on top of a key piece of evidence. And then Emily shows up! She just happens to have gotten out of her carriage to climb the steep, difficult path of the Temple, on a cold blustery night and justifies her action with an obvious lie.

Edward the intellect never sees through any of this. Instead he falls hopelessly in love with her although he knows her to be engaged in two love affairs (one Sapphic) and often witnesses her wild mood swings.

Emily's unsuitability isn't all the ur-observant Edward fails to catch. Obvious aliases jump off the page at the reader while zipping over his head. For 50 pages Edward frets over the loss of a crucial document that you know he's had in his possession all along--he saw Mr. Carteret give it to the porter who gave it to him!

Edward's tone as a narrator is fatuous and irritating. I regularly read about 40 pages of whatever is at hand before lights out, but I could only stand Edward for 15 a night. And that was before he began missing clues.

The historic detail of the book is more a veneer, than in the grain of the text. Cox just doesn't have the chops of, say Peter Ackroyd, to bring the "Great Leviathan" of London to life on the page in all its filthy, teeming, fascinating flash and horror. Cox tries to up the historical authenticity by casting the novel as a discovered manuscript edited and annotated by JJ Antrobus (another obvious alias*). This gives him an esxcuse to pepper the text with footnotes that prove he did his research. He gives the addresses of places and editions of books mentioned. He even describes Boeuf a la Flammande. He provides a definition for "epergne" a word that can be found in any modern dictionary but omits one for "barege." The footnotes are more distraction than illumination.

If you want to read a really great mystery set in historical London and featuring real people, get The Trial of Elizabeth Cree (Dan Leno and the Limehouse Golem) by Peter Ackroyd. Or substitute New York for London and reread Caleb Carr's The Alienist: A Novel.To my mind it's the gold standards of the genre.

* Michael Palin, in full Spanish Inquisition drag, reads the line "Oh, Mr. Antrobus!" in a cut-away during a Monty Python Episode. It is also the name of the family in Thornton Wilder's The Skin of Our Teeth

This book is amazing!!! My 5yr old found a book at the library about greek myths and loved them so much that I ordered this book. We have now finished it and she is still asking for more.
The nice thing about this book is it is broken up by ages so you can do what your child is ready for, our 5yr old just loved all the stories soooo much we finished the entire thing.

I bought this book when my daughter's class was teaching Greek Mythology. She was happy to see this book and finished it very soon, now she can relate most of them to me. And the best part is it has explanation and spelling hint. It makes our reading aloud very easily. I am going to buy the other two read aloud series. I think this opens the door for my kids to the classic literature.

Purchased as a gift for Christmas. We did not read this book ourselves, so can't review the quality of the composition. However, the book was well made and arrived on time from Amazon.

This book is NOT for 5-year-olds. I look forward to when my child is a couple years older but, for now, this volcabulary is beyond a kindergarten level and not at all geared to that age group. I totally agree with other reviews about it being well-written, and I'm sure that these people's seventh graders do indeed enjoy it, but I think it's ridiculous to advertise this as a book for 5 and up!

We have been planning our trip to Greece and Crete for several months and I thought it would be good to expose our boys 7 and 10 to the stories in Greek Mythology. After reading reviews on Amazon.com, I decided to buy this book. My boys absolutely love the stories in this book. We read about 20 minutes per night (it's nice that each story has an estimated reading time) and they beg for more after each story. Then we review the "A Few Words More" sections - which they also really enjoy and which give great insight such as the source of the phrase "between a rock and a hard place" which traces back to the Odyssey! For anyone planmning to expose their kids to Greek Mythology, I highly recommend this book and D'Aulaires Book of Greek Myths. I'd read the latter first for "introduction" and then follow with the Russell book. There may be some repeated stories -but trust me, the kids will love every minute.

I can't compare this poem to the original Farsi as I don't read that language, but this translation is amazingly readable. The reader gets enough notes and extra information to understand a bit of the context, but it never interferes with immersing oneself in this allegory of the journey toward union with the divine beloved. The individual birds on this journey come to life for the reader and the 13th century narrative literally takes off!

Dick Davis's translation is more than extraordinary -- it is truly a miracle to see the beauty, eloquence and flow of this masterpiece richly rendered into the English language with rhyme and meter. A must in the collection of any sincere seeker of the Creator.

This book is a masterpiece on spirituality, self-search, self-identity and self-realization. It provides an unparallel and wonderful guide for reaching to oneself and God. The wonderful philosophy of Attar has the potential to change the world from greed, violence and chaos to self-discipline, love and peace. The book has the capacity to transform the mindsets of fidels and infidels alike to become the master of one's own persona. The book is a must read for anyone interested to know oneself and the world.

. . . . it is instructive and corrective to have a glimpse of
what was: a lyrical, medeivalist tradition that saw the denial
of the self as a path to union with the infinite.

Just as it's important to be aware of the gently lascivious
Omar Khayyam as an antidote to today's puritanism, it's also
worthwhile to remember Farid ud-Din Attar a cosmopolitan skeptic
whose tolerance of human frailty is in service of lofty
spiritual aims.
The Conference of the Birds is an allegory of the search for
the divine. The hoopoe who was the messenger of King Solomon
serves as the Cicero on the quest. The allegory is told in
short snippets, stories of doubt, fear and faith. One can imagine
each of them forming miniature tales and sermons.

Long, spiritual allegories can make pretty tough reading,
but the episodic nature of Conference makes it a book to
be enjoyed in snippets. Keep it at the bedside or wherever
you enjoy a literary nibble.

It's interesting to note that worldly, human Attar came to a
bad end. He was accused of heresy, his goods were plundered
and he was forced into exile. Can we hope for a better outcome
this time?

--Lynn Hoffman, author of THE NEW SHORT COURSE IN WINE and
the forthcoming novel bang BANG from Kunati Books.ISBN 9781601640005

The writings of the Sufis are, without a doubt, some of the most beautiful and challenging spiritual works in existence. Rumi's works are currently undergoing something of a renaissance in the Western world but the name of Farid Ud-Din Attar is not as well known. This is unfortunate, since The Conference of the Birds provides, in my opinion, a much better insight into Sufi philosophy than the bits and pieces of Rumi floating about the New Age universe.

Attar's beautiful descpriptions, exqisite metaphors and delightful parables describe the stages on the soul's journey to union with God. An extended metaphor for the soul, the birds gather and travel through various valleys to reach the Simorgh - a state of ectstatic oneness with deity. The Hoopoe acts as the guide and provides answers to the bird's questions and doubts about the journey - usually with short illustrative tales. These tales are each tiny drops of gold, the longest being only a few hundred lines. The overarching theme is the denial of the self to gain ultimate bliss. This is no intellectual exercise and much of the advice given is shocking and revolutionary. In the extended tale of Sheik Sam'an, the Sheik leaves his faith and becomes a Christian for the love of a woman who ultimately spurns him. His apostasy and depravity astound his followers who swiftly abandon him. A Sufi teacher chastises them for their lack of faith and eventually they return to his side. Sam'an then reconverts and his love is converted too. The message would seem to be that to find God it may be necessary to abandon conventional notions of behaviour and faith and plunge forward with wild abandon, losing the self. Some of the stories may shock our sensibilities, and no doubt had the same effect on Attar's medieval audiences. A kind of counter-culture attitude is displayed in the book, with tales of romantic love between men and other "un-Islamic" behaviours challenging accepted norms.

As to the book itself, the translation is done in "heroic couplets" which according to the introduction, best suits the style of the arabic original. It at first seems a little stilted but soon lends a beauty of its own to the work. A fairly substantial introduction helps put the book in context and describes what is known of Attar's life and times. A biographical index is included which provides details on the many characters - often historical - who people the pages of the poem. This book is a beautiful little gem, filled with a lot of wisdom. It is definitely worth the read for members of any faith, even those who aren't practicing Sufis.

This `roman à clés' is very original. The hero continues to live in different historical periods and undergoes a sex change.
However, it is written in an emotional, sentimental, superlative style: `society in the reign of Queen Anne was of unparalleled brilliance. The graces were supreme.'
Except for the first period, there are no conflicts, only rather superficial descriptions of the mood and spirits of the times. For V. Woolf, `to give a truthful account of society ... only those who have little need of the truth, and no respect for it - the poets and novelists - can be trusted to do it, for this is one of the causes where the truth does not exist.'
`Orlando' is a perfect flight from reality: `But let other pens treat of sex and sexuality; we quit such odious subjects as soon as we can.' `Whigs and Tories, Liberal party and Labour party ... should be left to the historian.'

This book is a clean, introvert, aristocratic, long ode to pure Beauty.
Only for Virginia Woolf fans.

I like to think myself a very well-rounded reader (I have my degree in English), but I don't know if the genius of Virginia Woolf was just beyond me in Orlando. I enjoyed the story and the various historical characters that made appearances throughout, but something about it went a bit over my head. It was a strange tale of adventure and romance, with Orlando seeking the beauties of life and poetry throughout the centuries.

I read Orlando because someone told me that a central theme was Knole, the massive great house of the Sackvilles in Sevenoaks, in Kent south west of London. (I also liked Mrs Dalloway--See my Amazon review.) When we lived in London my family and I spent a day at Knole. It is supposedly the largest private house in England. Much of it now belongs to the National Trust. Knole beggars description--it is a vast mansion, brooding, and dark, but also eminent; it is a castle, a factory, mills, breweries, a village, and menagerie. I remember the deer as being especially numerous and friendly. Orlando the novel is dedicated to Vita Sackville-West who sadly was unable to inherit Knole although she grew up there. Only males could inherit.

The novel Orlando is a tour through English history from the mid-15 hundreds to 1928 always from odd perspectives. It is also a subtle and searching exploration of gender roles, social roles, and artistic and creative efforts. Themes interweave with lightning speed. It's crazy, funny, satirical, wild, and moody. I found parts to be incoherent, post-modern stream-of-consciousness, but most is entertaining and illuminating.

But this novel always comes back to Knole just as Orlando does. He/she (there is a sex change mid-novel) tours her house, thinks about it, ponders it, worries about it, and is always focused on it. Orlando lives for hundreds of years, but somehow I think he/she is a metaphor for the great house. Knole is not mentioned by name in the novel, but that's it. Knole is also the setting for The Edwardians by Vita Sackville-West. Knole is very worth a visit if you get to London or Kent. On the web at the National Trust website.

A visit in person however would help bring the novel Orlando to life. The novel is titled Orlando: A Biography. I think it is the biography of Knole.

One other odd feature: My edition (Signet Classics) has in index. This is the first novel I've read with an index. This suggests to me that Orlando is more than a novel, it is also a history of sorts.

The story begins with Orlando as a passionate young nobleman in Queen Elizabeth's court. By the end, Orlando is a 36-year-old woman three centuries later. Orlando witnesses the making of history from its edge. A close examination of the nature of sexuality and the changing climate of the passing centuries. Very novel and engaging if a bit loose-ended at times.

Written in 1928, this book clearly sought to shock the reading public. For every repression delivered by Victorian authorities which surely hampered Woolf's freedoms, this book delivers a defiant rebuke to the same.

Orlando - it states in the beginning - is a man for whom "there can be no doubt of his sex." He is rich, handsome and lives a life even Hugh Hefner may be jealous of. But, scandals lead him to isolation, to public ridicule or upbraiding, which led him to sequester himself to his 200-bedroom hermitage-castle. In his hermit's existence, he does not pass time philandering, but instead pulls books off the library's shelves and romanticizes with fiction.

Eventually tedium compels Orlando to ask his friendly king to deliver him overseas where he can perform the duties of ambassador. He ends up in then Constantinople, now Istanbul, Turkey. While living there, he ends one exhaustingly long night of debauchery and partying with a seven day sleep - and awakes a woman.

This was a "good thing." As a man, he could not appreciate Tennyson, Shakespeare, Byron and the like. As a woman, their written word touched her greatly. She could be red eyed, she could be lachrymose. As a man, he never loved. Wollf says, ". . . love - as the male novelists define it . . . has nothing whatever to do with kindness, fidelity, generosity or poetry. . ." Orlando the man had no love? Maybe, with Sasha (a Russian seductress) - but maybe Sasha ruined him so that he could never love again.

As a woman, Orlando knows love. Wolff explains, "Love is slipping off one's petticoat and - "
Can you imagine the Victorians reading that?!

Orlando's life continues not for decades, but centuries. And, some other characters do as well. "The true length of a person's life . . . is always a matter of dispute. Indeed, it is a difficult business - this time-keeping thing. . . " Indeed, it was for Wolff who quite intentionally delivers this novel as a time-challenged writer.

More obscurities arise - androgynous lovers, angels' visits, children born from or for Orlando - and splendor with these very biologically-defying events.

This is not written in the weaving masterful language which Woolf delivers in "To the Lighthouse" or "Mrs.Dalloway." Instead, here the schizophrenia lies with the main character, not the writing style. Probably, a better story than "Lighthouse" or "Dalloway", but I am partial to the writing style of those masterpieces.

In any event, anyone wondering just how throttled Woolf felt in the stifling moral norms of her country, read this book. If anyone wants a bizarre tale about a bizarre man/woman, this is a must read.

"The September Society" is the second installment in the Charles Lenox Mysteries, this time involving crimes that occur in two different eras: the first, when two men are murdered in Punjab shortly after the Anglo-Sikh War; and the second, nineteen years later in 1866, when a young Oxonian, George Payson, vanishes. Lenox is approached by George's worried mother, Lady Annabelle, who prevails upon Lenox to find him. Lenox travels to Oxford where he discovers a collection of bizarre clues in George's room--a dead cat, a red string, a fountain pen, a cryptic note and a card bearing the words `September Society'. Compounding the mystery is the disappearance of George's friend and confidante, Bill Dabney.

Soon after, a corpse is discovered in the fields, assumed to be that of George's. As Lenox investigates, it becomes apparent that this murder is connected to those in Punjab, but how? What happened to Dabney? What is behind the covert September Society and what is its connection to the crimes? It will take Lenox's considerable skills to solve what he regards `a strange and laborious case', and do so before someone else is killed.

Lenox's pack is back--his associate, the skilled Dr. McConnell; his always-circumspect and resourceful valet Graham; and his best friend, the compassionate Lady Jane--with a new kid on the block, the inveterate drinker and layabout Dallington, now his apprentice.

The development of the Lenox character is gaining speed. At forty and still a bachelor, he's now mustering the courage to take his friendship with Lady Jane a step further. There's more introspection, too, as he weighs his continuing desire to pursue his detection against his dream of serving in parliament.

Oxford and its many colleges are depicted with much affection and detail (perhaps a holdover from the author's days there) that one can easily visualize their enduring medieval splendor. Of special interest was the interior of Bodleian Library (which I'd long ago only seen from the outside), considered in Lenox's time as the world's greatest library. Oxford, through his eyes, is a wondrous trip back in time. Of interest, too, is the emergence of forensic ballistics as a major breakthrough in criminology, one of the many informative nuggets interspersed within the story. (For example, do you know the origin of the term `swan song'?) There's always something new to learn in a Lenox mystery.

A confounding and challenging puzzle, vivid descriptions of place and time, lots of interesting information to absorb (though may seem pedantic at times), and entertaining characters all make for a genuinely good read, especially for Golden Age devotees. It's developing into a quite agreeable mystery series and I look forward to future installments.

This novel has an imaginative storyline with many authentic surprises. As in A Beautiful Blue Death, the engaging characters and finely honed plotting make this a memorable mystery. I highly recommend this author!

I was a big fan of A Beautiful Blue Death (Finch's first Victorian mystery) so I read this as soon as I could get my hands on a copy. It definitely didn't disappoint. There are echoes of Dorothy Sayers, Elizabeth George, Arthur Conan Doyle, and Agatha Christie in the clean writing, finely wrought characters, and sense of humor, but the writer has a style of his own.

The book begins with a prologue about a murder in India, then flashes twenty years forward. A young man, George Payson, is missing from his rooms at Oxford University, and his mother comes to detective Charles Lenox for help. Lenox uncovers a conspiracy and a strange group of army veterans called The September Society, and quickly finds the link between them and George Payson's disappearance.

The mystery is great but what I love about Finch's work is the characters - the quiet, reliable Lenox, his gentle and intelligent friend Lady Jane, and even a new character - a protege to the detective in the shape of Lord John Dallington, a young and dissipated aristocrat.

A definite winner. Highly recommended.

In 1866 having solved A BEAUTIFUL BLUE DEATH, Charles Lenox considers himself a competent sleuth; though an amateur since he does not accept a fee. Because he is well to do and highly connected, Charles can select when he chooses to go detecting. When widow Lady Annabelle Payson, whose husband mysteriously died in India in the 1840s, pleads with him to find her son George, a student at Oxford's Lincoln College who vanished, he agrees.

At the student's room, Charles finds some odd clues starting with a dead cat, garage spewed everywhere, enigmatic notes that make no sense, and a card from some group called the SEPTEMBER SOCIETY. However, the biggest clue is George's friend Dabney is also missing. Fearing foul play, Charles calls in favors to assist him as his concerns over George's safety multiplies when a corpse is found and signs point back two decades to India.

Charles' second investigation is a fun Victorian mystery that has the hero running back and forth between London and Oxford trying not to just solve the case, but to try to rescue his client's son, if he is alive. The inquiry is rather straightforward in spite of Charles treks either to obtain assistance or follow a clue, but historical mystery fans will enjoy his efforts and his realization he needs help to crack the case. Fans will enjoy this fine pre Holmesian nineteenth century English tale mostly because of the lead character.

Harriet Klausner

I have loved this book since I was a little girl and I cannot wait to use it in my classroom! It really sparks children's imaginations!

This book was given to me was a gift, and I then purchased 2 more to give to my daughters. It touched a place in my soul. Having grown up on 60 acres, my friends and I had many secret playrooms in the woods. It brought back many memories, and reminded me that the cultivation of imagination in our "Roxaboxen" was a wonderful life blessing.

This book revives the heart of imagination in any child. It not only describes the things they love to do but also gives them creative ideas for more. My four-year-old does not grasp everything in this book but he loves it!

This is a great true story about a bunch of children with wonderful imaginations. My kids loved the fact that the story was true and that they got a glimpse of how much fun the children in the story had without expensive toys.

This book was absolutely fantastic. I read it to my 5 and 2 year old children, and they each sat through the entire story. In fact, once it was over they grabbed it from me to look at the pictures.

There was one thing I didn't like about the book, and it's only because it provokes a lot of questions from my 5 year old(has to do with the lizard). So, if your child has a tendency to ask lots of questions, you can skip that page. Otherwise, this is an excellent choice, and I'll read it again.

Old black men in a Louisiana town protect one of their
own from a racist sheriff. The writing is fast-paced
and moves through the story quickly but I just didn't
enjoy it as much as A Lesson Before Dying. I guess for
me the plot and the storyline were a little too easy
to figure out or maybe it's because the characters came
off a little too grumpy and not sympathetic enough.

Overall, a good effort.

A Gathering of Old Men / 0-679-73890-8

A Gathering of Old Men is an incredibly powerful and moving look into a community that has collectively had enough discrimination and pain to last lifetimes and decides, as a whole, that enough is enough.

When racial tensions are charged over the murder of a white landowner by a local black man, the sheriff is astonished and amazed at the number of black men who come forward to insist that they are guilty of the crime. While this flood of confessions seems, at first, to be an attempt to shield the "real" murderer (a respected and loved member of the community), it quickly becomes clear that there is more at stake here. The men relate, one by one, the horrors they have witnessed, the rapes, the beatings, the murders, the crimes that the local white men have committed against them freely and without fear. Each of them insists that they had simply "had enough" and that this - and nothing more compelling - was their motive for the murder. The sight of these weathered old men, camped stubbornly about the dead body, each insisting that he is the killer, each detailing the horrors they have silently watched, moves the reader to tears. At the end, the community is deeply shaken by the realization that the reality they have always taken for granted does not reflect the deep inner feelings of the members.

Ernest Gaines's novel, A Gathering of Old Men, is an excellent and inspiring story. Gaines did a great job at bringing his audience right into the action by his skillful use of description. Ernest could have, however, changed the surroundings more often. A huge portion of the book stayed in the same setting. Often, Gaines used predictable routines of the characters. These minor flaws can make the reader bored from the lack of change. The characters were easily predictable at times, but sometimes Gaines would throw in a few surprises. Ernest did an excellent job of making up for his mistakes by making his readers anticipate what will happen next, but unexpectedly, he changes the story into a whole new direction. Despite the small imperfections, overall, the novel was interesting and unique.

The book, A Gathering of Old Men is a unique description of a story about a white man who gets shot by a colored man. If you are interested in the civil rights act and segregation this is truely the book for you. The author used a complex perspective of different characters on the same story to express the different views of the plot. This book can get boring at times yet is in the end very interesting with the ironic twist. Overall I would recomend reading this book.

A Gathering of Old Men is a beautiful portrait of a community that has quietly taken all that it can and will take no more. Men who have silently borne tragedy speak slowly, haltingly, solemnly that they will suffer no more. They will stand up for themselves, for their honor, for their people.

Este libro es para cualquier mujer, de cualquier edad y condición, porque todas encontrarán en él algo con lo que identificarse.
Gilbert aborda con cierto humor y con inteligencia temas como el amor y el desamor, la vida, el éxito, el fracaso, la espiritualidad, el auto-conocimiento y mucho más.

Con humor y realismo Elizabeth Gilbert explora su esencia espiritual llevando al lector a encontrarse con ella cara a cara en su camino. Cada mujer que lee este libro puede identificarse con muchas de las experiencias de crecimiento personal y espiritual. Esta es una comedia divina que todas vivimos y pocas podemos articular.

This book is amazing. I bought it cause one person in my family is going through something similar and it has really helped me to give her advice. I haven't finish the book but i can't stop reading it. Definitely something that happens to many women.