Fiction Literature Books

When I first read some of Flannery O'Connor's short stories I was baffled and a little disturbed by them. This book helps the reader to gain a deeper appreciation of O'Connor's craft, of her use of the grotesque, and how she exercises her art. To read O'Connor merely on the surface is to do it all wrong. There are many levels on which she is writing and on which she can be read. These essays not only serve as a guide for those seeking to understand O'Connor and her art, but in a more general way they serve for all readers and writers alike, by providing insights on the craft of writing.

My husband purchased this book, but I'm going to write a review for it. He loves it, BUT...read the other books referenced in this book first, otherwise there may be some spoilers in this book. My husband only read part of it and then ordered one of the other books before he reads the essay about it in this book.

Flannery O'Connor has offered a challenging call for Christian artists to be good at what they do. She has reminded the church that beauty, the senses, and art must not be neglected.

I haven't read anything by Flannery O'Connor since "All Things That Rise Must Converge." I fell in love with her stories. There is so much life in them. I read this work to get an idea about her "sitz im leben", her life-situation, her milieu. A lot of it is correspondence, and there are some presentations as well. I am wondering if it speaks to the modern would-be novelist as much as it spoke to writers of her time and place. She says that one needs to write out of the context of where you are: the place, the people, the geography. This is mandatory, not optional.

This book is for writers. I appreciate her writing about how to be Catholic in the South, a very small minority. She has contributed much to finding faith in the stories of life, even violent and brutal stories. I look forward to my next work of hers.

The recurrent subject in this first-rate collection of essays and occasional pieces is the business of writing. O'Connor was scrupulous in her insistence that the writer begin with the humblest of materials, the sights, sounds and smells of the concrete world. She found unreadable, apparently, those writers who had nothing to offer but one abstract psychological insight after another. At the same time she recognized that writers skilled only in giving the world's body a fond description would never transcend mere competence. And of writers merely competent, she asserted that there was in her time a glut. What distinguished the writer of the first rank, always a rare bird, she maintained, was vision, vision of a sort, allied with the aforementioned competence, that enabled such a writer to reveal through concrete events something of the mystery of our existence and experience on this odd planet. Such vision, she consistently held, was a gift that could not be learned in creative writing classes. Therefore, when asked if she thought such classes for writers stifled many talented practitioners, she quipped in her memorable style that such classes, unfortunately, "didn't stifle enough of them."

I found this book extremely enjoyable. The selections are very entertaining. Now, I just have to find the time to read the entire book of each selection.

A wonderful book to read to your children from. My daughters and I each will treasure the bedtime stories that I read to them from this book. Now that they are older they have requested their own copies, hopefully for their own children (I'm keeping my tattered copy for my nights with their children/my grandchildren).

This series of Sisters Grimm books by Michael Buckley has characters familiar to adult readers and to many kids, too. The characters come from fairy tales and from other children's literature, with this author's own spin on them. The books are as entertaining for an adult to read as for a child. My nine year-old and I both read them very quickly and did not want to put them down.
We also enjoyed the Harry Potter series, but after reading these books find the Potter books to be much longer and wordier than these. These are quick reads, yet have a lot of action in few pages. We definitely recommend them.

The second book in this thrilling fantasy series introducing Sabrina and Daphne's school, filled with strange mysteries. Tantilizing secrets about characters are revealed, an evil plot is discovered, and Sabrina and Daphne, as the fairy tale detectives, must find out what's going on! This fast-moving, magical, epic tale will keep you on the edge of your seat!

The Sisters Grimm series is an awesome series. When my mother first told me about it and I saw it, I thought it wouldn't be that cool so I didn't buy it. But then I got it from one of my friends and I read it and it was AWESOME! That immediately made me want to read the second book, so when me and mommie went to the bookstore and I saw the second book there, I really wanted to get it. Now that I got it and read it, I immediately want to read the third book.

I really liked how surprising it was when it seemed like some of the people at first I thought were going to be the bad guys turned out to be the good guys, and some of the good guys I liked turned out to be bad guys. An example was Principle Hamelin, when we thought he was helping Rumplestiltskin but then it turned out that Rumpelstiltskin tricked him, so Principle Hamelin became good again.

My girls, 8 and 10, thoroughly enjoyed this book. They are always begging for 'just a little bit more' every time we have to put the book down. They love making the connections to the fairy tale characters that they are familiar with from other stories.

I've enjoyed reading "The Sisters Grimm", and recommend it.
I particularly appreciate the "Wizard of Oz" references.

One section had me laughing out loud, an unusual occurance (outside of a Stephanie Plum novel). Even today, two weeks later, I still smile thinking about it. Without revealing anything, I'll just refer to the ink "drawing".
...get the series, and read it!

I am a gan of this writer and have read many of his previous works and, with rather high expectations, I began this work. It missed the mark on many levels. One of the writers greatest strengths has been in the area of character development as well as in his ability to utilize double as well as triple twists in the telling of his story. The cahracters are somewhat stiff and lack the depth that has become trademark of this writer. The sory is rather predictable and is far from reality. An earlier work by the writer was 24 Hours. It seems as if he has taken this earlier work, which was far superior, and merely updated the story with some minor variations. Iles is known for his ability to write well in various genres. This book misses his previous works badly. It is still a rapid read, if one is able to overlook a work that contains many extraneous sub-plots as well as matters that are unresolved when the novel ends.

I love the writing style of Greg Iles. This book did not disappoint. I had a hard time getting into it at first but once I did I lost a lot of sleep trying to get through it. The ending was a little disappointing but other than that it was a nice ride to get there.

My title should just about say it all. Fans of his other works will note that this is a relatively weak offering. For another author this would be a fairly good work, and I did enjoy it, but it is among Iles' worst offerings so far.

I highly recommend his other works, esp. Mortal Fear, Black Cross, Spandau Phoenix, the Quiet Game, Turning Angel, True Evil, Blood Memory, Sleep No More, pretty much anything by him.

If Greg Iles wrote the telephone book I would read it cover to cover. He is just that good. This story was suspenseful, tense, somewhat predictable and entertaining as hell. As much as I liked it I had a had time trying to figure out what value the 2 office girls added to the story. The fine line between love and hate makes this kind of scenario all the more captivating. I couldn't put it down.

I read some of these reviews and was tempted to not get it, but the description of the book intrigued me. I read this book faster than any book I've ever read. I guess you can call that a page turner. I found it very entertaining

Kim is the most popular of Rudyard Kipling's novels and has received both critical acclaim and negative reviews over the years. Both assessments are valid to some degree. On the positive side, Kipling has written what is acknowledged to be the best description of colonial India ever created by a native or a foreigner. Much of the negative commentary on the book has come from the intertwining of the story of a boy and a holy man each seeking his dream (good) with the political and military intrigues of the "Great Game," the political rivalry among European powers over the middle and south Asia.

The book begins with Kim, a young boy, living on the streets of Lahore in what is now Pakistan but was then a part of British India. His father was an Irish soldier but Kim is clearly a street-wise Indian. He bears some resemblance to Dickens' character, Dodger, but is not as dishonest (although he is not above deceit and trickery to get what he wants). He meets a lama from Tibet who is seeking a river. Kim has his own goal following a dream that tells him to seek a red bull on a field of green. Together they set off to find their goals with Kim acting as the chela (disciple) of the holy man.

This beginning is promising enough, but one problem for the non-native Indian is the extensive references to Indian concepts, terms and especially religious references. Despite this flaw (for the non-Indian reader at least) the adventure is colorful and the characters the two meet along the way make for both humor and interesting situations.

But Kim also is involved with a somewhat mysterious horse trader cum spy, Mahbub Ali who gives him a message to deliver pertaining to some planned military action. Kim delivers the message and eventually comes across a British military camp where he sees a flag bearing a red bull on a field of green. Kim is intrigued by this discover and in an attempt to learn more he is collared by a chaplain attached to the group and falls into the their hands. Determined to make a civilized person out of Kim the chaplain arranges for Kim to attend school. The lama, distraught by the loss of his chela comes to agree to pay for Kim's education believing that it is best for him to learn the white man's ways. The pair are reunited as the story draws to a close there is a more or less suitable ending. But the intrusion of the Great Game scenario into the story, even though it adds the amazing character, Hurree Chunder Mookerjee, does distract from what should be the main idea, the evolving love and relationship between a young boy and a old man, each seeking his dream.

I rate Kim at 4 stars because it really is worth reading although some readers will skim through some parts that are too esoteric for Westerners.

Great book...have been reading it in a hisotry class...easy to read, flows well and engaging.

'Kim', taken solely on its own terms, is a late 19th century adventure tale, an early spy story, a travelogue of northern India, a coming-of-age story all set in the midst of the Great Game, the Russo-British contest for imperial dominance in Central Asia. It's a good tale well told, if the language is somewhat dated for the modern reader.

But, of course, 'Kim' is generally not simply taken on it own terms because its author Rudyard Kipling came to personify British imperialism as much as Lord Kitchener. The Norton Edition includes excellent articles that provide historical context as well as several critical essays. I consider myself an anti-imperialist, but also admittedly somewhat of a romantic about the British Empire, and I did not detect jingoism in 'Kim'.

Readers interested in even more background will want to read Quest for Kim: In Search of Kipling's Great Game. Readers needing to be disabused of romanticism about British imperialism may want to consider Imperial Reckoning: The Untold Story of Britain's Gulag in Kenya.

At the end of the day, 'Kim' is quite a good adventure tale and a book that really need to read for yourself. Highly Recommended.

Kim is Rudyard Kipling's mysterious India: a combination of East and West, of mystery and mysticism. Kim is not the India of history books. It is not a neat historical fiction nor is it a simple adventure story in a slightly exotic setting.

Kim was published in 1901 and is the story of the orphaned son (Kimball O'Hara, known as Kim) of a soldier in an Irish regiment. The novel is set in the Indian subcontinent where Kim spends his childhood as a waif in Lahore.

The story of Kim's journeys, as he moves between the East and the West can be enjoyed as an adventure story or read as a window into British colonialism. Kim himself straddles a number of different worlds but never really belongs to any of them completely.

While the novel includes a richly detailed portrait of Indian life and assumes that western mastery is desirable, Kipling frequently identifies similarities between the cultures of India and those of the Europeans in India.

This is a novel which I think is best read twice. Once as a child - for the adventure and mystery and again as an adult for the broader story.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

After fifty plus years of reading, I think I can say that Kim is my favorite novel. I'm not sure it is the best novel I ever read, whatever "best" might mean, and it certainly isn't the most profound, but there is simply no other book I have enjoyed as much or have reread as often. Many other Amazon reviewers have said that they liked the book very much, often for different reasons: some like the "Great Game" aspect and others enjoy the rich narrative description of India for which the book is justly famous. (A few reviewers found the book "difficult", apparently because of the language device that Kipling uses when speakers are speaking in languages other than English, or for Kipling's use of unfamiliar words, and others found it boring, a criticism I find nearly incomprehensible. I honestly believe that if you find Kim boring, you just don't like to read fiction, except perhaps at the level of Tom Clancy novels. And don't be put off by those reviews that found the book difficult. I presume these readers were looking for a continuation of The Jungle Book and found an adult novel instead. Kim is much easier reading than the novels of many of Kipling's contemporaries, such as Conrad or James, and is no more difficult than Twain.)

At least one other reviewer shares my view that in essence Kim is a coming of age novel, and one of the best, in a league with Huckleberry Finn and A Portrait of the Artist. The Great Game provides the book with the bones of a plot, and Kipling's description of India, much like Twain's description of the Mississippi River environs in Huckleberry Finn, published 16 years before Kim, is the flesh. But the heart of the book is the development of the relationship between Kim and the Red Lama, the fundamental story of two people, one an orphan boy and the other an elderly mystic, finding many of the things they are seeking in caring for and looking after one another.

Again, it is hard to avoid comparing Kim with Huckleberry Finn. The core of the latter book is the development of the relationship between Huck and Jim, and it seems likely that Kipling was influenced by the earlier book. Kipling had clearly read and admired Huckleberry Finn, and once referred to its author as "The great and God-like Clemens." Not that I find the notion that Kipling was influenced by Twain to in any way diminish Kim. It is an absolutely wonderful book and I envy anyone who hasn't read it that is about to do so. Come to think of it, that's true of both Kim and Huckleberry Finn.

It is incredible to think that this little book was written over 75 years ago, but stays as fresh and funny as the day it was first published.

Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons, is a darkly comic, tongue in cheek, parody written in 1932.

Upon the death of her parents, the newly impoverished Flora moves in with relatives, the Starkadders, who live in what we would now consider squalor, on Cold Comfort Farm. There she encounters all sorts of eccentrics and sets about turning their lives around.

It is a slim volume but extremely good; humorous and sends up all those earnest melodramas so popular at the time it was written. It is a very English book and initially may not appeal to all American readers, but is one of the few books that improves upon re-reading. If you don't get it the first time, leave it a few months and then read it again. It is absolutely worth it.

Not all the ends are tied up, and what the dotty aunt experienced in the woodshed is left to your own imagination.

One of the funniest books I've read. I'm ashamed I'd never heard of it until a friend turned me on to the film. It's one of those books I'll pick up again every couple of years, and it still makes me laugh.

The weird futuristic theme is a bit of a drawback - it's unnecessary, and a little confusing the first time you read the book. But it's easy to ignore. I'd like to know why the author decided to set it in the near-future - was it trendy at the time? Or a parody of something going on in the popular literature of that time, that I'm just not well read enough to quite understand?

This is the book that makes marvelous fun of them. If you slogged through Wuthering Heights and Tristram Shandy and Jane Eyre and The Mayor of Casterbridge or Return of the Native wishing someone would just smack some sense into someone or have a little normal fun, this is the book for you. And if you loved those books, you'll love this one even more. Gibbons attacks the Gothic and Pastoral novels on their own turf and turns them on their ears while delivering a few good jabs at the Modern Novels of the 1930s to boot. Literary humor so good it'll make you giggle and snort and want to read aloud.

This particular edition, while it has the most awful cover art on the planet, happens to have very nice introduction by Lynne Truss--the author of Eats, Shoots, and Leaves--which gives some wonderful and funny background on Gibbons, her life, times, and writing. It's also amusing on its own and great info if you're stuck writing book reports.

There are some oddities to this book in which a "near future" England of 1938 has no hints of World War II, but that makes it so much more delightful. It is a book that exists in a bubble just like the worlds of the stories Gibbons lampoons so well. Cold Comfort Farm is a literate and intelligent piece of writing that is also hilarous and great fun to read.

The humor of this glorious funny book resides mainly in Gibbons' masterly control of prose style; if you have only seen the movie, you know less than half of what the author has to offer. Yes, she creates a wonderful gallery of extraordinary characters, and the story clips along nicely if rather predictably, but it is the author's language that really gets you laughing out loud. Written in 1932, the book is a parody of a certain kind of rural melodrama popular at the time, but of the authors mentioned by the Oxford Companion to English Literature as models only D. H. Lawrence is still read today. But no matter; there are strong echoes of Hardy and the Brontes as well, and anyway the language works just fine on its own. It ranges from gothic descriptions of a landscape primeval and stark, throbbing with the fecund sap of plant and beast, to gnomic sayings delivered in a rural dialect so thick as to be incomprehensible if one did not realize that half the words in it were probably made up by the author. And, as an added incentive, Gibbons has helpfully marked her most purple passages with two or three stars, "according to the method perfected by the late Herr Baedecker."

Flora Poste, twenty, fashionable, well educated, and recently orphaned, decides against working for a living so writes around to various distant relatives asking them to take her in. She decides to go to live with the Starkadders, some distant cousins whose alarming address is Cold Comfort Farm, Howling, Sussex. (This will seem less odd if you know English place-names, and throughout the book Gibbons' choice of names is both almost plausible and brilliantly absurd.) The farm is described in the first of the starred passages, beginning thus:

"Dawn crept over the Downs like a sinister white animal, followed by the snarling cries of a wind eating its way between the black boughs of the thorns. The wind was the furious voice of this sluggish animal light that was baring the dormers and mullions and scullions of Cold Comfort Farm. The farm was crouched on a bleak hill-side, whence its fields, fanged with flints, dropped steeply to the village of Howling a mile away . . . ".

The extended family she meets there, all with short biblical names of Old Testament force, is equally dour, and the living conditions are primitive to say the least. The household is presided over by the matriarch, Great Aunt Ada Doom, who "saw something nasty in the woodshed" as a child and has barely emerged from her room since, but terrifies the others into submission for fear of completing her descent into total insanity. But Flora determines to take the farm and the family in hand, beginning with the youngest, the nature spirit Elfine, and working up to the old woman. The manner in which she does so forms the plot of the rest of the book.

The gothic style which the author handles so well depends upon the ability to evoke impending doom, and Gibbons virtually redefines the verb "impend." So the first half of the novel at least is superb. However, as light and warmth are brought into Cold Comfort Farm, the doom begins to dissipate. In nineteenth-century terms, Gibbons' influence changes from Bronte to Jane Austen, whom she can certainly match in witty observation, though at the loss of the gothic elemental power. The plot, too, lacks suspense; everything that Flora undertakes to do works out with few surprises; the main parody element at the end is the neatness with which it all does work out, even including the resolution of Flora's own romantic needs. But in exchange, as others on this site have mentioned, Stella Gibbons achieves a transformation of a different kind: the forbidding cast of caricatures to whom we are first introduced has become a family of real people, whom Flora finds herself caring about quite a lot. And the reader too. Skill of this sort takes Stella Gibbons beyond the ranks of a mere parodist and reveals her as a true novelist.

[I actually read the book in the older Penguin edition, which has a fine cover, quite relevant to the period, taken from a painting by Stanley Spencer. But it is rather sloppily printed. The Penguin de luxe edition (which I have seen but didn't buy) is much better produced, and has the added bonus of a cover by Roz Chast -- a masterly match-up of two funny women working eighty years apart.]

Lovely book. Funny and entertaining. Say the movie first so had some preconceived ideas about the characters but was able to enjoy the differences. Entertaining on a number of levels.

I will not give away the plot, and I encourage all to read this literary masterpiece. The author's technique in this novel is to use an independent observer, a Mr. Utterson, who re-tells what has happened to his friend Dr. Jekyll. The story is short: just 70 pages.

I would have never picked this book to read without some guidance. It was on Nabokov's books to read list from his Cornell teaching notes on European Literature (circa 1950) now available in book form: Lectures on Literature (Paperback) by Vladimir Nabokov.

His seven books or novels are:

Jane Austen - Mansfield Park
Charles Dickens - Bleak House
Gustave Flaubert - Madame Bovary
Robert Louis Stevenson - Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Marcel Proust - The Walk by Swann's Place
Franz Kafka - The Metamorphosis
James Joyce - Ulysses

Why is the present book on that list? The reason - without giving away the plot - is that it is not a simple science fiction or similar story. It is about human failings and about obsession, compulsion, and human weakness. The story is the battle between a doctor and the counter character that he has created. Who will win this battle: good or evil?

This is a terrific but short novella just 70 pages long. The present Penguin classic contains a good analysis of the story by Robert Mighall, plus two other short stories: "The Body Snatcher" and "Olalla." These have similar macabre themes but on different subjects and they are not as deep as "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde." The latter is a literary work of art similar in spirit to "Lolita," another book about human failings and compulsions. The plot details are obviously very different as is the London setting here.

This is an interesting book to read, although since pretty much everyone know's what's going to happen, that takes some of the fun out of it.
Other than that, it has some good points to think about, good for provoking ruminations on what your own ideas about the goodness/evilness of your own self!

This was the first of three Victorian horror novels I read this summer. This is a great story of how Dr. Henry Jekyll becomes obsessed with his alter ego, Edward Hyde, and continues to turn himself into Hyde. Hyde kills people and people get angry and put a bounty on Hyde's head. Dr. Jekyll vows not to drink his potion again, but one day his friend Gabriel Utterson and his butler Poole hear strange noises in Jekyll's study and have their suspicions who it is...

Stevenson's famous "shilling shocker" from 1886 has almost been distilled into a diagnostic commonplace. The notion of the "Jekyll & Hyde" personality has become a shorthand description for someone who leads a psychological double-life. Stevenson's tale dwells on the dangers of duplicity and addiction, and the unpredictable consequences of starting down the slippery slope: once you start giving in to the darker half of your nature, it isn't always possible to go back. The idea is well known, generally from the numerous screen adaptations, but the original story isn't. It's well worth reading, especially in this fine edition from Penguin. Apart from including some lesser known tales from Stevenson, editor Robert Mighall provides detailed notes, an excellent introduction, and a fascinating final essay entitled, "Diagnosing Jekyll: the Scientific Context to Dr Jekyll's Experiment and Mr Hyde's Embodiment". This essay situates Stevenson's tale in the context of nineteenth-century London society, considers the likely contemporary medico-scientific explanations for Jekyll's "case" (including the memorably named condition of "masturbatic insanity"), and also reveals the impact Stevenson's work had on the public's interpretation of the real-life criminal case of Jack the Ripper. Mighall's commentary will also appeal to literary-critical readers who'll want to think about the narrative device of presenting a supernatural tale through the testimony of doctors, lawyers and written documents. Mighall also identifies some slip-ups in Jekyll's final confession which suggest he isn't quite as neatly divided as he claims. This is an excellent edition for student readers, or for those who like to read so-called classics in context.

_The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and Other Tales of Terror_, in the Penguin Classics series, consists of three tales by Robert Louis Stevenson, an essay by Stevenson, as well as an introduction and "diagnosis of Dr. Jekyll" by the editor Robert Mighall. Stevenson (1850-1894) was a Scottish writer in the Victorian period who grew up to a strict Presbyterian upbringing which would lead him to become obsessed with sin, the nature of evil, and death throughout much of his life. Originally Stevenson wrote adventure tales and stories of pirates (_Treasure Island_ for example); however, he was to turn his writing talents to tales of horror and the supernatural, particularly with the stories seen here. Stevenson wrote these stories to be read during the Christmas season (one traditionally associated with the supernatural and tales of dread). While Stevenson was much influenced by his own strict upbringing, he also was influenced by the various evolutionary theories of criminology then popular in the Victorian period. In particular, the eugenic theories of Francis Galton and the criminological theories of Caesare Lombroso (who claimed to have found the source of the "atavistic criminal type") were then popular. Stevenson also may have been interested in sexual pathology (a taboo topic during the Victorian era). In particular, many of his stories hint at homosexuality or possibly sexual sadism (and the story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was to influence the writing of Oscar Wilde who was convicted of sodomy in his time). Stevenson's stories reveal the dark side of man and the hypocrisy of the "respectable" during the Victorian period.

This book contains the following tales (and essay):

_Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde_ (1886) - This is the classic tale of a double consciousness. The respectable Dr. Jekyll, an upright citizen of a higher status, begins to develop a secret nature (to become a "secret sinner") which eventually leads him to construct the personality of a Mr. Edward Hyde as an alter. Mr. Hyde is a repulsive figure to behold, uniformly despised by those who see him, short in stature, possibly deformed, and bearing some resemblance to the simian. Mr. Hyde is also the classic atavistic criminal type, believed to be lower on the evolutionary ladder than the righteous Dr. Jekyll. Dr. Jekyll concocts a potion which he intakes and becomes the sinister Mr. Hyde. Thus, begins a classic conflict between the good and evil natures within man. While Dr. Jekyll leads an upright life, his alter Mr. Hyde engages in brutal activities, nearly plows over a child on the street, and eventually murders a man. The story unfolds as Dr. Jekyll's lawyer and friend tries to understand why Dr. Jekyll should choose such a repulsive individual as Hyde as his benefactor to his will and the ensuing transformation in Jekyll. Eventually the transformation begins to occur in Jekyll without the use of the potion, so Jekyll vows to stop taking it. However, he returns to the potion again eventually (perhaps hinting at the horrors of alcoholism or other addiction) and becomes Mr. Hyde again. Eventually the personality of Mr. Hyde is to overcome completely Dr. Jekyll (as his potion runs out). Thus is revealed the dual nature of man.

"The Body Snatcher" (1884) - This tale involves the procurement of bodies to be dissected by medical students. At the time, the bodies used by medical students were in short supply. These bodies are supplied to a Dr. K__ (perhaps, Robert Knox, a real life physician who was implicated in a similar scandal); however, it soon becomes apparent that they have been murdered. The story ends with a bizarre twist. This story was a precursor to _Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde_, and it features many of the same surroundings.

"Olalla" (1885) - This is a classic Gothic tale featuring a voyage by a man suffering from tuberculosis (which Stevenson himself was to suffer from) to Catholic Spain. There he stays with an ancient family which is under a horrifying curse - degeneracy of the blood. Stevenson based this story on many of the evolutionary beliefs popular at the time, including the hereditary nature of madness and "bad blood". The family described in this story, though of noble birth, has a history of this "taint of the blood" brought about by too much inbreeding. The story involves vampirism (the longing for blood, which perhaps influenced the later writings of Bram Stoker, whose Dracula was also an atavistic criminal type of a tainted heritage) and the narrator falls in love with Olalla, a daughter of the family.

"A Chapter on Dreams" (Abridged) (1888) - This is an essay written by Stevenson in which he discusses his dreams (the role of the "Brownies" (elfin creatures) in their creation) and the source of his inspiration for _Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde_.

The final section of this book is an essay by the editor Robert Mighall, entitled "Diagnosing Jekyll: The Scientific Context of Dr Jekyll's Experiment and Mr Hyde's Embodiment". This essay discusses the role of double-consciousness (the possibility of multiple personality), moral insanity, criminal responsibility, and sexual perversion in the character of Dr. Jekyll. It is most interesting for its remarks on the evolutionary theories of criminology popular at the time and the possible sexual perversion of Dr. Jekyll. This essay also discusses the case of "Jack the Ripper", which played out in London at the same time as _Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde_ was appearing on the stage, and its relationship to this story.

This book includes several interesting stories by Stevenson which reveal his continuing obsessions, the dual nature of man and the evolutionary taint of "bad blood". They show us how even the most respectable, upright individuals may have a dual nature (a dark side), though it is often hidden. They also have much to say about the societal hypocrisy which makes such a thing possible to begin with. The need to "keep up appearances" often betrays a darker side.

This Kindle book does not work well with the technology. The active table of contents are somewhat difficult to maneuver. Every bit of text is seen by the cursor, yet only the actual titles are active. The text in the story I accessed does not flow well. It seems that the line length is set to a particular font size, yet none of my font selections worked to make the text flow from one side of the screen to the other. However, the stories are the stories and they are classics. I suppose that if I can get past the odd flow of the text, I'll enjoy them as much as I do in a hard copy.

As mentioned on my review of the Norton Critical Edition of "Othello," I purchased the two versions together so I could put together an online version of the play for a project my professor has been working on for some time now. Personally, I like this version better than the Norton one because it keeps the British spellings, but for the purpose of the project the spellings are being made into the American spelling. Overall, it's a good edition and, as with the Norton edition, came at the suggestion of my professor.

I have my degree in English... I like reading and teaching with this version as "help" not as a substitution. It gives a clearer understanding to Shakespeare for people who have difficulty with it.

I have never intently read Shakespeare before, but enough people told me that I needed to read "Othello" that I decided to break down and buy a copy. Everything about Shakespeare I find intimidating, so with much trepidation did I buy this critical edition of "Othello". Needless to say, this work is AMAZING. Not only does Dr. Honigmann give notes along the way to help the reader interpret what the characters are saying, but he also provides an extensive introduction outlining Shakespeare's sources, some possible motives, and some character criticism. He also provides one of Shakespeare's main sources, a short story written by Giraldi Cinthio, and in this short story he provides notes that link it directly to the text of "Othello". I am completely sold on "The Arden Shakespeare" series, and will continue to use it in the future. A definite buy!

Forty-plus years ago, when I first started reading Shakespeare, I liked the Signet Classic editions.

They were cheap and handy, and the play texts were just about right for a beginner: clear, with an indication of variant and disputed readings without overwhelming the play; a simple, convenient way of glossing the hard words; and useful short explications of some of the allusions.

Recently, preparing to go see a production of "Othello," I picked up the Signet Classic version to re-read, and I did something I had not done in my student days: I read the supporting material.

The background to the original staging and Renaissance playcraft was unexceptionable, but when I got to the "new dramatic criticism," I was appalled.

Not all of it was new. Of three essays, two dated from 1956 and 1960 and no doubt were part of the first issue in 1963. These were tedious and obvious, just the sort of thing that took all the enjoyment out of studying Shakespeare in school.

The third, dated 1980, had been added to pander to current campus fads -- not something you need when reading a Jacobean text. The editors got a three-fer: an essay by Madelon Sprengnether that coughed up psychoanalysis, feminism and PoMo French-Belgian trendiness in a convenient but indigestible hairball.

It's hard to imagine that still in 1980, people were taking Freud seriously and disgusting to see Shakespeare subjected to Belgian Nazis. Of the feminism, all I can say is that sometimes a sword is just a sword.

I have read a fair amount of Shakespeare criticism and liked little of it. But until Sprengnether, none of it disgusted me.

The copy I picked up second-hand dated from 1986. No doubt in the two decades since, more "new criticism" has been added to keep up with the dumbing down of the campuses. To 21st century students, here's some advice. You will be better off doing what I used to do: Stick by the big fish and let his remoras tag along unheeded.

Though I am not a particular fan of Shakespearian work, I instantly fell in love wioth Othello. This play is one of the greatest things ever written. Never has a playwright combined love, extreme decpeption, jealousy, anger, and fear in a play like Shakespeare has in Othello.

Even if you are not a fan of Shakespeare, I highlky recommend this play.

If you do not wish to read the play then I would recommend going out and renting or buying the movie "O" with Josh Hartnet, Julia Stiles, and Mikih Phifer. I would rent/but the 2 disc version because the second disc includes the original silent version of "Othello" from the 1920s.

The language in this short novel is simple and engaging, and probably the best (if not only) reason to read this book, particularly for students of french such as myself.

Unfortunately the story is very contrived and unconvincing, despite Camus' apparent attempts to ground it in a believable, ordinary world. The problem (as I see it) is that Mersault is easily Camus' least interesting protagonist, and the entire story is told in first person from his perspective. Mersault feels nothing and thinks nothing throughout the narrative, so that the narration gives the reader an intimate view of... nothing. Admittedly, previous and subsequent authors have dealt quite thoroughly with the thoughts and feelings of human characters in somewhat analogous situations to that of Mersault. Perhaps Camus was consciously treading new ground by placing his protagonist in what would be trying and difficult situations if only he cared about anything, but he doesn't, so they aren't.

There is plenty of good Camus out there, particularly his short stories and plays, but this is not it.

Quel roman savoureux. Du passé simple, j'en prendrais volontier. Un incontournable.

I first read the novel in english, but I read it in french once I became fluent in that language. After the first sentence: "Aujourd'hui, Maman est morte," you know that you are in the good hands of Albert Camus. The existential theme is just awsome, and it was all the better en français! Surtout, je sait que je l'aimais.

Je fais mon debut comme instite a un lycee. Pour le cours de francais V, on va commencer la litterature avec L'ETRANGER de Camus. Je crois que c'est l'endroit ideal pour commencer, car le livre se presente simplement au lecture, mais le mene aux themes importants de la philosophie francaise/absurdiste. A mon avis personnel, la scene du meurtre sur la plage est exceptionnellement emouvante et vive. Ceux qui disent que c'est n'importe quoi comme livre completement ratent un chef-d'oeuvre.

What a way to begin a story?! And what can one say about Camus that hasn't already been said? This is a great novel filled with observations, images and actions carefully stitched into words by a master narrator. If you're a novice to French literature, this is a perfect place to begin.