Jeremy Northam Books

I have to agree with a previous review, this is a FANTASTIC Audio production. The actors reading the books do a superb job: to the point that at times I don't believe it is the same person reading the different parts. They put such enthusiasm and character in to the voices and the readings that it makes the book come alive. Also a previous review recommended a different order in the reading of the books and I have to agree that the following order worked well for me.
1. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
2. Prince Caspian
3. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (Lewis planned on stopping the series here, but apparently it took on a life of its own)
4. The Silver Chair (Actually written after, but published before "The Horse and His Boy")
5. The Horse and his Boy
6. The Magician's Nephew (Could be read first but I am glad I read (The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe) first.
7. The Last Battle.
Note: I bought this series for my grand children and I have really enjoyed each and every book.

We had seen the movies and heard of the series but never read them. We decided to purchase the complete seris on CD for a trip and they are awesome. I recommend these books for anyone wanting a good family friendly story. These were never boring and they are filled with good lessons; but not preachy.

The Complete Chronicles of Narnia is a wonderful addition to any family's entertainment collection. Even the boxes and discs are beautifully illustrated. More importantly, each of the seven novels is masterfully read by a talented actor who breathes life into the stories and characters. We listened to several books while moving across country and it certainly helped the miles go by!

A favorite series since I was young, but seems to get better with age! I find the lessons and characters erupting --like magic-- into my own life. Though generally considered Christian-based, it stands alone.

The performances are all wonderful, but Kenneth Branagh is truly inspired in "The Magician's Nephew". He is a brilliant (as the Brits would say) story teller. It makes me laugh out loud just to think of his voices for the talking animals (the bulldog, she elephant, leopard...)

Chronicles of Narnia is one of those rare set of books that everyone should read at least once. Through this well done cd box set, even those who aren't readers can enjoy the story. Great.

Doing a review of someone like Frost, Keats, Rilke, or Shakespeare is like reviewing the Bible, it is impossible. It has already been established that this man's poetry is mastery. Now the question is thus, what book should you purchase? If you want a small taste of his work at a good price, this is it. With this small, under $... edition, you can decide if you want to purchase anymore of his books. I say it is a great book for a poetry shelf in anyone's library.

What a wonderful anthology of John Keats' poetry. The selections in this book range from his well known and loved pieces like "Lamia" and " To Autumn" to less familliar but still gracefully written "On the Sea" and "To Leigh Hunt, Esq." The timeline in the front of the book is helpful, giving an overview of what the world was like in Keats' short lifespan. Many critics wonder what he would've accomplished had he lived longer, and by reading this collection of his poems, one can only image the brilliant works he might have given us to further his powerful legacy.

There are too many lines in Wordsworth and too many long poems which today are largely unread. But there is also a body of work within that far vaster world of lines which is great. There are a whole group of poems , including many from 'The Lyrical Ballads' and certainly 'Intimations on Immortality ' and certainly 'Tintern Abbey' and certainly some of the great sonnets that constitute together one of the great poetic oeuvres.
Wordsworth combines the simple and sublime as no other poet does. His relation to Nature is deep and fresh, and yet too humble and moral, wild and beautiful. His direct experiential mode of meeting Nature in youth, is transformed into something far greater in his meditative and reflective relation to it . Wordsworth somehow brings to his meetings with nature a noble cast of mind. So too in his moral sentiment there is not a preaching narrowness, but a broad vision of something far more deeply interfused . Wordsworth in giving everyday life and perception a sense of the sublime is somehow a religious poet. The sense of something sublime that flows through all things is too a sense of something Divine.
Reading Wordsworth is receiving the sense that life too and our experience have a dimension of beauty and nobility which make them supremely worthwhile.
Reading Wordsworth one feels that one is lifted up to one's own better nature.
And this too when there are in him immortal lines, which like ' the best part of a good man's life is small acts of kindness and of love' are unforgettable.

I have to admit I wasn't expecting to enjoy the read as much as I did The Magician's Nephew or The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. But honestly, I truly did enjoy the read. I had become attached to Lucy, Susan, Edmund, and Peter. But Eustace and his new friend, Jill, won me over.

I liked in the beginning how Aslan appears and sets the story, showing Jill the error of her ways. I enjoyed reading about the giants they first see and laughing about what they do. And it was quite clever of C.S. Lewis to include the lady and the knight. I guess, I wasn't quick enough to make a connection there. Then the underground people is quite neat. I was kind of scared of them, thinking they were really mean and all. But all of my quick judgements had definitely changed in the end.

I also like how some old characters from other Narnia books are brought into the story and how the connection is made. It is another book that I am glad I took the time to read. It is a nice addition to the Narnia Tales.

Thanks.

I felt that The Silver Chair gave better character arcs to the "son and daughter of Adam and Eve" than some of the other Narnia books. The focus of the book seemed to be shared between the children, Eustace and Jill, as well as the quest - instead of focusing on the quest alone. Also, the Marsh-wiggle is a well drawn character and pretty unique from Lewis' other personalities in Narnia.
Like the other books in the series, this one continues to touch the surface of the adventures and explanations, but I felt it was more complete than some of the other books in the series. Perhaps I'm just getting more used to Lewis' writing style.
As always though we are taken to wonderful new places and meet interesting new characters, and visits from old friends are always met with a warm heart. Certain parts were somewhat sad, but most of it was happily addressed at the end.
Aslan is always very magnificent! And I found myself very much enjoying the adventures and the characters throughout the book!

Fourth book printed, sixth book chronologically.

I began re-reading the Narnia series after coming across a beautiful boxed set of all seven novels. Mainly this was out of nostalgia, as these were favourites when I was young, and I was interested to see how they held up as adults. I found them all to be written very clearly with provocative descriptive prose, and narrative that often draws the reader immediately into the story.

The series falters here a little with a fairly uninspired story, broken down into a series of events that give the reader the sense that Lewis was getting a little weary with the universe he had created. As though bored of Narnia, he takes us away from that and all familiar characters but one, an admittedly well-realised Eustace.

Although it opens very well, despite Lewis interjecting regularly with his own poorly-disguised opinions on the world in general and certain types of schools in particular. Unfortunately once the story kicks in it feels a touch rushed and uninspired, the return of Caspian unemotive, and the silver chair of the title almost totally inconsequential. It's not an awful read, but there's little hear for adults and probably not a great deal for youngsters, although I would admittedly be guessing about that.

5/10

Another dark and quest-filled story in The Chronicles of Narnia; the Silver Chair adds more depth and character to Eustace, his friend Pole, and the rest of the added characters in this installment. Though I think that parts of the journey to find the kidnapped prince seemed a bit unnecessarily prolonged, Lewis gladly relieves his readers with a memorable rescue in the conclusion.

have not read it thus far but i got it fast enough and it was in good condition

This is the opening of one of Browning's most well- known poems "Rabbi Ben Ezra"
Grow old along with me!
The best is yet to be,
The last of life, for which the first was made:
Our times are in His hand
Who saith ' A whole I planned,
Youth shows but half; trust God: see all,
nor be afraid!'

Browning is a poet of the inner life.His dramatic monologues are in the words of F.B. Pinion the editor of the Collins Edition of ' Dramatis Personae' centered on ' the thought- processes and mental outlook of his characters than in dramatic action" The
poems are rich in consideration of the moral and religious problems of his time. Lovers of poetry and students of human relationships can certainly be enriched by the reading of these poems.

Browning is one of the great poets. this selection contains poems such as 'the last dutchess', 'porphyria's lover' and 'childe roland to the dark tower came' which shows browning at his best. this selected poems only whetted my appetite for a complete version.

I thought it was a poor selsction, without his most famous, "If" included. The illustrations were like those from a newspaper, and it's overall content was not great.

Perhaps the above reveiw was for a different book of Kipling's poems. There are no illustrations besides the cover art, and Kipling's famous "If" poem is thankfully included. The book is lightweight and small enough to fit in a purse or briefcase easily. The cover is pleasing and the margins inside are generous. In all, well laid out and good to have around.

This text contains the most often anthologized poems that Shelley wrote, not the complete poems and none of his prose. This book would be a good gift for a person who is just becoming interested in Shelley (who, by the way, is NOT by any means an obscure author) but is not comprehensive enough for even an undergraduate student. I recommend the Modern Library Complete Poems of Percy Bysshe Shelley instead of this for anyone who enjoys Shelley already. As for the prose, the Norton Critical volume is decent.

This is a fairly complete volume of a moderately obscure author's work. In his short life, Shelly left behind an enormous collection of important poems both for their narrative style and political undertones. Definitely one of them most thoroughly Shelly books around.