English Classics Books

What a way to forget the outside world and enter the charming world of Horace Rumbole, barrister. I enjoy his droll humor and uncanny way of seeing things not on the surface to defend his client.

One may not always agree with Rumphole, or She Who Must Be Obeyed, but these compilations of short stories are great as a fun read on a recent period in English history and law that one can readily identify with if you don't lead an insular life (that grey area above the U.S. is Canada, and the grey are below it is Mexico on the TV weather maps).

We love the Rumpole books. My husband and I have read all the Omnibus books. We've never watched the series, so we have our own images of all the main characters: Rumpole, The Bull, "She Who Must Be Obeyed." Good stories...fun characters. Good threading of plot and characters through all the stories. Love it!

I certainly don't need to review "Rumpole of the Bailey." You know all about it. So, I'll just mention that he's especially good company when you fly. You can read a well-crafted story in what, 30 minutes? Ideal for airports and airplanes. Do this, sit for an hour, do that, sit for another hour, etc.

Horace Rumpole presents himself as just an Old Bailey hack doing run-of-the-mill burglary defenses and the odd car-heist case. In reality he defends the best in the Anglo-American legal traditions against modern forces (for example, the presumption of innocence) - and this was written 20+ years ago!

Rumpole is the lovable defender of the average man and foe to all stick-in-the-muds. His motto "Never plead guilty." It could just as well be comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. Hilarious, warm, human, touching, self-effacing and ever-ready to pierce the pompous gasbag - that's Rumpole of the Bailey. Start with the First Rumpole Omnibus and work your way through the rest.

Guaranteed to tickle your funny bone and warm your heart.

Denis Johnson is that rare and wonderful thing: a lyrical writer with a brain. This is a collection of non-fiction essays he has published over the last 20 years, and it should win him many new fans who aren't familiar with his acclaimed fiction and poetry. The title, "Seek", is well chosen. Johnson presents himself as a seeker after truth, both physical and metaphysical. He brings with him an open mind, an open heart and genuine humility. "The Civil War in Hell" shows his visit to the heart of darkness of the Liberian civil war, where he views along with other journalists a videotape of the torture of the nations former dictator. The funny "Down Hard Six Times", an account of his honeymoon/gold-prospecting trip to Alaska is both a cautionary tale and a celebration of wilderness. The amazing "Hippies" is an exorciating satire of a drug-addled gathering of aging flower-children over Independence Day. He writes an amazinglyly sympathetic account of a Kenneth Copeland "Bikers for Jesus" rally: Johnson, who defines himself as a Christian, finds genuine religiosity among the weirdness. "Three Deserts" has some of the best writing about the American west I have ever encountered (Johnson lives full-time in northern Idaho.) The high point of the book for me is the stunning "The Militia in Me." Here Johnson gets past the hysteria about "right-wing militias" and, without minimizing their anti-semitism and extremism, sees them as within the well-established tradition of American anti-government, pro-freedom orneriness. In many ways, the West really is a different country and Johnson is well-aware of this, more so than many a provincial Eastern writer. This is a terrific book. Buy it immediately.

That's one of the main reasons I really like Denis Johnson. He is an evolution of Jack Kerouac, minus the jazz and plus the confusion. He's a Jack Kerouac who could live a stable life and write about America after making a living on his books. Hippies comprise a large percentage of America's soulful reality. It's there you find the dead-end dreamers and romantics. Hemingway these days is in the Peace Corps or selling LSD on some parking lot. I also like the parts about Africa and Kuwait. Johnson, you can send me a postcard anytime from anywhere.

After the slightness of THE NAME OF THE WORLD, and the somewhat scattered ALREADY DEAD, Johnson returns to the form that made JESUS' SON such a classic in this collection of articles. The standout is hands-down the last piece on his f**cked-up experiences in Liberia. Also good are the glimpses you get into Johnson's personal life, including his marriage and subsequent honeymoon in the wilds of Alaska, where they try to pan for the gold from which they plan to fashion their wedding rings; the highly disorganized hippie festival he goes to; the bikers for Jesus; his short piece on his brief stint as a Boy Scout. If you're already a Johnson fan, SEEK is cause for celebration.

Denis Johnson's writing seems to be at its best here. Full of simple, beautiful prose, and suspene, "Seek" is enjoyable the whole way through. The stories, or essays if you can call them that, are so vivid that you really get a sense while reading it that there are other people living right now all over the world. I hope that makes sense, but it is really true. Espescially great about this book is how pertinent the news Denis Johnson reported on so long ago is resurfacing again now. Seek gives such a brutal, interesting perspective on Iraq, Afghanistan, and Liberia, all places that we as Americans owe ourselves to know more about anyways. Reading this book fills with me with a sense of adventure I haven't felt since reading the Hardy Boys when I was eight.

As the great author and prophet Copernicus again notes, human beings are pattern-seekers. They opt to give up richness of possibility in trade for predictability and familiarity. Even though none of these patterns ever fits any better than Cinderella's slipper fit her stepsisters. Human beings seek rigid, simple patterns that defy and impoverish their dynamic, multifaceted capacity. The one pattern that human beings have locked themselves into is the simple, rigid pattern of "God," even though there are many other patterns to use, including many that better accommodate their fluid, complexity. What "God" this may be is unclear, since they all seem to talk about the same one and since there have been at least 2,500 Gods concocted and documented during human history. Denis Johnson takes us to some of the margins of human society, where the only common theme is a desperate, fruitless, and vicious seeking -- the harshness and the brutality backed up by this ubiquitous "God." If we want to see the inadequacy of this pattern and start looking for better ones -- more congruent with our design and potential -- Denis Johnson's book might be one that begins to open our eyes.

I have not read anything by Eckhart before I read this selection by Oliver Davies for Penguin. I have since read by many that the Paulist Press collections are considered to be a better grouping. This does not surprise me, the primary purpose of the Penguins being a good introduction for the many people rather than designed to appeal to the scholar or expert. I found it a good first encounter, and there does not seem to be any criticism that the Davies is either misleading in what it collects or poor in terms of translation.

This edition is broken into five main sections: The Talks of Instruction, The Book of Divine Consolation, On the Noble Man, Selected German Sermons, and Selected Latin Sermons. It also is published with an introduction by Davies to the major themes in Eckhart's thought, a note on selection and translation, a select bibliography (which I appreciated, and which seemed very helpful), and a Register of Eckhart's German sermons. The notes to the main text are included at the end of the book. I continue to wish to see notes in situ rather than at the end but I am apparently in the minority with this view.

As a lay reader (by which I mean that I am neither religious scholar nor historian) I was reading the book for my own enlightenment and edification. I was most struck by Eckhart's ideas of the relationship between the soul and God, his view of time and timelessness, and the quiet repetition of the notion that a relationship to the Good comes from within rather than without. He rejects the importance of forms of worship and insists on an interior acceptance of self-love as a necessary precondition to the love of God and others. As callow as it seems to say, I found the book helpful. It kept me reading and thinking and I often experienced it as personally very moving. I particularly engaged with the selections from The Book of Divine Consolation.

I would recommend both Eckhart in general and this edition in particular. I may myself circle back at some point to pick up the more complete editions. But this should be seen as credit to Penguin in providing the sufficient introductory experience rather than an expression of lack.

eckhart reads like a combination of an open-minded seeker-pope and a buddhist or taoist master. this book was a wild introduction for me to a very interesting thinker, unfortunately one mostly hidden among the jutting rocks of religious history.

This edition of Meister Eckhart capitalises on the strengths of Penguin books; slim volumes which are fairly inexpensive and contain reasonably good scholarly introductions and notes. This edition contains the German Dominican mystic's German sermons, including several ones which deal with key Eckhartian themes, such as the distinction between 'God' and the 'Godhead', the birth of the Word in the soul, and others.

While not as good as the Paulist Press editions of Eckhart's works, this version serves as a very useful introduction to this great mystic's thoughts and sermons.

If anything else, Eckhart is completely entertaining to read. This is an excellent selection of what may be his greatest and most compelling contribution to Christian mysticism--namely, his vernacular sermons!

If one would like a better comprehension of the Meister's intellectual landscape, I recommend Bernard McGinn's, "The Mystical Thought of Meister Eckhart."

There are a lot of Meister Eckart books around, but this is the best I have seen. The introduction is especially illuminating. Oliver Davies dispenses with scholastic writings and materials related to the heresy charges, focusing, chronologically, on instructional works and sermons. The Meister Eckhart that emerges from these pages is one who, while taking good works and devotional practices for granted, is so immersed in the Christianized, Neo-Platonic inner life, that he appears, at times, totally unorthodox, at other times, wholly traditional. Reading him is a mind altering experience not to be missed. The translations are very good, and puzzling passages are annotated. References to ancient authors are likewise noted. As a side issue, several of the sermons contain glimpses of medieval scientific theory.

Noted as "extraordinary" by the author Tee A. Corinne in her book `Courting Pleasure' and as `...exquisite, memorable erotic work...".

This was the most intense reading I have done in a long time. This should be recommended reading in all colleges and universities.

Tremendous titles from the author are - Bastard Out of Carolina, Trash, and The Women Who Hate Me. More information can be found at the author's web page dorothyallison dot net

From the back of the book - A compelling collection of essays, autobiographical narratives, and performance pieces combines updated versions of earlier groundbreaking material with provocative new work. The author probes her experience of being a lifelong feminist activist, controversial sex radical, and a Southern expatriate writer with an attitude.. With humor, passion and enormous conviction, she addresses what it means to be queer and happy about it in a world that is still arguing about what it means to be queer.

"Skin" is a book of essays by the amazingly talented writer and activist, Dorothy Allison. I remember reading [...] Out of Carolina many years ago and thinking I might not get through it because of its gruesome and hideous portrayal of a poverty-stricken, incestuous family living in the South. Turns out that book was Allison's fictionalized account of her childhood. Skin, however, is a finely crafted series of essays with titles ranging from "Gun Crazy" to "The Theory and Practice of the Strap-on Dildo" to "Believing in Literature". She likes to talk about everything people aren't supposed to talk about, including masturbating to science fiction novels, the pain of catching a venereal disease from her stepfather when she was a child (a disease that went untreated, rendering her sterile), the thrill of S & M, butch/femme strap-on sex, and much more just as juicy. Allison's style is fearlessly intimate and unashamed. Her long struggle to escape poverty and find a voice is evident in every page, and in every page her voice is beautiful, loud, and resiliant.

An opportunity to get thinking about a few "difficult" subjects, while enjoying a few refreshing lines of thought as well as a no-nonense yet witty style.Being a woman, gay or poor not a requisite, although it might help. If you're neither of the three, buy the book anyway, you might learn something (I did).

Not since Andrea Dworkin's "Woman Hating" (that I read in 1978) have I been so moved by the truth of another writer that I would want to emulate it. In sharing Harris's vision of writing as an "uncompromising revolutionary act" the point is made that the mainstream literary world as well as the "so-called avant-garde and burgeoning feminist critical aristocracy" will not appreciate the lesbian writer who "refuses to obey the rules." To both women, nothing is more important than telling the truth, "refusing all categories, all who would shape your writing to their own use."

"Yes!" I cried, " The End.

The extraordinary Dorothy Allison can write fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and essays. Skin is her contribution to the essay genre, a collection of two dozen bits of astute rambling across a crazy quilt of subjects stitched together by the fierce honesty her readers have come to expect from all of her writing. Coming from a poor white trash family in South Carolina, she traveled beyond her origins thanks to a rampant intelligence that nothing could dull. A feminist before the word was invented, Allison is also a proud card-carrying lesbian, a writer, mentor, teacher, lecturer, and a woman who is always generous to other writers. Skin deals more explicitly and in greater depth with erotica and sexuality than her other works, so readers would do well to be forewarned. But if you're a Dorothy Allison fan, this is NOT a book to be missed.

True to the topic, it transports you right there. Historical and old, but still current.

I thought this book was one of the best books Ive ever read it describes how people feel and view the world from inside themselves but can never express this externally or even realise they are thinking these things themselves.

For me It depicts how inadequate we all are men and women, when it comes to Love, and expressing it and sharing it. it flumoxes us all, Its too big for us, "the chickens had more sense"....pass the worms please.

Written about a South African farm. this book depicts the story of a family and how they interact throughout the book. The most striking dynamic in the book is the relationships of the women in it. It portrays female existence in a realistic light even for today. The story has a lot of character to it, and I would recommend it highly for teachers who want to teach about feminism.

Although I had to read this book for a college class, I would read it again in a second, I feel that I can only gain more and more from this book through rereadings. Its plot is at times disjointed to the style of the author and the message she is attempting to convey, so for those who are looking for a strongly Dickensian or "feel good" read, this is most likely not the book for you right now. But for me, from an analytical and heartfelt standpoint, the subtlety of the book and its beauty and its truth made me tear up a little bit. I'm currently writing a paper on Waldo and his artistic and personal growth throughout the novel, so maybe I'm a little biased, but although Lyndall is an incredibly interesting and advanced character, I think Waldo is often glossed over as merely suffering from a religious crisis of faith, and, being a man, not deserving of attention in this novel of the "New Woman". But Waldo ultimately reaches a place of amazing peace and understanding, and the lives of Waldo and Lyndall intertwined together is truly beautiful.

"Story of an African Farm" is a difficult work to describe. It must be read several times, and carefully pondered before all of its secrets are unlocked.

Ostensibly, the book revolves around the lives of three children (and, later, adults) who live in the Karroo plains of South Africa. The main focus, however, is on two of the characters - Waldo, the earnest and deeply curious son of the German farmkeeper, and Lyndall, the beautiful, outspoken and rebellious orphan who suffers all her life for her ideals.

The book itself is semi-autobiographical. Waldo represents Schreiner's journey from fanatical, childlike faith to bitter skepticism, who reaches a watershed of sorts when he hisses to Lyndall 'There is no God - none!'. Lyndall, on the other hand, embodies Schreiner's frustation with her station as a woman - barred from the upper echelons of society, and her inability to find a mate who is both her intellectual match and willing to accept her as an equal. "I want to love", she whispers to the grave of Waldo's father, "I want something great and pure to lift me to itself."

There are many other themes that flesh out the subtext of this extraordinary book - the tragedy of solitude, that ultimately, all humans are alone in the cosmos. "Dear eyes", the dying Lyndall whispers to her mirror, "they will never part us."

Readers who expect a narrative will be dissapointed. What narrative there is serves only to undersore the book's many themes. Often, the flow of the story is out of sequence, or devoid of context, and deliberately so. Roughly, the book is divided into three sections - the first introduces us to the characters as children, and reveals their innermost thoughts. The second, and shortest section is entitled "Times and Seasons". It is somewhat of a summary of what has gone before, dealing mostly with Waldo's journey from Christian fanaticism to dispairing atheism, and foreshadows some of what is to come. The third, and longest section, covers the lives of the characters as adults, and is by far the most powerful, and moving piece of the book.

The reader who is looking for mindless action is advised to pick up the latest Tom Clancy novel, or whatever passes for literature these days. Those who are willing to put aside all preconceived notions, and have their cherished beliefs challenged are invited to read this book. The search for truth is endless. But this book is a perfect place to begin.

First of all the potential reader should know that this book was published in 1917, so the 'Modern' in the title refers to the latter part of the nineteenth century, and the earliest part of the twentieth century.

Secondly, the author omits mention of most of the ghost story authors from that period who are still popular today, e.g. J. S. Le Fanu (first ghostly tale published in 1838) and M. R. James (first collection of stories published in 1904). She also leaves out most of Victorian ladies whose ghost stories are still in print today, e.g. Mary Elizabeth Braddon, E. Nesbit, and Mrs. Riddell.

I would classify this book as an overview of the literature of supernatural fantasy and horror (including a Byronic poem about a vampire). The ghost story as defined and brought to its peak by Victorian and Edwardian authors, receives only brief mention in the chapter, "Modern Ghosts."

Scarborough begins with the Gothic Romance, of which she says: "The mysterious twilights of medievalism invited eyes tired of the noonday glare of Augustan formalism. The natural had become familiar to monotony, hence men craved the supernatural. And so the Gothic novel came into being."

'Gothic' is used to designate the eighteenth-century, pseudo-medieval novel of horror. The author begins with Horace Walpole's, "The Castle of Otranto"--if you are at all fond of Regency romances, you are bound to run across a heroine who is reading Walpole's tale of mad monks and haunted castles, or Mrs. Radcliffe's horrific "Mysteries of Udolpho." These novels depicting "decaying castles with treacherous stairways leading to mysterious rooms, halls of black marble, and vaults whose great rusty keys groan in the locks"--plus a heroine who wanders through spider-webbed corridors at midnight--did not have much staying power. According to Scarborough, Jane Austin finally gave this genre the kiss of death when she satirized their gloomy, overwrought style in "Northanger Abbey," which remained unpublished until after her death in 1818. "The Supernatural in Modern English Fiction" describes many gothic romance peculiarities in detail, while having a certain amount of gentle fun with them.

A chapter on European supernatural literature is followed by the aforementioned chapter on "Modern Ghosts." The author makes much of the effect Poe, Balzac, Hoffmann and other Romantic supernaturalists had on the nineteenth century English and American ghost story. Balzac in particular exerted a strong influence over Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, English author of "The Haunters and the Haunted," and progenitor of that infamous opening sentence, "It was a dark and stormy night..." (yes, that Bulwer-Lytton). Other stories that the author selects for discussion depend more on the Romantic tradition of insanity, gruesome decline, and horrid death to spark them along, rather than a purely supernatural mechanism. (As a matter of fact, Scarborough even published a novel in which the heroine was driven mad by the wind.)

She also expends a great deal of print on Spiritualism (which was already on the decline when this book was written), and the mystical, folkloric pantheism of such writers as W.B. Yeats ("The Celtic Twilight") and Algernon Blackwood ("Ancient Sorceries").

Scarborough draws heavily upon Romanticism, Spiritualism, and folklore for her chapters on "The Devil and His Allies," "Supernatural Life (which contains an excellent exposition on the legend of the Wandering Jew)," and "The Supernatural in Folk-tales."

"Supernatural Science" is the only really dated chapter in this book, with its discussions of hypnotism, the Fourth Dimension, uncanny chemistry, and students who exchange eyeballs. Even here, the author provides interesting commentary on A. Conan Doyle, H. G. Wells, Arthur Machen (whom she despises), and Ambrose Bierce, among other authors who were popular at the beginning of the twentieth century (and still are).

"The Supernatural in Modern English Fiction" should appeal to anyone who is interested in the evolution of fantasy and horror literature. Try "Elegant Nightmares: The English Ghost Story from Le Fanu to Blackwood" by Jack Sullivan or "Night Visitors: The Rise and Fall of the English Ghost Story" by Julia Briggs if your interest is more focused on literature that is entirely devoted to ghosts.

A very cool find... a friend gave me a copy as a birthday gift... so many different stories by authors I had never read... plus the author, Scarborough, has this cute concise way of writing. My fav chapter was on "The Devil and His Allies."

Ever wonder where Horror Fiction came from? How has it progressed from the beginning Gothic story to the stuff it is made of today? This book will answer your questions.

A must have for the speculative fiction lover, this book covers every genre from the early gothic to the ghost stories of the 20th century. First published in 1917, Dorothy Scarbouough covers it all, the madness and the horror of the 18oo's.

I'm glad I discovered this book, it will remain a favorite for years to come.

My bookshelves are filled with anthologies, the favorites being ones that contain some of the more obscure stories. What a pleasure to find this book! Scarborough lists some writers I have never heard of and set me scurrying online. She writes in a pleasant, easy style.

This is the latest in Lethe Press's series of reissues of works on the occult. 'The Supernatural In Modern English Fiction' was written in 1917 by Dorothy Scarborough. Given that the series has been uneven so far I did not have high expectations for this volume, and have only now discovered that it is a veritable treasure trove of books and literary history. It covers the period from Horace Walpole's 'Castle of Otranto' and other Gothic romances straight through to the author's own present times in the early 20th Century.

This makes for a literal cast of thousands. I was quite surprised to discover that horror and fantasy were a major part of the world's literary output from the very beginnings of popular literature. From Walpole, Maturin, and Shelley right through to Doyle, Machen, and Blackwood it was indeed a crowded stage. And Scarborough manages to present most of these efforts in a readable and well-organized fashion. Initially we are given a historical approach, but then the themes are taken up separately. Ghost stories, the demonic, the wandering Jew, rebirth, the afterlife, folk tales, and even 'scientific' monsters each get their turn in the sun.

As I've indicated Scarborough writes without any of the boring academic tone which often haunts this kind of material. This makes this volume an entertaining way to hunt down new reading material as well as a help in steering one's way through book stall accretions with a steady hand. Keep a pencil and a piece of paper handy while reading this book, you are bound to find things of interest.

My only regret is the lack of a bibliography. Scarborough is quite up front about this. In addition to the 3,000 or so titles that she drew upon for the book, there was an even larger additional number that she felt should be provided to the reader/researcher. There simply was no room at the inn. Unfortunately, to our loss, the bibliography promised as a second volume never materialized. There is, however, a good index, which will have to serve in it's stead.

"This book is about life as it is interpreted by books."

So begins the introduction of Edward Mendelson's The Things That Matter: What Seven Classic Novels Have to Say About the Stages of Life. As a professor of English and comparative literature at Columbia University, Mendelson has read and discussed many novels. What interests me more than his being well-read, though, is his approach to reading novels.

Novels, of course, present a world full of life and characters of their own and should be read to understand that world and those characters. Mendelson takes a view like my own, however: that novels are not meant to be read in vacuo. "A reader who identifies with the characters in a novel is not reacting in a naïve way that ought to be outgrown or transcended, but is performing one of the central acts of literary understanding."

When I began to read novels in earnest I was a bit late to the game; most of my unassigned reading while I was growing up was taken from the topics of the sciences and computers. Before I had entered my twenties I had achieved unusual proficiency in those areas, even for a specialist, but I was embarrassed by my ignorance of literature. Of course I had read the usual works covered in the public school system but no one had managed to impress upon me the value of novels. Consequently, it would be more correct to say that I skimmed the usual novels and I could regurgitate various facts about The Scarlet Letter, Lord of the Flies, and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn but they didn't mean much to me at the time. So instead I read The C Programming Language, TCP/IP Illustrated, and UNIX Programmers Reference. Even much of the history that I managed to read was for a rather specific topic, as was the case with The Codebreakers.

Rather than attempt to go through life hiding my ignorance of literature and constantly fearing its exposure, I decided to solve the real problem by actually reading novels and attempting to understand them. I started with some that I remembered enjoying in high school, such as Alas, Babylon. I then returned to The Scarlet Letter and branched out to things that I should have read but had managed to avoid and in the process discovered the likes of Jane Austen. Though my love of books was always present, it was in returning to the novel that my love of reading grew.

In The Things That Matter, Mendelson takes us on a tour of the stages of life, discussing each in turn as it is considered in one of the seven novels featured.

Birth
Frankenstein, Mary Shelley (1818)
Childhood
Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë (1847)
Growth
Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë (1847)
Marriage
Middlemarch, George Eliot (1871-72)
Love
Mrs. Dalloway, Virginia Woolf (1925)
Parenthood
To the Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf (1927)
The Future
Between the Acts, Virginia Woolf (1941)

In Mendelson's capable hands, each of these novels is able to take on particular meaning. Not only are the events of the author and the historical context considered, as might be true in any literary criticism, but each is tied back to the stage of life that is the focus and what it means. In discussing meaning, Mendelson does not arrogantly push a pet theory on the reader. "Theories belong to science," he writes, "which relies on repeatable results that can be tested by experiment or refuted by fact..." Reading a novel is a personal experience and writing about novels is from an individual perspective.

Readers are invited explicitly to join in the dialogue, judging what is written for themselves, and considering meaning for themselves. Disagreement with the writer is the reader's prerogative. I love how Mendelson treats the situation. "I hope our disagreements, when they occur, can provide the comforts of both heat and light."

I enjoyed The Things That Matter thoroughly, as I'm sure will any reader who thinks of novels as worthy of reflection and consideration beyond what they mean to the author.

I echo Tom Casey's review below. I read some of these novels thirty years ago, and started re-reading them two years ago. What perfect timing, then, for Edward Mendelson's very interesting approach on these novels. On the surface this book does not appear to be the typical academic work it is, but each chapter on its own could have been a doctoral thesis. To tie these seven novels into passages of life is quite remarkable. In addition, footnotes, though infrequent, shed light on very important issues of the times that are easily overlooked. To enjoy this book one should have a fairly good knowledge of the novels. But you can read the essays in any order that you want; each essay stands alone. Highly, highly recommended.

I just read "The Things That Matter," having seen it on my library's shelf and picked it up out of curiosity. I loved this book not only for its content but for the timing with which it showed up for me to read. My brilliant-at-math-and-science-stuff child was having a challenge with English Lit class; this book has given me a way to relate to them the value of novels to real life stuff, especially thinking about how "universal ideas" in life play out in personal actual life.

I found Mendelson's critical reviews of "What Seven Classic Novels Have to Say About the Stages of Life" timely and well written. I highlight below several points that struck me.

. I have never, never, NEver realized the intricate complexities of "Frankenstein" til I read Mendelson's analysis. I had heard that the authoress (Mary Shelley) was brilliant and accomplished and connected in her time, but to be honest all I could image in my mind prior to this book was the film treatments of a) Boris Karloff, and b) Mel Brooks. Suffice it to say I have a whole new appreciation of the rich ideas and paradoxes Shelley wove into her story!

. Mendelson does a fine job of weaving seven stories into seven Stages of Life (Birth, Childhood, Growth, Marraige, Love, Parenthood, The Future). Never mind the excellence of each chapter's analyses; the crafting of the whole book, and its demonstration by example of its meta-theme that "things that matter are written about in great literature," excite my professional admiration for a job of craftsmenship and talent well done.

. Further exciting my admiration are several points mentioned in the preface and in the essays as Mendelson distinguishes "universal ideas" that these authoresses (Mary Shelley, Emile Bronte, Charlotte Bronte, George Eliot, Virginia Woolf) present in their narratives:

1) He chose all woman authors because "it has nothing to do with any fantasy that women have greater moral and emotional intelligence" but rather "a woman writer [in the 19th and 20th centuries] had a greater motivation to defend the values of personal life against the generalizing effect of stereotypes." This is still an issue today for ALL of us, I think, whatever our personal circumstances or lifestyle choices.

2) That opposite life principles may be equally true, that what is publically espoused may be privately doubted. Or said colloquially, "The opposite of a Great Truth may be in itself a Great Truth." Examples include, in "Frankenstein," the espoused principle that a good upbringing of a child will result in a good character of an adult. But: "The opposite may also be true."

To read Mendelson's "take" about these works and their authors has made me feel more acquainted with seven "tastes of greatness!"

"This book is about life as it is interpreted by books. Each of the chapters has a double subject: on the one hand, an English novel written in the nineteenth or twentieth century, and on the other, one of the great experiences or stages that occur, or can occur, in more or less everyone's life." These opening lines of Edward Mendelson's work of literary criticism - The Things That Matter - encapsulate his intent. A study of seven classical novels by Mary Shelley, Emily and Charlotte Brontë, George Eliot and Virginia Woolf, Mendelson's essays present his thesis that novels provide insight into specific stages of life and, these novels, when viewed collectively present a "history of the emotional and moral life of the past two centuries."

Mendelson has aimed his work at readers of any age, the only prerequisite being knowledge of the seven novels. He writes in a conversational manner, as if lecturing directly to the reader. Theories and supporting arguments are presented within the text, footnotes included only when critical. Woven throughout is information about the prevailing theories and literary themes of the period.

In the section on Wuthering Height_s Mendelson explores Brontë's idea of romantic childhood, tracing its roots to the romanticism of Wordsworth and Freud. His _Wuthering Heights is a very different one than the one commonly studied in high school. Heathcliff and Catherine are desperate to recapture the total unity experienced as children, to merge two selves into one. Whereas the commonly held perception is of a novel of thwarted passion and cruelty, Mendelson believes Brontë deliberately led readers to this conclusion and away from her true meaning. "She disguised Wuthering Heights as a story of doomed sexual passion perhaps because she regarded her potential readers with something close to contempt...they could not understand what this book tells them."

Each of the authors is examined with the same focus, each essay meriting its own review. Mendelson states that he "could easily imagine a similar book to this one made up of entirely different examples."

I'll keep my fingers crossed that inspiration strikes and Mendelson shares more of his thoughts on life and literature.

Armchair Interviews agrees.

In case you ever thought less of women writers than their male counterparts look no farther than Mendelson's review of seven classics all written by women who wrote what matters in life with vivid, vibrant language.

Starting with Mary Shelley's Frankenstein that is the result of an inspirational motto by Mary Wollstonecraft: "A great proportion of the misery that wanders, in hideous forms, around the world, is allowed to rise from the negligence of parents," to early attachments in Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte, to early disattachment by Charlotte Bronte, to the humdrum beats of ordinary life in Middlemarch by George Eliot, to the realization of life's illusions in Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf, to a rebellion in To the Lighthouse, also by Virginia Woolf, and finally to the disillusionment met in Between the Acts, yet again by Woolf.

Great books as can only be understood best by this book.

Captain Macwhirr has a lack of imagination that both imperils the crew and may provide their salvation. He sails his ship the Nan-Shan directly into a typhoon because he is unable to envision weather worse than he has seen in the past. Macwhirr must find a way to hold his ship and crew together to weather the storm.

This book is so compelling because of the actions of the colorful and intelligent characters who swirl around Macwhirr. While critical of the captain when becalmed, they hold firmly to his unchanging, stolid figure when things look hopeless. In an uncertain situation, people will follow certainty -- even if its source is dubious. I think this nugget of truth and the reflections of it we see in real-life lend this novel its power. Macwhirr is certainty itself, more from mindlessness than steadfastness, and others follow.

Beyond the fascinating story and character-study is Conrad's stunning writing. He says so much with so little without the hard edges of Hemingway's prose. Conrad uses adjectives, but with a diamond cutter's precision.

Joseph Conrad was a master of language. In a brief but classic book, you will experience the incredible power of a typhoon while on a steamer as if you were there. Especially real is the scene in the chart room after the initial damage. It is very dark, and Captain MacWhirr lights matches to see his surroundings. Conrad's concise descriptions make you feel even the flame of the match as it burns down. If only this book were longer! I would have loved to know more about Captain MacWhirr's adventures. I HIGHLY recommend this book, as well as Conrad's "Heart of Darkness."

This novel is unforgettable. Conrad creates a sense of terror regarding the forces of nature that will stand up to any special effects that Hollywood can produce. The scene describing the panic below deck of the Chinese workers is one of the most powerful in literature. Not to be missed.

Taking maximum advantage from his long years at sea, and from his innate insight into the human soul, Conrad tells an outright and direct story about a huge typhoon in the midst of the Yellow Sea. But the book is not so much about the storm in itself, but about the human character and how it reacts to disaster.

Captain MacWhirr is famous for being an efficient, calm, dull and silent man, someone you would trust but not like. He seems to be rather unbrilliant, though, never understanding why people talk so much. The other characters are also interesting, especially Jukes, the "young Turk", vivid and dynamic; Solomon the head engineer, another wise man from the sea, and the disgusting and repugnant "second officer", the type of coward you don't want to be with in this kind of drama.

Human character, then, is revealed by limit-situations much more than at any other time, as war literature fans know, and this tale will leave you wondering how YOU would react if you had to make decisions in the midst of a horrible, and wonderfully depicted, typhoon.

Great narration on the audio book captures the British and Scottish dialects, but it's so smooth that it's easy to be lulled into dreamland. I had to go back to the excerpts on Amazon and replay parts of the tape to catch the true impact of Conrad's words.

Captain Mac Whirr, a short, fat, dull but dependable seaman, commands the Nan-Shan for a Siamese merchant firm. He writes twelve letter a year to his uncaring wife and has two children who barely know him. During typhoon season in the China Sea Jukes the first mate tells the Captain to change course to avoid the looming storm, but Mac Whirr will think of nothing but forging straight ahead. The Captain and Jukes as well as Solomon Rout the chief engineer (Long Sol, Old Sol or father Rout to his shipmates and Solomon Sez to his wife who quotes pearls of wisdom from his letters to anyone who'll listen) and the Bosun are at the center of the crisis that follows.

During a storm like no other the actions of everyman are almost predetermined by their biases, intrenched beliefs and in some cases ability to react. In six short chapters Conrad develops a great story of how different men behave in a fight for survival.

The tale of the last leg is told in pieces from letters home. The Captain's letter is barely read by his wife who has no idea what happened. Solomon's is sentimental and cherished by his beloved. Jukes reveals the most. Unsurprisingly we find that Captain Mac Whirr wasn't so dumb after all.

It would probably be better read than listened to and deserves at least four stars for the classic it is.

This is a finely wrought, pilgrimage-like memoir of a book by Nancy M. Malone called Walking a Literary Labyrinth: A Spirituality of Reading. She's a capaciously well-read Ursuline nun of keen empathy and insight who had a mid-life problem with alcoholism and develops a kind of 'lectio divina" approach via "slow, attentive, repetitive reading" of key passages to a whole range of interesting works, sacred and secular, Augustine to Gadamer and Atwood et al. At the core of it is the conversion experience of recuperated interiority to a "God who dwells with you, as you." Funny take on Harvard Divinity School in the late 60s...and probing Bridgeport and Bronx details. A splendid, keenly focused book, worthy of the close appreciation (reading, meditating, praying, loving) that it advocates and enacts.

Walking a Literary Labyrinth is a life-changing book for some readers, a "yes I recognize that feeling" for other readers and a "talk about stating the obvious" for others. As a Vatican II Catholic who grew up in a reading family, I had trouble relating to many sections of the book. However, I did appreciate the "rightness" of her observations regarding the sacramental aspect of secular reading - and the importance of taking care what one feeds yourself through your reading. If you feel guilty "wasting" your time reading I'd recommend this book as the appropriate antidote to guilt.

My New Years resolution for 2005 was to read more in a disciplined fashion. I did read more in a sytematic, disciplined way. But by the end of 2005, I was beginning to wonder if I was reading intelligently. I was also consigning myself to the possiblity that I just might not be able to read every book ever written and might have to learn how to better select what books I should read.

Thus my resolution for 2006 is to keep the quantity up, while improving the quality. With that in mind, Malone's Walking a Literary Labyrinth was my first title to read for 2006. I wanted to read about the act of reading.

Did Malone's work help me? Yes, because it allowed me to reflect on just what role I wanted books, and reading them, to have in my life. As she wrote about the books that were important to her and why, I was able to reflect on what books were important to me. More significantly, I was able to think about what books I could read that in later years I could say, "Reading that book really make a difference in my life."

As a result of reading Malone's books, I haved refined my 2006 reading resolution to: Read books that will really make a difference to me. In the past, I tended too much to read things simpy because they were deemed important. In other words, I read to have read. Now I'm focusing on, read to enjoy and grow! Malone's books was a good step in this direction.

WALKING A LITERARY LABYRINTH is a book I stumbled upon accidentally, but it is one that seems tailor-made for people like me who love to read and wish to incorporate their reading into their spiritual lives. The author, Nancy Malone is Roman Catholic nun and a member of the Ursuline order. In the book we meet the author as a child and as the book progresses we learn about her progress in religious life. We also discover how reading has touched her life. She shares the wisdom she has acquired along the way, and offers some reflections to help reading buffs see ways in which literature can help us understand our world and grow closer to God. The literature that inspires her spiritually is vast. Sources include classic writings of Christianity, classic and popular pieces of literature, biographies, and a variety of non-fiction. Since she is a Roman Catholic nun, her insights are very Catholic, stemming form her faith tradition, but are catholic in the universal sense of the word. The literature that nourishes her spirituality leads her to God and helps her to find God in new ways. She invites readers to do likewise.

Sometimes I hear some people whop read books on spirituality complain that the book is the same information, just a different author. Nancy Malone's book is fresh and offers its readers a new way of drawing closer to God and seeing God in a new way.

WALKING A LITERARY LABYRINTH is a book I stumbled upon accidentally, but it is one that seems tailor-made for people like me who love to read and wish to incorporate their reading into their spiritual lives. The author, Nancy Malone is Roman Catholic nun and a member of the Ursuline order. In the book we meet the author as a child and as the book progresses we learn about her progress in religious life. We also discover how reading has touched her life. She shares the wisdom she has acquired along the way, and offers some reflections to help reading buffs see ways in which literature can help us understand our world and grow closer to God. The literature that inspires her spiritually is vast. Sources include classic writings of Christianity, classic and popular pieces of literature, biographies, and a variety of non-fiction. Since she is a Roman Catholic nun, her insights are very Catholic, stemming form her faith tradition, but are catholic in the universal sense of the word. The literature that nourishes her spirituality leads her to God and helps her to find God in new ways. She invites readers to do likewise.

Sometimes I hear some people whop read books on spirituality complain that the book is the same information, just a different author. Nancy Malone's book is fresh and offers its readers a new way of drawing closer to God and seeing God in a new way.

As the author of "Of Life Immense: The Prophetic Vision of Walt Whitman," I have many copies of "Leaves of Grass," along with many other books about Walt Whitman. The "Library of America Edition" is very well done, beautiful to read and wonderful to hold. Justin Kaplan"s commentary is insightful and his selection of Whitman's prose provides the reader with significant understanding of Whitman's life. If you have only one book by and about Walt Whitman, this may well be the book you should have.

trinity. My debt and appreciation has never diminished to this threesome. In fact, only increases.


The reason that I came across the Library of America series is that after many years of use, my copy of 'Leaves of Grass' was giving way to time. I was looking for a quality hardcover that I would not only use over and over again, but one that looked elegant on my book shelf.


I am completely happy with both the quality of the book: binding, cover, print, paper and compactness as well as the contents. There are volumes of Whitman's written words available, and are worth the owning, but this collection captures his essence, and should go a long way in keeping the lover of 'Leaves of Grass' happy and satisfied.

I picked up this book in the Spring of 1990 while browsing in a bookstore. I'm no student of poetry, in fact I only purchased it because I randomly flipped it open and was enamored with the passage I found. I learned that the passage is from "Song of Myself" and have read both that epic poem and the entire collection through dozens of times.

I didn't know exactly what I had purchased that day. But over time find that turning to Whitman's poetry and prose has been a source of comfort. I find myself in his writings, and find that his messages apply clearly in the present day. This volume is a pretty hefty way to start with Whitman--you get everything from the start. If you choose to buy it, I suggest randomly exploring it--stopping here and there to read a poem. I spent weeks exploring that way, only later did I read everything from start to finish. The simplicity of the writing and the clarity of meaning is remarkable.

The Library of America edition is--in itself--beautiful. Well bound, fine paper, still in excellent condition after 15 years of use. When reading it, it is impossible not to appreciate the caliber of it's manufacture: the choice of paper, inks, typefaces, binding, etc. contribute to pleasurable experience. I have a small number of other Library of America volumes, and each is exquisitely assembled and a joy to read. They are not inexpensive, but I'd argue that they are most definitely worth every penny.

Exuberant, sensual (without ever being pornographic), hedonistic, Whitman is one of a kind and truly American. It's difficult to explain why I enjoy Whitman's work so much. I guess it's because he is at peace with himself and enjoys people, life, and the American ideal so much! I read it and enjoyed Whitman in high school. Now, I read a little at a time taking in the words and the images his describes.

Beethoven killed classical style. It kind of ends with him. He was soooo good that he was impossible to follow. Others had to go in other directions.

But Whitman invents modern poetry. And with his Beethoven intensity and skill ought to have killed it, with his "Leaves of Grass". But poets are hardier than musicians, I suppose. You need a Whitman scale to rate poets. Really excellent gets a W0.5 (from 0 to 1). Like that.

But so does Whitman himself. His first real work was called "Leaves of Grass". His second was called "Leaves of Grass". His third, "Leaves of Grass"...

He kept improving his older stuff and adding on. It got bigger and bigger and bigger. Historically, you may want an older version. But this one is the mother load.

AND .... this is the big and .... it has the best preface of any book ever written. Period. No contest. He wrote this in his later years and the preface is a work of its own. Magnificent. This book makes me blue in that I could never rise to this level of speech and thought given infinite resources and tutoring. So it stands there like a continent. Explore it.