English Classics Books

November, 28, 2003

SERIES EXAMINES LIFE'S QUIRKS and SIMILARITIES

What do a spider and a Neanderthal have in common or molecules and humans? No, these are not the beginning of unfunny jokes your uncle told you at Christmas. These are examples of everyday life examined in the book of John Hodgson.
A former cellular phone salesman, Hodgson now writes full time from his home.
Using his own observations and research, Hodgson presents a series of book that look at the strange daily habits of life.
The Little Fun Book of Bees/Forests, The Little Fun Book of Spiders/Neanderthal, The Little fun Book of Molecules/Humans, and The Little Fun Book of Plants/Scorpions all take seemingly unrelated topics and find ways of showing that they are, in fact, similar in many ways.
Most people are aware that at one time Neanderthals roamed the earth hunting and gathering, crossing the landscape to survive. But how many people would instantly associate these practices with a spider? They, too, spend most of their lives hunting for food and building a home in which to live.
But Hodgson takes this to another level and looks at ways in which spiders and Neanderthals moved, ate, and survived thousands of years ago and, in the case of spiders, today. He then attempts to show that they are really not that different at all.
One only has to open the book to any random page and instantly find unique and fun comparisons written in a metaphoric and disjoined manner, aiming to make connections between the two subjects: "Spiders/Neanderthals lived together/didn't always get along;" or "Neanderthals sometimes eat spiders. Spiders sometimes bite Neanderthals."
After several of these comparisons, the reader begins to share the author's understanding of the natural world and its subtle connection Hodgson makes.
Each page has just one sentence, in large type similar to a children's book. Hodgson, however, deals with more complex issues, raising questions of how other living creatures could be related in subtle and not-so-subtle ways. In some cases he makes obvious links: scorpions and plants, for example, need dirt to live. Hodgson then takes a more philosophical approach, by showing how plants and scorpions symbolize humans in a variety of ways.
Hodgson presents to readers the ways in which life has learned to co-exist with each other despite obvious differences. He also looks at ways in which species depend on each other to survive and, in the end, it isn't always man who wins.
"Neanderthals were the building blocks of modern man. Spiders still exist." Hodgson writes.
The Little Fun Book series is certainly ideal for the person who enjoys learning and understanding the world around them from different perspectives.
The Little Fun Book series is published through 1st books library and are available at www.1stbookslibrary.com, www.amazon.com and www.barnesandnoble.com.

November, 28, 2003

SERIES EXAMINES LIFE'S QUIRKS and SIMILARITIES

What do a spider and a Neanderthal have in common or molecules and humans? No, these are not the beginning of unfunny jokes your uncle told you at Christmas. These are examples of everyday life examined in the book of John Hodgson.
A former cellular phone salesman, Hodgson now writes full time from his home.
Using his own observations and research, Hodgson presents a series of book that look at the strange daily habits of life.
The Little Fun Book of Bees/Forests, The Little Fun Book of Spiders/Neanderthal, The Little fun Book of Molecules/Humans, and The Little Fun Book of Plants/Scorpions all take seemingly unrelated topics and find ways of showing that they are, in fact, similar in many ways.
Most people are aware that at one time Neanderthals roamed the earth hunting and gathering, crossing the landscape to survive. But how many people would instantly associate these practices with a spider? They, too, spend most of their lives hunting for food and building a home in which to live.
But Hodgson takes this to another level and looks at ways in which spiders and Neanderthals moved, ate, and survived thousands of years ago and, in the case of spiders, today. He then attempts to show that they are really not that different at all.
One only has to open the book to any random page and instantly find unique and fun comparisons written in a metaphoric and disjoined manner, aiming to make connections between the two subjects: "Spiders/Neanderthals lived together/didn't always get along;" or "Neanderthals sometimes eat spiders. Spiders sometimes bite Neanderthals."
After several of these comparisons, the reader begins to share the author's understanding of the natural world and its subtle connection Hodgson makes.
Each page has just one sentence, in large type similar to a children's book. Hodgson, however, deals with more complex issues, raising questions of how other living creatures could be related in subtle and not-so-subtle ways. In some cases he makes obvious links: scorpions and plants, for example, need dirt to live. Hodgson then takes a more philosophical approach, by showing how plants and scorpions symbolize humans in a variety of ways.
Hodgson presents to readers the ways in which life has learned to co-exist with each other despite obvious differences. He also looks at ways in which species depend on each other to survive and, in the end, it isn't always man who wins.
"Neanderthals were the building blocks of modern man. Spiders still exist." Hodgson writes.
The Little Fun Book series is certainly ideal for the person who enjoys learning and understanding the world around them from different perspectives.
The Little Fun Book series is published through 1st books library and are available at www.1stbookslibrary.com, www.amazon.com and www.barnesandnoble.com.

November, 28, 2003

SERIES EXAMINES LIFE'S QUIRKS and SIMILARITIES

What do a spider and a Neanderthal have in common or molecules and humans? No, these are not the beginning of unfunny jokes your uncle told you at Christmas. These are examples of everyday life examined in the book of John Hodgson.
A former cellular phone salesman, Hodgson now writes full time from his home.
Using his own observations and research, Hodgson presents a series of book that look at the strange daily habits of life.
The Little Fun Book of Bees/Forests, The Little Fun Book of Spiders/Neanderthal, The Little fun Book of Molecules/Humans, and The Little Fun Book of Plants/Scorpions all take seemingly unrelated topics and find ways of showing that they are, in fact, similar in many ways.
Most people are aware that at one time Neanderthals roamed the earth hunting and gathering, crossing the landscape to survive. But how many people would instantly associate these practices with a spider? They, too, spend most of their lives hunting for food and building a home in which to live.
But Hodgson takes this to another level and looks at ways in which spiders and Neanderthals moved, ate, and survived thousands of years ago and, in the case of spiders, today. He then attempts to show that they are really not that different at all.
One only has to open the book to any random page and instantly find unique and fun comparisons written in a metaphoric and disjoined manner, aiming to make connections between the two subjects: "Spiders/Neanderthals lived together/didn't always get along;" or "Neanderthals sometimes eat spiders. Spiders sometimes bite Neanderthals."
After several of these comparisons, the reader begins to share the author's understanding of the natural world and its subtle connection Hodgson makes.
Each page has just one sentence, in large type similar to a children's book. Hodgson, however, deals with more complex issues, raising questions of how other living creatures could be related in subtle and not-so-subtle ways. In some cases he makes obvious links: scorpions and plants, for example, need dirt to live. Hodgson then takes a more philosophical approach, by showing how plants and scorpions symbolize humans in a variety of ways.
Hodgson presents to readers the ways in which life has learned to co-exist with each other despite obvious differences. He also looks at ways in which species depend on each other to survive and, in the end, it isn't always man who wins.
"Neanderthals were the building blocks of modern man. Spiders still exist." Hodgson writes.
The Little Fun Book series is certainly ideal for the person who enjoys learning and understanding the world around them from different perspectives.
The Little Fun Book series is published through 1st books library and are available at www.1stbookslibrary.com, www.amazon.com and www.barnesandnoble.com.

November, 28, 2003

SERIES EXAMINES LIFE'S QUIRKS and SIMILARITIES

What do a spider and a Neanderthal have in common or molecules and humans? No, these are not the beginning of unfunny jokes your uncle told you at Christmas. These are examples of everyday life examined in the book of John Hodgson.
A former cellular phone salesman, Hodgson now writes full time from his home.
Using his own observations and research, Hodgson presents a series of book that look at the strange daily habits of life.
The Little Fun Book of Bees/Forests, The Little Fun Book of Spiders/Neanderthal, The Little fun Book of Molecules/Humans, and The Little Fun Book of Plants/Scorpions all take seemingly unrelated topics and find ways of showing that they are, in fact, similar in many ways.
Most people are aware that at one time Neanderthals roamed the earth hunting and gathering, crossing the landscape to survive. But how many people would instantly associate these practices with a spider? They, too, spend most of their lives hunting for food and building a home in which to live.
But Hodgson takes this to another level and looks at ways in which spiders and Neanderthals moved, ate, and survived thousands of years ago and, in the case of spiders, today. He then attempts to show that they are really not that different at all.
One only has to open the book to any random page and instantly find unique and fun comparisons written in a metaphoric and disjoined manner, aiming to make connections between the two subjects: "Spiders/Neanderthals lived together/didn't always get along;" or "Neanderthals sometimes eat spiders. Spiders sometimes bite Neanderthals."
After several of these comparisons, the reader begins to share the author's understanding of the natural world and its subtle connection Hodgson makes.
Each page has just one sentence, in large type similar to a children's book. Hodgson, however, deals with more complex issues, raising questions of how other living creatures could be related in subtle and not-so-subtle ways. In some cases he makes obvious links: scorpions and plants, for example, need dirt to live. Hodgson then takes a more philosophical approach, by showing how plants and scorpions symbolize humans in a variety of ways.
Hodgson presents to readers the ways in which life has learned to co-exist with each other despite obvious differences. He also looks at ways in which species depend on each other to survive and, in the end, it isn't always man who wins.
"Neanderthals were the building blocks of modern man. Spiders still exist." Hodgson writes.
The Little Fun Book series is certainly ideal for the person who enjoys learning and understanding the world around them from different perspectives.
The Little Fun Book series is published through 1st books library and are available at www.1stbookslibrary.com, www.amazon.com and www.barnesandnoble.com.

November, 28, 2003

SERIES EXAMINES LIFE'S QUIRKS and SIMILARITIES

What do a spider and a Neanderthal have in common or molecules and humans? No, these are not the beginning of unfunny jokes your uncle told you at Christmas. These are examples of everyday life examined in the book of John Hodgson.
A former cellular phone salesman, Hodgson now writes full time from his home.
Using his own observations and research, Hodgson presents a series of book that look at the strange daily habits of life.
The Little Fun Book of Bees/Forests, The Little Fun Book of Spiders/Neanderthal, The Little fun Book of Molecules/Humans, and The Little Fun Book of Plants/Scorpions all take seemingly unrelated topics and find ways of showing that they are, in fact, similar in many ways.
Most people are aware that at one time Neanderthals roamed the earth hunting and gathering, crossing the landscape to survive. But how many people would instantly associate these practices with a spider? They, too, spend most of their lives hunting for food and building a home in which to live.
But Hodgson takes this to another level and looks at ways in which spiders and Neanderthals moved, ate, and survived thousands of years ago and, in the case of spiders, today. He then attempts to show that they are really not that different at all.
One only has to open the book to any random page and instantly find unique and fun comparisons written in a metaphoric and disjoined manner, aiming to make connections between the two subjects: "Spiders/Neanderthals lived together/didn't always get along;" or "Neanderthals sometimes eat spiders. Spiders sometimes bite Neanderthals."
After several of these comparisons, the reader begins to share the author's understanding of the natural world and its subtle connection Hodgson makes.
Each page has just one sentence, in large type similar to a children's book. Hodgson, however, deals with more complex issues, raising questions of how other living creatures could be related in subtle and not-so-subtle ways. In some cases he makes obvious links: scorpions and plants, for example, need dirt to live. Hodgson then takes a more philosophical approach, by showing how plants and scorpions symbolize humans in a variety of ways.
Hodgson presents to readers the ways in which life has learned to co-exist with each other despite obvious differences. He also looks at ways in which species depend on each other to survive and, in the end, it isn't always man who wins.
"Neanderthals were the building blocks of modern man. Spiders still exist." Hodgson writes.
The Little Fun Book series is certainly ideal for the person who enjoys learning and understanding the world around them from different perspectives.
The Little Fun Book series is published through 1st books library and are available at www.1stbookslibrary.com, www.amazon.com and www.barnesandnoble.com.

November, 28, 2003

SERIES EXAMINES LIFE'S QUIRKS and SIMILARITIES

What do a spider and a Neanderthal have in common or molecules and humans? No, these are not the beginning of unfunny jokes your uncle told you at Christmas. These are examples of everyday life examined in the book of John Hodgson.
A former cellular phone salesman, Hodgson now writes full time from his home.
Using his own observations and research, Hodgson presents a series of book that look at the strange daily habits of life.
The Little Fun Book of Bees/Forests, The Little Fun Book of Spiders/Neanderthal, The Little fun Book of Molecules/Humans, and The Little Fun Book of Plants/Scorpions all take seemingly unrelated topics and find ways of showing that they are, in fact, similar in many ways.
Most people are aware that at one time Neanderthals roamed the earth hunting and gathering, crossing the landscape to survive. But how many people would instantly associate these practices with a spider? They, too, spend most of their lives hunting for food and building a home in which to live.
But Hodgson takes this to another level and looks at ways in which spiders and Neanderthals moved, ate, and survived thousands of years ago and, in the case of spiders, today. He then attempts to show that they are really not that different at all.
One only has to open the book to any random page and instantly find unique and fun comparisons written in a metaphoric and disjoined manner, aiming to make connections between the two subjects: "Spiders/Neanderthals lived together/didn't always get along;" or "Neanderthals sometimes eat spiders. Spiders sometimes bite Neanderthals."
After several of these comparisons, the reader begins to share the author's understanding of the natural world and its subtle connection Hodgson makes.
Each page has just one sentence, in large type similar to a children's book. Hodgson, however, deals with more complex issues, raising questions of how other living creatures could be related in subtle and not-so-subtle ways. In some cases he makes obvious links: scorpions and plants, for example, need dirt to live. Hodgson then takes a more philosophical approach, by showing how plants and scorpions symbolize humans in a variety of ways.
Hodgson presents to readers the ways in which life has learned to co-exist with each other despite obvious differences. He also looks at ways in which species depend on each other to survive and, in the end, it isn't always man who wins.
"Neanderthals were the building blocks of modern man. Spiders still exist." Hodgson writes.
The Little Fun Book series is certainly ideal for the person who enjoys learning and understanding the world around them from different perspectives.
The Little Fun Book series is published through 1st books library and are available at www.1stbookslibrary.com, www.amazon.com and www.barnesandnoble.com.

This is a wonderful book. From one of the best Sicilian writers of all times, an insightful and extremely entertaining story of life, religion, and spirituality.

The Little Jesus of Sicily is a wonderful story that transcends both age and religion. The author recounts his experience as a young child chosen to be Jesus for a day for the Feast of Saint Joseph in a small village in pre-World War II Italy. As the story winds through the fanciful imaginations and commonplace activities of a youngster, the reader is reminded of his/her own experiences as a child and is introduced to an historical glimpse of a bygone era. The translation from the Italian is superb -- it was awarded the PEN American Center's 1996 Renato Poggioli Translation Award -- and the thoughtful illustrations, which burst off the page, are an asset to the work.

The Little Jesus of Sicily can be read at many different levels. On the surface it is a captivating tale. At a deeper level, it is a voyage in time, an account of life in a rural Sicilian community, a reality that has almost vanished. Pasqualino ponders the loss of customs and traditions of his native village while reflecting on the impact of industrialization and modernization on society. It is possible to discern a still deeper level--a spiritual one where Pasqualino shares his Christian beliefs without ever resorting to pious platitudes. Imagination, poetry, and faith are at the core of Pasqualino's spiritual quest as he asks simple but fundamental questions about the meaning of existence. A profound meditation on the human condition, this novel depicts in great detail the hardships and the ordinary pleasures of day-to-day life while examining the beliefs and forces that sustain people through suffering and adversity. The novel renews a tradition of literature found in works of regional and southern Italian inspiration and belongs to that category of rare books which are suited to please children and adults alike: Grimm's legends and fairy tales, La Fontaine's fables, Saint-Exupery's Little Prince, or Cervantes' Don Quixote. I decided to translate The Little Jesus of Sicily for one simple reason: I feel in love with it. I started the novel and could not put it down. I saw myself in it, I saw my child, and I saw the child who resides in all of us and longs for wonder. It was beautiful, it was funny, and it made me happy; I wanted to share this precious feeling of joy with other readers. I hope you will enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed translating it.

Edmund Crispin is a fabulous English mystery writer who is not well known (at least in the U.S.) but deserves to be. He's literate without being pedantic, although a classical education will help you appreciate his humor (for example, a character who has taken the pseudonym of Mr. Datchery from a character in a Dickens novel). I will admit that one or two of his works are just a little bit too stylized for my enjoyment -- I think he's joking about things in Britain at the time he wrote that I don't understand. But this one -- although it is set in the post-WWII period and very topical -- has a puzzle mystery at its center that is timeless. The problem for the reader is, how could a very likable character NOT have committed the murder, given the evidence?

The setting is a pretty little English village, made less pretty by the presence of someone sending anonymous letters that are very distressing to the recipient. One letter drives the recipient to suicide, so it is particularly important that the sender be caught and stopped. Then there's a murder, which appears to be related to the letters -- or maybe not.

If you haven't discovered Crispin yet, I highly recommend him. My favorite by him remains The Moving Toyshop, but this one is also excellent.





This

Edmund Crispin is not known as a writer who features animals in his mysteries. Yet in "Swan Song," he gave us the bald, pub parrot that recited Heine in the original German.

In "Love Lies Bleeding," Mr. Merrythought, the ancient, slovenly bloodhound thwarted a double murder.

"The Long Divorce" introduces Lavender, the cat who sees Martians. (Either you have a cat who sees Martians---there is one perched on my printer right now, staring off into what humans refer to as `empty space'---or else you will have to take Mr. Crispin's word that such perceptive cats exist.) Lavender, the marmalade-colored tomcat with unusual visual powers is instrumental in the capture of a murderer.

Murder is really secondary to the story of a village plagued by an anonymous letter-writer. Some of the letters are merely obscene. Others are poisonously factual.

Gervase Fen, Professor of English Language and Literature in the University of Oxford is importuned by an old friend to expose the anonymous letter-writer. And so Fen, microscopically disguised under the name of `Mr. Datchery' (borrowed from Charles Dickens's "The Mystery of Edmund Drood") takes himself off to his friend's bucolic village.

"To an obbligato of bird-song Mr Datchery marched beneath a bright sky towards Cotton Abbas. And he carolled lustily, to the distress of all animate nature, as he walked....The directions given him at Twelford had been explicit. But since he believed himself to possess an infallible bump of locality, he was soon tempted to modify them with a variety of short cuts, and after about three miles he discovered, much to his indignation, that he was lost."

Is that or is that not Fen to the life?

"The Long Divorce" (1952) is eighth in Crispin's series of mysteries starring his literate, cynical, sometimes bumptious amateur detective. It is also a comedy of rural, post-war England. The characters are dead-on: the army veteran who is trying to stop smoking; the female physician who is struggling to build a practice in a conservative backwater; the teenager who both loves and is ashamed of her obnoxious, money-grubbing father.

Many of the mystery writers of the 1940s and 1950s were guilty of creating one-dimensional female stereotypes, or going off on the occasional anti-feminist rant. Margery Allingham, Rex Stout, and John Dickson Carr come readily to mind as producing examples of this type of writing. Crispin also creates the occasional stereotype, especially in his early novels and some of his short stories, but the characters in "The Long Divorce" are fully and fascinatingly realized---especially the women (okay, okay---except for the innkeeper's wife and the sluttish barmaid. But they are very minor players).

Crispin also works in an ongoing and thoughtful dialogue on suicide, and there is a hair-raising scene where Fen just manages to prevent a young girl from killing herself.

"The Long Divorce" is a classical Golden-Age British mystery, a thoughtful essay on suicide, and a marvelous, occasionally hilarious study of the rural English character. I feel the same frustration that Fen felt, when at story's end he reveals his true name to a gathering of the book's characters---and very few of them have heard of him.

Why isn't Fen at least as well-known as Lord Peter or Miss Marple or Nero Wolfe? He certainly deserves to be.

Edmund Crispin is not known as a writer who features animals in his mysteries. Yet in "Swan Song," he gave us the bald, pub parrot that recited Heine in the original German.

In "Love Lies Bleeding," Mr. Merrythought, the ancient, slovenly bloodhound thwarted a double murder.

"The Long Divorce" introduces Lavender, the cat who sees Martians. (Either you have a cat who sees Martians---there is one perched on my printer right now, staring off into what humans refer to as 'empty space'---or else you will have to take Mr. Crispin's word that such perceptive cats exist.) Lavender, the marmalade-colored tomcat with unusual visual powers is instrumental in the capture of a murderer.

Murder is really secondary to the story of a village plagued by an anonymous letter-writer. Some of the letters are merely obscene. Others are poisonously factual.

Gervase Fen, Professor of English Language and Literature in the University of Oxford is importuned by an old friend to expose the anonymous letter-writer. And so Fen, microscopically disguised under the name of 'Mr. Datchery' (borrowed from Charles Dickens's "The Mystery of Edmund Drood") takes himself off to his friend's bucolic village.

"To an obbligato of bird-song Mr Datchery marched beneath a bright sky towards Cotton Abbas. And he carolled lustily, to the distress of all animate nature, as he walked....The directions given him at Twelford had been explicit. But since he believed himself to possess an infallible bump of locality, he was soon tempted to modify them with a variety of short cuts, and after about three miles he discovered, much to his indignation, that he was lost."

Is that or is that not Fen to the life?

"The Long Divorce" (1952) is eighth in Crispin's series of mysteries starring his literate, cynical, sometimes bumptious amateur detective. It is also a comedy of rural, post-war England. The characters are dead-on: the army veteran who is trying to stop smoking; the female physician who is struggling to build a practice in a conservative backwater; the teenager who both loves and is ashamed of her obnoxious, money-grubbing father.

Many of the mystery writers of the 1940s and 1950s were guilty of creating one-dimensional female stereotypes, or going off on the occasional anti-feminist rant. Margery Allingham, Rex Stout, and John Dickson Carr come readily to mind as producing examples of this type of writing. Crispin also creates the occasional stereotype, especially in his early novels and some of his short stories, but the characters in "The Long Divorce" are fully and fascinatingly realized---especially the women (okay, okay---except for the innkeeper's wife and the sluttish barmaid. But they are very minor players).

Crispin also works in an ongoing and thoughtful dialogue on suicide, and there is a hair-raising scene where Fen just manages to prevent a young girl from killing herself.

"The Long Divorce" is a classical Golden-Age British mystery, a thoughtful essay on suicide, and a marvelous, occasionally hilarious study of the rural English character. I feel the same frustration that Fen felt, when at story's end he reveals his true name to a gathering of the book's characters---and very few of them have heard of him.

Why isn't Fen at least as well-known as Lord Peter or Miss Marple or Nero Wolfe? He certainly deserves to be.

Someone once asked Chekhov why he didn't write novels. He said that he did, but none of them was over 12,000 words long. These are some of those 'novels'. Each one of them has an intellectual and emotional heft that will blow away most full-size novels. They are like magic tricks, lots of very serious clowns climbing out of an impossibly small car. Chekhov was not the first modernist, but he was probably the greatest.

Have to agree with the previous reviewer, this is Chekov at his best. It is interesting to see that he matured from writing serial comic stories to such sustained narratives full of compassion and sympathy for the human condition. A friend of mine once said a writer really needs to live in a place for a long time and observe people floating in and out of that context in order to be able to write good narrative. Well I feel these stories are the culmination of a lifetime of Chekov observing the people around him, their hopes and their disappointments, how their lives arc across the passing of years. And it feels true and straight from life, without mannerism or affectation or judgment, the various heartbreak and apathy and small joys of Chekov's characters, these are recognizable as fundamental and immediate to our lives.

I can't think of who can rival Chekov's characterization. A man in "An Anonymous Story", a somewhat spineless bureaucrat and hanger-on who makes fun of his wife and children while among his friends (but whom one can imagine being extremely tender to them in person), he often sits at a piano and fingers hackneyed tunes. But then there is a moment when everything we have known about him becomes transformed, and that glimpse carries the burden of years of disappointment and failure; and he is a minor character in the story!

In the last story of the collection, "The Ravine", a character says: "We can't know everything, how and wherefore...and so it is ordained for man not to know everything but only a half or a quarter. As much as he knows to live, so much he knows." Chekov states beautifully in these stories what it means to be human, our weakness, frailty, and blindness. I'm not sure what good it does us. Make us more cognizant of suffering and sadness (like the Japanese concept of mono no aware)? To what end? I don't know. His is a beautiful statement of it, at any rate.

Since the previous volumes of the Modern Library Chekhov were titled Early and Late (with the Late ending with his death), I had thought that they were the complete series. My review on the Later Stories actually had a small complaint that precisely these longer stories were missing.

Well, this is wonderful: everything essential from his short stories (that I've come across) is in these three volumes - making them, I suppose, the greatest collection of short stories every printed. I wish the Modern Library would publish them in paperback, like they did with the six volumes of In Search of Lost Time - I think there's still an audience, although the fact that I found Karlinsky's edition of Chekhov's letters in the bargain bin at my local bookstore (an independent, literary bookstore, no less!) has further lowered my faith in the existence of a large, intelligent American readership.

In any case, publishing more books like this is a small first step in creating one: people who think that anything praised as literature today must be either pointlessly obscure or unconcerned with the real business of life will find an author who'll make it clear why we bother distinguishing between art and trash at all. Reviewers, instead of holding up the masterpiece of the month, may want to take the time to point out wonderful re-issues like this.

Review by Malcolm South

Marvin Hunt's LOOKING FOR HAMLET vigorously engages his readers in a quest to explore what HAMLET the play and Hamlet the character have meant to people. For Hunt, the quest is a personal one, and some of the most thoughtful discussions in the book (such as a connection between Hamlet and Hunt's passionate interest in the Duke University football team) are those informed by his personal experiences. In chapter three Hunt really understands what Hamlet is talking about in 5.1 as Hamlet discourses on skulls and the rot and the decay of the human body. Chapters five through nine cover critical reactions to the play during different periods. I especially like chapter six, "Hamlet among the Romantics." I also like the two "galleries" that comprise the sections called "The Man in Black," which through illustrations and commentaries highlight celebrated actors who have played the role of Hamlet. At the end of his last chapter Hunt expresses the fear that we may be in some danger of "forgetting" HAMLET in a "postliterate age." Hunt sadly points out that English majors in most American colleges and universities are now not required to take a course in Shakespeare. We fervently hope that such "forgetting' does not occur. Certainly, Hunt's admirable book will help keep us from "forgetting" the play.

Here is a book worthy of its hallowed subject. Displaying enthusiasm and erudition, Professor Hunt offers fresh insight into why "Hamlet" has mesmerized the world for four centuries and how the play has shaped us. He describes the many sources Shakespeare drew from to write the play, the debate over the authenticity of the various versions of the script (e.g. Q1 and Q2) and the different ways critics have interpreted Hamlet and "Hamlet" through the ages.
Hunt shows a particular penchant for the riotous and ribald -- his book is filled with hilarious stories of the debaucherous folks who graced the Bard's world. Hunt is that rarest of birds - a scholar who writes like a human being! Best of all, he inspired me to return to Shakespeare's masterpiece, which I read with greater appreciation thanks to "Looking for Hamlet."

The book provides good insight to a much researched topic. It is apparent that the author loves his subject. The book is readable and would be a good source for the serious student of Shakespeare. I recommend the book to anyone who is looking for an understanding and competency in this subject.

A humorous story published as part of a collection of stories by Wilde in 1891: Lord Arthur Saville's Crime and Other Stories .
At Lady Windermere's final reception before Easter, at Bentinck House, Lady Windermere's chiromantist, Mr. Podgers is quite a hit, telling people about themselves and their fortunes.

The chiromantist tells one Lord Arthur Saville that before he can marry his beloved, he must murder a distant relative. What follows is a hilarious account of Lord Saville's various failed attempts through poison , explosives etc to do the deed, before in despair , he rather murders Mr. Podgers himself.

A typically charming offbeat Wilde story with a twist in the tale.

This is a CBC dramatized interpretation of Wilde's short story. Taped in front of live audience, this is by far the best story- telling that has ever done to Wilde's work. Both music and sound effect are superb, and best of all, the narration and dialogues closely follow the original story. In this respect, CBC has outperformed BBC by a large degree.

Lord Saville one night listens to a chiromantist who tells him he has to commit a crime, whose victim is supposed to be a relative of some kind, before being able to marry his love. The tale is full of humor and shows how he fails, systematically, in his enterprise, because he believes the soothsayer. But the more humoristic the tale becomes, the more desperate Lord Saville grows. Till one night he kills the chiromantist. He has finally been able to rebel against the prediction and this rebellion proves the prediction is a fake. But a second dimension appears in the tale. The chiromantist had been introduced to Lord Saville by some woman who invites such oddities to her parties to amuse the audience. She behaves as if she believed in those ominous birds that she calls lions. And Lord Saville was naive enough to accept this prediction as true and unescapable because it had been introduced to him by this particular woman, in this particular situation. Men must not fall in the traps of social tricks that some women hire to give some life to their social evenings that would be very dull otherwise. Who is wiser? The woman who "animates" her social gatherings with such attractions? Or the man who falls in the trap of believing such predictions? The other tales of the collection are all just as funny by showing how some people are able to go beyond such appearances and reach another level of being that is some kind of game and it becomes a trap to the gullible ones.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University of Perpignan

The fragments themselves are quite beautiful, but I found the commentary much more interesting. Since so little is known about the subject, the translator provides notes along with each fragment that lets the reader know from where the fragment came. The commentary also includes citations from many writers of Greek lyric poetry. The result is not a work that gives one man's perspective of Sappho but a work that says: "here -- this is what scholars today say about Sappho and her native Greece." The book also includes an interesting essay by the translator, cute sketches, and a glossary of people and places.

I love saPpho! Stuffin cake in my mouth..Feelin the sexual feelings..A LeSbo historical figure writin Lesbian poetry and we get to see the historicity..Well Blow me dOwn as Popeye says..

Sappho was the greatest lyric poet of Greece, and any modern reader of her poetry can easily see why. Although she admittedly suffers in translation, one must learn to ignore the frustration caused by the occasional awkward translation. One must also try to ignore the fragmentary nature of her poems. There was once a definitive edition which consisted of nine books, but it was burned in hte Middle Ages because of the lesbian love poems. The poems we have now are just papyrus fragments or quotations. However, even in English, even with only a few extant pieces, Sappho's poetry is vibrant and beautiful.

An award-winning director, producer, and screenwriter, John Ryan (Chip) Duncan wrote "The Magic Never Ends" as a companion book to his PBS documentary by the same name (www.duncanentertainment.com). It's the first full-length documentary on C.S. Lewis ever produced in the U.S. and features narration by Sir Ben Kingsley as well as interviews with the various people quoted in this beautiful volume. Duncan has the unique gift of allowing the people he interviews to speak for themselves and then finding the themes or threads that emerge. The book reflects this commitment. It also contains rare photographs of Lewis and his family, as well as more in-depth discussion of the major themes the film explores. A great read and a beautiful coffee-table gift for Lewis fans.

This book, along with Kilby's "C.S. Lewis: Images of His World" and Hooper's "Through joy and Beyond", is essential for those Lewis fans who like to see the actual photos of where is used ot lecture, walk, talk, etc, along with the other key places in his life. With high quality paper and binding, the text is made up in large part by interviews of those who knew Lewis. This is the best book on Lewis to come out in years. Well worth the purchase! Enjoy!

This book is magical. I have been reading C.S. Lewis for quite a few years now. The authors have captured something of why Lewis' books have never gone out of print. The chapter title "The True Myth" alone is more than worth the price of the book.

I love this book. Dryden finds the way to write about really complicated topics in a way that is very clear (and clever).

The blurb's claim that this edition includes all of Dryden's major original poems is not quite true. "The Hind and the Panther", the long and very important poem which marked Dryden's conversion to Catholicism, has unaccountably been left out. This omission would have made this edition worthless if there were any other affordable editions of Dryden.

An irritating feature of the editing is the relentless modernisation, which obscures the metre by dropping elision markers, and spoils the rhyme by respelling "wrack" as "wreck" etc. It is doubtful whether Dryden needs modernisation at all, but it seems unlikely that spelling out "Int'rest" as "interest" or "th'offence" as "the offence" is likely to help any reader.

As for the poetry. Dryden is an exceptionally readable and entertaining poet; his very natural style makes him much more accessible than Milton or Pope. Like Pope, he is a great verse satirist who writes in couplets, but the two poets are otherwise not very similar. Dryden's couplets are less close-packed or self-contained than Pope's, but they move more swiftly and are more energetic. Dryden, unlike Pope, uses the triplet quite often as an amplifying device, and many of his best lines are in triplets:

"I am as free as Nature first made man,
Ere the base laws of servitude began,
When wild in woods the noble savage ran."

"Thy generous fruits, though gather'd ere their prime
Still show'd a quickness; and maturing time
But mellows what we write to the dull sweets of rhyme."

"A fiery soul, which, working out its way,
Fretted the pygmy-body to decay,
And o'er-inform'd the tenement of clay."

This type of verse is fairly typical of Dryden: the statement is direct, unambiguous and forceful; in T.S. Eliot's words, "Dryden states immensely". Dryden's satire is much more like caricature than Pope's; his characters are monstrous and misshapen giants, while Pope's are amazingly realistic dwarves. This is the Dryden note:

With all this bulk there's nothing lost in Og,
For ev'ry inch that is not fool is rogue:
A monstrous mass of foul corrupted matter,
As all the devils had spew'd to make the batter.

The difference is one of genre. Pope's poetry is an idealisation of the letter; Dryden's of the speech or sermon. Therefore, Pope is intimate and delicate, while Dryden is energetic and sonorous. Of course, this is a generalisation; my point is just that they are very different in their methods, and that to expect Dryden to be like Pope (or the other way around) is probably a bad way to start.

Dryden is notable for much more than his satires. His religious poems are very fine; so are his translations, especially of Lucretius, Juvenal, Horace (Ode 3.29), Boccaccio and Virgil. (His version of the Aeneid is probably the best we have in English.) So are his two St. Cecilia's Day songs and the Ode on Killigrew, and especially the splendid elegy "To the Memory of Mr Oldham". And his critical essays, from the "Essay on Dramatic Poesy" to the preface to "Fables", apart from being the first great literary criticism in English, is often very acute and is always written engagingly.

John Dryden is one of those poets who everyone respects and nobody reads. His public poetry often seems out of place to modern readers as he bashes his now obscure enemies and recalls long since forgotten political events. Yet Dryden was the leading figure in British literature for a number of decades. There's a reason for this. He was the master of the heroic couplet and few figures were more influential in taking literature to the common readers.

The Oxford World's Classics edition is excellent. Most of the major poems are there though "The Hind and the Panther" is excluded. This is the most personal of Dryden's poems and you simply can not understand the poet's conversion to Catholicism without it. It is as if the editors prefered to reinforce the common perception that Dryden is the least personal of poets. The introduction needs to be fleshed out and the endnotes are not accesable (they really should have included footnotes). Even worse, Dryden's plays are neglected. Still, one has to concede this is the most accesable version of Dryden out there and this redeems a great deal of its flaws.