English Classics Books

I am very happy with this book. It combines a lot of Service's greatest poems with great Photos of the land and people he wrote about. It is a lovely book that you can be proud to have in your collection.

I love Robert Service's raw tones and poems. He tells them with a grit that is true to heart and really just gives you a feel for what is going on and what it was like to be in the real wilderness days. I have heard he described as crude and if that's how you want to view it...go ahead but these poems aren't crude...they tell the true spirit of the classic days with great detail and life.

I first stumbled upon Robert W. Service when I found a small volume of his poetry from before and during World War One in an antique shop in Maine. I hungered for more, searched the internet, and was thrilled to find this book available, as well as others. Service's poetry is what poetry should be, at least in my mind. It flows evenly, it rhymes, it tells stories about human beings' lives, feelings, and struggles. Plus, he deals with people, places, and times in history that interest me, especially World War One, northern North America, Europe, etc. This is an excellent, excellent collection of his works.

Robert Service, if anyone, could be called "the grandfather of cowboy poets." This has been a popular genre over the past few years and much of the work done by these wonderful men and women can be traced back to Service's poems and style. Being called the "Bard of the Yukon" is certainly true, but sells this particular writer short. His works include so much more that just the delightful poems of the Canadian Territory. Simply written, with a story, they are quite a delight for both old and young alike. I recent years, some of our elitist in our academic world have been less than kind to this poet. This is all well and good with me. They simply don't get it. Service's work will quite likely endure far longer than some of the ranting I read in the professional journals. I read these poems to young folks in my classes, and they seldom fail to delight and indeed, inspire. It is difficult to go wrong with this one. Highly recommend.

I have an inexplicable attraction to the Modern Library hardbacks. Inevitably, if a Modern Library hardback version of some book that I want exists, I'll end up buying it. I really don't know why. Anyway, case and point: Edgar Allan Poe.

The benefits of this edition are evident:

a) All the short stories--yes, even the uproariously funny ones that most paperbacks leave out, as well as Poe's bizarre "hoaxes" and inexplicably contrived "articles" that don't really pass very well as stories

b) All the poems--including poetry written in childhood as well as posthumously discovered

c) ...and a couple of essays--most importantly, "The Rationale of Verse."


However, the book still lacks most of Poe's criticism and other essays. I suggest you purchase Dover's little paperback _Edgar Allan Poe: Literary Theory and Criticism_ (kind of a "Greatest Hits" collection of Poe's critical work which, in reality, spans over 1500 pages) to complete your library. There you will find the great classic "The Philosophy of Composition" accompanied by dozens of ingenius (and at times ascerbic) reviews of books you may know from elsewhere. It's an invaluable resource.


Moreover, the same Modern Library problems afflict this edition--thus, herein lies another reason I cannot explain why I must keep on buying and reading Modern Library hardbacks:

A) There is no textual or intertextual editing, nor are there any critical footnotes. Moreover, there is no critical introduction by a Poe scholar. This bytes.

B) There is no margin room. There never is in a Modern Library hardback. This gets really annoying when you're reading "The Fall of the House of Usher," and you're trying to tie together pieces of evidence (all part of Poe's perfect conceived "totality" of content) to form a of cohesive, critical interpretation of the story with about a centimeter of margin room in which to write! Your handwriting will quickly show itself illegible, and your hand mercilessly cramped.

C) Modern Library hardbacks are customarily printed on cheap (although smooth and aesthetically pleasing) paper. Thus, when you write in your book, the ink is very likely to bleed over onto the converse page. Also quite annoying.


However, however, however--I must not forget that the goal of Modern Library is not to print the best book possible, but the best _affordable_ book possible. And at $18.00, this 1000 page hardback is hard to beat.

So, if you have the money, do actually buy _the best_ edition: the Library of America edition. ISBN 0940450186. It's over 1400 pages, is printed on paper that will last forever, and is edited by a prominent Poe scholar--but it's almost $40.00!


But, more importantly for those of us on budgets: This edition is in direct competition with both the DoubleDay and Castle editions of Poe's collected stories and poems. Under no circumstances would I recommend the other two editions due to their typesettings. I know that may sound ridiculous, but a humane typesetting has a lot to do with the pleasure and utility that a book can and will proffer its reader. The print on the other two editions is inordinately overloaded (too much packed on each page) and serves to burden the eyes. For sooth, the Modern Library version is packed too--but it's a huge improvement on the other two editions.

If you've got $40, get the Library of America edition. If you've only got $20, get this one.

I've always had a liking for Edgar Allan Poe, with his tales of horror, mystery and suspense, done in the atmospheric prose of a master writer. Since I live close enough, I've even made some trips to his gravesite, a place that is always surrounded by a sense of sadness.

Poe was a tormented genius who died young, under mysterious circumstances, and at the time of his death he wasn't deservingly popular. Certainly his work was not cute romances for the masses -- he explored the darkness of the human heart, love, satire, and the earliest whodunnit stories. And "Complete Stories and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe" brings together all of his poetry and writings in one book.

Poe's fiction writings include short stories and novellas, which tend to be rather weird -- a treasure-hunt and a golden insect, a ship caught in a whirlpool, a hypnotized man talks about the universe, and stories of despair, madness, and occasionally beauty. There is also his trilogy of Monsieur C. Auguste Dupin stories, which were the first to feature a brilliant detective solving an impossible crime.

Most people know about "The Raven" (which even has the Baltimore Ravens named after it) but Poe actually wrote a lot of poetry, most of which readers never heard of. Sometimes dark, or whimsical, or even both. "By a route obscure and lonely/Haunted by ill angels only/Where an Eidolon, named NIGHT/On a black throne reigns upright..."

And, of course, the horror. This is what Poe is best known for, including such well-known stories as "The Fall Of The House Of Usher." But there are also lesser-known gems -- tales of a plague invading a party, being buried alive, a portrait that siphoned the life out of its subject, and a nightly visit to an Italian crypt leading to madness.

Don't read "Complete Stories and Poems" all at once. It's too intense. It's better to soak it in a little at a time, so that you can get a better feel for the different kinds of writing that Poe did, and how he excelled at pretty much everything he put down on paper. Most great writers can't boast of that much.

Poe's writing is what makes even his least story or poem come alive -- he brought a gothic, misty vibrancy to his stories, and could make his quiet dialogue seem utterly chilling (" "I have no name in the regions which I inhabit. I was mortal, but am fiend..."). It's not hard to see why he was an influence on authors such as Fyodor Dostoevsky, Oscar Wilde, Arthur Conan Doyle and Franz Kafka.

"Complete Stories and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe" is a must-have for anyone with an appreciation for great literature and beautiful, dark writing.

Poe is one of the world's finest writers and this collection of stories is what he's all about. This book contains the best of his tales, with many others for you to explore on your own. It has his poems and short stores. Its contents is very close to being unabridged except, for it missing a few poems and stories that aren't very good anyway.

Poe's tales contain all the excitement of a novel, in around 10 pages. I recommend this collection because it offers hours of enjoyment. The only thing you might need is a large vocabulary because he tends to have an advanced word choice. Get this book and have fun!

'Horror,' as it is broadly understood, is defined by two essential elements: the active presence of decay, some 'abnormal' manifestation of nature, or a combination of both.

One hundred and fifty-seven years after his early death, Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849), who made horror the dominant theme of his creative work, remains the American master of the weird tale. Poe's work has had enormous worldwide influence: French poet Charles Baudelaire was an early champion and translator, Poe's 'William Wilson' (1839) haunts the pages of Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890), and several stories look presciently ahead to work of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung.

The Collected Tales and Poems of Edgar Allen Poe (1992), which also includes humorous pieces ('The Devil in the Belfry' is a hilarious tribute to the father of American literature, Washington Irving), detective fiction (Irving's 1838 story-cycle 'The Money-Diggers' stirs fluidly beneath 'The Gold Bug'), and early examples of what would come to be known as science fiction, brings together most of the author's important work.

Two general narrator (or protagonist/character) types emerge. The first is meticulously rational, calm, and 'objective'--like Dupin, the amateur sleuth who coolly solves the mystery of 'The Murders in the Rue Morgue.' The second, best represented by Roderick Usher in 'The Fall of the House of Usher,' is psychically haunted, deeply subjective, acutely sensitive in every pore, and barely able to repress the hysteria--at best--simmering just beneath the surface of his consciousness.

Both general types are isolated and obsessive in their own way--the first perhaps imagines he has found salvation by holding the world at a kind of hard cerebral remove, while the second surrenders his will in increments and sinks obliquely into emotional, spiritual, psychic, and physical fragmentation. The second type (found in 'The Fall of the House of Usher,' 'Berenice,' 'The Black Cat,' 'The Pit and the Pendulum,' and 'William Wilson,' among others) dominates and defines Poe's work.

Poe occasionally offers readers a combination of both types, as in 'The Imp of the Perverse,' in which the narrator, after a lengthy, meditative, and 'objective' discourse on the self-destructive aspects of human nature, briefly tells his own story: compelled to commit a pointless murder, he then finds himself equally compelled to publicly confess it.

Fatalism and perdition are key characteristics of the author's work: death may await everyone, but, in Poe, death impatiently reaches forward into men's lives, sickening, exhausting, and corrupting them, thus hastening fragile humanity's end. Poe's protagonists are once healthy, now dire, everymen surrounded on every side by hostile, malevolent, and destructive forces which dominate every plateau, division, and category of existence that man has methodically--and rather naively--mapped out. Human instinct proves to be 'red in tooth and claw'; the senses betray; the mind collapses; the borders and boundaries of civilization are violently breached; the natural world reveals a harsh, predatory, and incomprehensible face; physical laws prove unreliable; loving relationships sicken and fester; all agents of stability prove false and slip away.

Most of Poe's work suggests that there is no escape for anyone (--"dead to the World, to Heaven, and to Hope!"), and, as several of the tales underscore, including 'The Fall of the House of Usher' and 'Ms. Found in a Bottle,' even the cessation of life may bring no solace for some. However, reprieves are possible: the narrator barbarically tortured by the Spanish Inquisition is freed by the arriving French army at the conclusion of 'The Pit and the Pendulum,' the sailor who experiences 'A Descent Into the Maelstrom' survives to tell of his ordeal, and the vengeful dwarves in 'Hop Frog' apparently escape at that story's conclusion.

Remarkably, because of the skill with which he illustrates his view of man's utter lack of genuine choice or ability for self-determination, Poe manages to make most of his characters likeably human, despite their illnesses, eccentricities, and perversions. Though the tales team with toxic bloodlines, incestuous relationships, premature burials, rioting lunatics, marauding plagues, 'tormenting' doppelgangers, parasitic spirits of the dead, animated corpses, "ghoul-haunted woodlands," and a fair variety of additional supernatural tableaus, Poe remains is a remarkably rational, balanced, and economic storyteller, since the ultimate horror lies not in the external threat, but in the narrator's realization that what he is experiencing is the genuine nature of life itself.

Poe's tales suggest that, if all of mankind lives within a perpetually collapsing, cannibalizing universe, the most one can hope for is that, in the present, it is collapsing on someone else.

Poe is one of the best horror writers ever to have lived. I have read all of his works. Some of his best stories are The Fall of the House of Usher, The Masque of Red Death, The Black Cat, The Cask of Amontaiado, The Pit and the Pendelum, and The Tell-Tale Heart. His great poems include-The Raven and The Bells. Poe is a fantastic author, and his creepy tales of the dark side of life should be read over and over.

In the spirit of the Bronte sisters, this novel delights and entrances. An enjoyable read.

Wonderful! I could read the book and watch the movie over and over! Treat yourself to a vacation in an Italian paradise with real characters and a physical beauty you could reach out and touch. Von Arnim makes this simple plot so magical and warm it makes you want to visit San Salvatore too!

Just got through watching the wonderful movie; not as wonderful as the book, but very good. Have now read this book at least three or four times, and still adore it every time. Has to rank as one of my all-time favorite books. Must rent an Italian castle on the western Mediterranean coast some day. The writing is so witty, and warm, the story so imaginative, the moral so wise. Love is all; just to love, not expecting anything in return. It opens people up. Lotty, Rose, Lady Caroline, and Mrs. Fisher all live in these pages. And the gardens, the flowers, the utter beauty of San Salvatore. The author quite obviously loves flowers. Even the servants are clearly drawn, Francesca and Domenico. Lotty becomes a truly original character. Love, love, love this book!

Always celebrated for its beautiful evocative setting in Portofino, THE ENCHANTED APRIL has also to some extent been dismissed as a sentimental trifle. It is not: for all its surface charm, it is also one of the most searching fictional works ever written on the nature of goodness, and its effects upon selfishness and acquisitiveness. Two Hampstead housewives, Rose Arbuthnot and Lottie Hawkins, advertise for two other women to share in the costs so that they may rent an Italian castle for the month of April and escape their loveless lives; when they and the other two women (the dazzling Lady Caroline Dester and the rigid bluestocking Mrs. Fisher) arrive at the spectacularly lovely castle, they begin to discover that not only have their spirits been refreshed but also that their value systems have changed through what amounts to the dispensation of the castle of a kind of secularized grace. Elizabeth von Arnim accomplishes this very probing study of modern British mores through the very subtle and unobtrusive psychological realist use of extended interior monologues. The result is a novel that is not only completely beguiling but actually quite thoughtful. A greatly underappreciated little gem.

Well, you've already heard about the story. Just wanted to add that the characters were so real, it was as if I were really there with them. A wonderful turn of events at the end. Caught me off guard. Very enjoyable. Beautiful writing. Now I've got to rent the movie.

There is no story it's equal. When I think of a man truly loving a woman, this book comes to mind. It's the most deeply intimate telling of one man's heart, mind and soul. Is it possible love like this is possible by a man or a woman for the other? The story is to be nestled and protected for its lofty ideology. I view the Harvesters love for the woman as many saintly priests and nuns have loved God...deeply beyond what most of us can grasps with our worldliness. I might buy this book for my teenage nieces--they should read this story. Why? I wonder if they could, in their wildest fantasies, imagine a young man loving them similarily. Perhaps they may be more choosy in whom they date.

Gene Stratton-Porter is an excellent author. His books hold your interest and take you to a time where stress is far less an issue. His characters are fully developed and richly represented. An excellen book for peaceful reading.

I loved this book, although it definitely did not compare to The Girl of the Limberlost which is my all-time favorite.

I first read this book 37 years ago. It was the original book published in 1911 and belonged to my 1st husbands grandmother. It was written of a quieter time, the slower paced, clean living and was very inspirational. I loved all the information about the nature and plants. I started out trying to recreate the "Yellow Garden" several years ago. I now have a gorgeous garden with many of the same perennials and herbs listed in the book. The garden has certainly evolved from just yellow to every color in nature. I have passed down the love of gardening to my daughters by sharing the flowers and herbs from my own garden. I have thoroughly enjoyed this book.

I can't count the number of times I've read and re-read this book. Pretty sentimental by today's standards, but the basic story tells of a country man of character who falls deeply in love with a city girl who has issues. That description doesn't do justice to Gene Stratton-Porter's touching romance, but if I had to pare my library down to just 20 books, this one would be in the "keepers."

"Men in the sun", a novel by Ghassan Kanafani, is one of the most breathtaking realities that the Palestinian people lived in the modern history we know. "Men in the sun" is neither a story about Yasser Arafat`s legacy and his PLO's sense of politics nor a debate on Oslo or Madrid agreement. The novel is a piece of art that visualized the Palestinian tragedy from an aspect of extreme reality that has been forgotten or marginalized at any time and place frames.

It is the story of three men's quest for a better life. They plan to migrate from the occupation cage to a new "promise land" where they meet the promised demise in the desert, the home of the original Arabs and Bedouin.

The dream of the three Men is the dream of every man who loses the feeling of being at home at some time. The work to achieve that dream requires a struggle with harsh acquired values of life. The result is not guaranteed.

Struggle, suffer, dreams, hope, fatigue, thirst, and death will form an amalgam that would describe the Palestinian identity which has been evolving during the last decades.

I wanted to write more about the details but you would like to read it yourself. The symbolism in this story is just intriguing. In fact, the trends can symbolize the migration of any man to any "self-imposed exile", where "enforced dreams" replace the simple -but lost- passion, love and happiness to form a complex and bitter reality.

The novel ends with a beautiful and so influential paragraph that tries to raise the question of why the 3 men (main figures of the novel) did not try to knock on the walls of their symbolic "prison" (Empty tanker) or at least shout to ask for help.
"Why? Why? Why?", The "Why" of Kanafani while concluding is: why did not some of the oppressed people reject the abject reality? Why did not they fight for their life and freedom? Could it be that they were so hopeless and tired, or were they so afraid from going back to the occupied home? Did they prefer death to losing their dream?. The questions were asked by Kanafani in the past to project on present exprience and to reflect the suffer of the palestinean-age on the future memory.

This book gives you an idea of the suffering and neglection of a nation, on the watch of the whole civilized world.

This collection of short stories is a brief, but poignant look into the life of people living in Palestine. At the same time, the stark writing illustrates many universal themes forcing readers to reevaluate life as they know it. The writing is plain and easy to read, but ultimately, deep and impossible to dismiss.

The stories were great. Well written, poignant, the most so being the one involving the tank.

Written and published in the 1950s and 1960s, this slender volume of stories by Ghassan Kananfani speaks of the displacement of Palestinians in ways that are timeless and still fresh today. They speak of loss more than hope, and although the author was an activist and spokesman for the Palestinian Popular Front, he seemed in these writings to simply bring attention to the human cost of political struggle in the Middle East. He himself was killed by a car bomb in Beirut in 1972.

The most compelling of these stories is the novella "Men in the Sun," which tells of the efforts of three men being smuggled into Kuwait from Iraq and the truck driver who has offered to help them across the border. The fierce desert heat represents the terrible odds against their ever being able to escape the consequences of war and loss of homeland. But this is only one theme among many, as Kananfani explores traits of Arab character which seem to intensify inner conflict and erode the ability to act purposefully. The story "If You Were a Horse" concerns itself with superstition, fear, and overwhelming regret that divides father from son and leads to misfortune. The book includes an informative introduction by Hilary Kilpatrick.

This is my first ever James Bond novel, I can't remember if I saw the movie. This is a thinking person's spy story with few gimmicks but great finesse and ingenuity. Fleming fascinated millions with his suave 007 personality and his missions against villains who were larger than life and twice as nasty.
The pace is slow, a good armchair read with a briar pipe in hand. An entire new generation will find the foreshadowing deep and miss the absence of the now classic action adventure. But Fleming's astute writing style will continue to attack new fans who enjoy a good story well told.
Nash Black, author of TRAVELERS and SINS OF THE FATHERS.

James Bond is still hunting for Blofeld. After a year Bond thinks he is useless, and wants to quit. In Italy he saves a girl who was trying to kill herself. This leads to a relationship, and Bond learns that she is the daughter of a high ranking Italian gangster.

He has info on Blofeld. He is in Switzerland running a finishing school type or organisation, after having undergone plastic surgery. It is really a brainwashing organisation to get women to basically be terrorist weapon carriers.

Bond infiltrates Blofeld's organisation, gets out of there, and here Tracy helps him out.

He asks her to marry him, and she agrees.

Bond, with some of Tracy's dads' men, assaults Blofeld's organisation, but the supervillain gets away again, and has a nasty surprise waiting at Bond's wedding.

Among the titles of Ian Fleming's James Bond novels, I'd have to say that On Her Majesty's Secret Service is my least favorite, with neither the brevity of a Dr. No or Goldfinger nor the plot descriptive nature of The Man with the Golden Gun or From Russia with Love. Even if I dislike the title, however, this is one of Fleming's best Bond books.

The story opens around a year after the events of Thunderball (the intervening book, The Spy Who Loved Me, is not even mentioned). The villain in that book, Ernst Stavro Blofeld, the mastermind behind SPECTRE, has been in hiding and James Bond is trying to seek him out. It is a more-or-less futile assignment and Bond is disillusioned enough to consider quitting. Before submitting his resignation letter, however, he takes a break at a casino. During this mini-vacation, he performs a chivalrous act to save a beautiful countess from embarrassment; she in turns, rewards him in her own special way.

This countess, familiarly named Tracy, is also the daughter of a genial but ruthless mob boss who Bond winds up (pardon the pun) bonding with. The boss, Marc-Ange, realizes that his daughter is troubled (in fact, suicidal), but that Bond may be able to help her by marrying her. Bond is not willing to do that, but is willing to see her again after she gets treatment. In the meanwhile, Marc-Ange gives Bond a lead on Blofeld.

Blofeld has holed himself up in the Swiss Alps, where extradition is nearly impossible. Bond goes undercover, hoping to lure Blofeld into Germany where he can be arrested. While there, he stumbles upon a strange plot that seems to involve young women seeking treatment for allergies. What Blofeld's scheme is goes beyond Bond's expertise, but the superspy will have more immediate problems as his cover is threatened.

Eventually, Tracy gets back into the mix, which adds another level to the story. Bond versus Blofeld is good, but at long last, Bond meets a woman who he can truly love. Since the first Bond book, Casino Royale, when Bond found himself betrayed by a lover, he has never been willing to truly risk emotional attachment. This time he does, and this adds an extra depth to this particular novel.

On Her Majesty's Secret Service is the middle part of what I think of as the Blofeld Trilogy, which started with Thunderball and concludes with You Only Live Twice, so it may not be the best Bond book to start with. For Bond fans, however, this book is a treat and one of the very best that Fleming wrote.

This is definitely one of the better Bonds since, like CASINO ROYALE and FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE, the more formulaic elements are so well integrated in the story.

What I loved about FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE was that the obligatory romance was the actual scheme of SMERSH to ensnare and kill 007. The characters were well-drawn and Bond doesn't come off as such an indestructible superman. His heart is broken in CASINO ROYALE, confused in FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE and then shattered in ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE. (It's also very cool that we learn that Bond annually visits the grave of Vesper Lynd as well as still checks into Casino Royale as well).

We meet Ernst Stavro Blofeld again, not because of some grandiose world-conquering plot, but because he wants the respect and nobility of a title. The College of Arms angle of the story should be the dullest part of the story but Fleming actually makes it interesting by revealing the desire of everyone--except James Bond--to be "somebody."

The biological warfare passages may seem dated but I like revisiting the 007 books while keeping them in context: they must have been fantastic reads in the 1950s and 1960s. These books really anticipated the very modern threat of what Fleming referred to as "the man with the suitcase"...which contains an atomic device. Blofeld's plot in this book to attack England through its livestock with a virus is certainly something to think about in this day of Mad Cow and Bird Flu epidemics.

Although I'm only quibbling, I wished there had been more development between Bond and Tracy, the only woman to ever become Mrs. James Bond. After reading the novel, I felt as if I saw more of her in the movie! (The movie version of OHMSS is also one of the best).

I recently started reading all of the Bond novels and overall have enjoyed them a lot. While Flemings writing style is consistently solid the plots and characters differ greatly. On Her Majesty's Secret Service (number 11 in the series) shares with Casino Royale the title of My Favorite Bond Novel.

The plot is interesting and not *too* far-fetched (for a bond book - some are very cheesy), the characters are very likable and Fleming really nails the mood of "European decadence". This book, like Casino Royale and a few others metes out a healthy serving of bond's classic vices laced with action.

If you like less-than-serious action novels, then I would highly recommend this. Perfect for a long flight or drive

A friend referred to the Sharpe series as literary opium...he may be right. They are guilty pleasures, for sure....and I worry what will happen when I have read them all.

The thing is, drug or not, Cornwell is a wonderful writer. I laughed out loud a couple of times, was riveted by a love scene, and ran to the computer to look up the actual battle and scenes described. Great stuff.

And then I had the misfortune to read the new McMurtry novel....

"Sharpe's Sword" is a decent entry into the Sharpe series, but I happen to tend to prefer the Sharpe adventures that are primarily military rather than the ones with espionage plots. And, for my taste, "Sharpe's Sword" is a bit heavy on the spy angle and a hair light on the battles. But the book's action scenes, while failing to rival those in, say, "Sharpe's Rifles," "Sharpe's Eagle" or "Sharpe's Company," are still pretty satisfying. "Sharpe's Sword" is far from the weakest of the generally very strong Sharpe series (of the ones that I've read so far, I'd say that "Sharpe's Prey" my least favorite), but it doesn't quite rank among the very best, either.

I've been reading through the entire series chronologically and up until now i've been hard pressed to pick a favorite. After reading Sharpe's Sword however i have a clear choice.

In Sharpe's Sword, Cornwell gives the reader his true best - putting together a plot so interesting that one can even claim that in this novel it trumps his ability at "battlefield writing" where i believe Cornwell is the best living author- and that's saying something.

If you want a good introduction to cornwell's writing ability and you don't mind starting most of the way through a series i highly recommend Sharpe's Sword.

This is another entry on the Sharpe series. It is fun, entertaining and very readable. Cornwell's research is as excellent as usual. He takes some licenses for the shake of the story and continuity, but this is OK. Some people are outraged by the portrait of some of the real historical characters, but historical characters are rarely depicted accurately in historical fiction, so I think this can be forgiven. Besides, usually a more serious account of these characters is given at the end of the book on the Historical Note.

Many people insist in compare this series with Patrick O'Brian's Master and Commander. I don't think this is fair for any of the series, they are different entities. What they have in common is that once you start you may get hooked and devour one book after another...

And in the literary world today that is a rare and marvelous thing.

Bernard Cornwell's Richard Sharpe series is one of the most beloved collective works in the sub-genre of historical fiction. Spanning over twenty novels (and counting!), Cornwell has treated his readers with thrilling battlefield and bedroom exploits from Flanders to India to Spain and France. While the novels have a definitive formula, they never grow stale.

"Sharpe's Sword" is among the best of the Sharpe novels. Sharpe is a captain of the 95th Rifles, attached to the South Essex regiment as a light company. As fans of the series know, Sharpe has made himself indispensable to the British army (including his patron, Lord Wellington) by being the most lethal rogue in an army full of cut-throats and vagabonds. But in "Sharpe's Sword," Cornwell has created a foe worthy of Sharpe - the French spy-hunter Leroux, a lethal aristocrat whose charge from Napoleon is to topple the British spy network.

Leroux is captured by Sharpe early in the novel, but takes advantage of a foolish British officer's notion of "parole" (in which a captured officer may keep his weapons and freedom if he gives his sworn statement that he will not try to escape). Acting quickly, Leroux murders his way back to freedom, but in doing so he earns Sharpe's undying hatred . . . and envy. Sharpe hates him for being a backstabbing liar, but Sharpe envies him because Leroux has the most magnificent sword Sharpe has ever seen, and Sharpe wants it.

And so Sharpe and Leroux are caught in a duel to the death while the French and British armies slug it out in the gorgeous city of Salamanca and also on the plains of Spain. "Sharpe's Sword" has it all - humor, romance, intrigue, friendship, betrayal, and battles. And what battles! Nobody writes a better battle scene than Bernard Cornwell, and he tops himself when describing a suicidal, insane cavalry charge by Wellington's German heavy cavalry against formed French squares. The reader is flung into the wild madness that is Napoleonic warfare, and it is a glorious madness indeed.

Well-researched and lovingly written, "Sharpe's Sword" exemplifies all that is good in the Sharpe series.

I'm stuck in the first few chapters of this collection. It is much darker compared to the immediately uplifiting through positive insight book, The Prophet. It is however still filled with Gibran's signature wisdom just in a slow and gloomy kind of way. It is a must have for any Gibran lover just be prepared.

Everyone seems to have known about this book but me! Where have I been? The poems and stories in this book absolutely give me those wonderful goose-bumps that come when I experience something very special.

My father first gave me a copy of this powerful, and yet distant writer who exposed my mental eye to a world far away; yet close to home. Kahlil Gibran inspired me beyond words, and I know as a writer that every word written inspires someone; however, this author is my prime example of how race has no matter in words that scatter ignorance. He'd addressed the heart and mind on subjects with great story telling power. My original copy of his book is so old that it is falling apart, and so I bought this collection in order to share his words with others without concern for the condition of the book. I read a few pages to a young lady in one of my classes and she went out and bought her a copy, too. I had no idea that I was missing out on so much more incredible stories and poems until I'd made this purchase. I leave it to you form your own opinion.

I am very pleased with this purchase. The book was shipped quickly and in excellent condition and I love the book!

"I know that the principles upon which I base my writings, are echoes of the spirit of the great majority of the people of the world..." (656)
-Kahlil Gibran in a letter to his cousin, Nakhli Gibran, in 1908.

"The Treasured Writings of Kahlil Gibran", is a compilation of three other books of Gibran's treasury of writings, that each contained several books in one volume. They were: "A Treasury of Kahlil Gibran" (1947), "A Second Treasury of Kahlil Gibran" (1957), and "A Third Treasury of Kahlil Gibran" (1965). A total of ten books in all, this volume contains earlier books by Gibran such as, "Tears And Laughter", and more mature and widely acclaimed books such as, "The Broken Wings." In addition to the beautiful prose, verse, and imaginative stories, there is also biographical information and letters written by, and to Gibran. This is perhaps the most comprehensive book of Kahlil Gibran's writings, and one of the most informative about the man himself.

Philosopher, artist, and poet; these are some of the titles that are used to describe Kahlil Gibran. In order to fully describe this remarkable man, and this book, "The Treasured writings of Kahlil Gibran", one must reach beyond a mere title and use words such as passion, purity, and even divinity. To read this book is to realize this was a mortal man who sincerely understood the difficulties of being human, and yet often looked into the tender eyes of the divine, and shares his belief that he can see this light in the eyes of others.

"The riches of the spirit beautify the face of man and give birth to sympathy and respect. The spirit, in every being is made manifest in the eyes..." (488)

To absorb the depth of Gibran is to discover your own soul's longing for light and life, for beauty and joy. It is to hear the cries of your own heart's ecstasy as a friend, companion, and lover. With his writings, Gibran seems to gently take us by the hand, and listen with us, for our own whisper of echoing spirit.

Brian Douthit
Author Of Perfectly Said: when words become art

I have read all three Rumpole Omnibuses several times. I ordered an additional set for my mother, a former probate judge. What I find remarkable about John Mortimer's work, is that Rumpole is as engaging at the end of the series as at the beginning. I have also enjoyed Mortimer's three autobiographical books. I read and reread these stories, not as mysteries, but as a series of one act plays, where the dramas are spun out of the interaction of stock characters in the style of commedia dell'arte. Rumpole himself plays the part of the buffoon as barrister: fat, vain, self-centered, addicted to greasy food and cheap wine; but also extremely intelligent, perceptive, and compassionate. As I read more of the stories, Rumpole became less of a stock character and more of actual human being. Unlike Perry Mason, Rumpole does not necessarily win all of his cases. When Rumpole loses, we get to see him go down to cells beneath the Old Bailey, with all of the sounds and smells of prison life, to say goodbye to his former client. The stories are often very funny, but occasionally poignant and even sad.

Finally, John Mortimer is one of the masters of modern English prose. Just read a few paragraphs of any airplane novel (preferably one that has "Code" in the title), and then read a few paragraphs of any Rumpole story, and you will see what I mean. And nobody, including Raymond Chandler, does dialog better than John Mortimer.

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.

John Mortimer's Rumpole is so satisfying that this is my second copy - I wore the covers off the first SET of the three omnibuses (or is it omnibusi?) I've read every Rumpole story in existence, as far as I know. While there are tiny inconsistencies in the names of characters and small subplot variations from story to story (that only a committed Rumpolean would notice), Rumpole remains a literary sustaining gulp of claret and a warm and fuzzy blanket on a cold foggy night. Long after the belly laughs passed and every crime and misdemeanor was committed to memory, I've still enjoyed the comfortable reek of Rumpole's small cigars and the warm memory of Leo McKern in the title role of "Rumpole of the Bailey."

The First Rumpole Omnibus gathers the material from Rumpole of the Bailey, The Trials of Rumpole (six short stories each), and Rumpole's Return, a novella. All of those books are now out of print and can only be purchased in this Omnibus form. The first several short stories establish some of the long-term status quo for the series. Characters such as Phyllida Trant join the Chambers while others such as Rumpole's old friend George Frobisher leave. Unlike most series, however, the status quo is much more fluid in the world of Rumpole and people marry, have children, move on to become judges, etc.

The writing in this compilation was a bit uneven. The first group of short stories are reasonably entertaining, but nothing that would cause me to become a true fan. The second group of six short stories rounded into form nicely, though, and the humor was much sharper. I found myself chuckling or laughing out loud fairly often at Rumpole's little asides. Basically, it just took Mortimer a few stories to truly find Rumpole's voice.

Unfortunately, the Omnibus is topped off with a novella that is roughly five times the length of the short stories and the quality drops once again. I don't want to overstate the case, it's not a bad read. But it's pretty clear that Mortimer was used to the tighter plotting of the short stories and things wander a bit as he essentially takes plots that would have made up two or three shorts and spreads them out into one novella.

This was my first experience with Rumpole. I had never seen the TV show or read any of the books. While I may not have become his number one fan, I can say that the best stories are truly excellent and the worst are still pretty good. I find myself curious to read the The Second Rumpole Omnibus (Rumpole) and even more so to try the TV adaptation with Leo McKern. I would recommend the book to others, not as rapturously as the most devoted fans, but earnestly nonetheless.

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.

How sweet the sound that saved this wreched human race. O'Connor writes of God's love and redemption of humanity. She uses exaggeration to make her point. Her characters are so very silly, obtuse, bigoted, loathsome they become cartoons, yet there is a deep integrity to their shallowness. She's not making fun of them, but giving them the justice of a pitiless description. Indeed they do not seem judged, but naked -- the fruits of their stupid, misguided ideas and actions on display. And these children of God do shocking things to others and themselves. And yet . . ..

And yet God allows them to live and learn, or not learn if that is their inclination. He gives them this freedom. He loves them. How can this be? How?

I love O'Connor for her art, her convictions, her courage, and her love. She is so very true and honest.

In addition to her novels and a thorough selection of short stories, there is a chronology of her life and a selection of her letters which are rewarding reading. The book itself is a wonderful object. The pages are of fine paper. The binding is such that you can lay it open on a table without breaking its back, and the pages will not move unless a breeze or you do so.

Now that I've read everything by O'Connor (including works that were part of her thesis for her degree in writing) I am still amazed and inspired by her work. I'm not from the south or Catholic and I was not alive during the eras of which she wrote, but her writing transcends region and time. My favorites remain A Good Man is Hard to Find, Everything That Rises Must Converge, and Revelation, but I love all her stories, although I find the novels a bit more challenging - I think short story was her finest form. Her ability to mix desperation and violence with comedy is amazing, and often when I read her I think: "I shouldn't be laughing at that." I often wonder what additional work she would have produced if she had not died so young. Highly recommended.

I am thoroughly enjoying this authoritative collection of O'Connor's writings. The writing speaks for itself as truly great and unique. This particular book is very classy and well put together; an excellent choice for someone with a significant interest in O'Connor.

The complaints about the poor organization of the collection can be overcome by simply reading it from front to back. Surely it is that good.

My foray into the works of Flannery O'Connor, a southern, gothic author of darkly humorous novels and short stories came via a recommendation in Harold Bloom's, "What to Read and Why." As it turned ot, I had read one of her short stories, "A Good Man is Hard to Find," in a collection somewhere and had been surprised and shocked, by the turn of events and ending of the story, so much so, that I remembered it instantly, even though it has to have been thirty years since I read it. I enjoyed everything, short stories, novellas, and even her letters. She writes about southern Christ-haunted people, most backward, all damned, but many redeemed. Bloom says that according to her, we are all damned but one should put that aside and simply enjoy her beautiful, grotesque, and wonderful comedic stories. Her protagonist is often a woman, forced to take on a role and duties she didn't sign up for but resignedly and with no illusions playing and discharging both out of a sense of morality or necessity; those women are usually the most superior beings in her stories.

Many of her insights stick with me months afterwards. For example, O'Connor says in one of her letters, "...Hazel's integrity lies in his not being able to do so. Does one's integrity ever lie in what he is not able to do? I think that usually it does, for free will does not mean one will, but many wills conflicting in one man. Freedom cannot be conceived simply. It is a mystery and one which a novel, even a comic novel, can only be asked to deepen." That brought tears to my eyes -- perhaps because it is so beautifully put.

Oh yes! I adore her, and so do my mum and dad. They talk about her all of the time, and so I grew up with the prose ringing in my ears. I am so pleased to be reading her now.