Charles Dickens Books

It was a very interesting book! Many people think that it is boring but if you get into it, it is great!

Dickens is one of the best authors of all time his classics have been read, reread, studied, and scrutinized and they prevailed. He was considered a great human who lived life to the fullest and was well liked by all. He could percive others' lifestyles and think how they think, he truly is the literary geinus of his time, and ours.

This is a very good boo

This is a must have for every Dickens fan. Four of his most regarded works together on one fine book. Click and get it!

Charles Dickens novel, A Tale of Two Cities, is outstanding in that it portrays very real themes and, with the use of motifs, develops those themes thoroughly. Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, or literary devices that help the themes unfold. In the novel, there is an ever-present possibility of resurrection or transformation, both on a personal and societal level. Sydney Carton's death serves as a sacrifice for the lives of others, and he is reborn in the hearts of those he has died to save. Connected to the theme of the possibility of resurrection is the necessity of sacrifice. Sacrifice is a way to achieve and ensure pure happiness. Dickens also shows that along with a revolution comes the tendency towards violence, evil, and oppression. By using the motifs of doubles, shadows, and imprisonment, Dickens forms and materializes his major themes and makes his views known on the French Revolution.

The novels opening words, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness..." immediately establishes the centrality of doubles in the novel. These beginning words represent the two cities mentioned in the title, and the action in the novel divides itself between these two cities. The two main women characters in the novel are depicted as opposed doubles. Lucie Manette is gentle while Madame Defarge is hateful and detestable. Dickens doubling technique is used to create oppositions but also to reveal hidden parallels. For example, Carton is shown as a foil to Charles Darnay. Darnay is everything that Carton has failed to become. However, by the end of the novel, Carton transforms himself into a hero whose goodness surpasses that of Darnay's virtuous status. Thus, Dickens uses opposition to make judgments and thematic assertions.

Shadows dominate the novel and set the mood so that it is of gloom and despair. Even from the beginning, the first images of the story set off a mood of apprehension when the mail coach makes its journey in the dark and mist. This atmosphere contributes to the mystery surrounding Lorry's mission to Paris and Dr. Manettes imprisonment. Dickens demonstrates that in the depths of every human heart lies mysteries and secrets that will never see the light of day. Revolution is a time of foreboding and obscurity- thus the emergence of Dickens theme that with a revolution comes the tendency towards violence and oppression. Marquis Evrémonde belongs to a vicious aristocracy that exploits and mistreats the nations poor.He stands as a symbol of the ruthless aristocratic cruelty that the French Revolution seeks to overcome. Dickens deeply sympathizes with the plight of the peasantry yet he condemns their strategies in overcoming it. They perpetuate the very cruelty and oppression from which they hope to free themselves of. Dickens' most relevant view of the French Revolution comes at the end of the novel, he notes the downward slope from the oppressed to the oppressor. Though Dickens sees the French Revolution as a great symbol of transformation and resurrection, he emphasizes that its violent means were ultimately antithetical to its end.

Almost all of the central characters in the novel fight against some kind of imprisonment. For Darnay and Manette the struggle is literal, both serve significant sentences in French prisons. However, the memories of what some have overcome in the novel prove to be no less confining than the walls of prison. Manette recalls his experiences in the Bastille and can do nothing but return to his pathetic shoe-making occupation. Similarly, Carton struggles against his own personality, dissatisfied with his worthless life. Yet, through all of Carton's struggles, he ascends to the plane of heroism and becomes a Christ-like figure whose death saves the lives of others. Thus, his own life gains meaning. The supreme selflessness of this final act of going to the guillotine speaks for change. Change not only personally for Carton, but also for a better society.

In conclusion, A Tale of Two Cities portrays eminent and powerful themes brought about by the use of motifs. The most important theme is that of the possibility of resurrection or transformation. The novel suggests that Sydney Carton's death secures a new, peaceful life for Lucie, Darnay and even Carton himself. By delivering himself to the guillotine, Carton, like Christ, will be resurrected and reborn in the hearts of those he has died to save. Similarly, the novel implies that the death of the Old Regime in France prepares the way for the renewed Paris that Carton envisions from the guillotine. The novel expresses the belief that violence will ultimately give way to a new and better society. However, a new French republic can come about only wit heavy costs- personal loves and loyalties must be sacrificed for the good of the nation. Thus, the idea of sacrifice is necessary to obtain happiness and everlasting peace. Most importantly, Carton's transformation into a man of moral worth depends upon his sacrificing of his former self. In choosing to die for his friends, Carton not only enables their happiness but ensures his spiritual rebirth. He states, " I am the Resurrected and the Life, saith the Lord: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die" (363). The novel ends with the statement that Carton would have said if he had been allowed to write the thoughts that inspired him, "It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known." This basically ensures his spiritual resurrection and those for which he has sacrificed his life will never forget him.

One of the greatest authors of our time, writing the greatest story of our time, so that children can read it and understand the greatest love and sacrifice of all time.

This is an excellent book for teaching children, ourselves, or anyone who wants to know about Christ in simple terms. My wife gave a copy to each of our married children.

I never knew of this book's existence until a friend of mine, a fellow book lover, told me about it. What I love most about the book is that Dickens wrote it for his children--not for the public at large. How many fathers would write a book just for their children? Dickens seems like such a tender hearted person. And you can sense that there is a lot of love put into this book.

It's nice to have the gospel of the Savior unfold in such a smooth narrative, in a language that is closer to modern English than the language of the King James Bible. Of course, Dickens fills in a few gaps, and puts his own spin on things--but all in all he is very faithfull to the four gospels.

I am thankful to my friend for telling me about this wonderful book!

Other great holiday reads:

Christmas Gifts, Christmas Voices--a story that is both gut wrenching and (thankfully) heartwarming.

Finding Noel: A Novel--yet another marvelous Evans book!

I liked it because you can tell that it wasn't proofed and edited before printing. It gave me an insight to Charles Dickens that I had not had before. It would be best not to sit down to "read" the book in one setting. Really enjoyed it.

I made the big mistake of borrowing this book from a friend at church, and starting to read it to my children. From page one, Dickens shows his hand as a liberal Christian of the moralist stripe. In reading three chapters, and scanning the rest of the book, I could find no indication that Dickens believed that Jesus was actually divine; literally the son of God.

Read the "Search Inside!" excerpt, and you can see for yourself. Page 18 (second page of the narrative) Dickens says "His father's name was Joseph, and His mother's name was Mary." No mention of the virgin birth, conception by the Holy Spirit, or any hint of divine genesis. At the bottom of the same page, the angels announce: "There is a child born to-day in the city of Bethlehem near here, who will grow up to be so good that God will love Him as His own Son." Over and over, Dickens throws out these creepy euphemisms that seem to avoid any assertion that Jesus is God incarnate.

I searched the end of the book, and could find no connection between the cross and forgiveness; although Dickens narrates the Passion and Resurrection, the closest (I could find) to an understanding of WHY, is that the Pharisees wanted to kill him because they were jealous of his following.

"Search Inside!" this book for "sin" (rest assured, there are very few occurrences), and you will get to the last page, where you will find this entirely unhelpful definition:

"Remember! -- It is Christianity TO DO GOOD always -- even to those who do evil to us. It is Christianity to love our neighbors as ourself, and to do to all men as we would have them do to us. It is Christianity to be gentle, merciful, and forgiving, and to keep those qualities quiet in our own hearts, and never make a boast of them, or of our prayers or of our love of God, but always to show that we love Him by humbly trying to do right in everything. If we do this, and remember the life and lessons of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and try to act up to them, we may confidently hope that God will forgive us our sins and mistakes, and enable us to live and die in peace."

In other words, Dickens' definition of Christianity is "If you try hard (enough), God will forgive you for your shortcomings." Check this out: the word "sin" appears 5 times in the whole book, three of which are simply quoting Jesus." The word "faith" appears a grand total of ZERO times! The only two occurrences that show up are from the Front Flap and Front Matter (i.e. not part of what Dickens himself wrote)!

I don't know how anybody could think they have defined Christianity without ever using the word "faith", but I'm pretty sure that any such attempt would be "another gospel", and it should be anathematized.

So if you don't believe that the co-eternal Son of God is the word made flesh; if you think it is silly to believe in conception by the Holy Spirit and the Virgin birth; if you don't want to focus on sin and redemption; if you just want your kids to think of Jesus as a good man, good teacher, and good example, then by all means buy this book.

But if you're a Christian, stay away.

loved it, thought it had good examples of stuff, hope i can read more of his books, real soon.

This is a great book to have while reading Great Expectations. It helps break down the writing that Dickens' uses to help you understand the book better. I would recommend this book to anyone reading Great Expectations.

This small Cliff Notes book reviewing Great Expectations is so useful. It helps you understand the Novel better. With this book you can really go in depth with the novel and find the real meaning and message Dickens was trying to express. The book has great character analizations and much more. I would recomend this book to anyone. It is the best source of help for Great Expectations.

there is this kid and he went to the grave yard to see his parents and this guy came

wemmick paid pip his money after he had put all the buscuit into the post what does that mean

Charles Dickens left London for America in the cold January of 1842. He left behind several children and such bestsellers as "Pickwick Papers"; "Oliver Twist:, "The Old Curiosity Shop" and "Nicholas Nickleby."
He and his wife Catherine Hogarth Dickens would journey to the land of their Yankee cousins for six months. This long journey resulted in a short account of the famed novelist's time in the United States.
The passage from Liverpool took 18 days with storms and heavy rain to propel the Britishers forward to the land of the free and home of the brave! Dickens visited several cities. He had good and bad things to say about America. Dickens:
a. Visited Boston and New York insane asylums and homes for the indigent.
He also visited prisons. Dickens was a liberal social reformer and thought the treatment of the insane could be improved. He did not think much of American penology believing the prisoners should be worked harder.
b. From the East the Dickens party traveled West. They passed through Louisville, Cincinnati and Sandusky. Dickens complained about pigs in the streets of these burgeoning cities. He thought Americans bold and brassy with an inordinate patriotism manifestly condescending to foreigners.
c. Dickens traveled to St.Louis complaining of the isolated life found in log cabins and the hot temperatures of North America.
d. Dickens disliked the partisan American press; he thought Americans were ruled by mobocracy and often used guns and fisticuffs when they were not necessary!
e. The travel in stage and by train was difficult in this era in the new American nation. Dickens often comments on how miserable he was!
f. Dickens saves his greatest wrath for the abominable practice of chattel slavery in the American South. In his journey to Virginia he comments on how run down the farms and homes were. Like the earlier English visiotr Fanny Trollope he is to be commended for his hatred of slavery which was the curse of American life in the antebellum period.
g. Dickens also hated the American propensity to spit tobacco juice everwhere in sight including the floor of the US House of Representatives and in the Senate Chamber!
Dickens also toured Canada which at that time was ruled by Great Britain. He is much less critical of Canadians!
Dickens is critical in many pages of the book. The book was not liked in America and little read in England. Dickens also was appalled at the lack of copyright law protecting him and English authors from the pirating of their literary efforts. Dickens would write his next novel "Martin Chuzzlewit" in which the hero travels to America only to be greatly disillusioned by this experience.
Dickens returned to America late in life amending some of his earlier harsh views about the 1842 visit. Slavery had been then been abolished.
It should not be forgotten that Dickens was also very critical of society in Great Britain! This greatest of Victorian novelists was a man who believed society needed to improve in education, care for the poor giving people more equitable justice and a higher standard of living. Dickens failed to realize on his 1842 tour that America would take time to grow as a nation and society. Some of his pointed observations, though, such as our love for elections, guns and military titles still stand!
American Notes is dry reading in many places. It is valuable for how a famous author saw America when he and the United States were both young.

I had eagerly looked forward to reading this work. I had expected that Dickens would provide a rich Pickwick Papers-like cast of American characters. Instead Dickens writes of conditions, of scenery, of things but not really of people, not in the way anyway he writes about them in his novels. This made the book disappointing on the 'experiential level'.
In terms of American vs.British conditions he does have interesting things to say. He strongly opposes Slavery and so will not travel to the slave - states. He notes a uniformity in American social opinion and condemns this, and a certain lack of manners. But he also see that in terms of democratic principles the United States is ahead of Britain.This is surprisingly a quite humorless work, again lacking one of Dickens defining virtues as a writer.

Perhaps because I have read so much of Dickens' fiction and enjoyed it so thoroughly, I had certain expectations that simply cannot be met in a work of non fiction.
To be sure, Dickens' account of America in the 1800s is interesting and his penultimate chapter railing against the institution of slavery is fantastic, but the book seemed a bit verbose (not a surprise, I suppose) and contradictory at times. He makes many observations worth knowing about in relation to Transatlantic studies, but truth be told, certain ideas begin to become repititious fairly early on.
While I feel Dickens' observations are/were valid, I think Fanny Trollope's "Domestic Manners of the Americans" is a much more enthralling read-- an account imbued with wicked humor and wit. In fact, Dickens was very much influenced by Trollope's account of America.
Without question, Dickens is the King of Victorian literature and I am a HUGE fan, but if you want his best...go for broke with "Dombey and Son," "Bleak House," or "David Copperfield."

Especially when you realize that some things haven't changed about America. Nevertheless, true or not, is a great book by Dickens. Reading it you get a great sense of the author as well as how he observed the world. His humor really shines through, as does his familiararity. No matter if you agree with the book or not (and sometimes I do, other times I don't) this book is nevertheless a great read for any Dickens fan.

I must regretfully confess that this book, so promising in its circumstances, amounts to a profound bore. The opportunity to see a distinct American epoch through the eyes of a Charles Dickens is one that I lusted after. Yet, as Goldman and Whitley's introduction to the Penguin edition rightly observes, the book is "extremely disappointing in its omissions and pervasive flatness." That "flatness" ought to have concerned me upon first reading the title. "American Notes for General Circulation" is hardly an inviting description of what's inside. Not one to judge a book by its cover, though, I dismissed this minor oversight and dove in. However, while Whitley and Goldman go on to suggest that "American Notes" is somehow "fascinating as a record of the ways in which the foremost creative writer of his day responded to the most exciting social experiment of his time," that "fascination" is merely superficial and fails to last beyond the book's mildly humorous opening scenes of a sea journey to Boston.

The book's problems are its redundancy and timidity. Dickens seems to be exclusively interested in reporting on every hospital and prison in America, which he does for at least the first third of the book. While some of his descriptions and observations in this portion of the narrative reveal the character of one of literary history's most compassionate figures, this too grows stale as Dickens fails to overcome his peculiar infatuation and look beyond. Even when he does move on, in DC, Cincinatti and elsewhere, some of the most controversial issues of his day -- slavery, Native American negotiations with the US government -- are mentioned only fleetingly as Dickens turns increasingly inward and elaborates for many pages on the most forgettable and mundane experiences common to any journey or vacation, whether it be a cruise through the Caribbean in 2004 or a trip on a riverboat up the Mississippi in 19th-century America, a river that meets with Dickens's intense disdain.

Some of Dickens's observations on the functions and implications of the American democratic system as well as generalizations on the mannerisms of Americans go far to show how little has changed since Dickens came to Boston in 1842, but rarely rise to the lyrical intensity or vivid portraits one would expect from a powerhouse such as Charles Dickens. The letters included in this edition demonstrate just how much Dickens held back in the writing of the book, which leads me to wonder just why people like Washington Irving found it so objectionable as to never speak to Dickens again. Surely the book offers some less-than-flattering ruminations on the people and corruption surrounding him, but had Dickens's book reflected the more aggressive tone of his letters, "American Notes" may have been as much of a classic today as it might have been an unconscionable offence to Irving or the American journalists who panned it at the time.

Unfortunately, the book is incapable of engenering much more than the relatively tame emotional response it received upon its release, and if its sales were impressive (which they were), this was due chiefly to the author's name and not to anything that is said between the front and back cover. Whitley and Goldman make the excellent point that some of Dickens's high-profile American friends -- Longfellow, for one -- may have influenced his impressions to such an extent that they diluted the final product. This is a case in which Dickens's fame hindered the sincerity of his work. For a more entertaining and memorable reading experience, try Parkman's "Oregon Trail," Steinbeck's "Travels With Charley" or Least-Heat Moon's "Blue Highways". For a great travel-read from a time and place far beyond 19th or 20th-century America, try Marco Polo's truly "fascinating" "Travels".

This is a good film that you've got to watch. I have watched the film, and the book. Though I did not studied the book closely, I can still feel the power of the words. I can tell you that this book is not going to be missed. A really good book, for you and me. I think that the original story by Charles Dickens is a little bit too complicated for non-English readers, and this book is ideal for everybody. It can show the dark side of human wants, and clearly reflect the higher class in the society. This is my recommendation. Do not niss it!

First things first: this is *not* the novel "Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens. This is the novelization of the movie based on the book by Charles Dickens, a reworking of his famous novel set in the 1980s starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Ethan Hawke, and directed by the fantabulous Alfonso Cuaron, who made "A Little Princess" such an exceptionally beautiful film and reinvigorated the Harry Potter franchise with his dark take of "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban". Though the "Great Expectations" movie was critically ill-received, and many Dickens-fans balked at the updating of the characters and time-period, I thoroughly enjoyed the film - though there were several flaws, it was based on a brilliant idea, was impeccably acted (and I'm not usually a big fan of either Paltrow or Hawke) and was visually beautiful in Cuaron's gorgeous cinematography and art direction, a hallmark of all his films.

Like most movies these days, distributors commissioned an adaptation of the film into book-form, a task given to Deborah Chiel who does an adequate, if not rather bland job. The story follows the basic storyline of Charles Dickens' novels; a young man aids an escaped convict, falls in love with a beautiful woman beyond his reach, comes into some money from a mysterious source and gets an inflated ego when he finds success in the big city. Here Jimmy Bell (called Pip in Dickens, and Finn in the movie - don't ask me why it was changed for a third time) is a young boy living on the coast of Florida, living with his aunt Maggie and uncle Joe (again there is another change as I believe the movie portrayed Maggie as his sister; Chiel writes her as his mother's sister).

Two meetings take place in Jimmy's childhood that will change his life forever; one is with an escaped convict who demands food from the terrified young boy, the second is with Mrs Nora Dinsmoor who requests his company for her young adopted daughter Estella. It only takes one glimpse of Estella for Jimmy to fall totally in love with her, but she has been raised by the tragic Mrs Dinsmoor (who was abandoned on her wedding day), to be a cruel heartbreaker, acting as Mrs Dinsmoors' revenge on a world of men. The book mainly focuses on Jimmy's experiences with Estella in three main periods of their lives: childhood, teenager hood and adulthood, as Estella taunts and teases him throughout his life.

On receiving an anonymous fortune brought to him via a lawyer, Jimmy rekindles his talent in painting and heads off to New York, the centre of the art world. Hoping to find both success and Estella, Jimmy immerses himself into his work and gets caught up in New York life - and the acquaintances he had long thought he'd left behind (Estella, Mrs Dinsmoor and the convict) remerge in his life in the most unexpected ways...

Writing a synopsis for this book is rather difficult considering the density of the subject matter. It is not so much a book about events, but people, relationships and the way in which they interact with each other - sometimes with kindness, often with manipulation. Somewhat unfortunately, Chiel only narrates the bare bones of the story, neglecting to go into detail on the deep psychological issues involved amongst the main characters. One of the faults of the movie was the randomness with which Estella seemed to go about her business - obviously it was the work of a damaged mind, but no exploration is given to her character during the course of the film. A novelization could have cleared this up a little, but no such thing occurs and Estella remains distant; some of this is undoubtedly the fault of the script Chiel based her work on, but surely there was room for a little dramatic liberty?

Some of the passages can be a bit trite, for example: "All his hopes for the future seemed to go unmet. How dared he to expect anything more than what destiny had decreed to be his fate?" and other ideas make no sense: Uncle Joe and his second wife apparently see similarities between their son and Jimmy, even though Joe isn't Jimmy biological uncle and his newborn cousin therefore genetically unrelated to him.

However, the main problem has nothing to do with Chiel at all, and that is the utter impossibility of translating the beauty of the film onto the page. Perhaps the reason the film resonated so strongly with me was its visual splendour; such as the dense, concentrated *green* of Mrs Dinsmoors' overgrown estate, where overgrown wedding paraphernalia lies abandoned on the overgrown lawn, beams of sunlight break through the canopy and a ladybird lands on Jimmy's wrist "like a jewel". The intoxicating visions that Cuaron dreams up for us simply cannot be captured in print.

Yet for all these faults, this novelization (much like the movie) somehow gets under your skin. The characters and their circumstances are endlessly intriguing - though I suspect it is the ghost of Charles Dickens' genius still at work behind his literary creations. Jimmy and Estella, Joe and Mrs Dinsmoor, the lonely figure of the virtually unknown Lustig - they resonate throughout the mind and are utterly unforgettable.

Some criticism toward the movie was levelled at the ending, which was perceived as rather weak - I however thought it was a beautiful way to unite the long-parted lovers, not with a dramatic burst of action, but a slow and simple coming together amongst the remnants of the past, much like the calm after a storm. I was happy to see that Chiel follows this ending, and furthermore adds in echoes of Dickens' own literary ending, which deepens its beauty further.

Though I recommend the movie more than this novel, it's not a wasted read and somehow both together give me an even greater appreciation for Dickens' original work.

I haven't read the book yet, but i absolutely LOVED the movie. It is an artsy romance of a 70's to 90's love scene.

I thought this was a great romance! I found it a bit complicated at times, but I am an 8th grader so maybe it is my age. But Indeed, I found it engrossing!

Read the modern day version of Charles Dicken's classic Great Expectations. This is one of my favorite books to read. I have read it to many times to count. If you like this book also try, A Walk in the Clouds, and the War which will have you in tears. They are all writen by Deborah Chiel.

I have found reason to use Cliff Notes at various times in the past years. They are always helpful. They provide background information about the author, the times he lived in and a brief overview of the book. Then they break down the book chapter by chapter and explain what is happening in each chapter to the characters. Difficult language is defined. Difficult concepts are expounded upon.

What they do not do is give you the answers for a test or explain everything so clearly that you won't have to read the book. These are a help to understanding the book.

This one on A Tale of two Cities was very complete and very helpful.

I purchased these cliff notes for my son who was reading this book as a school assignment. The names, terms, society, everything in Dickens' book are just too different from modern American society for a young person to comprehend very well, let alone be 'tested' on. He read both the book and the cliff notes and needed both to really understand what was going on and the point of many of the passages.

This book helped me a lot i like to read and all but A Tale of Two Cities is a little to detailed and i kind of understood the book but this book helped me understand it completely i recommend this book to anyone that does not fully understand A Tale of Two Cities.

I indeed read the book, but the notes helped me understand it a lot better.

Well I must say that I'm not a big fan of reading, but wow these notes make it a brezze. If you are lazy and have know time to re-read that well, buy the notes..I got them [online]and they have helped me [tremendously! BUY THE NOTES!!! I'm only 15 and well Dickens [is a drag] so buy the notes!!! lol

The Mystery of Edwin Drood is Dickens' last (unfinished) novel and his best, excepting Pickwick Papers. With a wonderful array of characters, including the minor ones like Honeythunder and the incomparable (outside of Dickens' works) Deputy it is a pleasure to read and re-read. By itself of course a 5-star book! The D case has fictional detectives gathered in Rome, attending a conference where the aim is to "finish" the mystery story. The authors' solution is witty and interesting. However, much of the story is dated because it is poking fun at whizz-bang Japanese technology. Furthermore most of the detectives are not well portrayed (at least in the English translation). All in all an enjoyable book, by itself 3-star.

A rather interesting book, "The D Case" contains the incomplete manuscript of Charles Dickens' "The Mystery of Edwin Drood" interleaved with Fruttero & Lucentini's fictionalized examination of what the solution to the unsolved mystery is. "Edwin Drood" was Dickens' last, and probably weakest novel. It just isn't a very interesting read. Read it alone, and you probably won't care what happened to Edwin Drood. What F & L do is cover all the various ideas scholars have had over 'whodunnit', by putting the arguments in the mouths of all the great fictional sleuths of the last 100 years+ working as a team. A much more interesting way to follow the discussion about the book than reading formal articles in Lit Journals. In the end, F & L's detectives present a new and interesting solution to the title crime, and in addition, reveal a new crime no one suspected, the murder of Dickens himself, along with the culprit! Sound farfetched? Try it, you'll like it.

The reason I don't give this 5 stars is the poor depiction of the fictional dectectives. With the exception of Hercule Poirot, none of them talk like they did in the orginal works they appeared in. Whether this is the fault of F & L, or the fault of the translator, I don't know. Regardless, it weakens the book.

In this book, a group of fictional detectives (mostly famous, but with a few obscure ones) are assembled in Rome to solve "The Mystery of Edwin Dood". "The Mystery of Edwin Drood" was Charles Dickens' last book, which he died before completing. This book reprints "Drood" in it's unfinished entirety, interupted periodically by the detectives discussing the "case". I found the book (both "Drood" and the new bits with Sherlock Holmes and company) to be quite entertaining. Does the book provide a "definitive" sollution to "The Mystery of Edwin Drood"? No, but it's an imaginative sollution that is plausible. Dickens fans should enjoy this book.

The Mystery of Edwin Drood is a wonderful book. The last book of Charles Dickens' work. He wrote this book before he died but never ended it because he died before he did. This book is a very educational, and hard book to read, but it's really worth it. I strongly recommend you to read this.

I bought this book because I love fantacy novels. Although, the stories are well written and classics. The book reminded me of assigned literature from english class, a bit dry. I did find a couple of stories cute, but not great. This book is easy to put down. If you wish to know the evolution of fanticy novels then you would enjoy this book.

This is a very good fantasy anthology. It's got excellent stories like 'Troll Bridge' by Pratchett, 'Stealing God' by Doyle & Macdonald, 'Liane the Wayfarer' by Vance, 'More Spinned Against' by Wyndham, and the classic 'Unicorn Variations' by Zelazny.

Not all of the stories are excellent. I didn't enjoy the older ones (I always have a difficult time with pre-1900 fantasy) by Ingelow, Dickens, or M.R. James. The Harrison story had so much information in it that it was difficult to follow.

What makes this anthology stand out from others are the short introductions given by other authors in which they explain why they enjoy that particular story. They don't always go into great detail (Marion Zimmer Bradley and Tanya Huff wrote very short pieces, but the intros by Donaldson and George R.R. Martin were particularly interesting.

This anthology brought several good stories to my attention that I likely would never have otherwise read, notably the Wyndham and Doyle/Macdonald pieces. There's a lot of good fiction in here for a low price. Check it out.

I enjoyed last year's predecessor volume, My Favorite Science Fiction Story, but this volume is even better. The premise is that eighteen bestselling fantasy writers were asked to pick their all-time favorite fantasy story (by another writer). The result is a very eclectic assortment of tales. Most of these stories I had never seen before (even though I had read other stories by the same authors), but the most enjoyable part was reading the introductions, and discovering why each author picked the story he or she did.

I loved M. John Harrison's story "The Dancer from the Dance," but I think I liked it more than I would have otherwise, just because Stephen Donaldson's very evocative introduction sets the stage so well. Also, I have always loved Jack Vance's "Dying Earth" stories, and I loved reading Robert Silverberg and George R. R. Martin each explaining why they chose a different story from that book, and seeing how their opinions closely mirrored my own. Neil Gaiman chose a story by R. A. Lafferty that I had never read before. Not only did I love the story, but it also made me reexamine some of Gaiman's own work, and think about the ways which Lafferty might have influenced his writing.

If you are looking for the fantasy found in endless volumes of Tolkein ripoffs and Jordan wannabes, this is not the book for you. (Even Margaret Weis, who has often been a guilty practitioner of the aforementioned, picks a beautiful story by Charles Dickens to introduce.) But if you are looking for one of the most interesting and well-rounded collections of first-rate fantasy literature to be found in print today, you should buy this book.

This book has a variety of well chosen stories, with the exception of "Stealing God" which I did not like. The writers have chosen works that are classic yet show a great variety. Must reads include the two Vance stories, the Harrison, and the Zelazny. This book is a good safe bet for the fantasy fan.

Hard Times depicts the lives of ordinary people during the industrial revolution in England. Dickens brings several characters to life and weaves an interesting story about their interactions with each other. Most of these characters are poor and they live in a pollution ridden town where the economy is based on coal production. Dickens's description of their lives is excellent. The only reason for the four stars is that one or two secret matters are alluded to near the beginning, but they are never revealed, leaving the reader a little disappointed. Overall, Hard Times is very good book.

It was a pretty good book. It made me realize what life was like back in dickens' time. The industrial revolution was going on... It started off pretty slow than got exciting as I read on. I encourage young readers to think about reading this book.

Hard times lyrically explains life in the early 1800's while captivating its readers and showing that hard times hits people of all eras, decades, and even surpasses those of 1800's to the 1990's. However, what is most intriguing is the fact that Charles Dickens in some aspects suggest that sometimes hard times are circumstances that we subject ourselves and others to and whether is under ones own volition or under false pretenses. Hard Times is indeed a knowledgeable novel that teaches a lesson and shows one of many Dickens attributes. This review is from Merci McKinley who is 16 years old from Potomac High School in Oxon Hill, Maryland.

I bought this book because I had been enthralled by my, admittedly brief, introduction to some of Chestreton's work.

"Day by Day" provides many pearls of wit and wisdom yet there are many also that are so couched in his time and culture that they are lost to a different generation.

This book serves two purposes. It is intended to be a daily devotional (like Oswald Chambers "My Utmost For His Highest"), focusing on G. K. Chesterton's wit and wisdom. The quotes were selected by Chesterton himself, so they represent what he thought was important, as opposed to reading another person's second-guessings.

One good point is that it has moveable feasts in an appendix, like Lewis's "The Business of Heaven." A down point is that the book lacks an entry for Leap Day. This is a common mistake made by all devotionals I own, except for Chambers's. If you are smart enough to include the Roman Catholic feast days (which you would expect from Chesterton), then why can't you remember Leap Day? It is beyond me!

The second purpose of the book is an unintentional one. This book serves as a de-facto quote book. I love quote books, since they serve as random sampler for a person's thought. C. S. Lewis said, "The only use of selections is to deter those readers who will never appreciate the original, and thus save them from wasting their time on it, and to send all the others on the original as quickly as possible." (The Quotable Lewis, #447)

This book accomplishes both: it is a wonderful daily devotional, and it whets the appetite for more.

I bought this book for my grandmother and she loves it. It's hard for her to sit and read for a lond piriod of time. This book is nice because it has one little reading for every day. I would highly recomend this book.