Prose Books

This was the first May Sarton book I read. I admit I had never heard of her and am not sure where I picked the book up. I now own a few of her works and will be buying more. This is a wonderful look at the life of a writer, a woman, who buys an older home in an isolated area, and starts a new chapter in her life. She immerses herself in the solitude in order to write, and to bring together different aspects of her life. The title is very appropriate as she talks a lot about gardening and plants AND dreams and hopes. I have passed this on to a friend to enjoy.

This book is about the author's first home purchase in Nelson, N.H. May Sarton does an excellent job telling about her first home purchase by herself, living alone in a small town, the joys and therapies of gardening. If you have never read May Sarton and you are a lover of reading, writing and solitude, you must read this author.

I don't know who reads May Sarton nowadays (hopefully at least students are still imbibing) for hers is a chosen art beholden to stillness and its plenitude, and we know the short shrift given to reflection in an oversized disposable culture. I do know that everything she's written holds magical lessons for every writer - her poems and journals are steeped in subtle lessons of patience, fearlessness and conscience. Plant Dreaming Deep (a title intended both as admonition and hopeful reflection) is a masterpiece. Part memoir, journal, survival guide, it's a kind of holy book for seekers searching the scrub of rocks and weeds. Sarton's intrepid gift has always been to secure for us the infinite contained in the small and unnoticed, to plant within the careful reader a kind of loving understanding to bloom unexpectedly farther on down the road, easing the load even as it deepens the search. Above all else, hers is an enlightening art that cannot lead astray. Quietly artful black and white photographs (of house and garden and friends - most by Lotte Jacobi and Eleanor Blair) are among the treasure found in the 1983 Norton paperback edition I own. Sarton's voice never fails; it's always rich and reasonable and true. It's easy to surmise that she's a overlooked writer, but if you really want what you're looking for, read May Sarton. Once born inside you, she's faithful to the end.

When you need to take a deep breath and destress, pick up this book. Sarton has a rich understanding of the rhythm of nature and lives often in harmony with it...and she will inspire you to do the same.

This is the first May Sarton book I ever read.

In this journal Sarton describes buying and moving into an 18th century broken-down house on thirty-six acres in a small New Hampshire village.

She chronicles for us the many varied emotions and pressures involved with getting the house repaired and renovated to her liking.

She describes moving in and then adapting (both as a writer and as a human being) to the solitude of living there alone.

She describes her relationships with many of the people (some of whom are unusual characters) that she comes to know living in Nelson.

She does very well in communicating all the sensory impressions that she experienced living right in the heart of nature and the outdoors.

I read it a chapter a day so that I could allow it to sink in slowly.

All chapters seemed well-paced (and not too long nor too short) and I didn't get bored anywhere along the way.

As a writer Sarton seems to have a nice gentle natural writing style.

I liked this (my first Sarton book) so much that I intend to read much more of her work.

I recommend this journal to you.

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

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


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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This is the Modern Library edition of the classic Dorothy Parker collection of stories and poems. If you want to introduce someone to Mrs. Parker - maybe with a birthday gift book - get this.

The first half is divided into verse from the collected editions Enough Rope, Sunset Gun, Death and Taxes; the second half is more than 25 short stories. It's a compact little hardcover book, with an old style typeface, and moderately priced. Even the dust jacket is classy.

This book is a compilation of all three of Parker's books of poetry as well as her published book of short stories. As for the price, it can't be beat, especially considering it's in hardcover. Plus, you also don't have to worry about buying 2 or 3 books to make sure you've got all of the poems you wanted.

Dorothy Parker's writing is fantastic anyway, and uses cynical wit to draw the reader into the poem. The reader laughs, but manages to feel empathetic. Her style is unique and doesn't seem outdated, even though most of this was written at least half a century ago. If you've ever wanted to laugh about being broken-hearted, this is the book for you.

Not that I dislike her poems (I only read about a dozen) but I bought this book primarily for the stories. And I still don't regret it. Parker's stories can be separated in 2 or 3 groups; the cleverly sarcastic ones (most of the stories I believe), the third-person narrative ones (much rarer) with a rather grave tone (quite emotionally loaded), and the third group I do not remember because I read this book a while ago. Bear with me...

I have to say that nearly all of these stories made me want to purchase a gun and start to kill people randomly. Why? Because Parker has a way to present us the unnice sides of humans in such a way that you feel it like a personal attack (not an attack from the author to you, but one from the characters to another character, and that will make you want to break something). I guess that means Dorothy is good at making the reader emotionally involved; and she is. However sarcastic and cynical she gets, you always know how to take it, you always know what it means. It's a bit like someone telling you something terribly sad and adding a smile to it; you know it does not mean they are happy at all, but you understand it in a deeper way. Sorry if this all sounds far-fetched and fancy; I do suck at reviews. (This being said, that's a purely personal standard, on an amazon standard, I think I'm doing fairly well.)

Lastly, a word about Modern Library. Their books are definitely classy. I always prefer a hardcover to a paperback, so this edition made my day. The paper quality is a quite a fine one as well and the font is classy too (it has some special "e" in it, with a diagonal bar, but I don't think you'd notice that unless you were told).

Great book. Ideal for any Dorothy Parker fan

Here you have it, all of the wit and charm of Dorothy Parker in one neat compact volume. The poems, many of which I had read before, are brilliant and stunning, having the punch of an O. Henry story in one or two little pages. The short stories, of which I had read exactly none before I picked up this book, are, incredibly, just as good as her verses. Full of the pathos and drama of a wide variety of domestic experience, these prose gems are brimming with smart and realistic dialogue seldom found in any medium. Some of the best tales are simply inner monologues of a woman doing ordinary things like waiting for the man she adores to call her on the phone or dancing with a clog footed bore who keeps kicking her in the shins. These pieces are so well done and so dead on that they would make great audition pieces for budding actresses to impress a casting agent with. Much has been made of Dorothy Parker's unhappiness and self destructive behavior, but despite, or possibly because of, her abject misery, the lady could put pen to paper. Her work, much more than her biography, is what should stand the test of time. If you like this book and simply have to have more, you should also pick up "Not Much Fun: The Lost Poems of Dorothy Parker" compiled by Stuart Silverstein and collecting, many for the first time, the poems that Dottie wasn't that fond of--they are brilliant as well.

Thank God for Said. He explains so eloquently the Palestinian cause in a way we never hear from the maintream media. This collection of essays, though 400 pages, hangs together very well.

If there is any cause in this whole wide world where the obvious, glaring injustice of it all has been summarily ignored and dismissed by most of the world's leading intellectuals, it is the cause of the Palestinian freedom movement.

Said's (pronounced Sayid)--a Palestinian Arab of Christian descent--was that rare voice which informed the world of the Zionist duplicity, in a way that laid bare the untold sufferings of over 4 million of its inhabitants in the most lucid manner possible. For over three decades, Said's was a lone cry in the New Yorkian wilderness, which drew attention to the State of Israel's Ocean liner of lies ever since (and even before) it came into existence.

Said's pain and melancholy comes through, etched in every page of this book and makes for frightful reading. Given the supposed openness of the media in democratic nation-states, it's shocking how through over 5 decades, the combined might of Zionism's religious fanaticism, the traditional incompetence of ruling monarchies in the Arab world, the West's moral ambivalence to call the Israeli spade a bloody shovel and the Zionist lobby in Washington have been able to keep an entire nation of millions in a sort of permanent exile.

This book neatly divided in 3 parts critiques everything that is wrong and tragic about the Palestinian movement with merciless felicity and attention to detail that a proper understanding of this cause deserves. Of course, he is severe (and justifiably so) on Israel, but it is his attacks on the rest of the Arab world and the dishonest intellectuals of the western world that makes for fascinating reading. Truly, an intellectual like Said, rarely ever loses his relevance or goes out of fashion. This book is a priceless gem, to be read and re-read by anyone who wants to move beyond standard middle-east explanations, terrorism clichés and the rhetoric of "with us or against us".

If all could read this book, it might help meople to understand what is happening to the people of Palestine.

It is remarkable how relevant these essays seem still, even as they lead up to the era of the Oslo process, in the frozen present since 1967, or 1948. Sorting out the myths of the Arab-Israeli conflict can be a full-time job, and that's the problem. Said's witnessing of the issues since 1967 has always been one component of the unfolding tragedy. The Arab-Israeli conflict sometimes seems in a time warp, and the relevance of these essays endures, whatever one's perspective. Said's acerbic commentary seems to hover over the decades, and his personal account, to start the book, is a permanent record of those who endured the juggernaut.

Despite 40years of Israeli occupation, hundreds of illegal Israeli settlements, endless unproductive "peace process"-es, the Palestinians are no closer to genuine self-determination and nationhood. The Israel Lobby continues to wag the American dog. America's blind support of Israel and the billions of US taxpayer dollars continue to prop up the Israeli apartheid regime and make peace impossible.

It was hard for me to read these essays without getting angry: at the self-serving lies of Israeli apologists, at the cynicism of every US administration, at the sheer stupidity and venality of Palestinian leadership (so-called!).

Israel will never make peace with the Palestinians through negotiations as long as the US continues to subsidize Israel. Where is the incentive?

I fault Said for timidity in not elaborating on HOW Palestinians should prosecute their struggle. It is long past time that Palestinians accept that depending on their "Arab brothers" is going to get them nothing and nowhere. None of the essays helped me to understand how Said proposes to get Israel to allow Palestinian self-determination and statehood.

I also fault Said for his failure to mobilize any organized opposition the Israel Lobby in the US. Said may be much-celebrated in a certain small left-leaning ghetto of the intelligentsia, but he is a marginal figure in national politics and the debate (very little allowed) on Israel. The Lobby is powerful, yes. But the Israel Lobby does nothing illegal: it peddles influence and money and thereby influences politics in its favor, and nothing prevents a Palestinian Lobby from adopting similar tactics and emulating the Israel Lobby. The surest, perhaps the only, way to Palestinian self-determination is to change US policy towards Israel.

The BEST collection of pulp genre ever. Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? Is there a Doc Savage in the house? Can I get that Fu Manchu to go? how about some Lovecraft? I guess it all should have warped us, but it didn't, and all that we watch and read today has drawn strength from these wonderfully cheap reads. Totally sweet from design to content. Robinson knows his stuff and it all makes for a CHERISHED collectible book!

This is a fully revised edition of the first pictorial history of the pulp magazines to be published and the authors finally got it right. There is a complete index of magazine titles and the artists who painted their covers, the images have been rescanned to eliminate any "moire" patterns that may have degraded the paintings, and the most unusual cover ever published has now been included (a painting by John Held Jr., famous for his "sheiks and shebas" of the Jazz Age). The cover has been redesigned and features the image of a pirate far more fearsome than Johnny Depp. This is the book that started it all and the price is now more than right. --Frank M. Robinson (I'm one of the authors).

I puchased this book for 50% off, and after reading it, I can say that even at full price, it would have been worth it. Page after page of bright clear reproductions of pulp covers, many almost full-page, with any extra space filled with smaller images. The book is divided into chapters based on subject matter: Westerns, Super Heroes, Sci-Fi, Horror, Gangsters, etc. The text is informative, but minimal - it provides just enough background on each chapter's subject and then lets the art speak for itself. Each cover is accompanied with information on the issue and artist, plus some informative personal commentary from the author. Plenty of top-notch artists are included, such as Wyeth, Baumhofer, etc. Don't buy this for an in-depth analysis of pulp magazines; the star here is definitely the art, and it delivers in spades.

Hard-boiled Detectives, mysterious heroes, shadowy villains, evil oriental masterminds, and dames in distress...they are the stuff of the pulp magazines and the subject of this wonderful book by Frank Robinson which traces the history of pulp magazines and provides covers to hundreds of these great pulp magazines, so many lost in the antiquity of time...not to mention paper drives of the 1940's war years.

Robinson begins by tracing the roots of the pulps back to the dime novels of the late 1800's. Argosy would premiere as the first true pulp back in 1896 and before long dozens of competitors would emerge such as Popular Magazine, All-Story Weekly, New Story and so many more. Street & Smith, long a major publisher of dime novels would convert their Nick Carter series into Detective Story Magazine in 1915. The pulps were born!

Early on, adventure pulps were the most popular as they transported readers to strange and exotic lands in a time when few would ever leave their own state. It's where we first read the exploits of Tarzan, and heard the names of writers such as Burroughs, Mundy and Rohmer. Adventure magazine was among the most popular of those early days and they even had their own organization you could join called "The Legion" which would one day evolve into the American Legion. Adventure printed more than just fiction, they had many regular columns including "Wanted: Men & Adventurers" where real life mercenaries could advertise their skills for hire.

In the 1930's, detective pulps became the most popular as there were literally dozens of detective pulps being published. Among the most prominent pulps of the day was Black Mask Magazine, started by prominent newspaperman and political commentator H.L. Mencken. But he considered the pulps so low-brow that he didn't want his name associated with them. Still, Blackmask was a breeding ground for some for some of the great mystery and detective writers ever to pen a story including Dashiell Hammett, Erle Stanley Gardner, Lester Dent, and Raymond Chandler.

Robinson's narrative moves from one pulp genre to the next, with a short, but concise history of each. He examines the Western pulps and the interesting history of the man known as Max Brand. Brand was the most prolific pulp writer ever, appearing in 622 issues of Western Story magazine from 1920 - 1935. From there it's on to the hero pulps and the birth of the most famous pulp characters of all including "The Shadow", "Doc Savage", and "The Spider". The Shadow's covers were always among the most evocative and terrifying, especially those by the great George Rozen.

But the genre that gave us the most outrageous and grisly covers of the pulp era belongs to the "shudder pulps". Bondage, torture, sadism, nudity...nothing was held back in covers for such pulps as "Terror Tales" and "Horror Stories". These pulps are some of the most sought after today by collectors.

Romance, spicy adventures, sports, war...all of these get their just do in Pulp Culture but it's the sci-fi and fantasy section that will be a major appeal for many fans. It was here where some of the most famous and long-running pulps made their mark. Hugo Gernsback would usher in the age of Sci-fi pulps in 1926 with Amazing Stories. Soon there were dozens of competitors including Wonder Stories, Astounding Stories, and many more. And then there is perhaps the most famous, most collectible of all pulps, Weird Tales. Weird Tales would unleash the enormous talents of Robert E. Howard, H.P. Lovecraft, Robert Bloch, August Derleth, and countless others with stories that would endure, and continue to be reprinted, decades after their original publication. There are dozens of covers provided featuring the works of artists like Margaret Brundage and Virgil Finlay.

Robinson closes his book by providing an appendix to a handful of pulp dealers and notes on pulp values. This book would be worth the $40 price tag alone JUST for the hundreds of stunning covers re-printed, but Robinson's concise history of pulps just adds to the luster of the book. Simply a magnificent book for any fan or collector of pulp magazines.

Reviewed By Tim Janson

This book is a marvelous journey to a time that will not come back.Guided by two wonderful connoisseurs: writer ,pulp magazines scholar and collector Frank M. Robinson and Lawrence Davidson,"PULP CULTURE" was a beautiful gift that I bought(via Amazon.com ,from the NIGHT OWL CAFE Bookshop in North Hampton,NH) for myself.Reviewing this work for January magazine,David Middleton said:"For me it's mostly about covers.Those lurid,sensational covers." Well,for me it's about everything.I love the covers,of course(see the HANNES BOK painting for the November 1941 cover of WEIRD TALES),but I admire, too,the stories and writers.The adventure tales written by H.BEDFORD JONES and TALBOT MUNDY;the mystery and detective stories created by legends like DASHIELL HAMMETT and RAYMOND CHANDLER;the western yarns concocted by pulp giants like MAX BRAND and FRANK GRUBER.And the Magazines!It's titles!It's alluring titles:THE ARGOSY,THE ALL-STORY,BLACK MASK,DIME DETECTIVE MAGAZINE,ADVENTURE,THE BLUE BOOK,THE POPULAR MAGAZINE,WESTERN STORY,THE SHADOW MAGAZINE,G-8 AND HIS BATTLE ACES,TERROR TALES,HORROR STORIES,STRANGE STORIES,AMAZING STORIES,ASTOUNDING STORIES,FANTASTIC ADVENTURES,FAMOUS FANTASTIC MYSTERIES,THRILLING WONDER STORIES,PLANET STORIES and so on...I have a good envy of collectors like Frank M. Robinson who owns hundreds and hundreds of these shiny magazines with their garish covers,a happy guardian of these rare and precious popular art objects.
The books published by Collectors Press are already much sought after for it's exquisite design and intrinsic quality."PULP CULTURE" is one of them.

I knew Steve before his Odyssey to New Mexico during his student days in Boston. For a time, I boarded an eagle of his in my attic there along with a complicated girl friend (also in the attic) and frozen rats in my refrigerator. Years later, and long out of touch with Steve, I was looking for T.H. White's "The Goshawk" and found instead, in order, Steve's "Rage for Falcons", contact with Steve, and Querencia. This beautiful story of two Easterners going to New Mexico and integrating themselves into the landscape of people and mesas is a superb book on many levels. It is as funny as a James Herriot book on animals and people and as descriptive of the land travelled as Patrick Leigh Fermor's "A Time of Gifts". Woven in between the paragraphs on the changing daily life is the two people themselves. Without any sentiment or soppiness, without ever having to say anything explicit, you are drawn into a human story of depth and beauty. The bond between them is drawn out in each day's events and the shared environment in which they live. If you have ever unexpectedly found someone and loved, you must read Querencia. Then read everything else Steve has written (the book on shotguns "Good Guns" is filled with wonderful human descriptions for the non-hunter). Oh, and the eagle still lives, decades later, in the Berkshires.

Querencia is a uniquely personal and cathartic experience of a complex and passionate man's odyssey - a relationship between man, woman, dogs, eagles and nature - an elevating, and sometimes excruciatingly painfull account of the human condition.

The consolation of man's enduring relationship with nature is exquisitely described here. Bodio deserves recognition as New Mexico's champion author, as his friend, Annie Proux has become for Wyoming. You will read this book over and over, and find new insights each time.

In an era where illiterates like Shaquile O'Neal and Tim Allen hit the top ten list with their inane blather, it was a gift from the Gods to stumble upon this gem. When I put Querencia (kur-en-see-uh) down after having read it in one sitting, I asked myself, 'How in the hell is it that I have never heard of this Bodio character before?' He is a MASTERFUL author, a naturalist on par with ANY giant your memory or imagination may conjur, and as genuinely sensitive a man as there ever was. Only after MUCH research did I learn that East coast publishers hate him (his other works explain why: he's smarter than most all publishing execs and editors COMBINED, which is intimidating if you are a micro-apendaged ivy leaguer with a hi-lighter), and that's why he is not a, 'sold' author. Too bad. If Oprah read this, she'd cry herself into a migraine and then make Bodio a NY Times #1 seller: it's that good. IF YOU READ IT BASED UPON THIS RECOMMENDATION AND DO NOT THINK MY ASSESSMENT IS ACCURATE, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO EMAIL ME AND SET ME STRAIGHT! I am confident that I will not be hearing from you.

In an era where illiterates like Shaquile O'Neal and Tim Allen hit the top ten list with their inane blather, it was a gift from the Gods to stumble upon this gem. When I put Querencia (kur-en-see-uh) down after having read it in one sitting, I asked myself, 'How in the hell is it that I have never heard of this Bodio character before?' He is a MASTERFUL author, a naturalist on par with ANY giant your memory or imagination may conjur, and as genuinely sensitive a man as there ever was. Only after MUCH research did I learn that East coast publishers hate him (his other works explain why: he's smarter than most all publishing execs and editors COMBINED, which is intimidating if you are a micro-apendaged ivy leaguer with a hi-lighter), and that's why he is not a, 'sold' author. Too bad. If Oprah read this, she'd cry herself into a migraine and then make Bodio a NY Times #1 seller: it's that good. IF YOU READ IT BASED UPON THIS RECOMMENDATION AND DO NOT THINK MY ASSESSMENT IS ACCURATE, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO EMAIL ME AND SET ME STRAIGHT! I am confident that I will not be hearing from you.

As a New Mexican who has probably walked over Bodio's boot tracks in the central mountains of New Mexico, I was completely captivated by his discriptions of this country that is so full of paradoxes and contrasts. No other author has been able to describe so well this unusual place and the affects it has on it's inhabitants: winged, four legged and two legged.

What wonderful, powerful messages are given in each captivating vignette! Buy it, find a comfortable corner, read it, reflect, and enjoy each poignant passage!

The Easter story as related by the man who follows the Ragman is moving and makes an age old story new. Older elementary school children, middle schoolers and adults listened. We all heard the story.Although it seemd familiar, it held our attention. It was an eyewitness thought provoking news account of a very special Ragman.

Each short story is a new glimpse of God's love for us all. Letter to my Brother Gregory... is the best admonition for a Christian marriage that I have ever read. It clearly reveals the importance of God's role in our marriages and will surprise most who read it. I have enclosed copies of Ragman in wedding presents with a note for the Newlyweds. The title story will make you cry.

Wangerin's Ragman is one of the most inspiring books I have read in a long time. The imagery can pull you into everyday life or to far away scenes. Ragman can stir your heart.

RAGMAN AND OTHER CRIES OF FAITH is a deeply moving collection of works concerning the Christian faith, written by Walt Wangerin, Jr. about some of his experiences as a pastor in the inner city. The title work, "Ragman" is a story that is often used as a skit/readers theatre throughout the country and is basically an updated tale about the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. The book includes poems, plays, sermons, and many great stories because as Wangerin writes, stories are what make a pastor. The tales are all personal and most are moving. They examine a deep and living faith that sees the work of God everywhere: from a naked, homebound parishoner who smells like urine to the painful death of a young woman to a crazy woman shooting a gun at no one in the middle of the street. This is a great book for any pastor, for anyone who has done urban missions, or for anyone looking for a book that illustrates the very real ways God is working in our world today. Highly recommended.

After reading The Sun Also Rises, I was given a copy of this book by a friend to "browse through." But when I started browsing, its down-to-earth style and wide breadth of knowledge in uncovering Hemingway's icebergs had me reading the book cover to cover. Not only is the prose captivating but the edition includes maps of Paris, pictures of locations in the novel--all kinds of great stuff that enlighten a reading of The Sun Also Rises. Highly recommended!

I've always loved The Sun Also Rises, but this book opened my eyes to all the reasons why I love the book. It is an instructive, amiable, mindbogglingly-informed commentary/glossary written with an ease rarely seen in critical work. Definitely the most intelligent, complete and expansive work I've seen on any Hemingway text. This book is necessary to all students of American literature.

One of the best things about reading Hemingway is that he writes in a way that appeals to both the common reader and the serious scholar. With this masterpiece, H. R. Stoneback achieves the same sensibility. First time readers will be awed by the "dignity of movement" they find in
Stoneback's commanding and systematic explication of The Sun Also Rises. Even more, the depth of Stoneback's analysis sets a standard that will be the benchmark for studies of TSAR. But one of the best things about this book is Stoneback's writing. Right from the beginning of the book he manages to write in a way that illuminates. When I read the first section "Titles" from "Front Matters" I knew I was in for a treat. The book has a measured pace that seems to constantly build towards epiphany, which proves to be an extremely rewarding experience for the reader.

The inaugural volume in the Reading Hemingway series from Kent State University Press, this book is a mandatory companion to Hemingway's novel. Stoneback's exactitude gives the book its backbone. It should put to rest all poorly-informed readings of SAR. Buy two copies. Buy three. Use it in the classroom. Give it to people who don't get Hemingway. Give it to people who think Hemingway's work takes place in a violent and meaningless world. Give it to people who have a deep appreciation for the spirit of place.

This book is necessary for any serious Hemingway scholar, but because it is not written with incomprehensible jargon, it is accessible to anyone interested in The Sun Also Rises and/or Hemingway. The book is simply invaluable.

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This is one of my favorite books:

"I like to write about poems. I like poems.
Some girls are like poems."
-Eric Filisbret, 3rd or 4th grade

"Dog where do you get that bark?
Dragon where do you get that flame?
Kitten where do you get that meow?
Rose where do you get that red?
Bird, where do you get those wings?"
-Desiree Lynn Collier, 3rd or 4th grade

"Come with me and I'll show you my heart. I
know where it is and I know all about it...
Come with me, I'll take you to a world, not
a world that you know. Not a world that
I know. But a world that nobody knows,
not you or me... "

It's ironic, the good kind, for me to learn
so much from a book about ok, teaching
children about poetry.

A follow-up to the author's equally wonderful "Wishes, Lies, and Dreams," this superb volume is one of the best sources for teaching poetry that I've ever read. How many of us found that school crushed any budding love of poetry we had, rather than nurturing it? Well, Kenneth Koch will bring that crushed bud back into full, glorious blossom! He has a rare gift -- he removes the barriers to poetry, the ones that say it's too deep, too different, too complex, for the likes of ordinary people; yet he never removes its mystery, its wonder, its beauty. If anything, he makes it available & familiar to all in a way that only enhances its rapturous qualities. He makes us realize that a poem is as obvious & rich, as subtle & tangible, as a flower. The poem is there for anyone, for everyone, to savor & enjoy.

Most highly recommended!

This excellent book seems to be a missing link in writing instruction. Other books provide somewhat mechanical methods for generating writing ideas, but Koch's book leads the reader into natural lines of thought which connect the reader with his or her experience of life, experience from which the writing must flow. I am pretty sure this would work for any kind of writing and is not limited to poetry. Don't be too proud to use this book on yourself!

Mr. Koch will not underestimate children. He will not talk down, dumb down, water down, because a passion for the subject matter animates this book as it must animate his instruction. He carefully documents and shares children's work as if it is as important as the poetry that inspired it.

Like anything truly sublime, the unspoken lesson enlivens this book . If you really share what you love with students, guide them instead of showing them, ask instead of telling, and treat their products with the respect you'd give a visiting artist, they will produce art as amazing as Mr. Koch's students did.

Forget teaching poetry to children- teach poetry instead. Take the concept and apply it to all creative acts. Teach art from great and challenging art. Teach music from powerful, sophisticated music. They can not only take it, they'll take it and keep it.

I used this book to introduce unrhymed poetry to a fourth grade class. They just knew that they were going to HATE poetry, but after they were exposed to these poems and had a chance to write their own, they were upset when the poetry unit was over. They loved the poems written by other children that Koch included.

The underlying thread in this collection of stories is freedom -- specifically, Rumpole's "right" to smoke in chambers. He is more a champion of the underdog than most leftists today, yet maintains a wonderfully conservative suspicion of social engineering. The stories are stand alone. The best in my view is the teenage werewolf. A great read....

Those of you familiar with dear old, unique if you will, Rumpole who never bothered with the "Silk" will enjoy this work.

I love all my Rumpole books and I used to think it was impossible to pick one as my favorite, but I think this is it. This book is by turns funny and sad, and from the ending it is easy to see why Rumpole fans thought this would be the last Rumpole book. (Fortunately, there are two more.) I like this book for many reasons. First, Rumpole's Head of Chambers, Soapy Sam Ballard, is shown to be more human and sympathetic than he has ever been. Second, Rumpole discovers an unexpected ally in his new Chambers colleague, the annoying Archie Prosser. Third, this book is unusually full of rich images; I especially enjoyed Rumpole's descriptions of the luxuriously appointed bathroom at a client's house and of a sumptuous lunch he had with a wealthy client at a hotel by the River Thames. Fourth, all the stories are exceptionally good. I enjoyed "Rumpole and the Remembrance of Things Past," about a man accused of killing his wife; "Rumpole and the Asylum Seekers," about a political refugee from Afghanistan; "Rumpole and the Camberwell Carrot," about a Member of Parliament accused of using prohibited drugs; and "Rumpole and the Teenage Werewolf," about a teenager accused of stalking a school friend. The title story and the last in the book, "Rumpole Rests His Case," is one of the best Rumpole stories ever.

John Mortimer wrote RUMPOLE RESTS HIS CASE after a hiatus of six years away from Rumpole stories. Taking into account the television scripts and the short story collections, Mortimer has been writing about this character since the late 1970s. And the one thing fans and detractors would have to agree on is that he is utterly consistent. Rumpole is the same charismatic, charming character. The plots turn on the same style of points of law, helpful coincidences and plonk-inspired deduction. The stories touch on the same themes of hypocrisy, humor and a certain humanity. And yet there's enough freshness to the stories, that even if you've read many or all of the Rumpole stories up to this point, you'll probably not get tired of this.

In short, if you liked the earlier stuff, you'll like this. If you hated the old stuff, you won't find much to enjoy.

Count me in with the fans. If I were to describe the tone of the experience of reading a collection of Rumpole stories, I think the best single word to use would be "comfortable." It's a horrible cliché to say, but I think this is one of the few cases where it's true to say that settling down to read a Rumpole collection really is like sitting down with an old friend.

The short stories in this collection are mostly standalone although a few plot strands can be seen running through several tales. Rumpole's determination to keep smoking his small cigars in his office chambers will not be new to fans. The revelation of Soapy Sam's previous life as a punk rocker, on the other hand, is probably something that would have familiar readers taking a double take at. It's to Mortimer's credit that both the familiar and the new slot in very easily, and even things that would appear to be completely out of character still fit in.

While the character of Rumpole has not aged appreciably since his introduction almost 25 years ago, the stories themselves are keeping up to date with several "ripped from the headlines" style plot lines. I appreciated seeing Mortimer's take on, say, asylum seekers placed right next to standard stories of Rumpole solving a murder.

I hate repeating myself, but I think it bears repeating: if you've liked the previous Rumpole stories, then you're almost certain to enjoy these. The familiar atmosphere of the Rumpole tales is here, but there are enough differences to keep long time readers from becoming bored. And if you're new to the series, then this is as good a place as any to get started.

After a long hiatus, John Mortimer brings back the venerable Horace Rumpole, everyone's favourite (he deserves an English spelling) crochety, cheroot-chomping lawyer. For fans of the series, She Who Must Be Obeyed, FIG Newton, the Timsons, and Chateu Thames Embankment are all back. And as ever, in this collection of cases, Rumpole does not always emerge victorious.

This batch of cases is wonderfully up to date. Rumpole deals with smoking bans and defends Afghan refugees and pot-toking right wing hypocrites. As ever, he fights off modernity, career advancement, and interior decorators with wit as caustic and prose as crisp as ever.

I won't spoil the big ending but for fans of the series, what can one say to old Horace but "welcome back!"

In memory of Leo Kern.