J Books

I discovered Joseph Finder by reading Power Play. Typically, I exhaust each new author I discover. Finder is a very good author. When it came to The Moscow Club, I found it riveting but scattered.

Wonderful Soviet background information, but it just didn't live up to my expectations from reading nearly all of his previous novels. I understand this was his first novel, and I'm glad I found Power Play before I read this one, or I may not have become as big a fan of Finder as I am now.

The subplots were interesting, and the premise was really unique, which is part of what makes Finder such a good author, he comes up with really good basic plots. It kept my interest, but I always felt like it was very scattered and difficult to follow. I have not found that in his subsequent novels.

I definitely recommend it in terms of a good read, but some of his later writings will get you hooked on his writing style more readily.

As other reviewers have pointed out, this novel is addictive, as long as the occasional leaps of credibility don't interfere with the reader's ability to suspend belief.

Joseph Finder knows his stuff! I am an avid reader who reads 1-2 novels a week. After polishing off several Grishams and Pattersons, I was looking for something new. My mom gave me an old copy of The Moscow Club. I could not put it down. The details that Finder weaves through the story are amazing and the pace is breathtakingly quick. There are no places to take a breather and I am still tired from missing way too much sleep. I am about finished with his second book, Extraordinary Powers, and it is just as fine. Time to order his third....

It's a shame that such a book is out of print. When I read The Moscow Club, I was litteraly flipping the pages one after another. It keeps you alert all the time because you never know what is going to happen. An excellent way to kill time while you're on a boring trip.

Charlie Stone is a CIA analyst who is asked by his boss to find more information on a document reference called "the Lenin testament". Charlie is reluctant to pursue this, even though he is aware that both his father and another old family friend might be able to help him, because of old scandals within his family.

However, against his better judgement, he does follow up this information, which leads him deeper and deeper into a conspiracy involving people in high places in both the USA and Russia - where people's motives are not what they seem.

Finder has crafted a well written, well paced and enjoyable post cold war novel with this book. It's a what-if situation that could have happened in Russia - but if it did we would probably never know about it. His use of terrorists as scare-mongers to initiate official action is almost eerie in the light of events over the last few years, yet this book was written in 1991, when terrorists did not have the cachet they have now.

With a great story and characters you care about this book is worth picking up to read if you enjoy a good thriller.

I enjoyed this book so much. I have been reading a lot of Debbie Macombe's series book and was kind of disappointed that this was not one of them and before Debbie Macomber I had not been a fan of books in a series. This is an uplifting book. I highly recommed it.
Happy Reading,
Edie~

I enjoyed the interaction between the characters. The story line was very serious and yet amusing all at the same time. Mrs Miricle was a delight that gave you the feeling there are really angels in our life that help us through the things we are going through. Debby McComber writings can be very helpful in your everyday life as you see her characters struggling with living out life.

As usualDebbie wrote a terrific uplifting book. She really knows how to write a book that you cant put down. I am still looking for more of her books to read.

You gotta love angels!! This is a wonderful story of love, forgiveness, family and faith. My favorite Mrs. Merkle quote (each chapter starts with a quote or saying from Mrs. Merkle)is "You have to wonder about humans. They think God is dead and Elvis is alive." The book also includes a few recipes.

This magical story is part Mrs. Doubtfire/Mary Poppins and part It's a Wonderful Life! I love books set in a faith-based community, and the reason Debbie Macomber is one of my favorite authors is that her style of writing immerses the reader into the setting, making the characters feel like friends and neighbors. The healing power of forgiveness is exemplified in this story. Delivered in a subtle and non-preachy manner, it's a valuable lesson everyone can reflect upon, at Christmas, during Lent, and throughout the year!

In 1956, my family moved me to Chicago's Southwest Side and enrolled me in St. Mary's High School at Damen and Grenshaw. Walking from the Western Avenue bus to the school each morning, I quickened my pace, as I passed a spooky-looking church I knew as St. Charles-Something-or-Other. Imagine my surprise upon finding, over fifty years later, a ghost story centering around none other than St. Charles Borromeo Church. I regret that it fell prey, like so many buildings of beauty and historical relevance, to the dreaded wrecking ball. As for the book, I am reading it now and enjoying its great history lessons. Rocco is a brilliant writer.

I consider myself a connoiseur of ghost stories, true and fictional, but the supposedly true ones are my favorite, I have an extensive library to prove it. This book will be part of that library because the truth of authenticity is apparent in every page you read. The story grabs you from the beginning, and proves that even 100 years ago they dealt with similar problems that we do now. But underlying the political manuevering of the Catholic church in that area, is the story of Bishop Muldoon and his rise through the ranks, and the ever burning question... why was he haunting St. Charles Borromeo? You might try to find the answers in the documented facts of his career in the church, but we can't truly know a person from what's written in history books, or jubilee commeratives. It's a shame they tore down the church and adjoining buildings, because I would have loved to go back to Chicago just to visit it. If ghost stories are your thing, then set aside a weekend for back to back reading until you complete the last page.

Father Facchini's account of his days in Chicago's flailing St. Charles Borromeo parish and its seemingly supernatural activities is an outstanding first hand story of a genuine haunting. Forget what you think you know about true ghost stories. Interspersed throughout this tale of a once thriving rectory and its ghost from the past are elements of crime, scandal, revenge, and politics. And it's all true! Father Rocco Facchini shares this remarkable story despite Catholicism's preference to dismiss the notion of ghosts. This is a must read for Chicago historians and ghost enthusiasts alike.

I found this rather boring. It's not all that bad, just wasn't really interesting.

This book is a compelling look at the intersection of the everyday and the supernatural, the temporal and the eternal, and the secular and the spiritual. It is also a look at the rivalry between the immigrant and the native-born, a fierce dispute that rocked the Irish-dominated Catholic Church in Chicago at the end of the 19th century. It is a story that almost wasn't written, and, as becomes apparent from the bizarre epilogue written by the author's editor, almost wasn't published either. As other reviewers have remarked, this is an eminently readable glimpse into one of the strangest stories I've (never) read. Even (perhaps especially) lifelong Chicagoans will be surprised to read about a forgotten man, Peter J. Muldoon, Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Chicago; his beloved church, St. Charles Borromeo, at Roosevelt Rd. and Hoyne Ave.; and his restless ghost that, after Muldoon's death in 1927, protested the parish's neglect and decline and, finally, its obliteration. The author, a former priest who served as an assistant at St. Charles in the late 1950s, has obviously mulled over these events for many years. With the help of family members and friends, he has written a wonderful book and saved from oblivion a story full of meaning and power. It is a story about the Catholic mission in the world, about fidelity to that mission, and the consequences of losing sight of it. It is a terrific book, clearly written and organized, and full of the author's very engaging personality. I enjoyed every page, even the appendices.

I am very pleased with the quality of this book. I watched the John Adams series on HBO and this makes a nice companion piece to that miniseries.

A beautiful book as I was sure it would be. Now in the possession of another John Adams admirer who happens to be a resident of Cornwall, England.

I must shamefully admit that prior to the renewed interest in John Adams with the recent miniseries, I really had only a general knowledge of his role and importance in the founding of our country. This book gives a private, personal and wonderful view of the strength,deep,abiding love of this first family. I could not put it down & would highly recommend it to anyone.

A collection of authentic letters between a man and his wife documenting the actual events as they occur from their first meeting, the beginning of the revolutionary war, the first meeting of Congress to negotiaing a system of government through freedom of our liberties through the written and signed Declaration of Independence from Great Britain. Although early years were spent much apart, this extraordinary couple persevered a deep love, an emotional partnership and friendship while enduring personal tragedies of early Colonial life in the 1700's. These letters are Historical Documents. This was the life of Abigail and John Adams. A story that aided this reader in understanding a period of History so unassuming, so important in acknowledging the birth of our nation.

If you are a history buff or just a little interested in the history of our nation you will love this book. The letters exchanged between John and Abigail Adams are wonderful. Abigail was definitely John's rock. She kept him focused and steady. John was a very passionate man in his beliefs and at times would become a tyrant trying to convince people that his way of thnking was the only way to think. Thank goodness he had Abigail as he ran everything by her to see how she thought the people would react to his perception. Abigail would let him know when he needed to press an issue or just be quiet and let it happen on its own. Besides being lovers as husband and wife they were truly best friends. An inspirational read.

This was one of the first books I tackled in my conversion process to the Orthodox Catholic Church. Orthodoxy is so profound, so deep, so mystical... it makes all man-made theologies look like shallow charicatures.

If you're looking into Orthodoxy, I would recommend this book with the following warning: This book is not really what a professor of mine would call a, "soup and salad" book. That is, it is not one that you can just buy and skim through; it is not light reading.

That having been said, for people out there like myself, who really want to know why the Holy Orthodox Catholic Apostolic Church considers herself to be just that-- THE Church, then this book is for you.

Far from dry theology, Lossky interacts with the Orthodox tradition with expertise knowledge and a genuine faith in the reality of the Father's activity in this world through His Son and Spirit, in the context of the Church. The book is worth buying just for the introduction, which outlines the meaning of theology in the Orthodox Church. Is Christian theology just neo-Platonism? Is God transcendent just because we are limited in our understanding? Is grace created or uncreated? Is deification (theosis) a Hellenic leftover or the meaning of union in Christ? Why was Christ incarnate and what does the Holy Spirit do? What do we say about how God is in Himself and how God is in relation to creation? Lossky tackles these and other pertinent subjects in this masterpiece. You will not read this book and remain unchanged, not because Lossky is such an original and innovative thinker (he is that), but because Lossky faithfully interprets the Tradition. The rest of this review is taken from the jacket of the book itself.
"Vladimir Lossky established himself as one of the most brilliant of Orthodox scholars in the years between his departure from Russia in 1923 and his death in 1958. His uncompromising faithfulness to Scriptural and patristic tradition, coupled with his constant concern for an articulate Orthodox witness in the West, make his works indispensable for an understanding of the theology of the Eastern Church today. In this classic study of Orthodox theology, Lossky states that 'in a certain sense all theology is mystical, in as much as it shows forth the divine mystery: the data of revelation...the eastern tradition has never made a sharp distinction between mysticism and theology, between personal experience of the divine mysteries and the dogma affirmed by the Church.' The term 'mystical theology' denotes in the realm of human experience, that which is accessible yet inaccessible; those things understood yet surpassing all knowledge."
While it is not an easy read at all, it is well worth the time spent in praying and thinking through the subject from an Eastern perspective.
Other books of interest include: "The Orthodox Way" and "The Orthodox Church" by Kallistos (Timothy) Ware; "Byzantine Theology" by John Meyendorff; any Georges Florovsky books; "The Roots of Christian Mysticism" by Olivier Clement; The Gospel of St. John; Jaroslav Pelikan's 5 volume series "The Christian Tradition"; "New Seeds of Contemplation" by Thomas Merton; "The Mountain of Silence" by Kyriacos Markides. Enjoy!

While this title appears on many recommended lists of books on Eastern Orthodoxy, it would not be easy reading for someone uninitiated to mystical Christian writings (from either the east or the west). It also helps to have at least a passing knowledge of Greek as many of the terms appear in Greek.

Lossky spends over half the book laying a foundation on the Eastern understanding of apophaticism (describing God by what He is not), asceticism, the Holy Trinity, uncreated energies of the Godhead, image and likeness, the "economy of the Son" and the "economy of the Holy Spirit," before discussing the goal of Christian mysticism which is theosis or union with God, the Divine Light. To me, the heart of the book is in the chapter on "The Way of Union," but it would be meaningless without the preceding chapters.

Lossky quotes profusely from the great mystical theologians of the Eastern Church, from various epochs and geographic locations to display the inherent unity of thought on mysticism in the Eastern tradition.

Readers who need an introductory work before tackling Lossky might want to try "The Illumined Heart" by Frederica Matthewes-
Green, "Beginning to Pray" by Anthony Bloom or "The Art of Prayer" by Igumen Chariton of Valamo.

Vladimir Lossky's "Mystical Theology' is one of the most profound books ever written about Christianity. It is a superb volume for armchair theologians, clerics of every stripe, those seeking a greater understanding of God in Trinity and human nature, and those wishing a lucid explanation of the differences between the Holy Orthodox Church and more occidental, rational, and secular forms of Christianity.

Mystical Theology revolves around several themes such as God's Love, the centrality and inexplicability of Mystery, the importance of the early Church fathers (and mothers), and man's relation to the Godhead.

Lossky was one of the great apologists for Orthodoxy in the west from 1923-1958 and his scholarship is peerless. Reading Mystical Theology is profound and profoundly rewarding, but it takes effort. No; the book is NOT poorly written- it is clear. But the concepts presented cause one to go slow, to stop, to ponder, and to pray, sometimes for days.

Are you ready to think about the difference between Eastern and Western notions of Grace, about the three hypostases of the Trinity and how the Son is begotten of the Father while the Spirit proceeds from Him? Are you interested in St. Gregory of Nyssa's intriguing view of Hell and how that relates to the concepts of uncreated energy described by St. Gregory Palamas?

If so, you will just love this volume. It might even be life-changing for you! Man can never comprehend the Godhead, as Lossky himself points out, but this book will allow us to understand more than we otherwise ever would!

"...the mystical approach is set up against systematic theology, the contemplative against the liturgical, the saints against the Church." V. Lossky

"An ever-greater plenitude, in which knowledge is transformed into ignorance, the theology of concepts into contemplation, dogmas into experience of ineffable mysteries" Edward Moore



All Theology is Mystical:
Lossky has carried his contradiction to great lengths, against the historical reality which forced Western theology into a preconceived pattern of Scholasticism and the Reformation. Lossky stresses that, "an ever-greater plenitude,, inasmuch as it shows forth the divine mystery: the data of revelation. On the other hand, mysticism is frequently opposed to theology as a realm inaccessible to understanding, as an unutterable mystery, a hidden depth, to be lived rather than known; yielding itself to a specific experience which surpasses our faculties of understanding rather than to any perception of sense or of intelligence." V. Lossky
Thus the mystical approach is set up against systematic theology, the contemplative against the liturgical, the saints against the Church. Philaret, Metropolitan of Moscow, declared that 'Sermons and Addresses', 1844, as expressed in Lossky's own words, "We must live the dogma expressing a revealed truth, which appears to us as an unfathomable mystery, in such a fashion that instead of assimilating the mystery to our mode of understanding, we should, on the contrary, look for a profound change, an inner transformation of spirit, enabling us to experience it mystically. Far from being mutually opposed, theology and mysticism support and complete each other. One is impossible without the other."

God became man that men might become gods:
It is the Christian East, or, more precisely, the Eastern Orthodox Church, dominate the field of mystical theology. This limitation is somewhat artificial since, 'Christian theology is always in the last resort a means: a unity of knowledge serving an end which transcends all knowledge. This ultimate end is union with God or deification, Established by the Alexandrines as 'God became man that men might become gods', and advanced as the theosis of the Greek speaking Fathers. It may seem paradoxical, that Christian theory has a practical end; mystical as it is, it eventually aspires to the supreme goal of union with God.

Mystical Theology of East & West:
Lossky expressed it best, "In reality, since the cleavage between East and West only dates from the middle of the eleventh century, all that is prior to this date constitutes a common and indivisible treasure for both parts of a divided Christendom. The Orthodox Church would not be what it is if it had not had the Latin fathers. No more could the Roman Catholic Church do without St. Athanasius, St. Basil or St. Cyril of Alexandria. Thus, when one would speak of the mystical theology of the East or of the West, one takes one's stand within one of the two traditions which remained, down to a certain moment, two local traditions within the one Church, witnessing to a single Christian truth; but which subsequently part, the one from the other, and give rise to two different dogmatic attitudes, irreconcilable on several points."

Eastern Orthodoxy & Jungian mysticism:
In a recent study, it has been argued that, one touchstone of scientific validity is the universality of observations independently made. A comparison of the cosmological, theological, and anthropological assumptions that underlie the mystical traditions of the Eastern Orthodox Church and those of Jung's mystical observations about the universe, God, and humankind, the common ground of the two divergent systems of Eastern Orthodox and Jungian mysticism, by Bishop Chrysostomos and Thomas Brecht, suggests a universality and scientific validity in Jung's assumptions about the great unknown (Apophatic) .

BOOK REVIEW:
Lossky explores the roles of apophatic, or negative, theology, and kataphatic, or positive, theology in the Orthodox tradition, and the manner in which their union leads to an ever-greater plenitude.
Edward Moore, an Orthodox expert wrote a compelling theological analysis, of 'The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church,' on Theandros - An Online journal of Orthodox theology and philosophy; Read it on: [...]

In a world of relativism and unbridled inclusiveness, we need a clear understanding of God's Word. It is life changing. The Bible does not contain but is the absolute truth of God. As one studies God's Word in the original languages (in this case NT koine Greek), untold treasures are revealed concerning what the Lord has for those who believe. We get a better understanding of the mind of God, the value of life and the salvation that every soul needs through Jesus Christ. I highly recommend it.

Sou estudante de teologia no Brasil e o livro de Perschbacher tem sido fundamental nos trabalhos de exegese bíblica.

In my early years in NT Greek I found this volume quite helpful. Every so often I still refer to it, if my mind seems to be playing tricks on me.

This lexicon lists every single word found in the Greek NT. By this, I do not mean there is just a reference for agapao (love), but every form that agapao appears in the NT. So, for instance, in Ephesians 5:25, is the word agapate. Looking up this specific word, you'll find it is derived from agapao, but that it is the 2nd person, plural, present, active, subjunctive or imperative form of the word. So this book is invaluable to the person learning Greek and for studying and translating the Greek NT.

It is especially helpful as it list words found not only in the Critical Text like many lexicons but also words and word forms found only in the Textus Receptus and the Majority Text. It even indicates when a word in a particular verse is in a different form in each of these Greek texts and when a word form only occurs in one of these Greek texts.

I purchased this lexicon when I was studying Greek at Denver Seminary. And it was invaluable in learning Greek and for studying the Greek NT thereafter. When I felt God was leading me to translation my own version of the NT (Analytical-Literal Translation of the New Testament: Third Edition - ALT), I purchased the BibleWorks 7 software program. And it provides the parsing details for words in its auto-info window.

However, sometimes BibleWorks parsing does not look correct to me. So I keep this book on hand, by my computer monitor. And in such cases, I will double-check BibleWorks parsing by this book. And sometimes I still refer to this book just for the lexical information. So even with computer software, this book is still valuable.

As a student of New Testament Greek, I find this book to be an invaluable addition to my library. Every word in the Greek New Testament is listed alphabetically, with a cross reference to Strong's Exhaustive Concordance, and the Greek word's definition, location, and source. The lexicon also contains charts of the definite article, the declension of nouns and adjectives, and the conjugation of verbs. It includes information on the use of tenses, moods, and cases. Contracted forms of verbs are not listed in the lexicon, but charts of these forms are provided.

This book enables Greek students to find the definitive meaning and usage of each word in the Greek New Testament, and I highly recommend it.

I'm beginning to realize that George Gissing is an author who is relatively unknown by the general public but who is frequently studied/referenced by academics. The main reason why I think this is true (and this relates to the book at hand) is that Gissing himself had more of an academic temperament than a writing temperament. He was very adept at analyzing the world around him and commenting on it to a point of depressing realism, but he wasn't a storyteller. In fact, he struggled with creating enough storylines in order to support himself. Thus, while his books give impressive looks at Victorian life, they don't always leave a reader fully satisfied.

Why do I say this so confidently? Well, as Gissing was particularly self-aware and as he was particularly oppressed when writing "New Grub Street," in this novel he writes about what it's like to be a writer in London in the 1880's and 1890's. He essentially writes about his own life and those he find around him, all of whom are trying to make a living on writing.

Gissings seems to portray himself through the main character, Reardon. When the story opens, Reardon is struggling. His sophisticated wife is getting fed up with their impoverished lifestyle and with her husband's inability to write decent material. Reardon, a sensitive soul, is floundering under mounting pressure and stress. He is torn between his desire to write sophisticated, meaningful material and the public demand for "fluff." The more stressed laid on him, the less he is able to create and stick with any plausible fiction novel. He becomes more and more fererish and unable to work, and he is devastated as he loses his wife's love and respect.

Around this central character Reardon, Gissing builds a very full and weighty cast of characters. A small sampling of these characters are:
- The embittered, older column writer/reviewer, Yule, whose temperament has made so many enemies during his career that he is still laboring hard to support his small family at the end of his life.
- Yule's daugher, Marion, who is very clever but who is also very vulnerable. Her education has made her too good for many positions and marriages but her lack of money makes her a poor match for the educated class.
- Reardon's friend Milvain, who is an ambitious young man who has no problem writing exactly what the masses want. He knows his talents, he knows the market, and he knows his stuff won't last for posterity. But he is determined to live a comfortable life, make a strategic marriage and become a semi-respected man.
- Biffen, another friend of Reardon's, sympathizes most with Reardon's situation and condition. Two peas in a pod, these men spend long hours discuss meter, prose and ancient poetry.

I found myself continually amazed at Gissing's amazing ability to get into the head of many individuals in his large cast and to see how the world makes sense through each's eyes. Gissing also provides us with a wealth of information about the Victorian publishing scene. It was amazing to read that writers and publishers then were struggling with the same issues writers and publishers are struggling with today.

Additionally, Gissing gives you an unglorified look at poverty and the impoverished educated class of London at that time. While Dickens' works on the poor is idyllic and sentimental, Gissing simply relates the life he has known. There is nothing exceptional or amazing, and Gissing seems to argue that poverty takes character out of a man rather then build up a man's character.

Overall, I found this to be a fascinating piece...though perhaps a slow read. For those interested in publishing, writing, realistic portrayals of Victorian England, or other such topics, this is a fantastic work.

Poor Gissing! I suspect his miserable, self-destructive life fuelled his wonderful novels much as (we now know) Dickens's traumatic "blacking-factory" experience explains so much of the nightmare world of those gargantuan fictions. Gissing greatly admired Dickens, and like Dostoyevsky, seems to have appreciated the grim side of Dickens most. Not much humor in Gissing; but there is the same shabby poetry one used to see in Bloomsbury back in the 1960s. The same wonderful appreciation of futile, obsessive scholarly lives. Gissing is a great poet and sometimes a rather fine moralist. His pictures of London rival those of the Master (Dickens --and Dore). Don't miss him. Start with "Workers in the Dawn" and "The Nether World"--his passion more than compensates for his crudities. Remember: he was also a very accomplished classicist--more of a scholar than any other major Victorian novelist! A not insignificant fact.

George Gissing's 1891 novel, "New Grub Street," is likely one of the most depressing books I've ever read. Certainly, in its descriptions of literary life, be it in publishing, or in my own realm of graduate scholarship, the situations, truths, and lives Gissing portrays are still all too relevant. "New Grub Street" itself points to the timelessness of Gissing's portrayals - as Grub Street was synonymous, even in the eighteenth century with the disrepute of hack writing, and the ignominy of having to make a living by authorship. One of Gissing's primary laments throughout the novel is that the life of the mind is of necessity one which is socially isolating and potentially devastating to any kind of relationships, familial or otherwise. "New Grub Street" gives us a world where friendship is never far from enmity, where love is never far from the most bitter kinds of hatred.

The anti-heroes of "New Grub Street" are presented to us as the novel begins - Jasper Milvain is a young, if somewhat impoverished, but highly ambitious man, eager to be a figure of influence in literary society at whatever cost. His friend, Edwin Reardon, on the other hand, was brought up on the classics, and toils away in obscurity, determined to gain fame and reputation through meaningful, psychological, and strictly literary fiction. Family matters beset the two - Jasper has two younger sisters to look out for, and Edwin has a beautiful and intelligent wife, who has become expectant of Edwin's potential fame. Throw into the mix Miss Marian Yule, daughter of a declining author of criticism, whose own reputation was never fully realized, and who has indentured his daughter to literary servitude, and we have a pretty list of discontented and anxious people struggling in the cut-throat literary marketplace of London.

Money is of supreme importance in "New Grub Street," and it would be pointless to write a review without making note of it. As always, the literary life is one which is not remunerative for the mass of people who engage upon it, and this causes no end of strife in the novel. As Milvain points out, the paradox of making money in the literary world is that one must have a well-known reputation in order to make money from one's labours. At the same time, one must have money in order to move in circles where one's reputation may be made. This is the center of the novel's difficulties - should one or must one sacrifice principles of strictly literary fame and pander to a vulgar audience in order to simply survive? The question is one in which Reardon finds the greatest challenges to his marriage, his self-esteem, and even his very existence. For Jasper Milvain and his sisters, as well as for Alfred and Marian Yule, there is no question that the needs of subsistence outweigh most other considerations.

"New Grub Street" profoundly questions the relevance of classic literature and high culture to the great mass of people, and by proxy, to the nation itself. For England, which propagated its sense of international importance throughout the nineteenth century by encouraging the study of English literature in its colonial holdings, the matter becomes one of great significance. The careers of Miss Dora Milvain and Mr. Whelpdale, easily the novel's two most charming, endearing, and sympathetic characters, attempt to illustrate the ways in which modern literature may be profitable to both the individual who writes it and the audiences towards which they aim. They may be considered the moral centers of the novel, and redeem Gissing's work from being entirely fatalistic.

"New Grub Street" is a novel that will haunt me for quite some time. As a "man of letters" myself, I can only hope that the novel will serve as an object lesson, and one to which I may turn in hope and despair. The novel is well written, its characters and situations drawn in a very realistic and often sympathetic way. Like the ill-fated "ignobly decent" novel of Mr. Biffen's, "Mr. Bailey, Grocer," "New Grub Street" may seem less like a novel, and more like a series of rambling biographical sketches, but they are indelible and lasting sketches of literary lives as they were in the original Grub Street, still yet in Gissing's time, and as they continue to-day. Very highly recommended.

I found Jasper Milvain, the "alarmingly modern young man," to be the most interesting character in Gissing's New Grub Street for a number of reasons, the most significant of which is that he evinces what can only be considered a modernist's consciousness in his approach to writing. That is, while it soon becomes clear to the reader that Milvain represents the antithesis of what Edwin Reardon personifies-i.e., the work of literature as an emanation of author's native genius-and thus one of the intercalated plots of the novel involves the incremental success of Milvain as a modern man of letters, and the concomitant gradual abjection of Reardon. In a manner of speaking, then, Milvain and Reardon's fates emerge from a common source, namely some sea change in the reading public's (the consumer's) preferences and tendencies.

Milvain identifies as vulgar the most lucrative market for the product of the man of letter's labor. The vulgarians, or "quarter educated," drive the market (479), and since they have been determined to desire nothing more than chatty ephemera, they have successfully opened an insuperable gulf between material success in writing and artistic success. Reardon's psychologically penetrating novels just aren't in demand. Therefore, there emerges quite an interesting conceptual shift within the nascent hegemony of the quarter-educated as established by their purchasing power: what was once considered healthy artistic integrity has transmuted into a peculiar kind of petit bourgeois hubris, if, in the new paradigm, the writer is more an artisan than an artist. Therefore, Reardon's artistically-compromised and padded three-volume novel, written with no other end in mind than to pander to the vulgar reader, nonetheless achieves only modest success because, the fact that it is indistinguishable from countless other similar works glutting the market aside, his novel is infected from his irrepressible integrity, and thus his novel becomes a strange sort of counterfeit, a psychological narrative masquerading as a popular novel. Reardon thus becomes a sort of Coriolanus among writers.

Milvain, on the other hand, is a sort of Henry Ford among writers; he reveals his particular genius when offering advice to his sister Maud about how to write religious works for juveniles: "I tell you, writing is a business. Get together half-a-dozen fair specimens of the Sunday school prize; study them; discover the essential points of such a composition; hit upon new attractions; then go to work methodically, so many pages a day" (13). In other words, Jasper has managed to streamline and to mechanize the writing process. He studies previous works, abstracts formulae from them, isolates the elements of these formulae, and then deploys and rearranges these elements to give his own writing a patina of originality. By treating writing as an exercise in manipulating formulae, Jasper exchanges "authenticity" (whatever that word means anymore) for the convenience and efficiency of not having to grapple with his own potentially mutable and recalcitrant genius. Jasper did not invent writing, just as Ford did not invent the automobile. But like Ford did with automobile manufacture, Milvain discovers those aspects of writing that lend themselves to mechanical reproduction. Thus he is able to capitalize on his time and effort, and effectively becomes the very machine Reardon believes himself to be but never actually becomes because of his lingering notions of artistic integrity (352).

Also of interest is the fact that Albert Yule is a sort of synthesis of Milvain and Reardon. Like Milvain, Yule attempts to streamline his own literary production by delegating some of the labor to his daughter Marian. However, like Reardon, Yule clings to the superannuated notion of the necessary individuality of writing: "[h]is failings, obvious enough, were the results of a strong and somewhat pedantic individuality ceaselessly at conflict with unpropitious circumstances" (38). In other words, Yule fails to recognize the obsolescence of the lone, learned genius within the realm of literary production. A market of vulgarians who demand occasional literary confections simply does not expect Works of individual genius. Moreover, even if they were in demand, works of individual genius are too ponderously inefficient to keep pace with the rate at which they are consumed. Therefore, Yule straddles the either/or proposition personified by Reardon and Milvain: One may preserve his artistic integrity and write "for the ages"--hence Yule, Biffen, and Reardon's fetishization of Shakespeare, Coleridge and authors of classical antiquity--and starve in the process, or one may write "for the moment" and actually turn a respectable profit.

The shadow of Charles Darwin indeed looms large over the events and characters of New Grub Street. The growth market brought about by the advent of the "quarter-educated" vulgar class, and their discretionary income coupled with their callow aesthetic sensibilities and truncated attention spans, represents a nascent economic, if not ecological niche, for certain social creatures to occupy. However, it's not simply a matter of being able to adapt one's skills to the tastes of these consumers. One must also be a prodigious enough writer to keep pace with an equally prodigious rate of consumption. Individuals like Milvain and Whelpdale are adequately adapted to this niche in that they satisfy the demands of this niche in terms of both content and output. Reardon panders to the vulgar taste only grudgingly and after long resistance and thereby cannot meet the production demands of this niche. Biffen absolutely refuses to pander at all. Alfred Yule does attempt to pander, but his mode of literary production is too inefficient to meet production demands, and he is also largely ignorant of vulgar literary taste. While more in touch with the vulgar reader than her father, Marian Yule is as inefficient in her literary production as her father. Therefore, each of the characters named above are equally maladaptive, albeit for various reasons, and thus their extinction by the novel's end strikes the reader as somehow inevitable. Whereas Milvain and Reardon's widow Amy are left to come together as the triumphant niche occupants and thus reproduce themselves in their offspring, should they decide to produce any.

I recently read New Grub Street, and I must say I was stunned by how much I enjoyed it. Gissing's prose and characterization hold up remarkably well. He's sort of an urban Hardy, though far more accessible to today's reader. I'd recommend this to any serious reader. Oh, and this novel is ripe for adaptation. A BBC miniseries would be great.

In this magical book, courage comes from inside. There are no battles with phasers or light sabers or even old-fashioned swords. The battles the characters win come from within. Some of the expressions of courage in this book are very surprising - tests of inner will, caring and generosity top the list.

A really nice selection of characters make up the team in this book who are working to recharge the Cave of Courage so that mankind will have enough courage for the next one hundred years. I think anyone reading this book will end up loving trolls. They have wonderful traits and spirits. The leprechaun and dwarf are good characters too. And we finally get to meet Mother Nature in this installment of the series. Well, sort of - she's a rainbow in this book.

In this story the fairies are not facing monsters. The fairies and other magical beings have to face their own faults and personality defects (greed, fear, etc...) and overcome stereotypes and prejudices. I didn't expect a book about fairies to be quite so philosophical and relevant. This is a very clever children's book that adults might do well to read and take notice of.

This book is not so much about battle-bravery courage as it is about stepping out of a comfort zone to work together effectively. If this was an adult-geared book, it would be about surviving and getting along in the workplace. I think my kids really learned--or were at least inspired--from this, as far as getting along, being kind, and accepting others for who they are.

My daughter learned to write haiku poetry from one of the books in this series. Spiderwort and the Princess of Haiku (The Fairy Chronicles)
I am so proud of her.

She wrote this haiku about Periwinkle and the Cave of Courage:
"The fairies found more
than courage when they traveled
through a shrinking door."

She wrote this one too:
"Haiku is easy
when you know the secret of
counting syllables."

This book has a really fun mix of magical characters and the adventure through the cave really held my daughter's interest.

I went to a birthday party last week. We got to ride on a pony and played games. We got a book to take home and this is my book.
It takes courage to go into a cave. There is a treasure in the cave but they don't take it out. Cinnabar rides on a snake to get a key.That takes courage. The brownies help the fairies.
Annie gave her prize to everyone in the end. I like this book.

A well-written book with all the fascinating ingredients: twists, turns, computers, gadgets and bodies (dead ones and those very much alive!) I shall eagerly await the sequel. Will it be titled "Trading in All the Marbles"?

Wonderful summer and winter read. I loved absorbing into the rich flavors of Houston and Texas. Earl Brewer brings to life the intriquing worlds of high tech, wealth, and ambition, taking us down a fascinating path of mystery, romance, and travel. It makes me want to book a trip to Aruba right now!

This story is unique and different. Not so much because of the story line, which is fresh and interesting, but the author has a fresh style. I enjoyed the suspense and mystery very much. Good quick read.

Completing a Masters Degree is a grand way to begin pleasure in a different area other than what I have studied for the past nine years. Picking up the Marbles has captured my interest by an action, adventure, and love story surrounded by the technology of the computer world. I believe that when one can relate to the towns in which the story is depicted, there becomes an excitement and curiosity creating quick page turning. Five stars for the author and Luck for the reader - for every new experience in literature and in life is a "lucky day" for all of us.

Strap yourself in and take a ride with Earl Brewer and his dynamic sleuths as they tackle a world of international and informational espianage. What you learn only takes you deeper into what you'd do to keep your secret safe - or profit by it. This is a great read. The foundation of the story is based on the genesis of a universal computer language. However, its what people would do with, and for, such a powerful tool that becomes the mystery our sleuths must unravel. This book will spark your imagination and tickle your intrest. I highly recommend it.

Enthralling, entertaining, educational, and thought-provoking, "The Symposium" is one of Plato's classics. A group of men gathered at a dinner party in ancient Greece discuss the topic of love. Each man offers his view or definition of love, and the results are all different, engaging, and full of symbolism. Although it is a short book, one must not read it once and put it away; it ought to be be read again and again just to compare to what is "picked up on" each time. One thing always puzzles me: I will never know why Plato included the doctor (his name escapes me at the moment) have a bout of hiccups during someone's speech. I have never come up with a satisfactory answer - nor has any one I know, either. Nevertheless, this is an excellent read that I highly recommend for anyone - student and nonstudent. Enjoy!

The Symposium of Plato is a profoundly thought-provoking, entertaining and inspiring piece of philosophical writing. It is very short, yet infinitely more substantial than many longer works.

We are in Athens, 416 B.C.E. The scene is a banquet at the house of Agathon, who had the day before celebrated the victory of his tragedy. By the end of the party, seven men - and one absent but central woman - will have presented their views on the nature and meaning of Eros, or love.

There is no difficulty in keeping the characters distinct in our minds. Plato has great fun contrasting the opinions - and verbal styles - of tragic poet, comic poet, politician, physician and the rest, allowing absurdities and profundities to mingle freely. Socrates is very appealing, saint-like, yet utterly down-to-earth, playing his usual role of a 'philosopher' - one who 'knows only that he does not know' - always in passionate search of the truth, but catching only revelatory glimpses of its perfection.

Phaedrus gives the first speech, praising lovers' (especially homosexual) passion and loyalty, which makes them perform mighty and heroic deeds. Pausanias differentiates between virtuous, or spiritual love, and common, or bodily love. Virtuous love between men should not be primarily about sex, but about improvement and education of the soul. Eryximachus, the doctor, makes a mostly irrelevant (and boring) speech, claiming nature's contrasting elements illustrate the need to balance the healthy and unhealthy aspects of love. Aristophanes then delivers a brilliantly memorable speech, hilarious and poignant by turns, telling of how humans were once two-in-one, back to back, with two heads, four arms and four legs, with three combinations of sexes, male/male, male/female, and female/female. Their strength and speed made them threaten the gods, so Zeus cut them in half, leaving them to search forever for their other halves, and through love attempt to regain their original oneness. Agathon then gives an over-the-top, ecstatic speech, praising love as the youngest, most graceful of the gods, saying he brought order to heaven itself, 'empties men of disaffection and fills them with affection', etc, climaxing with the suggestion we all follow in love's footsteps, 'sweetly singing in his honour'.

It is then Socrates' turn. He performs for all conversations that took place between himself when much younger and Diotima, a 'wise' woman from Mantineia, to whom he had gone for instruction in the highest truths of love. In sum, the lesson is that love is the desire for the everlasting possession of the good and beautiful, which brings happiness. We crave immortality, in order to be happy eternally. We love our offspring, artistic works, laws and institutions, because they are all attempts to achieve an immortal name. These, Diotima claims, are the 'lesser' mysteries of love.

The 'greater' proceed from the 'lesser' in ascending steps. From one beautiful body the lover creates 'fair notions', then he sees all bodies are similar and equally worthy of love. From bodies he proceeds to the beauty of the virtuous mind, then the beauties of institutions and laws, climbing from there to the beauty of the sciences, until, after much growth in wisdom, he reaches the vision of all creation as beautiful. The final step is to rise to the contemplation of unchanging, eternal, absolute beauty itself. To spend your life in union with perfect beauty allows you to bring forth 'real' things, not 'images' and 'be immortal, if mortal man may'.

A drunken Alcibiades bursts in at this point, and gives a rambling, often funny, speech about his love for Socrates and how he - a very beautiful man - was spurned sexually by him. He describes Socrates' near-supernatural control of himself, totally above the effects of pain and pleasure. The book ends with a description of Socrates' companions all falling asleep as dawn breaks (after all-night drinking) and his going about his usual day.

Throughout the Symposium, Plato makes it clear that sexual relations are not the best thing at all for 'lovers'; they who wish for the highest happiness must seek to grow in virtue and wisdom and become increasingly detached from earthly pleasures. This is the origin of the phrase 'Platonic love'. Women were not considered their intellectual and spiritual equals in Athens at the time, so men of sophistication had to look to each other for emotional sustenance.

What then, we may ask, can the Symposium offer human beings today who are not interested in purely mystical/intellectual living and prefer the sexual and emotional satisfactions found in personal relationships?

A great deal, I believe. In his introduction Benjamin Jowett states that Plato 'is conscious that the highest and noblest things in the world are not easily severed from the sensual desires, or may even be regarded as a spiritual form of them'. In other words, earthly pleasures and transcendent ones are inextricable. Plato used words such as 'good' and 'virtue' to describe freeing oneself from the world of the senses, by using our reason to choose correctly who - or what - to attach to as we move through life. If we choose correctly, be it friends, sexual or lifetime partners, we strengthen our sense of inner freedom, until finally we experience it at the deepest, mystical level - the profound shift in consciousness that Plato was pointing to as the highest good - which in and of itself is morally and values-neutral.

The genius of Plato is that he communicates the total commitment required to attain perfect freedom, and the moral obligation of all human beings to strive for the happiness it alone can deliver.

Plato's "Symposium" will always be read because there will always be people who question the nature of Love. Agathon's dinner party is the scene of a conversation between a small group of men, who go around the table offering their views on Love. What does Love mean to us to-day? Reading over the responses of the dinner-guests and their host, we find the same range of answers in Ancient Greece that we are likely to find now.

Phaedrus and Pausanias are utilitarians and materialists. Phaedrus looks at love between people and a proto-Burkean love for government and state. Pausanias complicates the argument, saying that there are two different kinds of love, one which is common and one which is heavenly - yet still oriented towards the real and the tangible. Eryximachus is a proto-Swedenborg, trying to reconcile or harmonize the two kinds of love.

The jewels of Plato's "Symposium" are Aristophanes and Socrates. Aristophanes gives us the profoundly moving depiction of Love as a fundamental human need, a desire for completion. For a writer of comedy, whose aim as an art form is forgiveness and acceptance, Aristophanes's explanation is no surprise, though its depth is amazing. While women are generally discounted throughout the "Symposium," not only does Socrates, as we might expect, completely astound his audience (both inside the book and out) with his progressively logical and ascendant view of Love, but he also does it through the voice of a woman, Diotima. When we realize that Socrates is a character in this fiction, and that his words originate in a woman, the egalitarianism and wisdom of Plato the author truly shines forth, like the absolute beauty he claims as the ultimate goal of Love.

Was Plato a feminist? I don't know. I do know that the "Symposium" is a tremendous book. I picked it up and did not stop reading it until I was finished. The style of the Penguin translation is smooth, with a lighthearted tone that can make you forget that you are reading philosophy. Plato's comedic masterpiece in the "Symposium" is the character of Alcibiades, who provides the work a fitting end. Get the "Symposium" and read it now. You cannot help but Love it...in a Platonic sort of way.

Perhaps the most "literary" of all Plato's works, "Symposium" is the story of a dinner party gathering of great (and a few not so great) minds, whom engage in a discussion in praise of eros, or passionate love. It is considered literary because it is highly metaphorical, it's characters are drawn well and in some cases unforgettably, and it succeeds on many levels. It is not uncommon for Socrates to elevate the subject of discussion in any given dialogue to that of our earthly existence, and how we should go about it. Perhaps shocking to readers unfamiliar with the Greeks is the prevalence of homosexual love, particularly with young boys. But, if nothing else, this is an insight into ancient culture. And the absolutely magnificent speeches given by Aristophanes and Socrates remain profound and beautiful to modern readers, regardless of whether or not the other speeches are unpalatable to some. Also, Alcibiades, drunken, hilarious rant is not to be missed. Read in a single sitting, this work is almost sublime.

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Plato's "Symposium" is the story of Agathon's dinner party where conversation takes place with a small group of men, who recline, eat and drink around a table offering their views on Love. This story is an amazing account of how intelligent and yet so different a culture the men from ancient Greece were compared to our society today. Each speaker has this most amazing ability to tell two stories at the very same time, an creative artistic movement of what love 'is' in each and every story. applying and , metaphorically. intertwining a cultural, mythological story of the gods, giving far deeper meaning. In addition to this, the love relationships and sexual nature of these men also permeate an entire cultural feel to the story, enveloping a radical differentiation from our de-mystified and de-enchanted world back into a once existing world of substantial meaning and profundity.

Phaedrus, speaks first and relates how love is the greatest good, the beautiful, is shameful of ugly things and how only lovers are willing to die for one another.

The second speaker, Pausanias, applies two types of love, one Aphrodite, a common base love working at random with men's feelings, for money, for loving physical bodies, boys, men and women. The other type of love, from a much younger goddess, being a higher type, the heavenly, who only loves other men and boy love, but this is not physical body love but from affection of the mind of virtue and wisdom..

Aristophanes has the hiccups, so it is Eryximachus, a doctor, who speaks third, applying the idea of love as a double love; "for bodily health and disease are by common consent different things and unlike, and what is unlike desires and loves things unlike." p.82 The god of art was said to implant love as a healing art, all such love guided by this god. "It is quite illogical to say that a harmony is at variance with itself or is made up of notes still at variance." "So love as a whole has great and mighty power, or in a word, omnipotence ."

Aristophanes, the comic writer, gives a moving account of Love as a absolute human need, a desire for completion to the point of each person once shaped differently being cut in half, taking our current shape, in need of the other to complete the whole of what we once were. "For first there were three sexes, not two as at present, male and female, but also a third having both together," and they were violent, strong and forceful and would even attack the gods. So Zeus and the other gods held a meeting and decided to cut them in halves and make them weaker. From then on, they were sexually drawn to one another, both heterosexual and homosexual, reasons all due to the way of the cutting of the halves.Lesbianism and boy to man love is freely spoken of and justified according to this story of the gods. His moving speech on the beauty and virtue of love however, is according to Socrates, true only in the sense of romanticism and fictional idolatrous admiration of what love should be. For Socrates found such a romantic explanation of love as untrue to what love really is and what love contains, as it does not contain all the beauty and good.

The fourth speaker, Agathon gives a moving speech on the beauty and virtue of love however, it is according to Socrates, true only in the sense of romanticism and fictional idolatrous admiration of what love should be. "For all the gods are happy . . and love is the happiest of them all being the most beautiful and best . . the youngest of gods." In his speech, love is every good, virtuosos and beautiful thing.

The last speaker, Socrates, found such a romantic explanation of love to be untrue, for what desires good, virtue and wisdom is only something that does not contain such, something lacking, and therefore lacking it desires such things. Love only desires what it lacks. Love is neither beautiful nor ugly. "To have right opinion without being able to give reason is neither to understand nor is it ignorance. Right opinion is no doubt something between knowledge and ignorance."

It is so interesting how common and free sexuality and homosexuality were, how each man present commented on the beauty of the young men in their glory of youth. Alcibiades, jealous of Agathon, also a young beautiful male, makes a moving speech how Socrates refused his love and how other like young men, also were moved with his amazing wisdom and prose.

While women are generally discounted, and the bonding of affection in male love was considered a higher love by Pausanias, Socrates explanation of love, by far the most profound, was one he received from a woman named Diotima. Here, as another reviewer has stated, shows Plato's the egalitarianism and wisdom, like that of the beauty and ultimate goal of Love.

Later a group of men crash the party and the drinking really gets started. Some leave, while Socrates stays all night, never loosing integrity from his drinking and leaves with all his integrity.