William King Books

After struggling with my decision to use this book with my senior students, I am finding they are less hesitant to read AND they are enjoying the concepts in this drama! If it were an honors class, I think I would make students read the original text, but for my regular classes, I am very happy with my decision because they are GETTING IT. We are reading the authentic Shakespeare for the really good lines/soliloquys that shouldn't be missed. This is much better than other renditions that simply paraphrase as far as comprehension is concerned.

I consider myself to be a reasonably literate individual but, I have always avoided Shakespeare since I cannot make sense of the text. But now, I have fianally read Macbeth because, with "No Fear Shakespeare," each left hand page is written in the original whereas the right hand page is a plain English translation. So now I know, that when a porter says "it makes him stand to and not stand to," he is not referring about someone standing up on his feet. Instead, it means that alcoholic drinks make a man have an erection but then, lose the erection. How true is that and how cool is it to be able to understand that? Seriously, Macbeth is a great tale of ambition, deception and conscience. Thanks to this innovative book, I was able to read the original, then, after reading each page, I referred to the translation so I could understand. It was fun to read lines in the original, try to work out what I thought it meant and then check whether I was right. I recommend this as a way finally read and appreciate Macbeth.

The translation is clear and it helps immensely that it is side by side with the actual text. That way it's easy to fully understand the meaning behing Shakespeare's language.

The format of text and audio CD is a remarkable and excellent opportunity to enjoy Shakespeare in many ways. I recently saw Patrick Stewart in Macbeth and hearing other interpretations of the play added a new dimension and enrichment to the live performance.
This Sourcebook is an outstanding tool for classroom use, stimulating interest among students in the high schools and Universities. What a great concept!

I found this in a used book pile (brand new). I teach a 300 level Theatre History class and I can't wait to play some choice bits of the CD. Usually I'm a bit ashamed of the "hip" books about W.S. but this is actually a well thought out edition. Just to hear the generational attempts at the same prose is quite a joy.

I started reading this before seeing the play in London, which starred Patrick Stewart. The book was the perfect enhancement to an excellent production.

Trevor's writing style is simple, beautiful and powerful as he portrays his characters thoughts and actions in a way that makes you care for each of them, however horrible their actions may be.

Other People's Worlds is William Trevor at his best. How wonderful that the new and highly regarded movie, Felicia's Journey, will expand this great writer's audience. This early Trevor novel has all the skill and sharp characterizations that have made his towering intellect so admired worldwide.

An attractive and polite young actor helps with the gardening in the charming home of his wife to be. The setting is very English and very tranquil, at least for a while. Through the elderly eyes of the bride's mother, (the bride is a middle-aged still attractive widow,named Julia,) certain perceptions lead to apprehensions. Francis, having become slightly famous for his tobacco commercials, is wearing makeup, something Mrs. Anstey had not noticed before. This deception is the tip of the iceberg. In a short period of time, with no one to share her concerns, the groom begins to take on sinister qualities, and the older woman feels instinctive hatred and terrific alarm. She is correct in her assessment, indeed he is far worse than even she could imagine. In London, there are another mother daughter complication. The mother, Doris, is an impossible alcoholic, her daughter, Joy, Francis' child, is a troubled adolescent who doesn't read and is always in trouble at her school. Trevor's early novel, and the first of his that I've read, is steeped in tension, and remains a slender, but vivid thriller. Everywhere Francis has attached himself, he has lied, cheated, stolen with no conscience. He is a classic child-abused predator with disturbed sexuality and a twisted mind. He heeps grief onto others but in psychological ways, not physical.
The good and healthy people that he contaminates suffer greatly, and each, in their own way, are forced to come to terms with their own inner demons. These involve religious and characterological myths and failures of faith. There are primarily the overly compassionate and easily conned, led by Julia and Doris, and the more cynical but equally pained people who love them. Those who fail at protection and those who fail at life, or so they ponder, by their lack of such trust. Either way, there is the ordeal of facing one's own own flaws and failures. This so effectively contrasts the perpetrator, Francis, whose complete incapacity to feel remorse transcends everything. I would definitely recommend this sparse yet well-written novel. I certainly intend to read more from this highly respected author.

I Admire a book that tells the truth about who we really are. And thats why i enjoy B.D.Williams book. Keith in Canada

"I just want to congratulate B.D.Williams for having Montreals No.#1 summer book. People should read this book, he's brilliant."
Kimmy from New York.

I REALLY LOVE THIS BOOK, I HAVE NEVER READ ANY ANY BOOK SUCH AS THIS. I LOVE B.D. WILLIAMS, HE'S SO TALENTED.

Yes, indeed. CK Williams' poem about the red wheel barrow is really something, especially since there's more to the wheel barrow than meets the eye--something about the origins of the word and how he/she breaks the stanzas. In this poetry class I took I heard that she/he used to be a doctor. I wonder if that has something to do with how he saw the contrast with the white chickens.

C.K. Williams poetry often mimics the thought process, reasoning its way to significance. In his early poems, sections or stanzas divide this process. Later, as he develops his writing, the lines grow. The amount of thought and details expand As Sherod Santos describes in his essay A Solving Emptiness, "The breathless insistence of Williams's line give ordinary moments a stupefying psychological power, an Orphic music. With a microscopic eye that notch by notch closes in on its subjects, Williams's microscopic eye allows us to experience his experiences almost as if they are our own. His poems have a strong sense of place, with large amounts of description and images to further this effect. My favorite poem is "Tar", but I enjoy many of his other poems such as "A Day for Anne Frank", "The Beginning of April", "The Sanctity." C.K. Williams is a poet that should not be overlooked by anyone interested in great poetry.

If you want to feel less alone in the real world of honest feelings, if you want to get in touch with true feelings, if you want to understand your emotions and explore your guilt and really dig deeper than sentiment--C.K. Williams is the poet for you. His voice is more original and his psychological depth deeper than most contemporary poets. He makes you feel less alone with your inner life. There is no sentimental frosting here. This is accessible and original poetry with a crafty use of language, a flowing free verse. I've spent my life reading poetry, and I find this poet thoroughly satisfying. Spend an evening or a morning or both with his SELECTED POEMS and you will be moved and amazed at the original angles he takes on truth and human feelings and relationships. This is a poet of psychological, philiosphical realization--a thinker who really probes the inner life with grace of expression. Daniela Gioseffi, American Book Award winning author, poet/critic/novelist.

Expensive, but worth every penny of it.

For more than 30 years, I've had to treasure my one increasingly worn copy of William's Arthurian poetry like the Grail itself. These poems have been far too long out of print, and this edition, edited by David Llewellyn Dodds, has ended the drought at last.

This collection contains nothing less than what is arguably the greatest English language poetry written in the last century (with the possible exception of T.S. Eliot's "Four Quartets"). Endlessly rewarding, each new reading uncovers new depths of meaning, new beauties of language, ever greater profundities, and a richer appreciation of the power of myth to aid in our understanding of our own and others' lives.

No doubt about it, Williams demands our full attention. This is not beach reading! The poems require a thorough grounding in Mallory, Virgil, Dante, and the Bible, a solid background in Medieval history, and at least some familiarity with Welsh mythology, the Kabbalah, Milton and Wordsworth - and that's just for starters. But the effort is worth it. His lines positively glow (I'm amazed I need a light to read them by at night).

Williams' reputation as being "too difficult" is simply not true. He is nowhere as deliberately obscure as Eliot's "The Wasteland", or syntactically tortured as much of James Joyce. Williams does not use an obscure word or difficult phrase without good reason, and never just to be clever. But he can't be read quickly, or just once. He has to be pondered, in the true meaning of that word. Sometimes a single stanza, or even a line, is enough for a day's reading. Trust me, the rewards are there.

What makes this edition especially important is its inclusion of Williams' unpublished Arthurian poetry alongside the full texts of his two published volumes, "Taliessin through Logres" and "The Region of the Summer Stars". The new material, although occasionally uneven in quality, and sometimes more resembling rough drafts rather than completed works, adds immeasurably to one's understanding and appreciation of the more familiar, previously published poems.

This edition does have two annoying (and inexcusable) flaws. First, due to a scribal error in the text approximately half way down on page 79, the planet Mercury is rendered "Mercy", which is not only the wrong word (it is correctly printed in my 30+ year old Eerdman's edition), but makes no sense. Williams is hard enough to understand as it is without a misprint driving attentive readers crazy trying to decipher an unintelligible line. The second shortcoming is the omission of the endpapers, displaying Williams' map of the Empire, as described in the poems. What makes this omission even more mysterious is that the map is specifically mentioned in the text, on page 161 ("the map ... reproduced as the endpapers of this volume").

Recommended to everyone who loves good poetry or the Arthurian legend.

This is an excellent collection of poems by one of the often overlooked members of the the Inklings. Mr. Dodds' useful introduction and organization of these vibrant poems is very helpful, and it's too bad that this book will be read primarily by academics.

Very informative and a good read. They should make a movie based on this book.

Now in a significantly revised and expanded new edition which features forty pages of black-and-white photographs, William F. Nolan's Barney Oldfield: The Life And Times Of America's Legendary Speed King is an exciting and ambitious biography of the nigh-legendary pioneer race car driver. It was Barney Oldfield who was the first man in history to travel 131 miles per hour! Written with enthusiasm, vigor, and respect for this great and daunting figure in American race care history, Barney Oldfield is enthusiastically recommended reading for automotive history enthusiasts and race car history buffs.

My only complaint about this book was that it was too short.

I waited too long. Brashler's book sent me back in time to the 1930s and let me enter the world of Negro League baseball, and the atmospheric writing transported me there thoroughly. I'm now going to rent the DVD, and hope it's half as good as the book.

I recommend this book to anyone who's a fan of baseball history.

there was never a dull moment reading this. inspired by countless tape recordings brashler made with cool papa bell and satchel paige, this books puts you into the lives of back baseball players in the 1930's as they travel through the midwest, often encountering prejudice, con-men, loneliness and self-doubt but sticking to their guns and rising about the drama. the language brashler uses to tell the tale makes it authentic and warm. a perfect companion to the movie...

This is a great book that really sweeps you back to the 11th century. Sir Lytton portrays the characters with great finesse.
You will fall in love with Harold Godwinson and Edith the Fair!

This book is fabulous. It really transports you back to the Anglo-Saxon era. I originally read it because I wanted to read about William the Conqueror, but now I'm a huge Harold I "fan."

This was a great story! I enjoyed every second and could not stop listening.

I recently purchased the audio cd and enjoyed every part of the story and I know you will too.