Christopher Morley Books

Thunder on the Left has nothing to do with the contemporary, suspenseful primary elections; the erudite Christopher Morley's literary title makes reference to a Roman fancy that when men heard thunder on the left the gods had something of importance to impart to mankind. Thunder on the Left (1925) is a fantasy novel involving a shift in time, a young boy's refusal to age, and a disturbingly ambiguous look at adult life.

We first view the mysterious world of adults from the perspective of young children and maturing adolescents attending a birthday party for Martin. Subsequent chapters shift forward in time at which the children are now adults, and have through coincidence gathered again at the same locale, a large, rustic house somewhere in New England. One uninvited guest, a rather inexplicably naïve artist, is gradually exposed to the reader as none other than the young Martin, somehow transported into adulthood and yet still a child in his perspective and outlook.

The world of adults is uncomfortable. We encounter infidelity, disappointment, and ennui. And yet, Morley manages to avoid too much seriousness. Martin's naivety offers a whimsical balance that transforms this potentially grave analysis into a fascinating story, one that the reader will long remember.

Christopher Morley's best novels, including The Haunted Bookshop, Parnassus on Wheels, and Thunder on the Left, have remained popular for their intriguing perspectives, their ability to engage the readers, and for their whimsical seriousness.

My copy of Thunder on the Left was published by Sun & Moon Press, Los Angeles, in 1995.

Just read Thunder on the Left last night, thank God for quality reprint edition. The suggestions of affairs, growth/loss and the child in each adult are fairly universal notions that Morley treats with style. No, not stylized, but with style. Suggestions of emotions force the reader to work and think throughout this story of the ultimate childrens' party. Who is really a child and who is really an adult? Are emotions mere toys or the things we close our closet doors to at night? When the reader must focus on himself instead of the light and breezy style of a summer read, then we are drawn into the stories of christopher morley, bravo, and when can we see Johnny Mistletoe on a booklist somewhere, anyone?

"If there were only one moonshiny night in each century, men would never be done talking of it. Old lying books would be consulted; in padded club chairs grizzled gentry whose grandfathers had witnessed it would prate of that milky perversion that once diluted the unmixed absolute of night. And those who had no vested gossip in the matter would proclaim it unlikely to recur, or impossible to have happened." Morley's novel is full of similar wonderful passages. It is also, metaphorically, the story of such a moonshiny night when Martin, the little boy who wanted to spy on adults to see if they were happy, appears as a boy in an adult's body. Things ensue at a leisurely (perhaps a little too leisurely) pace. While the writing at times is quite funny, the novel itself is full of sad whimsy. The novel asks, "What do we do to ourselves as we grow up?" Morley's novel, first published in the 1920's, is a wonderful book.

No, this is not a political tract, but a novel by the man whose most famous work of fiction was "Kitty Foyle," later made into the film which brought an Academy Award to Ginger Rogers. "Thunder on the Left" begins when a child is having a birthday party. His guests discuss the joys of being young as compared with the nature of becoming an adult. The story then leaps several decades, to the same setting at a time when all the characters are grownups, except for the one who has stayed a boy. Morley may seem in certain ways to be an old fashioned author. This is a story that will never be irrelevant to the lives of all of us, however, and it is a marvelous book to read more than once. What a good idea for Sun & Moon Classics to publish it again after all these years in the darkest of the library stacks.

I first read Kitty Foyle in high school, over thirty years ago. I couldn't put it down that first time, and I've re-read it several times. The character development of Kitty Foyle, and of the various scenes (Philadelphia working class neighborhood, small-town Illinois, and Manhattan), are unbelievable. The story of Kitty Foyle, from a blue-collar family, going to high school and then falling in love with a main-line Philadelphia family, is fantastic. It was hard for me to believe that it was written by a man, because the emotions and the language are so apt. I can't recommend this book highly enough. It's a timeless classic.

As much as I enjoy watching old Ginger Rogers movies, it always saddens me that the film version of "Kitty Foyle" has so overshadowed Morley's novel.

Written in the stream-of-consciousness style, "Kitty Foyle" is both a coming-of-age novel and a novelistic "study" of the white collar career girl of the 1930s. Kitty is from Philadelphia, but spends her high school years in a small town in Illinois, and ultimately ends up working [in the cosmetic industry] in New York City. Morley is excellent at presenting these various mileu unjudgmentally [he leaves that for the reader] but vividly and accurately. He is also excellent at creating "real" characters, who face moral dilemmas and who are changed because of their decisions. It is an entertaining and delightful read, as well as being a thoughtful read.

I'm not sure who Christopher Morley was- if he actually was a man at all. Kitty Foyle represents the best and worst in femaleness, not to be confused with feminism (although Kitty Foyle was one of the first "career-girls.") This book has been passed through three generations of our family, grandmother, mother, daughter, and now great-granddaughter. It is about Kitty Foyle, who easily becomes your best friend and then your alter-ego, the girl that has to make tough choices, and then cries about them later. She is smart, but not about her choices in men. She regrets the morning after, but you can tell that all her decisions are ethical, even when she has to abort her baby. She is able to laugh at herself, too- her sense of humor is Irish immigrant, and certainly American.

Chris Morley is largely forgotten now, so it might be difficult for modern readers to believe that he was once one of the best known men of letters in America. From the late 1920s to the 1940s, his columns, essays, novels and poems were widely read, and his appearances on radio were enthusiastically welcomed. Morley's most popular novel, Kitty Foyle, even made it to Hollywood. But if Morley had written nothing else than his tributes to Sherlock Holmes, it would have been enough. Indeed, it is not going to far to say that Morley is the man who single-handedly created a cult of Holmes worship (by founding the Baker Street Irregulars) which is alive and well today. While some of his Holmes work is easy to find (see his introduction to The Complete Sherlock Holmes by Doubleday), Morley's more obscure thoughts were scattered among obscure bibliographic relics. Steven Rothman has combed his considerable collection of Morley's writings and brought everything he ever wrote about Holmes into one place. This book is an excellent opportunity for anyone who knows a little about Sherlock Holmes to learn a lot about both Holmes and one of his most devout disciples. Rothman has also done an excellent job of drawing a biographical background for the reader. Morley might be forgotten, but his work about Sherlock HolmesÑÑlike the great detective himselfÑ-lives on.

How splendid to find this volume back in print! I have treasured it ever since it was first published several decades ago. Anyone who admires graceful, witty writing should revel in its pages even if not a Baker Street Irregular (BSIr) or at least a lover of Doyle's Holmes stories. The two annotated editions of the stories are certainly valuable and nice to have, but in Morley you will find more enthusiasm and fun than both of them together. And if you are a booklover in general you should seek out two slim books of delight by Morley - "Parnassus on Wheels" and "The Haunted Bookshop" (both out of print except for an execrable edition combining both in one badly produced volume full of typos and other errors).

These 1,122 pages contain the authorized text of every Sherlock Holmes story ever written. The copyrights to these stories expired around 1972 so any writer can appropriate the characters in new fiction. Yet no one has been able to equal, let alone surpass, A.C. Doyle in world-wide popularity. Has anyone analyzed these stories to understand their wide-spread appeal? Erle Stanley Gardner and Agatha Christie wrote more novels but were not as popular. One reason is the short stories about Sherlock Holmes were more amenable to wide distribution as in school books on literature. (Chesterton's short stories had a religious bent.) Their classic restraint made them preferable to the stories of Hammett and Chandler. Novels written for 19th century adults often became stories for 20th century children (as Mark Twain). [One technical problem is that one volume is less handy than two or three volumes.]

The introduction by Christopher Morley tells of his admiration for these stories. The character of Sherlock Holmes was inspired by the famous Dr. Joseph Bell of the Edinburgh Infirmary whose diagnostic skills startled his patients and pupils. The name "Holmes" was homage to Oliver Wendell Holmes who first warned about practices that caused "puerperal fever". "Sherlock" was a common Irish name, Doyle's strike against prejudice. Doyle often fought against unjust convictions and for his other beliefs. Chesterton's comment about "a man who believes in nothing winds up believing in anything" was aimed at Doyle. He went from a Catholic to an agnostic to a believer in a spirit world. Aging can affect a person's mind and beliefs.

There are four novels and five collections of short stories. The novels are: "A Study in Scarlet", "The Sign of Four", "The Hound of the Baskervilles", and "The Valley of Fear". The short stories are the "Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" (12 stories), the "Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes" (11 stories), "The Return of Sherlock Holmes" (13 stories), "His Last Bow" (8 stories), and "The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes" (12 stories). There are probably more books about Sherlock Holmes than about A. C. Doyle. Aside from legal considerations, it is easier to handle finite fiction than complex real life. Has anyone written books about "Hercule Poirot" or "Perry Mason"? The "James Bond" series goes on in new novels and action films but they are not as popular as the originals. Even fictional characters have a life-span.

I was so glad to find this out of print edition of the complete stories of Sherlock Holmes. I had it when I was a boy and read it so often that it literally fell apart. Now I have it again.
There are many other volumes that have some of the stories, and one particularly handsome book that has facsimiles of the original Strand Magazine stories, but this is, to my knowledge, the only book that contains every one of them, including the novels. It also boasts an introduction by that renowned Sherlockian Scholar, Christopher Morely. His obvious affection for Arthur Conan Doyle's most famous creation makes for delightful reading in its own right, even as he ruminates on the inconsistencies in the texts: Is Watson's first name John or James? Was his wound in the shoulder or his leg? How many Mrs. Watson's were there? These are questions the discussions of which shorten the evenings for true Holmes fans such as myself.
These stories are not reprints of the periodicals for which Doyle wrote, but rather the books that came later. The stories are divided by the titles of those: The Adventures, The Memoirs, The Return, His Last Bow, and the Case Book. Interspersed among them and in the order in which they were written are the novels: A Study in Scarlet, (Holmes's first appearance) The Sign of Four, The Hound of the Baskervilles and The Valley of Fear.
Because they are arranged chronologically, and because of the completeness of the collection, one can actually trace the development of the characters over a period of some thirty years. The only defect in the book is its lack of the famous illustrations by Sidney Paget. For those, one would have to buy a facsimile volume such as "The Original Illustrated Sherlock Holmes" which is still in print and reviewed elsewhere.

Truly enjoyed Morley's writing style. Particularly enjoyed reading of old Brooklyn as I live in the area. For me, the ending came too soon, which isn't a bad thing, just reflective of an enjoyable book that you'd like to keep on going. Am looking into more of his writings, a well as those mentioned within the text of the book.

This book was written in the 1930's but tells the timeless tale of the heartbreak of a love affair that falls apart. It is funny and sweet and so beautifully captures the voice of first love, and the niave idealism of youth. The language used by the author to describe ethinic groups is politcally incorrect by today's standards, however it is not a racist book. I loved it!

In which Christopher Morley adapts the Troilus and Cressida story of Chaucher and Shakespeare for the Twentieth Century American Public. It's like a musical comedy.
This little gem has it all. Drama, satire of war, politics and the media, touching love passions, humour and terror. It's also very funny.

This is a book who's meaning changes as the reader matures. I first read it in childhood and found it to be entertaining, much like Alice in Wonderland.

Many (30!) years later I felt a desire to revisit the story and, only recently, was able to buy a copy through a Used Book dealer in Maine. It was worth the search!

The story says so many different things, things the We ALL need to hear, when read with adult's eyes. The clearest message of all... go ahead and search the world for your dream of "something better" - but don't be suprised when you find that "something" right at home!

If you get a copy of this book share it with those you care about... especially your children.

This is an awesome book. It comes in hardback for a great price and it is huge. I already owned the 1st volume of sherlock holmes too.
The only dispute I had was that this volume and the first volume overlap.
So up to page like 400 or something were stories I had already read in the first volume. But, the second half of the book were stories I had never read, and all in all it was a satisfactory product.

It is a very good idea to publish all Sherlock Holmes' adventures in a
single volume.
Everyone who likes to read about solving crime mysteries in Victorian
England will be delighted.
I strongly recommend this book.

This entire book is amazing. A very good product!!

Here, in a single volume authorized by the estate of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, are the definitive versions of the 56 short stories and four novels about Doyle's most famous literary character, Sherlock Holmes. Together, the stories and novels comprise what is still the finest collection of English language detective fiction in existence. Sherlock Holmes, whose first appearance in print was in 1887, continues to fill the public mind as the iconic private detective. Holmes and his friend and collaborator Dr. Watson enjoy a continuing existence in various film adaptations of the original stories, most notably Grenada Television's recent series starring Jeremy Brett and Edward Hardwicke.

This volume opens with an excellent introductory essay by Christopher Morley, which puts both the Holmes legend and his creater in perspective. Following is the initial Holmes story, "A Study in Scarlet", which introduces us to Dr. Watson, formerly a medical officer in the British Army, now on half-pay convalescence as a result of a wound suffered in Afghanistan. Dr. Watson needs a roommate. A mutual aquaintance introduces him to one Sherlock Holmes, a self-styled consulting detective. Watson becomes interested in one of Holmes'cases, and we the readers are off and running. After "The Sign of Four", the "Adventures" and the "Memoirs", Conan Doyle tried to kill off his very popular character to make room for other literary projects. Popular pressure compelled Doyle to resurrect Holmes, who went on to star in the "Return", "The Hound of the Baskervilles", "The Valley of Fear", "His Last Bow", and "The Casebook."

The formula is familiar to Sherlock Holmes fans. A card, letter, or visitor to 221-B Baker Street typically introduces a new case with some unusual or bizarre element worthy of the eccentric Holmes's special skills and collaboration with Dr. Watson, his endlessly patient friend and nominal biographer to the British public. The story settings are typically London or some private home or school in England; two stories have flashback settings in the United States. If the stories are very much set in late Victorian and Edwardian England, they continue to translate well to a modern audience.

For this reviewer, perhaps the quintessional story is the short novel "The Hound of the Baskervilles" with its plot of a ancient family seemingly haunted by a deadly curse involving a spectral hound that turns out to have a very real presence in the physical world. This novel nicely balances first person and epistolatory narrative by Dr. Watson, building from the initial scenes in London to a thrilling climax on remote and wild Dartmoor.

This complete collection of Sherlock Holmes is very highly recommended to fans of the famous detective and to those persons who so far know Holmes only through movies or the TV series.

This is a classic. Sherlock Holmes is my favorite detective of all time and this book will have a permanent place in my library. I do not mind the small print. I love the convenience of having all his works in one volume.