Booth Tarkington Books

This story takes place in 1762 and is about two college-aged men vying for the affections of a young woman. One of the men, Mr. Sudgeberry, the narrator, has a gift for gab. He is loquacious, priggish, self-righteous, and pedantic. His competitor, a happy-go-lucky and slightly dissipated man named William Fentriss. The title of the book comes about because the girl in question, Sylvia, wears cherry-colored ribbons in her hair. The narrator manages to become the cynosure of Sylvia's affections until William concocts a scheme to win her good graces. Mr. Sudgeberry discovers this and exposes him, however Sudgeberry's expsure has unintended results.

One of Tarkington's earlier works, I was a bit worried about its clarity. However, it was easy to read and understand. However, one's vocabulary must be able to match Sudgeberry's abilities. There were a ton of "tough" words in this book. I loved the simplicity of the story though and it worked well for me. Thoroughly enjoyable.

Publishing an exchange of letters from World War II would need little explanation if the authors had been military heroes or eminent journalists, or even government officials in Washington recording their contributions to the war effort. We always want to know the intimate side of history. But this correspondence, although dated 1938-1946 and written by two eminent authors, is a remarkable collection not for its national importance but for its very opposite, for the light it throws on private lives duiring wartime and for its description of a somewhat improbable friendship betrween an elderly American popular novelist and a learned German art historian almost twenty-five years his junior. That the correspondence exists in such fullness is remarkable in itself.
--- excerpt from book's Preface

Imagine George Washington Plunkett writing short stories about the political process and you will get an idea of what this book is about. The stories actually make machine politicians the heroes! Anyone who thinks Booth Tarkington was a stick in the mud will change their mind if they read these wonderful stories. The only villains are turncoats and the comic relief comes from the goo-goo reformers who try to meddle in a system they do not understand. The book ends with a touching eulogy to the sort of person drawn to a political career.

When "The Man from Home" opened on Broadway in August 1908 at the Astor Theatre, playwright Booth Tarkington and his co-writer Harry Leon Wilson envisioned it as a satire on the coarseness of American manners. Little did they expect American audiences to cheer at the simple homespun common sense wisdom of Daniel Pike. William Hodge played Pike, a lawyer put in charge of a wealthy estate. He makes the trip to Sorrento, Italy because, although not too distant in age, he is the guardian of Ethel Granger-Simpson. Ethel has been hobnobbing with the wealthy European aristocracy, many of whom are unfortunately now broke. They seek "alliances" with wealthy Americans to replenish the family bank accounts. Ethel plans to marry playboy Almeric. The obstacle to the alliance is the consent of her guardian who must approve the "settlement" of $750,000. (This is still a lot of money today. In dollars from a hundred years ago, it must have been a whopping fortune!) Ethel petulantly explains that it is not a dowry, but is what she brings to the alliance. When Pike wants to know what Almeric brings to the marriage, Ethel spouts about his ancestors who fought in ancient battles. Pike isn't too anxious to liquidate what is the bulk of Ethel's fortune to her husband-to-be. The plot thickens as an Italian fugitive Georgeopolis, from Greece, shows up on the lamb. Sympathetic to his story, Pike befriends the fugitive and hides him. When Pike won't approve the settlement, Almeric's father, the Earl of Hawcastle who has been watching, uses the threat of aiding and abetting to throw Pike in an Italian jail if he doesn't approve the money transfer. Through a series of devices, Ethel overhears the real greed in the Europeans and gets in touch with her American self, which says you should work for what you earn. The play concludes as Pike approves the settlement just as Ethel breaks off the engagement. The final moments lead us to believe that the future holds something special for Ethel and Daniel Pike. This is a well-made play. It is delightful in its homespun roots and would play well to modern-day American audiences who reflect many of the same values 100 years later. The show ran for 496 performances, an incredibly long run in 1908-09 that attests to the tremendous popularity of the play. This is a little jewel that would play well in modern revival. Bravo!

This play for 11 males and 6 females is a Booth Tarkington coming of age story of a boy growing up in the Midwest in the early 20th century.

After all these years, it was a treat to read a chapter or two of "Penrod" taking me back to a much simpler time. Penrod and Sam were the Harry Potter and friends of a much earlier era, and they are just as entertaining in 2008 as they were 70 years ago. This book was purchased for a younger friend who had never had the opportunity to enjoy the antics and adventures of these delightful boys.

I thought that Penrod was a extremely funny story about a boy in the the early 1900's. It was a great story about a 12 year old boy named penrod along with his faithful companion duke and his friends Sam,Verman, and Herman. The gang was always clashing with adults and teacherS making it a humurous story about young boys getting into mischief. Its an amazing story that yound adults can relate to as well as adults in their past experiences in their school days. It almost feels as if ur part of the group and your right along with them starting trouble. From anything to skipping a pageant to dipping a girls hair in ink. Its an amazing story about teenagers living an average life in an urban city living and coping with everyday problems.

Penrod Schofield has enough good intentions to pave a Super Highway straight to Hell, but his ways and works are encompassed all about with temptations too powerful to ignore. The hapless Penrod is one of the funniest characters American literature produced, and it's a damn shame that he has been allowed to languish for so long in darkness.

It is unfortunate, but America has been muzzled by the forces of Political Correctness, which may be why this book has been swept under the carpet for so long. For Boothe Tarkington wasn't at all acceptable by the standards of our modern self appointed High Priests of PC. But hey, that's all the more reason you should read this hilarious story! Go on, buy this book and defy the Thought Police to tell you what you are and are not allowed to laugh about anymore! We used to have Free Speech, you know, before we were Balkanized by people determined to find something to be offended over at any (ahem!) niggling cost. Wouldn't it be great if we all relaxed and agreed to try that experiment again?

As good as when I read it more than 30 years ago. Tragically no longer politically correct, so doomed to fade away. I also agree with the reviewer who said that nowadays Penrod would be sent to a counselor and given ritalin

I recall reading this book in my young pre-teen innocent years.
I remember that I could not put the book down! So I decided to see if it was as good as I thought it was. I was stunned to see the few passages that exemplified the bigotry of the day. But, I must confess, I again found myself giggling and unable to put the book down. And I give the book 4 stars with a humble apology to some of my dear friends.

I have thought about Alice Adams a lot these two weeks after reading it, and the thought brings a smile to my face.
First published in 1920, Alice Adams is a fresh, timeless story because we can see ourselves in it. The characters are what people call "good people," ordinary people who are characterized by pride, greed, deception and revenge. Half way through the book the reader can see what is coming, but Booth Tarkington had a knack for a happy ending, or at least one that leaves the reader satisfied (just as we learned in The Magnificent Ambersons that George was made of the right stuff after all). Booth Tarkington liked people. That shows in his books. He understood human nature, but he liked people.
Some demographics might help you evaluate my view of Alice Adams. I am a man who has been a small-town attorney for forty-two years, and I like people.

This Pulitzer Prize winning novel from 1922 is the sort of thing I would normally hate. I put down The Age of Innocence for some of the things contained in this novel: high society and classism, pretensions of upward mobility in society, and being with the "right" people. Yet I ended up enjoying this novel. Why? Well, because of Alice Adams. Not the book, the title character. Alice used to be her era's version of the "It" Girl in her community. Beautiful, from a good family, and style perfect. But with her father's lack of rise in income comparable to those of her friends and peers Alice's star has fallen. She is desperate to get it back but is also loyal to her family. Her desperation mixed with the understanding of her father's situation makes her an immensely likeable character even as she is attempting to be part of a crowd which I detest as a reader. This is a comic novel, though I would not go so far as to say it is "Laugh Out Loud Funny". Alice goes through a period of growth and her desperate maturity is charming. That's the word of Alice Adams: Charming. Considering that I find many novels of this era to be a bit dreary, Alice Adams is a charming novel and far more enjoyable than I had anticipated.

-Joe Sherry

The story is very boring. A middle class family has high aspirations for obtaining upper class status and this `class consciousness' controls everything they think and do. Despite their foolishness, one can't help but feel sorry for each character (with the exception of the mother) who continually finds failure and disappointment. The characters are not developed to the point that I usually enjoy, and there are quite a large number of characters. An interesting thing about the characters is, none of them are `good.' Probably the closest thing to a good character is Virgil's Boss, Mr. Lamb. But even he is a business monger, ultimately concerned with his own business. This reflection on man is insightful. In real life, are there any people without flaws? Major flaws? Even the Bible presents the heroes of the faith as people with big problems (King Solomon was a womanizer, David was a murderer, Peter was a coward, etc.). In general, people are selfish. Our motives are selfish, and our own desires drive everything we do. However, often fiction reflects one or two main characters who are flawless. In an attempt to make characters likable- reality is bypassed. This doesn't happen here in Alice Adams.

I believe this book is about expectations. The Adams' family lives in the false hope of a brighter future, all the while neglecting the life they are currently living. I feel that this is the same discontenting experience that Westerners face. Maybe this is even a reflection of the way the author wrote the book- seemingly slow, but with flashes of brilliant foreshadowing which gives hope to the reader that something more grand is on the horizon.

The story is interesting because of the absolute stupidity of this family, and the fact that it probably is a very real experience for many. The story, though slow, is written very well, and was very easy for me to read (a plus for me, I am a bit slow). It is also interesting because even though the story takes place in America- it seems a different culture. This different culture was interesting. I think the difference came in that the story is supposed to have taken place in the South (a foreign country as far as I am concerned), and it probably took place in the very early part of the 20th century. One aspect of Tarkington's writing that I appreciated was the way he foreshadowed things. Maybe I appreciated the subtle foreshadowing hints because of the drudgery of the story, but whatever the reason- I think he did an excellent job.

The growing pangs experienced by the United States during the first couple decades of the twentieth century provided the literary fodder for a whole new school of American authors. William Dean Howells, Sherwood Anderson, Ernest Poole, Theodore Dreiser and Henry James all added their comments regarding the dissolution of traditional American values by the rise of industrialization, capital accumulation, and the strengthening of a caste system based on wealth rather than on family name. Booth Tarkington treated this subject in his The Magnificent Ambersons, but added an interesting twist: the scene of this novel was not set in the large industrial and financial cities of the East, but in a mid-sized Midwestern city as if to demonstrate the pervasiveness of this social and cultural revolution.

With this novel, Tarkington takes his demonstration one step further by writing about a middle class household in that same mid-sized Midwestern city. The Adams family, although comfortable enough, is excluded from the exclusivity shared by those families that are bound together by either name or wealth. Alice Adams is particularly chagrinned by this fact and atempts to imitate the actions and tastes of this exclusive group but can only act out daydreams in which she achieves the happiness and love that she desperately seeks. When she finally meets Arthur Russell, an elibible bachelor who belongs to that exlusive group, and futhermore, has a genuine affection for Alice, she can only fabricate lies in which she hopes to raise her own social station in his eyes. It is these pitiful, but humorous, attempts that give the novel much of its life and brilliance.

Tarkington does a fine job in developing his characters: the romantic yet incorrigible Alice; her scheming and henpecking mother, who although acting for what she sees as Alice's own betterment, brings the family to ruin; her henpecked father who falls prey to his own duplicity and fanciful ambitions; and her brother who has sense enough to see through the banality of what Alice is trying to do, only to fall victim to his own weaknesses. Although this novel won Takington his second Pulitzer Prize, it is not as well known as The Magnificent Ambersons; however, it is in every way the earlier novel's equal. His depiction of middle class society during the 1920's is judicious, balancing satire with the author's own sympathetic treatment of character. The major highlight of the novel is Tarkington's brilliant description of the dinner at which the Adams family attempts to impress Arthur Russell, a scene which makes the reader simultaneously squirm and laugh out loud.

Without giving away the ending, let it be said that the 1940s Hollywood film of the novel did Tarkington an injustice in that the filmmakers, intent on pleasing a movie audience, completely missed the point of the novel.

One of the great novels about failed ambition in an attempt to rise above the ordinary. Alice Adams is a dreamer who wants the things her struggling middle-class existence can't provide her, especially college and high-ranking prospects in the romance department. When the wealthy Arthur Russell comes within her sights, she fabricates a web of lies to impress him; but when he attends a family dinner at Alice's home he learns the truth about her real life and her posturing; the results are disastrous for Alice. To make matters even worse, her father is having his own humility issues involving a glue factory he owns and her brother has just stolen $300 from his employer to go gambling with. Alice loses Russell, but also her affectations, and the novel ends with her grimly entering Frincke's Business College.

This is Tarkington's best novel, and Alice is certainly his greatest fictional character. She is realistically drawn, and because she is so realistic we sympathize with her and feel every discomfort she experiences along with her. We wish we could get her to stop her pretending, but we know we can't, and sit by helplessly as she destroys all her dreams. We know her behavior is reprehensible and she gets what she deserves, but we can't help but feel sorry for her. It's an engaging novel, and can be read often without ever becoming dull.

Not quite up to "Penrod," but still a lot of fun. The ending lacks the satisfaction of that of its predecessor--but there's no way it could match THAT.

A wonderful classic and a prime example of literature in the early 19th century. Booth Tarkington explores the bumptious rambles of a youth from 1913 named Penrod. Penrod does not bump through life alone however, and he is accompanied by his loyal yet aging dog duke, his best friend Sam Williams, and two African Americans across the alley, Herman and Verman. I found this book to be a charming and hillarious classic and is a must for any serious bookworm.

A warm and very funny picture of small town boy's life in pre-World War One America. It's told in a series of episodes that center around the two twelve year old or so boys of the title. It's not really a boy's book, despite its reputation. Tarkington's very interested in the psychology of Penrod's family as well as in the ways that kids relate to each other -- but it's all played for laughs. Also a clear picture of the mores of small-town America at a time when homes still had carriage houses in the back -- but no carriages or horses.

Another collection of tales about Penrod Schofield and his playmate Sam. Together, the two of them get into more trouble than Dennis the Menace and the Little Rascals combined.

The tales contained weren't as interesting as the original Penrod however I was laughing out loud a time or two. Tarkington has the mannerisms down pat for a twelve year-old boy living around the WW1 area.

This book is listed as a juvenile book, however, I wouldn't recommend it for children unless they weren't afraid of dictionaries and some politically incorrect references to African-Americans. There is also a chilling tale about Penrod and Sam finding an old gun in Sam's father's drawer and what occurred with it. Too real in today's world, however the result of the tale was sobering.

This novel is about how the artistic soul is sacrificed on the altar of big business. Except in this case the artist willingly makes the sacrifice and has no regrets afterward. Thus, the novel can't be counted a tragedy. John Sheridan lives by one mantra: Bigger is better. He owns the Sheridan Pump Works and is determined to make it an industrial giant. He brings his two oldest sons into the business only to see them fail. His youngest son, Bibbs, is sickly and dreams of becoming a writer. But his father won't hear of it and puts him to work in the company, too. Surprisingly, Bibbs thrives in this setting and pushes the company onto ever greater levels of success. His fiancé is appalled that he would go along with his father's wishes, but Bibbs assures her he never would have made it as a writer and he made the right decision. It's a surprising development: one expects Bibbs to stand up to his father and declare his artistic endeavors more important. But I think Tarkington is being realistic here, and he is careful to develop Bibbs's character so that we can see him appreciate the usefulness his life takes on from the emptiness he'd known before because of his illness. Tarkington was not afraid to praise big business, though he also knew what to criticize about it, too (one thing he was quick to point out was how it spoiled natural beauty). If John Sheridan could declare, "Wealth! I will get wealth! I will make Wealth! I will sell Wealth for more Wealth," his son Bibbs could remark on how his father had served business blindly while he, Bibbs, believed "If man would let me [business] serve him, I should be beautiful." There is no irony intended in this, just a statement of belief. The first volume in a trilogy on industrialism, it's an interesting work.

Tarkington manages to cram an East of Eden epic into 350 pages. The story begins with the sallow and sickly Bibbs coming home from a sanitarium. He has been placed there because of his nerves. His father, known as Sheridan, is the leading capitalist in the bustling Indiana town and his other two sons are at the helm of his money making machine. Sheridan despises his son for being weak. Bibbs, is a poet and dislikes work. He is very smart and not interested in making money. He'd rather write and think. The primary focus of the story is his rehabilitation. He discovers his next door neighbor, Mary, and falls in love with her (typical Tarkington romance). His father forces him into the company's "inner" works were he is forced to work at a noisy machine all day. He dislikes what capitalism and greed has done, noting the heavy smog in the air (ashes come down like snow) and the problems of capitalism. However he grows stronger and we find him to be a very capable man. The "turmoil" is Bibbs finding a balance between working and "living." Tarkington almost comes off as a Sinclair Lewis or Ellen Glasgow at times, but overall there is a LOT going on in this novel, which carries it along extremely well. I wasn't that happy with the ending, as I didn't think Bibbs had found a compromise but rather an acceptance of his fate. One of the best Tarkington books I've read, though.

I read this book, along with Penrod, and Penrod and Sam, to my two younger brothers, ages 13 and 11. They loved all of them! they thought these books were hilarious, and they still talk about them every once in awhile. There are a lot of big words, and the way Tarkington says stuff is old-fashioned, but that makes it all the more interesting, and at times, all the more funny.

The finale in the Penrod series. Not as funny as the previous two books, but good for a few chuckles. The title comes from Penrod's ambition to become a detective -- naming himself George Jashber. He and the neighborhood boys decide to "shadow" a stranger in town -- suspecting danger. However, nothing could be further from the truth, however the adventures of the boys are thus chronicled.

The stories were pretty good and it was entertaining. The cultural elements of being a boy in the 1910's are captured perfectly. It is a shame that this series ended here.