Short Stories Books

Lucia Lucas (born Emmeline Smith) wished the world to know that the recent death of her husband's aunt, who was 83 years old and who had spent the last seven of them bed-ridden in a private lunatic asylum, was "a grievous blow". Suppressed were the facts that neither Lucia nor her husband had hitherto given much thought to the aunt, and the fact that when Lucia's husband last visited the aunt, seven years previously, she bit him. No, the world must be convinced that the death of "dear Aunt Amy" was not a "happy release", it was "a grievous blow", requiring the wearing of veils, the drawing of blinds, and stoically-born, inconsolable suffering.

So begins E F Benson's 1927 novel "Lucia In London", one of six in which the author chronicles the worlds of Riseholme and its social climbing leading resident, Lucia. I say "worlds" because we are presented with two worlds. There is the real world and the world of pretence. Most characters, especially Lucia live in both worlds. What they privately covet, the publically despise. What they really feel, for example at the death of an aunt, they suppress in order to pretend to something more publically admired.

Benson's chronicles are great fun. The pretence, the point scoring, the absurdity, are richly detailed. There's not much testosterone, but there's a chuckle at least in every sentence.

This is the ultimate book for social climbers everywhere - Lucia the Queen of the tiny town of Riseholm goes to London and takes the town by storm.

This is such a brilliant story - absolutely hilarious - full of the beauty of social sycophancy and insincerity. Everyone knowing what is going on except Lucia who is (almost always) triumphant.

When Lucia's husband's aunt dies they are left with a house in London (and when the news is received in Risehome much calculation is doneby everyone based on no real facts at all.) It is up to Lucia's sidekick, Georgie, to wheedle the news out of her about the house in London and the income.

Lucia, who has always stated how she loathes London has now (very reluctantly you understand) decided to go to London for the season. Her departure from Riseholme however has a number of effects - the first being the power vacuum in Riseholme itself, and secondly she really does end up taking London by storm. Even the most vague of acquaintances of hers are treated as close bosom friends and called by their first names and name dropped shamelessly by her everywhere. This goes on till there is a firm group of Luciaphils in London who are so astonished and appreciative of her powers as the Queen of Social climbing that they establish an informal club to help her and to admire her mastery at work.

In Riseholme life does not go on without Lucia, it goes on firmly DESPITE her - everyone is determined to make a success of their village in her absence to show how much she is not at all needed there. There is the museum to establish,and then Daisy Quantock has helped them all discover the Ouija Board and the powerful spirit Guide (Abfou). They spend a great deal of time 'weedj-ing' for signs of what to do next.

If you haven't discovered Lucia novels yet, you must - Benson writes wonderful sardonic stories full of the small, pettiness of village life and its power struggles. This is wonderful light, laugh out loud stuff.

Since the other reviews here relate to the printed version of the E.F. Benson book, I thought I'd chime in with a review that is specific to this CD version read by Geraldine McEwan.

McEwan starred as Lucia in the delightful "Mapp and Lucia" series in the mid-1980s. It's out on DVD now and I highly recommend you snatch it up immediately before it goes out of print. It's one of the very best British comedies ever.

In the series, McEwan establishes what I consider to be the definitive version of Lucia. She is so delightful that as soon as I found out her readings of two of the Lucia books had also been recorded, I bought them -- although I had never purchased books on tape/CD before.

Suffice it so say, I was not disappointed. McEwan is a wonderful reader who brings out all the wit of the books, and I can't stress enough how marvelous it is to hear her once again using her "Lucia voice."

This has my highest recommendation.

Continuing the extraordinary adventures of Lucia, Benson's delightful story is full of the gossip and social-climbing one comes to expect of Lucia. Peppino, Lucia's husband, inherits a fortune and a house in London after the death of his aunt. Lucia has been the queen of all of Riseholme for ages, with her court including her best friend Georgie, an eternal bachelor who embroiders. When she ascends to London, Riseholme is bereft and feeling slighted, but soon they plot their revenge. Unfortunately for them, Lucia conquers London's high society and overcomes all obstacles in her path to greatness. But can Lucia keep up the pace of London society? And does she plan to desert her beloved Riseholme forever? The Lucia series, beginning with "Queen Lucia", is a delicious concoction of maliciousness and snobbery that will convert any reader.

I prefer Lucia in the country, though it is fun to see her get her comeuppance so regularly. Using her best social-climbing instincts and refusing to be embarrassed, Lucia sets out to conquer London and mingle with the beau monde. Soon a secret group of "Luciaphiles" springs up; the social climbers who make up its rank never tire of watching her get into and out of all kinds of trouble.

Don't miss these installments in the Mackenzie family saga by Linda Howard. Mackenzie's Mountain starts the series off and Mackenzie's Mission follows along seamlessly. Strong passion, strong men and stronger women makes them modern Romantic Fiction at it's best!

These are my all time favorite leisure re-reads!

Linda Howard writes so wonderfully that you actually feel as if you are physically a part of the story. Very emotional and true page turners. Mackenzie's Mountain and Mackenzie's Mission are some of her best work.

i can't belive these readers have never heard of linda howard.
i read at least one book per day and i must say linda howard
is the best author out there. i have read all of her stories
at least 2 or 3 times each, and will continue to read them
again at a later date.

I thought the premise of this series was fantastic. It deals with bigotry, hate, and love. Reading about Wolff and his son Joe meeting their match in Mary is such a joy. Then knowing what Joe goes on to do with his life is just superb. I really wish that she had gone on to do books on the other brothers.

I own all books about the Machenzie's. This series is my favorite by far. I have read them over and over so many times I could recite them out loud. I have read many series of books by different authors, but this series is THE BEST. Buy it and read it. You won't be sorry.

George, known to me and the rest of his students as Mr.Flynn, is an amazing person and this is a wonderful book. Parts of it made me cry and others made me smile. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves to read about true love.

I know that I cannot write a good review but I loved the book. I am not fond of reading too many books but I started to read this when I was bored and now I have read it eight times! Mr. Flynn was my English teacher and I will never forget him!

I know that I cannot write a good review but I loved the book. I am not fond of reading too many books but I started to read this when I was bored and now I have read it eight times! Mr. Flynn was my English teacher and I will never forget him!

The stories in Maggie's Heart are short, but each is moving in its own way. The book can be read in sequence or kept as a quick pick-me-up for those times when you need something to read, but don't want to delve into a novel. There is a gentle love of people and goodness that comes through in each story. You are left with a catch in the throat and / or a smile on your lips. In a word the stories are wonderful.

This great little book brought smiles, a couple of laughs and a few tears. My favorite was The Last Amaryllis. It still brings a tear.

This is my favorite storyteller and her short stories are wonderful. They transport you to another time and place. The thing I love best about this book is the little life lessons she puts in it not preachy just real things you can relate to and learn from.

I have heard for years what a great writer J. California Cooper is and how people love just about anything she produces. Despite hearing all of the accolades and praises for this author, life happened and I never got around to reading one of her works. I could slap myself for all of the years I missed out on the tales from this adroit storyteller. Her dialogue brings Hurston to mind, and her characters in THE MATTER IS LIFE are just as strong as any of the greats. In fact, I am adding Cooper to my list of greats after reading this collection of beautifully human stories about how people can get in their own ways and how life is life.

My favorite story in this collection happened to be the longest. Could it be that I was able to savor even more of Cooper's wisdom in "The Doras?" It's possible, but more than that, this was a story that had me hanging on to every word about a woman with a dream for her daughters. The narrators in all the stories seem to be sages of sorts; the narrator isn't always a central character in the piece, but she seems to know all the goings on of the people of whom she speaks. This was refreshing and different, and I felt as though she and I were having an all-out gossip session. Don't get me wrong; the stories in this compilation are deep and to the point. There is a lesson to be learned within each tale's contributory pages.

I just can't say enough about how much I enjoyed this reading journey. My only complaint is that it was over too soon. Luckily for me, there are numerous other Cooper releases for me to enjoy.

Reviewed by CandaceK
of The RAWSISTAZ™ Reviewers

J. California Cooper has a way of crafting a story that makes you feel as if you are sitting in the room with the characters as they go about their daily lives.

These stories make you actually FEEL what the characters are going through, and when the stories end, you feel like a friend has walked away.

I definitely recommend this book and any others by this author.

I need more stars.

J. California Cooper is one of the best authors of our time who doesn't receive the praise due to her. Her short stories are filled with colorful characters that keep you turning the pages. I'll read anything she releases. Ms. Cooper is in a class by herself. Much love and support to you. I can't wait for your next release.

This book is a wonderful mosaic of characters, perspectives, and lifestyles. I've always seen Cooper's books in the store, but didn't pick one up until "The Matter is Life." I haven't been able to put the book down and am looking forward to picking up more of her short story collections.

"Miranda and Starlight" is the first in a series of six books featuring Miranda and Starlight. In this exciting adventure, for young readers, Janet Murihead Hill has captured something of the young reader's insecurity, fear, and pride. Miranda and Chris find it difficult to communicate openly with their parents.

Miranda desperately wants a horse. Chris needs to learn to ride his. Intricate plot twists bring them together in a complicated web of lies, and deceit. Through the events that unfold Miranda and Chris learn lessons in the importance of honesty, responsibility, courage, and trust.

Hill's writing is powerful and inspiring. Illustrations by Pat Lehmkuhl bring another important dimension to the story. Her pen and ink drawings are strong as they create and identify the settings and the characters in the story. She also has the amazing ability to depict the emotions the characters are feeling through facial expressions and body language.

This is a story for the young reader as well as an excellent read aloud story for delightful, cherished family nights at home.

MIRANDA AND STARLIGHT SERIES OF SIX BOOKS BY JANET MUIRHEAD HILL, ILLUSTRATED BY PAT LEHMKUHL is an absolutely delightful new horse book series. Written for upper elementary and young teens, the books will fascinate adults as well. I couldn't put them down! Ten year old Miranda, the orphaned product of a broken home, vanished father and wild mother, lives with her grandparents on their farm. She loves horses and dreams of owning one, but believes it could never be possible. The first book introduces the beautiful horse of her dreams and how she becomes attached to it through lying and mischief, for which she gets into trouble. Being the new girl in her classroom, she is shunned by the "in crowd" and develops a troubled friendship with the lonely Laurie, a mulatto who feels like a misfit, and Chris, the "fat boy" in the class. Their escapades and trials capture your mind and heart. Every young person will adore this series!

Reviewed by April Sullivan for Reader Views (5/06)
"Miranda and Starlight" is the first book in a series of six called the Starlight Series that features a 10 year old girl and her horse. Miranda Stevens is a sweet, but feisty young girl who is living with her grandparents in Montana while her single mother in Los Angeles is trying to make it as an actress. Embarrassed by her untraditional upbringing, Miranda finds it hard to make friends. She is shunned by the "Magnificent Four" as she calls the close-knit pack of girls in her class. And she is constantly tormented by bully Chris Bergman.

If Miranda could have three wishes, they would be for a friend, a real family, and a horse of her very own. On the first day of fifth grade, at least one of those wishes comes true when she meets the new girl, Laurie Langley. She also meets the horse of her dreams that day when bully Chris dares her to ride a horse they see in the pasture next to the school. Miranda, gets in trouble, but falls in love with the black horse she names Starlight for the white star on his forelock.

This fast-paced adventure is great for young readers being introduced to chapter books. A few interspersed illustrations help young minds form an impression of the events being described. And the fact that this is a series leaves the reader wanting to know more and encourages them to pick up the next book.

This story brought back memories of myself as a young girl with a horse. The author accurately describes the responsibility and love needed to care for a horse. She not only portrays the fun of riding, but the hard work of cleaning stalls and grooming the horses.

I look forward to the rest of the series to find out how Miranda's relationship evolves not only with the horse, but all of the other people in her life. Since she has started to help Chris with riding lessons, they seem to be becoming friends. She learns the price she pays when lying to adults, especially her grandparents. And the most difficult relationship of all is with her mother, who wants her to come live with her in California, at the same time that Miranda is finally getting some of her wishes to come true in Montana.

This is more than a mere horse story. It is a journey of courage and consequences for younger juvenile readers. My own children will read this story.

From a reviewer's viewpoint, and as a person who enjoys reading, this is a wonderful story for young readers.

My opinion on this story is much different than the critic in Massachusetts gave. I felt drawn into the story and was impressed with the perspective shown. This is a story that shows what can happen when children lie and also how to tell the truth. I believe there are a lot more parents out there who are like the boy's parents than most would like to believe. Hopefully there are more out there who are like Miranda's Grandparents who show love and understanding when dealing with Miranda's situations. I enjoyed this book even though I'm an adult. I would reccommend this book to any child who can read. It may show them reading is fun when the story is fascinating like this one.

Mountain Dreams is two books in one. Both stories are a delightful, fun read with wonderful touches of suspense/adventure. Be prepared for a ride of your life.

The stories in "Mountain Dreams" pack an emotional wallop. I enjoyed reading both of them. In "Five Steps to Flirting,"Regina Citrano needs a divorce---from her well-meaning Italian family! Can she find her own man, without their help, by learning to flirt? Tyler Novak doesn't think she needs any lessons. A fun read!

In FIVE STEPS TO FLIRTING and SUNDAY SCHOOL AND THE SECRET AGENT, Gail Kennedy creates loveable heroines caught in dangerous situations coupled with the kind of heroes women dream about. Wonderful supporting characters and humorous treatment entertain the reader from page 1 to the end.

MOUNTAIN DREAMS is two complete and completely captivating novels.

The first story is side-splittingly funny. In FIVE STEPS TO FLIRTING, the heroine is pretty and intelligent but painfully shy. She is tired of being the victim of her large, well-meaning Italian family, who try to save her from "spinsterhood" at the ancient age of 25 by setting her up on blind dates--which are invariably with Mr. Wrong. A magazine article --FIVE STEPS TO FLIRTING -- appears to be her salvation. Inspired by the magazine's advice, she buys a long red wig, a short skirt, and practices the techniques the magazine details in the Cincinnati airport....And is mistaken for a hooker by a drop-dead gorgeous undercover agent with the FBI. From there, her day goes downhill fast and hilariously as she inadvertently stumbles into a diamond smuggling ring and gets kidnapped, taken for a long ride in a plane with low fuel. The Cute FBI guy quickly learns not to underestimate the lethal potential of her hot pink umbrella....

The second story, SUNDAY SCHOOL AND THE SECRET AGENT, the hot pink umbrella-- now in the possession of a straight-laced schoolteacher --has its way to Las Cruses. The school teacher has a big problem. An unmarried 32, and goaded by the bragging of her former schoolmate about that schoolmate's idyllic marriage and perfect family, the teacher invented a husband. Living thousands of miles away, she thinks she'll need never produce said husband. Wrong. She is wrangled into promising to go the class reunion The cute guy, who changed her flat for her and who she's seen around seems like a good prospect to be her make-believe husband. . Sparks fly between them during the lunch she fixes him to thank him. He's very attracted to SUNDAY SCHOOL, as he privately nicknames her as he keeps her under surveillance. She reminds him of a prim and proper Sunday School teacher -- it's a shame she's really smuggling drugs, which she picks up on her monthly trips into Mexico.... This second story is excellently crafted. It has it's funny moments, but is more poiniant than the first. And has much more heat as a love develops between the hero and heroine. Ah, but the path of true love never runs smoothly.....

This book containing two parallel stories with similar situations and vehicles, i.e. umbrellas, aunts/relatives, mountains, is beautifully written and contains plots filled with humor naturally evolving from various situations, plus the fun of mystery and confusion resulting from misunderstandings and erroneous assumptions by the characters. This book moves easily from one storyline to the next and keeps you flipping pages to see how the characters will eventually resolve their feelings for each other.

A must-read book for lovers of gentle sensuality and romantic dreams with fun and happy endings.

This is the first book in a wonderful series about an older man who finds companionship with a pet. My daughter is now 7 and we began reading these when she was 4 or 5. Even though she reads at a level well beyond this, she still asks me to read these books to her. They are sweet and charming and I think help children to see older people in a very sympathetic way. They are all terrific books and we own the entire series. I look forward to enjoying them all over again when my three year old is ready.

This is a story about a fundamental human need, that of companionship. Mr. Putter is an old man who lives alone, has muffins in the morning and tea in the afternoon. He works in his yard during the day, but there is no one to do it with. Therefore, Mr. Putter decides to get a cat.
He goes to a store, but all they have is kittens, which have too much energy for him. The clerk suggests that he go to a shelter, which he does. While there, he finds an old yellow cat whose bones creak; hair is thinning and appears to be a little deaf. All characteristics shared by Mr. Putter.
Once he gets the cat home, he names him Tabby. They hit it off immediately, becoming the best of friends and Mr. Putter is once again enjoying life. It is a charming book with a powerful and correct social message about how the elderly live their lives.

I am currently raising my third daughter through the beginning reader phase. It is very hard to find books that are engaging enough for a bright child during this stage of developement. I find this series has more in the way of a plot than Rylant's more popular "Henry and Mudge" series. My 2 older daughters who are now 12 and 14 begged me to by as many Mr. Putter and Tabby books as I can for their 6 year old "baby sister". We are a household of avid readers, and this is our favorite beginning reader series.

My mom and I absoutly love this book! It's so cute how he's lonely and he wished for some company. So he goes out to the pound and finds the perfect cat. With similar qualties as him. From then on they do every thing together. They drink tea, eat muffins, sing opera, tell stories, garden, took long walks, take naps, and grow old together. Tabby knew just what Mr.Putter was going to do next. Mr.Putter knew exactly where Tabby was going to sleep next. It's just such a sweet story about the love Mr.Putter has for this cat and the love the cat has for him.

The Mr. Putter and Tabby series are the sort of books that I would have loved to have when I was a beginning reader. I know that I would have read them over and over again to no end, even once they began to fall apart from constant use. That's why I am so glad that Mr. Putter and Tabby are around now while my youngest brother is learning to read. The non-repetitious, non-rhyming storytelling contained within the books makes them a pleasure to read continually, unlike many other easy-reader books. And in my opinion, the Mr. Putter and Tabby books are a step in front of Ms. Rylant's Henry and Mudge collection, due to the fact that, in their own way, they create an appreciation for the elderly as the reader comes to love Mr. Putter, the aging main character whose only companion is his cat, Tabby.

In Mr. Putter and Tabby Pour the Tea, the first book in the series, Mr. Putter comes to know Tabby. During the first chapter, Mr. Putter expresses the feelings of loneliness and the desire for companionship that the elderly so often have. Thereafter, he chooses to adopt a cat, and the story continues to describe the affection they gain towards each other.

Mr. Howard's cartoon-style illustrations greatly enhance this wonderful story, which is written in such a format to be used as either a 3-chapter book for the beginning reader, or a bedtime story that is longer in length, opening into a possible discussion with your child about the significance of friendship in the elderly person's life. Either way, the Mr. Putter and Tabby books would be a great find for emerging readers' shelves. Like having a kindly old grandpa next door, they only make life richer!

Written long after *Journey to the End of Night* and *Death on the Installment Plan* made him famous, and his alleged activities during World War II turned him into something of a pariah, *North* is a lesser known and less widely read novel, but, to my mind, in many respects, a vastly superior work to both *Journey* and *Death.* What makes it so? Precisely Celine's recounting of the questionable wartime `activities' that have turned him into one of the true black sheep of 20th century literature. What Celine has to say about the inferno of WW2 wasn't politically correct long before that term was invented to describe a particular form of lying. Is it possible that the seeds of political correctness were sown in the ashes of postwar Europe? Maybe. In any event, Celine stands firmly opposed to any form of lying or hypocrisy and he found plenty of both to rage against in the chaos of war. The problem is that Celine finds the hypocrisy, the lying, the betrayal and rot on *both* sides, in human nature itself, and this is an unacceptable position to take in the last--if not only--war that is still considered to have had a clear Good Guy and an indisputable Bad Guy.

*North* chronicles a stage in Celine's flight `north' during the last days of an imploding Third Reich. As Berlin is bombed into pebbles, and then re-bombed into dust, Celine, his wife Lili, a temperamental actor friend, and his cat, take refuge in a village along with other refugees--prisoners, traitors, SS officers, gypsies, German nobility, and assorted riff-raff on the move--and all of them scheming and jockeying for the best position to ensure their own survival. Hunger and fear bring out the worst in all of them, except, perhaps, the cat.

What Celine has the effrontery to point out is that human evil is pervasive--the rottenness is at the core, and extends from the bottom up. The guys at the top are only the biggest stinkers, the Chief Thugs, different only in their capacity to commit atrocities of all sorts, but, otherwise, identical to the rest of us in the latent human potential for unbounded cruelty. Celine take on WW2 is one where principled stands were virtually without exception conditional on one's place in the raging chaos. Can the Nazis keep me fed, alive, relatively safe? Okay, then, "Heil Hitler!" Can the Russians? "Welcome Comrade!" Maybe the English? Then "God Save the Queen!" Celine fought with the "Good Guys" during WW1 and so the edge of his ultra-cynicism was somewhat blunted, his political amorality obscured, his misanthropy still a bit of a joke, fogged over and softened by the fact that, after all, he fought on the `right' side. But his essential attitude is there even in *Journey to the End of Night.* Celine doesn't believe in *anything*--nothing, at least, larger than the survival of himself and his immediate friends. His is an ant's-eye view of the world and like all the rest of us little guys, he's just trying to keep from getting stamped on by the big boots from above. And if you think of the war itself as the shadow cast by a great big boot coming down, you can understand better the mindless, unprincipled scramble for survival that Celine dares to record in the pages of *North.* Are there no atheists in a foxhole? Well, Celine argues, there are no idealists there, either. When the bombs are screaming down, there's just a lot of desperate and terrified people looking for a rock to hide under. Justification comes later; survival is first. After all, there's nothing without survival. And wherever the Wheel of Fortune stops, that's where you stand, Nazi or Allied, collaborative or Resistance. You place your best bet: to survive is to win. Well, you might say, that Celine agrees wholeheartedly with Ecclesiastes: "A living dog is better than a dead lion."

It's this kind of radical moral complexity that I think makes *North* richer and ultimately superior to Celine's earlier work--it also fuels an even more virulent disgust with "humanity," so called, and amps up his characteristic misanthropy to the max. Everyone gets it in the neck. The black comedy is here, the antic absurdity, this is Celine after all, cracking jokes even up to his eyeballs in blood and worms. That he can turn the experiences recounted in *North* into a picaresque romp through the Apocalypse is amazing in itself--in many another author's hand, the events of *North* would be the material for a gloomy tragedy of the epic sort well-known by now among chroniclers of the WW2 horror. That Celine is able to turn this uncompromising tale of war, famine, and exile into a loony brimstone romp is a backhand tribute to the human spirit. Well, a tribute to Celine's spirit, in any event--a spirit more fully and honestly "human" than most.

Louis Ferdinand Celine was an anti-Semite and thoroughly unpleasant character (unless you were counted among his small, close circle of friends). He also happens to be one of the 20th Century's greatest writers, someone admired by the likes of Samuel Beckett (not a man known to offer unworthy praise). JOURNEY TO THE END OF THE NIGHT, DEATH ON THE INSTALLMENT PLAN and NORTH are ample evidence of Celine's enormous talent. Unflinching, vicious and literate, his prose depicts individuals living on the margins--he also is a writer of great wit and there are passages which will provoke peals of laughter from readers with the intelligence to appreciate his dry, bitter,caustic humour. Highly recommended...though not for the faint of heart and small of brain.

This is possibly Celine's most abstract and difficult novel, but well worth the effort. If you persist, you will be rewarded with a tragic story that rivals the bards of ancient greece in its beauty and chaotic symmetry.

Celine never really bothers to make grand pronouncements about the future, about civilization, about humanity, about the future. If he makes them, they are predicated on madness and miscommunication, and often meant merely as a foil for his real ideas. Yet I'm convinced that behind the rants, raves, and scattered events in this novel is a grand metaphor for the fall of the Enlightenment ideas that defined the 18th, 19th, and early 20th century. Gone is any real perception of right or wrong, of good or bad, of the necessary past and the rational future...all we have left is the self and the other, struggling through a bombed-out landscape as Western Continental Europe finally crashes headlong into the ground. Humanity has returned to its irrational origins, and not even an 80 year old Prussian Junker in his underpants can get on his horse, draw his saber, and make everything all right again...

A vital description of the effects of World War II on the ideas, formulations, and traditions of Western European society, and a fantastic read to boot.

This one will stay with us for a long time.

In this partly autobiographical novel, we find Celine on the run through Baden Baden, a bombed out Berlin, and finally a small village at the outskirts of the remains of the Third Reich capital, on his way to what he hesitantly calls a refuge, during the chaos and total insanity of the final stages of the second world war.

Celine does not really complain the misery of his fate. In his cynical manner, he merely records his incredible encounters with seemingly all the renegades and twised characters of a scorched Europe and willing or not he witnesses the atrophies and deformities of human mind. Ironically, the author somehow manages to turn his characters into hillarious and amiable, even entertaining figures.

Celine writes like no other writer you have read. His truncated sentences, in bits and pieces all over the place, remind of a rather maniac mind spinning thoughts at the speed of light in an incohomprensive, bordering to delirious babble. That's Celine all right throughout North. In poignant remarks, making fun, laughing at himself, expressing same anxiety, bitternes, and cynical observations as in his other writings, Celine moves on, weary but undefeated. Life goes on.

I love all of Louis-Ferdinand Celine's novels, from "Journey to the End of the Night" to "Rigadoon", but I have to say that "North" is my favorite. It's hard to say why exactly, because his novels are mostly simlar in tone and style, except for "Journey", his first, which is his most accessible, ellipses-free novel...Bukowski (who turned me on to Celine in the first place) said that Celine went insane after his first book and didn't write much of consequence after that.
I would have to respectfully disagree. "North" certainly does read like an ultra-cynical, off-the-cuff, unruly beast, the rantings of a madman...Celine opens complaining about society, his publisher, the reading public, and his fellow authors, and seems to careen between his present-tense problems and his flight from both the Allies and the Nazis during World War 2, twenty years before, with no rhyme or reason...but I think there IS a reason: the experience. Probably a multiple-degreed Literature Professor (if he read Celine at all) could point out all sorts of latent themes and ironic stylistic touches, but I don't go in for all that...I just love running along behind Celine, trying to keep up. "North" is a whirlwind, a blast of vituperation and self-pity, the missing link between Surrealism and Punk Rock, and possibly the highest expression of what it means to be French and why so many people hate the French: if YOU were a little country crowded on all sides by beasts and fops, and everyone loved your wines and cheeses but squawked with hatred whenever you gave your opinion on something, how do you think YOU'D behave?

I was very pleasantly surprised and pleased by this book. It is certainly one of the best poetry collections I've ever read, and I've read many poets and many poems. What immediately draws you in about Soleil's work is its intelligent yet refreshingly accessible and readable style, and at the same time its highly intimate and personal subject-matter, very confessional and autobiographical. Some of the subject-matter will be shocking even by contemporary standards, but as the author himself explains, his real intent isn't merely to shock or to write dirt for dirt's sake, but rather, to express himself creatively and share his impressions about aspects of his life with the reader. Besides, attitudes in the West continue to become more relaxed, more enlightened, and we're a far-cry from the uptight, conservative '80s. Soleil's "Object Lessons" is in the tradition of Charles Bukowski, yet completely original. It has the potential to be (and deserves to be) an underground cult classic like Allen Ginsberg's "Howl", which is perhaps a much more well-known but far less readable and far more outdated work. So what is Oz du Soleil's work really about? Well, if u like to read about how wonderful everything is and how nice the flowers smell in spring, LOOK ELSEWHERE. These poems are unabashedly honest and explicit about how they deal with more daring topics, like the author's sexual interests, including frequenting sex clubs, porn, masturbation, etc, not to mention his preference for full-figured women over the anorexic magazine model. But its not all about sex and erections and "tuna-eating", there's also a lot of other things he talks about, including just regular friendship, especially with women. His use of language is unique and grips your interest. All thoughout, one gets a sense of an outsider, someone who has not quite fit in. Why? Because Soleil is an individualist, a moral nonconformist, a social radical, and an artistic original. Such people always have difficulty in the "real world" becuase they refuse to compromise and conform more than they absolutely have to, they just wanna be themselves and experiment with darker or more daring aspects of reality, even taboo reality. It is also clear from the persona in this work that the author is very human, a person with clarity, sanity, wit, emotions and intellect, not merely a Prozac-medicated, sex-driven, one-dimensional human being. This is Soleil's first published book. I recommend it highly!

This book takes you through a real-life journey of the author. Enjoy the ride as he makes observations regarding that which pleases and that which disgusts him. The candor is refreshing, but not for the faint of heart. I loved this book and get more out of the essays and poems as I read them over and over again.

This book takes you through a real-life journey of the author. Enjoy the ride as he makes observations regarding that which pleases and that which disgusts him. The candor is refreshing, but not for the faint of heart. I loved this book and get more out of the essays and poems as I read them over and over again.

Oz pulls his readers into his poems and invites them to look at life-situations in a different way. His articulate style leads the reader into the depths of Oz's mind. His style and use of language is unique and refreshing.

Object Lessons, was a work of very intimate natures. Very heartfelt and at times revealed the authors cords of gentle and justified frustration while seeking solutions to the myriad of questions about manhood, sexuality, relationships and life in general.

As a woman, I was given a precious peek into a world seen through the eyes of one man where the walls of codes,secrecies and deceptions were temporarily opened. I was made to feel that his journey is shared by many men but remains unspoken for many reasons.

I encourage the author to continue exposing this world to women and men so that we may come into a greater understanding of one another. Not by socialized programming, but by helping each other set aside our fears and appreciating the unique qualities that we all have to offer.

I knew nothing of the book nor had I ever heard of the author. I picked up and read this book based solely on the title. Being fairly frequently reminded that I am not a perfect man, and that I have a long way to go to get there, I was curious to find what this unknown author might have to say about "the perfect man." Alas, I didn't find the answer to perfection, but I did find a wonderful story.

As I jumped into this one, the story came alive with great characters, beginning in post-war London and moving quickly to, of all places, 1950s very small-town America, Pisgah, Missouri, which lies essentially near the center of the state, deep in America's heartland, and along the banks of the Missouri River; certainly neither a place nor a time that would willingly accept a dark-skinned foreigner with a name like "Rajiv". It made for a great story, for sure worthy of a strong four-star rating. However, at the very end of the book, I found the final chapter to be so strong, so engaging and so optimistic that this strong four-star story was pushed over the brink to a five-star gem of a story.

I think the story of Raj, the Indian-born boy who ends up in Missouri by way of London, is a story of many, many levels - levels that deserve to be given an in-depth analysis by people much more capable of such analysis than I. However, I do opine that Murr is outstanding at creating the atmosphere of this small town, displaying to the reader the town's eccentricities and prejudices, the dark secrets of its families and social cliques, the love that bound its young characters, and the love-turned-to-hate, spite and despair that embroiled many of the adults and decayed marital, familial and community relationships. Murr intertwines and juxtaposes not only love and hate through the characters and the small community, but also vanity and humility, selfishness and charity, fidelity and infidelity, trust and distrust, hope and despair, bravery and cowardice. As I read deeper into the story, and the secrets of the community continually unfolded - sometimes shockingly - I was totally engaged.

A final aspect I found particularly of interest in this book were the sections after the final chapter: a conversation with the author, who had himself spent some portion of his life living in Columbia, Missouri, and the "Questions and Topics for Discussion" section. Reading the author's perspectives and occasionally reviewing the questions/topics section helped me keep in mind some of the objectives of the story and recognize different levels and focal points of the story's characters, plot and subplots.

The only warning I can give is that the story does not unfold chronologically. Each chapter begins with a year, and the reader should pay attention to which year is about to be exposed, else you might find yourself temporarily confused as to where in the chronology of the story the events are unfolding.

In summary, I really enjoyed this book; found it very engrossing and would recommend it to anyone who desires good depth to a story and great characters.

I love to read and am always in search of a book that is well written and hard to put down. This is one of those rare finds. My only regret is that it wasn't ten times longer so it would have lasted several more days.

(4.5 stars) Rajiv Travers, the son of Gerard Travers and an Indian woman whom Gerard claims to have bought for twenty pounds, finds himself "orphaned" and uprooted at the age of five, when he is sent from India to London to live with his father, a man he does not know. By the age of twelve he has been abandoned several more times, both physically and emotionally, and has been sent to Pisgah, Missouri, to live with Ruth Winters, the romance-writing mistress of one of his uncles. A "black" child living in a white world, Rajiv becomes close friends with Annie and Lew, who often include Alvin and Nora in their activities. Each child, suffering from some personal trauma, is trying to make sense of the past and the often tumultuous and threatening present.

Pisgah, Missouri, provides a Southern Gothic setting in which author Naeem Murr explores the essence of selfhood. The sense of isolation, the difficulties (or, sometimes, impossibilities) of communication, the role of sex, and issues of power and control, perennial problems for teenagers, are also problems for the adults in Pisgah as well. Everyone has secrets, some of them secrets which are guaranteed to be kept because they include evil activities in which an entire group has participated.

Murr, who has previously focused on dark psychological aberrations in his novel The Boy, creates a cauldron of activity here in which the adolescents try to survive the perils they face on a daily basis. The characters, while darker and, in many cases, more damaged than what we usually call "normal," come to life as their individual backgrounds and the backgrounds of their families are revealed. Rajiv, the main character, has no past in Pisgah, and his reactions to what he is seeing, hearing, feeling, and guessing guide the reader to an understanding of Murr's themes.

As the narrative switches back and forth in time, horrors unfold and mysteries get solved. Pisgah reveals itself to be a microcosm of life's trials, almost on a par with Dante's nine circles of hell. Filled with mystery and the traumas of adolescence, the book has a broader focus than a mere coming-of-age. In a sense, all of humanity is on trial in Pisgah. Remarkably, some of the teenagers manage to put their lives in order and triumph, despite having faced seemingly insuperable odds, and the book is ultimately a celebration of the human spirit. n Mary Whipple

The Genius of the Sea : A Novel
Boy, The

As a high school Librarian I read a lot of books. One of our English teacher's recommended this and I was blown away. It is a very rich story of an ensemble of different types of people.

I read all the amazing reviews of this book and thought the premise was very interesting: young unwanted boy from India winding up in small Missouri town. The writing is excellent, but I just could not really connect with the characters and found some of the lesser characters simply unbelievable. I tried very hard to "get into" this book, but it just didn't click.

Raj's transformation from a naive young boy to a professional man who seems to know exactly who he is and what he wants is interesting but I don't find it extraordinatry. I'm pretty familiar with small Missouri towns having grown up there, and I never felt that the town with its rather strange assortment of people was realistic; some of the events bordered on "soap-operaish." And the switching back and forth between time frames was confusing although I can see how it did add to the suspense of the story.

Still, the concept of the book is engaging and I'm glad I read it. I would recommend it just because I do think it is a book that can envoke a variety of responses.