Authors Books

This collection of "fiction" is infused with strong memoir quality. As memoir, it's gripping: an interior view of current relationships layered on family background that provides a shimmering sense of depth, like viewing life through clear but moving water. As a group, the stories pack a punch of love and loss that grip the reader as a partner. I could not put it down, though sometimes I wished for release from the intensity of involvement that the author demands from her reader.

The life and love of the Chekhovian short story live with this writer's work. Each sentence is a delight--some of her sentences are puzzling and demand rereading. Compact, nearly perfect stories full of loss, betrayal, and humor. What a joy it is to read something really real and really wonderful.

One evening recently at Politics and Prose, the best bookstore in DC, I was looking for short stories. I was in the mood for something new, different, possibly a local talent that I had not discovered. I came across Mary Tabor's The Woman Who Could Never Cooked. What a rare and stimulating talent this author is right here in our midst. This book is a scintillating and finely nuanced collection of stories each and every one more deftly constructed than the other. She is like a master carpenter in her attention to detail and technical precision. Words are laid down in intricate sentences that evolve into paragraphs describing and evoking characters and scenes with depth and meaning. These paragraphs, each a carefully designed frame of thought, culminate in stories that resonate with sexuality, pain, loss, and the conflicted inner workings of both the female and, remarkably, the male mind. In the carnival of rubbish and mediocrity that characterizes so much of today's writing, Mary Tabor's work stands out as a very sleek edifice of thought and emotion that makes you happy, once again, to be a reader.

Mary L. Tabor's new collection is a must-read for anyone who enjoys crisply written, thematically rich short stories. Tabor's work reminds me of both Alice Munro and Raymond Carver in that she presents ordinary people (her setting is usually the Washington, DC area where she lives) in situations which simultaneously assay character and explore large themes such as fidelity and truth to oneself. She artfully braids such strands as romantic involvement, chance acquaintance, tension and suspense, selfishness and altruism, loss and gain, typically emerging at the story's end into enhanced self-awareness and fresh affirmation of life. A major new talent; I anticipate her next work of fiction with great anticipation. -- J. Loucks

Mary Tabor's writing is powerful, evocative, and tender in "The Woman Who Never Cooked." All the stories are incredible, but both the title story and "Sine Die" left me in tears. I am haunted by these stories and I find that lines and passages keep coming back to me during the day. I feel for all her characters; devastation, loss, anger, and betrayal keep swelling up inside me as I go through the routine of my day at the office. When reading the collection, I would have to sit for a moment after finishing each story to allow its depth to settle before I could continue reading. Tabor creates worlds that are impossible to leave and characters that are impossible to forget. I read the stories again knowing how they would end, knowing what was inevitable, but wondering and hoping that maybe it might be different this time. I could speak endlessly about the fluid prose or the expertly crafted imagery, but for me the real testament to Tabor's talent is that I find myself focusing on how the stories made me feel. Tabor makes it impossible to consider yourself separate from the tales she masterfully spins. I highly recommend this collection to those who want to get lost in beautiful storytelling, in worlds filled with love, hurt, mortality, and ultimately forgiveness in spite of it all. You will not be disappointed.

Rosemary Daniell is on a mission, and part of her mission is to make sure that women in particular, but men as well fight and slay their "demons/issues" and get on with the life they were meant to have. Her dedication has led her to a 24-year love affair with Zona Rosa and to the brave souls who seek to break past their pasts, their fears, their excuses and live a full and authentic life. This book may claim to be "about" writing, but it's a lot more than a how-to book. The exorcises alone are worth the price. And by all means, if you can get to a Zona Rosa meeting--go! You're in for a treat.

Rosemary Daniell is a woman who has listened intently and found her passion and her voice. She shares both in this book so that others may know what the experience is like.

My favorite part is where she is working with students and the class is working on the poem "Eggs" and students ponder what is it really like to sit in a bathtub of eggs. The words are so strong they don't just invite visualization, they demand it.

Having sat in on a Zona Rosa meeting, I can say that working with Rosemary Daniell is just as electrifying.

This book is more memoir than "beginner writer" exercise book (though there are some exercises), but this is precisely why I liked it. And, of course, the "read-like-a-novel" style of writing sets it apart from ordinary "how to write" books.

Like another reviewer, I wish Rosemary and her Zona Rosa group were in my town!! Failing that, though, this book is a keeper!

I was a little skeptical about a new-age-y writing book--another writer urging us wannabes to spill words. But Rosemary Daniell won me over. First of all, she's really practicing what she preaches--and not for the money. The first chapter, from which the title was taken, describes her experiences teaching writing in schools and prisons. It's the intersection of her greatest love and the greatest need--and both admirable and daring. I've had the pleasure of using her discussion starters with children ages 5-8 and it works!

In her chapter on self-sabotage I recognized people I know as well as myself. I will pull this chapter out on occasion to remind myself what NOT to do.

I was most taken, though, with the "Further Notes" chapter. In it she described things I've had to learn the hard way myself. (She calls it demystification--thank you, Rosemary, I wish I'd met you years ago.) For example, how to paraphrase everything first. I'm halfway finished with an MFA and have studied writing with many famous writers. NO ONE has ever mentioned this before. But it works.

There are also many provocative female ideas embedded in this book, like the use of irony in good women's fiction. I'd like to sit in on that discussion. This is a book I will buy and keep and read when I need to hear the voice of someone experienced and wise.

Daniell's book is like a banquet; she has cooked up something for everyone, beginning writers, those in the middle and old hands. This is a book I buy frequently now and give away to people I like, both writers and nonwriters. As a desert, there are a whole lot of things you can do with young people to stimulate the creative process in The Woman Who Spilled Words All Over Herself. Super good book.

This is the most wonderful collection of fairytales, which I first encountered in the third grade and have reread countless times since. I'd rank it with the multicolored Fairy Book series by Andrew Lang as world class for this genre. A classic!

This book has been in my family for four generations, the 1912 edition having been given to my father by his grandmother in 1948.

The premise of the story is given in the introduction; the narrator happens upon a marvelous clock in Father Time's attic, which strikes the hour with songs and puppet dances. Twenty-four stories follow, one for each hour of the day. Each story begins with a verse that corresponds to the hour of the day: lighting the fire, preparing breakfast, sending the children to school, making the noonday meal, milking, tea, bedtime. The verses alone are fascinating, as they bring to life the househould routines of a very different era.

The stories are illustrated with Howard Pyle's remarkable drawings. Each tale has a frontispiece for the title, and the beginning of the text and each picture caption is heralded with a large ornmental letter like those in illuminated manuscripts. The illustrations are gorgeous. Pyle was fond of capturing scenes of nobility and royal splendour, pastoral life, and witchcraft. Some are stylized portraits of princesses in exquisite gowns and classic poses, while others demonstrate Pyle's gift for caricature and expression.

The stories themselves are wonderful, full of heroes and heroines, bravery, beauty, wits and trickery. Although there are allusions to mystic and Christian themes, and to folklore and fables, most of the stories will be unfamiliar and fresh to modern readers. The langauge is rich with metaphor, droll imagery, and dialogue that is made to be read aloud. As with Aesop's fables, the stories are meant to instruct, but the morals take a back seat to the storytelling, at least until the conclusion of each tale, and a great deal is left up to the reader to interpret.

This was my favorite book as a child, and I still turn to it on sleepless nights. But our beloved family heirloom is growing very delicate, so I am very glad that the book is still in print. I hope to share it with my own children someday.

My father heard these stories as a child. He read them to me. I read them to my kids and my grandkids. The vocabulary, the cadences, the varied plots and the sheer magic of these tales is timeless. The poems at the beginning of each chapter are related to the hours. Kids insist that you read them too. Pyle always sees to it that bullies, evil magicians, cheaters and older nasty siblings get their comeuppance. Little ones enjoy that aspect. Great archaic words are dusted off along with long disused similies and metaphores. It's the kind of book that comes to mind when you meet a bright eyed new child who has read everything else or seen everything else. At age 70 I still keep a copy in my bed's head board. Rap, tap, tap he knocked at the door.

The narrator of the twenty-four stories (plus an introduction) finds a special clock in Father Time's attic, which strikes on the hour with songs and puppet dances. "Four and twenty marvelous tales, one for each hour of the day" all start with a verse to coincide with that particular hour. Drawings are included to add further depth. Each ends with a morality lesson, which never interferes with the story, but helps wrap up that entry.

This nineteenth century collection is remarkable in different ways depending on the reader. The tales provide insight into daily household life and the morality of a bygone era. The contributions also furbish delightful fairy tales for the young at heart that are enhanced by superb figures of speech and tremendous illustrations with a finale moral lesson. This collection is a winner and will send many a reader searching for other works by Howard Pyle.

Harriet Klausner

I have been searching for this book for quite a while. The stories included are gloriously written and the illustrations are phenomenal. The reason I started looking for it again was because my Grandson will soon enjoy it. He is only 5 years old, but again, I started reading it (repeatedly) starting at age 7. I think I re-loaned it until my card was worn out! I will get him his very own copy and I know he will enjoy it as much as I.

Yep this book pretty much gives you a take on what would happen if genius detective Sherlock Holmes were instead genius cat burglar Justice Raffles. Raffles commits high collar petty theft for fun and profit. He steals jewelry etc and uses his connections as a gentleman to sniff out new opportunities. At one point as he describes the many middle men involved in reselling a piece of stolen jewelry as he explains to Bunny how crime doesn't pay - financially anyway. Often he steals something just because of the challenge involved in stealing it, which leads to interesting and varied stories for us to read. Bunny is his unwitting and later witting accomplice. He narrates the stories, as a sort of Watson to Raffles' Holmes.

These were very charming stories. If you like Sherlock Holmes and other victorian fiction then you will probably like these.

Yep this book pretty much gives you a take on what would happen if genius detective Sherlock Holmes were instead genius cat burglar Justice Raffles. Raffles commits high collar petty theft for fun and profit. He steals jewelry etc and uses his connections as a gentleman to sniff out new opportunities. At one point as he describes the many middle men involved in reselling a piece of stolen jewelry as he explains to Bunny how crime doesn't pay - financially anyway. Often he steals something just because of the challenge involved in stealing it, which leads to interesting and varied stories for us to read. Bunny is his unwitting and later witting accomplice. He narrates the stories, as a sort of Watson to Raffles' Holmes.

These were very charming stories. If you like Sherlock Holmes and other victorian fiction then you will probably like these.

Yep this book pretty much gives you a take on what would happen if genius detective Sherlock Holmes were instead genius cat burglar Justice Raffles. Raffles commits high collar petty theft for fun and profit. He steals jewelry etc and uses his connections as a gentleman to sniff out new opportunities. At one point as he describes the many middle men involved in reselling a piece of stolen jewelry as he explains to Bunny how crime doesn't pay - financially anyway. Often he steals something just because of the challenge involved in stealing it, which leads to interesting and varied stories for us to read. Bunny is his unwitting and later witting accomplice. He narrates the stories, as a sort of Watson to Raffles' Holmes.

These were very charming stories. If you like Sherlock Holmes and other victorian fiction then you will probably like these.

Yep this book pretty much gives you a take on what would happen if genius detective Sherlock Holmes were instead genius cat burglar Justice Raffles. Raffles commits high collar petty theft for fun and profit. He steals jewelry etc and uses his connections as a gentleman to sniff out new opportunities. At one point as he describes the many middle men involved in reselling a piece of stolen jewelry as he explains to Bunny how crime doesn't pay - financially anyway. Often he steals something just because of the challenge involved in stealing it, which leads to interesting and varied stories for us to read. Bunny is his unwitting and later witting accomplice. He narrates the stoires, as a sort of Watson to Raffles' Holmes.

These were very charming stoires. If you like Sherlock Holmes and other victorian fiction then you will probably like these.

I haven't read this particular ebook version and have no idea how good it's quality is. You can download the text for free at Gutenburg Project.

Yep this book pretty much gives you a take on what would happen if genius detective Sherlock Holmes were instead genius cat burglar Justice Raffles. Raffles commits high collar petty theft for fun and profit. He steals jewelry etc and uses his connections as a gentleman to sniff out new opportunities. At one point as he describes the many middle men involved in reselling a piece of stolen jewelry as he explains to Bunny how crime doesn't pay - financially anyway. Often he steals something just because of the challenge involved in stealing it, which leads to interesting and varied stories for us to read. Bunny is his unwitting and later witting accomplice. He narrates the stories, as a sort of Watson to Raffles' Holmes.

These were very charming stories. If you like Sherlock Holmes and other victorian fiction then you will probably like these.

Anything you can read by Wendell Berry is better than just about anything else. Like a quiet stream or a peaceful day in the country, away from the madness of what has become of our normal daily life.Thank you Wendell for the resting place.

No words are adequate to describe how Mr. Berry writes. He doesn't give you words to read. He takes you by the arm and gently leads you into another time and place, a place some of us remember when we read his words, but otherwise find too little time to recall. In this book, Mr. Berry once again leads us to Port William. It is winter time. Andy Catlett, the young boy, has the opportunity to go and visit his two sets of grandparents, one set still living on the farm. Andy is embraced by all who live and work there, but embraced in a way that is not coddling or spoiling. He knows his place among these older adults and they remind him in various ways of what that place is. When he goes to his other grandparents who live at the edge of the town, he is part of the same world but in a different way. And Mr. Berry shows us again how the affairs of the world affect these wonderful people, but also how they do not allow themselves to be affected to the point that they lose their place. Near the end of the book, Mr. Berry gives us the type of insight into ourselves that makes us examine, which might allow us to consider life changes, but which for most of us is just a lingering itch in our subconcious. He points out that we worry too much about how much love we have been given in life rather than considering to what extent we have appreciated the love we have received and the love we have extended. Please read this book.

This book is another gift from Wendell Berry which urges us in its quiet yet strong way to remember where we came from and stop and think about where we are going. Looking back through the span of his life, Andy Catlett describes a time when family ties were strong and children were given the freedom to be responsible, to learn the value of work and to watch and grow within that family network.

I was delighted to read the section about the button box, as I was lucky enough to endlessly play with my grandmother's button drawer in her old Singer sewing machine. I am still playing with those buttons with my grandchildren.

"I went to the closet..behind Grandma's chair and took out her button box. Every house I visited as a child had a button box. It has disappeared now from every house I know, but then it was a necessary part of household economy. No worn-out garment then was simply thrown away. When it was worn past wearing and patching, all its buttons were snipped off and put into the button box. And then when something old needed a new button, or when something newly made needed a set of buttons, the button box provided. Grandma's was an old shoe box better than half full of buttons of all sorts. It was a pleasure just to run your fingers through, like running your fingers through a bucket of shelled corn. My old game with it was to paw through it in search of matching sets of button, especially the intensely colored glass buttons that had come off dresses. I sat on the floor by Grandma's chair with the box in my lap and fished out a set of shapely black buttons and lined them up on the linoleum beside me.

And then it came to me that I was no longer interested in button boxes. Maybe it was because I was now traveling away from home by bus, by myself, but I knew suddenly and finally that my time of playing with buttons was past,just as one summer evening a year or two later, when I had found a perfect slingshot fork in the top of a tree, it came to me that I was no longer interested in slingshots, and I climbed down and left the perfect fork uncut."

Wendell Berry has created something with the Port William Membership stories that perhaps no other writer has created. While other authors may return to the same character, no other author has crafted a series of tales and novels where the setting is more character than place. Reading the novels and stories of those who inhabit Port William and its environs is like returning home, like reliving your childhood and that of your ancestors, like seeing the world with brand new eyes.

In "Andy Catlett: Early Travels" Berry revisits a character readers familiar with his works have met later on in life. As an old man, Andy Catlett revisits the Christmas he was nine years old and was allowed to travel by himself to visit both sets of grandparents. To him it was the beginning of his manhood, a dividing time between his childhood and his future. He spends two days with his Catlett grandparents, witnesses their sparse economy and the simple life they lead among the encroachments of modernization. He also spends two days with his Feltner grandparents, more well-to-do farmers, but still exemplars of frugality and self-sufficiency. As an older man, he can look back on those few days and realize what he missed along the way and what he gained.

While slim and focused in scope, "Andy Catlett: Early Travels" reaches far and wide. Berry offers insights and observations into today's world without seeming to preach. His knowledge is assured and true and sad, in that through our modernization and our current way of life, we will not know how to provide for ourselves should our current system fail us. In times of economic crisis, these questions seem too obvious to ignore. And while Berry offers the condemnation that the present world may yet have to pay for what it has forsaken, he also offers reassurance and hope.

Andy Catlett, title character, says this of one of his beloved elders, and means it about the entire ensemble of parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, family hires, and others in his close-knit world of childhood, a world that also nurtured him into and through adulthood. Nine-year-old Andy's first solo trip the ten miles to Port William is cause for the boy to ponder how best to navigate the expectations, customs, and burdens of the loved ones he visits after Christmas in 1943. Andy, the boy, is joined in his ruminations by Andy, the man already a father many years and a grandfather too, who seasons his recollections of that rite of his youthful passage with the knowledge and wisdom come from time and the bittersweetness of recollecting kin and kith all gone.

The copyright page carries the disclaimer, "This book is a work of fiction. Nothing is in it that has not been imagined." But as other readers have written, one can also imagine fictional Andy and real Wendell slipping into each others skins with ease. Wendell Berry preserves a slice of World War II rural and very small town life with such loving care and meditative dignity that it is difficult not to think of the slim book as intensely personal.

ANDY CATLETT: EARLY TRAVELS is my first dip into the "Port William series." Thanks to the irresistible thumbnail sketches of so many characters who inhabit the other novels, I'll be dipping into more -- such as HANNAH COULTER and JAYBER CROW. Ironically, because this book serves more as an introduction to the slate of Port William denizens than as a fully rounded novel, it earns from me four and a half stars instead of five. But truthfully, ANDY CATLETT: EARLY TRAVELS is no less a treasure for the absence of high drama. Berry gently sucks at the succulent and nourishing marrow of American values and reminds us all of the truly important things in life. As Andy concludes, "And now, as often before, I am reminded how grateful I am to have been there, in that time, with these I have remembered."

Angus and the Hidden Fort, by Steven A. Corirossi, was one of my favorite books. It's about [a small]kid who found a secret fort and it actually belonged to someone very famous years ago. To find out who it is, you got to check this book out. I loved how Steven wrote the ending. He added so much detail that I was disappointed when the book was over. This book is one of those books that you wish could never end. I recommend this book to six graders and up because I don't think that little kids would understand. If there are anymore books by Steven Corirossi, I got to read them!

Angus And The Hidden Fort by Steven A. Corirossi is an engaging novel for young readers about Angus McBride a nine-year-old boy, and his best friend Andrew Sills, who when exploring Black Hawk Park, discover the legacy of a one hundred and fifty year old mystery. Angus And The Hidden Fort is a highly recommended, adventurous and exciting tale, and one that opens with an unknown individual fleeing the wrath of two bare-chested Indians and proffers tantalizing hints as to the who and the why of the chase, until the stunning revelation of the end. The debut novel of a six-book series, readers will appreciate author Steven Corirossi's talents as a first class storyteller and will look eagerly forward to the new two titles: Angus And The Mysterious House and Angus And The Forgotten Trails.

Angus and the Hidden Fort is a very funny, mysterious, and exciting book. Although some words in this book I didn't know, by the time I was done with each chapter I had at least one word to add to my vocabulary list. I could read this book over and over and never get tired of reading it.

I was so excited to learn about this new adventure series--set in Central Illinois--that I just had to write and tell the author how grateful I am... it isn't too frequent that I can share with my 5th graders such wonderful, family-friendly stories that practically take place in our own backyard! Both Angus and the Hidden Fort and Angus and the Mysterious House are creatively and well written chapter novels that not only my students enjoyed, but I did as well. We're anxiously awaiting the arrival of Steven's third book, Angus and the Forgotten Trails... hurry up!

The book was a nice adventure story for boys or girls, although more geared to boys because all of the main characters in both time frames were male. Going back and forth in time made for more interesting reading and there was an element of mystery about the characters from the past that made the reader want to keep going to see what really happened and to whom.

The protagonist in the present was an adventuresome boy and I could imagine more stories of his exploits from the author. As an adult, I found the book a little simplistic and fairly predictable; still, I enjoyed the yarn and read it all. I think youngsters could picture themselves involved in this kind of exploration, doing a little detective work and trying to figure out some of the unexplained happenings.

I red this book because one review claimed that it was better than Christopher Moore's "Lamb". It wasn't. And yet it was still a darn good book.

Basic story is this: Average college guy is having a bad day. Bad day turns worse when angels capture him. Day gets even worse after that after he meets Jesus in Heaven, who incidentally, turns out to be a jerk. Apocalypse ensues.

The story itself is only average-ly written, almost like what you would expect from a high- school honors class english assignment. The story itself is incredibly engaging, though.

All in all, not as good as "Lamb", but still definitely worth your time if this is the sort of story you go for.

This book can be summed up with three words: Ha ha ha. I really don't care about people being offended. Political correctness is the second most rediculous concept ever, after affirmative action. This book makes fun of everything, and rightfully so. If you think you might be offended by reading a book the hammers everything and everybody, then don't buy it. It's as simple as that. But, for the rest of the free thinkers, read on with pride. This book will have you laughing on the first page. By the time you reach page 50, your sides will hurt. This book covers a lot of ground, and makes the end of the world sound like the best thrill ride ever. If you like flying midgets, a very dimented Lucifer (more so than you would normally think), making fun of Religion, Angelic fight clubs, Jesus as a politician, God as a terrible & vengeful father figure, and protagonists that turn out to destroy the world via a self help movement, then this book is for you. It's just good fun.

There is a fine line between farce and simply being absurd, between making a point and clobbering the reader over the head with it. Matthew Moses walks that fine line daringly in Anti-Christ: A Satirical End of Days. There are many in its intended audience who will view it all as a reflection of the renowned mantra from Network, 'I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this any more!' Moses is mad about two things in particular: religion, especially the Roman Catholic Church, and the current state of politics and government. Hysterical in its portrayals of both institutions, there is enough of a kernel of truth to cause both cringe worthy moments within these pages. The book rises above the level of a first novel, highly entertaining...for those who have tolerance of the material. More important, it will strike a responsive chord with those tired of the increasing dominance of religion in society and its growing role in politics, as well as those who see a political system attuned toward the self-interest of politicians and the powerful rather than helping the average citizen. This is satire and farce that not only portrays the corruption and misuse of societal institutions, but also excoriates those institutions for what they have done to the principles upon which they claim to be based.

This book is pure venom. Against modern culture. Against modern politics. Against the hypocrisy of religion. This book really does spell out the frustration people in America have with their country today. It deals in corruption of ideals, imperfect leaders making idiotic decisions, and proves how precarious a position the world is in today. It's also a fun book poking the establishment in the ribs. Irreverent, but it deserves to be. Give it a look.

The author is clearly angry at society. He rips on the Church, politics, self-help groups, corporations, and even God! Judging by how screwed up the planet is can you blame him? This is a fun read following a guy's journey through Heaven and back.

But come on, Mexicans sneaking into Heaven! That alone makes this story funny beyond belief. It's like South Park on steroids. If you are extremely Christian, sorry. But for everyone else this book puts a funny spin on everything from fat people to politics. Only this book could claim the Catholic Church to be the equivalent of a terrorist organization!

Ah, too soon was this book over! I finished this one in a very short amount of time (it's just over 200 pages), and was so totally engrossed that I forgot I was sitting on a beautiful, tropical beach in San Juan for a while. Although very disturbing in regards to the picture it paints of a Stalinist USSR, it was an incredible book and I would recommend it highly.
Isaac Babel, an author whose works probably need little or no introduction, has been arrested and now sits in the Lubyanka prison as the novel opens. Pavel Dubrov, the archivist of the title, has been sent to speak to Babel to verify that one of the stories the NKVD has confiscated actually is one of his. In this way, Pavel (aka Pasha) tells Babel, it can be assigned to the proper file in the archives. Out of curiosity, Pavel begins reading it and discovers the beauty of Babel's work and decides to save it, rather than to let it molder in some file or worse, find its way into the constantly-stoked incinerators where thousands of manuscripts and other works found a final home. Pavel knows that doing so will place himself in danger, but things in his past and events in his present lead him to believe that he can perhaps not only redeem himself by saving some of Babel's work, but also (and this gets into the central theme of the novel, imho) perhaps do his bit to change the flow of the history in which he has been caught up on some miniscule level. As he watches those he loves most get caught up in the Stalinist paranoia machine (and these were still in the early days of Stalin's time), he knows he has to do something.
An amazing book, truly. I think anyone interested in the former Soviet Union would really enjoy this book, as well as anyone interested in the topic of censorship. It is very well written; I hope Holland puts out something new very shortly. Highly recommended.

One of the best books I have read in a long time. From the first page I was drawn in and knew this was going to be hard to stop reading till the end. And it was. This book will stay with me for a long time.

Reading The Archivist's Story left me feeling very tender towards books--the treasures that they are. Holland's story of an archivist torn between his love of literature and his desire to survive (requiring that he destroy unapproved manuscripts) made me very thankful for all the books I have access to, and Holland's exquisite writing made me very glad I had found his book. I'll be recommending this book to my reading friends.

Given its context of Stalinist Russia, I knew that it was unlikely that The Archivist's Story would be a happy or humorous novel, and I was right. Travis Holland has captured the deadening effect of collectivization on the Russia people and the inhumanity of a society where trust and friendship are rare and fear of authority a daily concern. And yet, it's a story of the power of one man to act courageously in the face of such fear and reprisal, treating decently and humanely even one who hates him.

Pavel Dubrov is a former teacher now assigned to the archives of the infamous Lubyanka Prison, the hellhole into which countless political dissidents, intellectuals, and writers are cast. Pavel works under the insufferable Lieutenant Kutyrev, a true believer in the Revolution. Every day he organizes files containing the manuscripts of writers imprisoned in the Lubyanka, and then, one by one, carries files to the incinerator. It's a particularly distressing task for a teacher, for one who loves books, and it comes to a head over his encounter with an unknown manuscript written by Issac Babel, the well-known writer of Red Calvary. Holland chronicles Pavel's lonely and anguished existence well, contrasting it with the continued humanity he exhibits.

Travis Holland has done well. His prose is accessible and persuasive in rendering 1939 Moscow and lives caught in that place and time. It's a profound first novel and one I recommend.

I was lucky enough to get an advance copy of this book, and immediately started reading it that day. Others have commented about the plot here. I will just say that the story totally drew me in. Like the best of books, it was as if I was right there living the moment with Pavel. I could feel it as the world around him closed in.

I was very sad when I came to the last page. The story stayed with me for a long time after, and very much look forward to Mr. Holland's next novel.

Highly recommended.

A truly wonderful story, written in the most intriguing way. I never cared for car racing, but I found the descriptions compelling and may reread some to better understand them. The canine narrator, Enzo, is more likeable than many humans and far more compassionate than most. He also might be one of the funniest dogs around...

I'm enjoying this book and so is my sister in Ireland who I purchased a copy, as a birthday gift. She is also getting a kick out of it. This book is touching our lives at the moment and for me, Enzo is stiring many memory's of our family pet, Billy who passed away 5 years ago.This book is a keeper. Thank you and Bless you, Garth Stein.

Incredible book! I was hooked from the 3rd page! A funny, sensitive, heart warming story that deals with life, death, and all the things that we humans go through, told through the perspective of a dog. There are life lessons that we all can learn. Pick this up - you won't be disappointed!

This is the best book I've read in a very long time!! I read it cover to cover on the plane to TX, crying, laughing and totally entertained. I recommend it to every reader. It's very very very good! Told from a beloved dog's point of view, it has sadness and joy!!

From the start I was utterly entranced. This is a touching story of a family, their joys and heartbreaks as told by the one who knows them best - their dog 'Enzo'. Beautifully written, witty, heartbreaking and incredibly thought-provoking.

Enzo has gleaned most of his knowledge from watching his master Denny an aspiring racing driver, from watching TV (responsibly) and studying in-dash video footage from racing cars.

Certain passages made me laugh out loud "George Clooney is my fourth favorite actor because he's exceptionally clever at helping cure children of diseases on reruns of ER, and because he looks a little like me around the eyes". I loved his absolute joy when his owner Denny finally takes him for a spin in a racing car. Bark twice for faster! And I felt his fear of the crows in the backyard, their beady eyes trained on him as if to say "Come out little doggy, and we'll peck your eyeballs out!"

I read this on the sofa with my dog sprawled out next to me and every so often I gave his ear a little tickle, just in the crease behind the ear (Enzo described the exact spot perfectly) and as he watched me, watching him, I wondered just how much he really understands.

This is a charming and wonderful book. I too am surprised that it did not get more "buzz" at the time it was published.

How fascinating it is to eavesdrop, as it were, on authors' musings about their life and art. The diary entries help me fill in a multi-dimensional picture of what Virginia Woolf, Kafka, Dawn Powell, and others were like.

But not all the diarists are famous. Ordinary people's journals tell us a great deal about what it was like to be a Londoner evacuated during the Nazi bombing, or a wealthy slaveowner in the American South just before the Civil War.

There are, to this American's taste, too many British diarists here and too few Americans. I would have loved to have read a U.S. senator or cabinet member's personal observations of some political dust-up, but alas, that is not here. So I read the book at least partly as a window into British civilization.

For a compulsive reader or diary-phile, I can't imagine a better day book to accompany you through a year. To take 10 minutes out of the day and read the wonderful (really--I wondered at some of the things that people would write in the diaries) selection of entries for the day will provide you with a refreshing start, bookend, or break for your day (your choice). Even the potted biographies of the diarists (found at the back of the book) are delightful.

The authors have provided some lovely groupings of entries. January starts off with three entries from Mahler's lover, stretched over three successive days, that made me laugh. More complex emotionally is the chain at the end of January: two different diarists record the death and funeral services of George V of England in 1936, along with the assencsion of Edward III. A few days later is a recollection of meetings between Charlie Chaplin and Edward III (now the Duke of Windsor after renouncing his crown for Wallis Simpson) in the middle of World War II. Towards the end of January, in the 1930's, Count Ciano records the advice he gives Mussolini--on the same day, but in 1943, a nurse records the arrival of refugee children evacuated from Italy.

Some small errors in the bios at the back that I noticed: Goebbels kept his diary right until 1945 (not just until 1941); Delacroix did start his diary at 24 but dropped it after 2 years and did not resume it until he was 50 (the bio suggests that he kept his diary continuously); Pepy's diary wasn't kept in code but written in shorthand (a contemporaneous book describing the system Pepys used has been discovered)--but these are hardly the point with this delightful book. On the other hand, I didn't think that Woodeforde's diary revealed author to be a glutton (as the editors suggest) but I may not have read between the lines sufficiently.

I found this book on the remaindered shelf of my local bookstore (a crime!) but it even made the price right for me: $7.00 Canadian.

Wonderful book.

January 1, 2003: Bought this collection of diary and journal entries based on a review that said it would be a great book to leave in the guest bedroom for visitors. Have resolved to read a day's worth of entries each morning, and finish the book in one year.

February 16, 2003: Have discovered that this book is much more conveniently placed in the bathroom, where I am sure to spend five minutes each morning, rather than the guest bedroom.

April 13, 2003: What a remarkable collection of fascinating historical figures! The featured diarists are carefully chosen, as are the selected entries. Together they span four centuries and at least as many continents.

June 1, 2003: Have started to develop personal favorites among the many diarists. Pepys, for his unrepentant lasciviousness. Chips Channon, for his loveable pretentiousness. Kafka, for being Kafka. Warhol, for being Warhol. Coppola, for her intriguing insights into the life of her film-making husband. Woolf, for her introspective moodiness. Gide, for his sarcasm and arrogance.

July 5, 2003: Have become utterly addicted to my morning routine with this book, and have now started reading ahead.

July 29, 2003: Have only two minor complaints so far. One is that the diarists are predominantly British - perhaps a more diverse selection would have been better. The second is that there is a disproportionate number of entries during the WWII time period. Without doubt a fascinating and important time, historically, so I guess this is understandable.

August 7, 2003: Finished the collection, almost five months early. Will now return this book to my guest room, where friends and family will be sure to enjoy it for years to come.

Fascinating stuff. The book progresses through each day of the 366 (leap year, too) calendar days. Excerpts from all the diaries are organized in chronological order (from earliest year to most current year) within each day.

The earliest you get is from the 1600s (usually Samuel Pepys) on up through Alec Guiness and others in the mid 1990s. The excerpts vary from only one phrase to about a page. The stuff from the 1660s is rendered with its own peculiar spelling and grammar. You really get an amazing sense of our shared humanity across the ages.

I deemed its only overall flaw to be a preponderance of British entries and World War II entries. Plus, two entries I wished I hadn't read: the artist Delacroix blandly witnessing the mistreatment of a horse, and some English guy shooting a heron.

The excerpts from Jewish diarists right before the Holocaust were chilling.

There were diarists who became my favorites:
Eleanor Coppola (a shy woman in a high-profile world);
Virginia Woolf (wonderfully perceptive about herself and her social class);
Noel Coward (often hilarious);
Alan Bennett (gentle irony);
Evelyn Waugh and H.L. Mencken (both funny like Coward but even more acerbic);
Andy Warhol (so banal); and
Katherine Mansfield (haunting).

There were other diarists I grew to dislike:
Goebbels (fanatically anti-Semetic);
Brothers Goncourt (misogynistic);
Alan Clark (also misogynistic);
Marie Bashkirtseff and Liane de Pougy (twits);
and Leo Tolstoy and Franz Kafka (both morbid and difficult).

Overall, a varied and fascinating window on the world of journal-keeping.

What a surprisingly marvellous anthology. I was initially put off by the arrangement - with wildly disparate entries for each day of the month, at first this seemed more like a novelty book than a serious exploration of diarists and their work. Yet I've found this eclectic approach to be absolutely perfect, not least because the entries for each day have been so thoughtfully selected: some amplify the themes of the others, while some offer instead a comic or tragic counterpoint. Indeed, comedy is one of the hallmarks of this edition: diaries are always "bitchy", to some extent - as the title suggests, the diary is like an assassin's cloak we wear while stabbing comrades in the back with a pen - and the dark, neurotic humour so typical of the diarist is here in spades. The Taylors have also been kind enough to package their selections with an insightful introductory essay, thumbnail biographies of all their sources, along with full bibliographical references and a comprehensive index by diarist. The only thing missing is an index by subject - but that would probably be bigger than the volume itself. This is a brilliant, must-have anthology for anyone interested in literature, social history, and the art of the diary.