Used Books

This book and the second are the best books ever. there very entertaining and i was mad when they were over.But i did find the alike with JAmes Camrons Titanic But who cares


Favorite Character:Elizabeth Farr
publication date:1998

The author of the book obviously does not have a very good idea any historic aspect of the time period. The author also had very, very poorly developed characters. Elizabeth wanted to major in literature. However, not once did it mention her reading or writing anything, past or present. Nor was she ever mention anything scholarly coming out of her mouth at all. Yet, we find latter that she scored high grades which means she is SUPPOSED to be smart. The Irish group was not as horribly developed, but they still lacked major development. The author's gain was nothing more than two overly simple love stories. It's quite probable that this book is a rip of the movie Titanic. However, the stories one finds in novels and movies about the Titanic seem to have many similarities among them.

I picked this novel up way back in elementary school at a book fair. I'm in college now, and it's still on my desk shelf back home (I'm a little sad that I keep forgetting to bring it with me!). The Long Night is one of those books that you can read over and over again because, in my opinion, you get so attached to these characters that you don't want to let them go.

Even if the relationship between Elizabeth and Max seems slightly reminiscent of Jack and Rose, the story of Katie, Paddy and those in both first class and steerage give a good parallel for comparison. In fact, one could even sat that it is the side characters that help make the story good and believable, be it the vanity of Nola Farr, the selfishness of Eileen, the tragic bravery of both Martin Farr and Brian, or the innocence of Kevin and Bridley amidst the horror.

All in all I recommend this book to younger readers (or those young at heart) who want a book that stays with them long after the last page is finished.

I wanted to like this novel, but I couldn't get past what seemed like plagiarism of James Cameron's screenplay for the movie Titanic. There are some differences between the book and the movie, but a few snippets of dialogue seem as if they were taken straight from the movie. The heroine's dilemma and her artist lover will also seem oddly familiar, as well as the relationship between her and her parents. There are also a few scenes that moviegoers might find quite similar. By the way, this book came out one year after the movie. Coincidence?

Two young women, an American daughter of wealth (Elizabeth) and an Irish immigrant (Katie), travel on the doom-fated Titanic. On board, they sort out tangled love affairs with a roguish playboy in steerage (for Katie) and a painter who plans to refuse his parents' wishes in first class (for Elizabeth). Elizabeth fights with her parents about her future, while Katie is already a strong willed feminist. While the plot isn't spectacular, the prose is decent, and--best of all--it isn't overly preachy (about the culture of the time or the mistakes of the ship) or contrived, but very historically accurate. Some parts of the whining teenager and description get overly long, but the characters and their human dramas are moving enough to be engaging. In my opinion, the best part is that the author conveyed the feelings on board as the ship sinks with accuracy rarely seen in Titanic fiction. The emotion is restrained, but nether-the-less there, as would be accurate for Edwardian society. The infamous lines, like "you've lost your beautiful jewelry" are more appropriately credited to psychological shock. The logical hope of another ship coming to rescue them and the deep fear of being in a lonely, cold lifeboat on the open sea is so perfectly portrayed (and oddly rarely in other works), one can't help but understand what went through the minds of those passengers. Grade: A-

After I read Alexander Mccall Smith's very funny Op-Ed piece "The Really Terrible Orchestra" in the NY Times, I decided to try one of his books. In the Company of Cheerful Ladies (No.1 Ladies Detective Agency) was a real bore. No actual story line and certainly no mystery. I will pass on the rest of his books. MER

Sixth book in the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series.

Mma Ramotswe is dismayed to see the erosion of the traditional values of Botswana as modern life becomes more and more about material possessions. She does her best to set a good example, but falls short from time to time. Now married to Mr. J.L.B. Matekone, Mma Ramotswe continues to run the detective agency while many issues in her personal life cause her worry. A strange man breaks into her house, someone leaves her a pumpkin, her van is stolen, and her mean ex-husband returns to Gabarone, bent on blackmail. Soon after Charlie the apprentice storms out of the garage, Mma Ramotswe literally runs right into a solution to the sudden labor shortage. While following Charlie, she almost hits a man with her tiny white van. Enter the marvelous Mr. Polopetsi.

While Mma Ramotswe struggles with her personal life, Mma Makutsi starts to live it up a little (and solves a big case along the way). Mma Makutsi indulges her love of shoes and takes a dance class where she just might find someone to love.

This is the sixth book in the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series. The author does a fine job in giving the reader appropriate background so that she can follow the story even if she has not read the first 5 books in the series. I have read all the previous ones. I highly recommend all the books in the series. If you have been following this series, you may find parts of this one repetitive. I suppose with any series the author has to balance appealing to new and existing readers.

A lot happens in Cheerful Ladies, so you will not be bored with the plot. I found Cheerful Ladies to be one of the better ones in the series. Smith has the amazing gift of taking the reader to an exotic land and yet his stories are very familiar. His prose is extremely clear and simple and yet the content is thought provoking and deep. With clever subplots, Smith is able to bridge Western and African cultures.

In the Company of Cheerful Ladies, the sixth book in the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith continues to delight the reader, by allowing us to visit the enchanted world of Botswana through the eyes of the number one lady detective Precious Ramotswe. We peak into a foreign world which seems oddly familiar. It is a world we knew during days of Andy Griffith and Leave It to Beaver. This time however we see the world through African eyes.

Precious Ramotswe, is a Botswanan lady of traditional build and traditional values, even so she is modern enough to establish her own detective agency, something unheard of in Botswana. Precious is a shrewd woman with an innate sense of right and wrong . She holds to traditional Botswanan values, while solving any puzzle or predicament which her clients may present her.

She is not with out help and support. Precious is newly married to Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni who is a mechanic with strong values of service and care. Also in the cast of characters is Mma Makutsi, Precious' associate. Mma Makutsi is a more modern woman, but one who values hard work. Together they create a truly delightful mix of personalities.

When the personalities combine with the everyday details of Botswana, slices of each characters life and personal dilemmas and the puzzles which the clients present , the reader can delight in a true literary dish that is not to be missed.

A reader of In the Company of Cheerful Ladies cannot help but wish to travel to Botswana and meet Precious Ramotswe.

O Boy! Want some mystery? Good clean humor? No violence? Precious Ramotswe, a traditionally-built woman without apology, and her pals are here for us. She and her assistant, Grace (who gets advice from her colorful designer shoes), are very entertaining and many times, laugh-out-loud funny. I read the entire Ladies' Detective series in a couple of weeks. The books average about 200+ pages each. Set in modern Botswana and written by Alexander Mccall Smith, the reader may be encouraged to visit Botswana and Her people.

This story is good.I love bebe's jokes. Mark was worried about everething. I love wackey story's. I bet I will love all.

Do you like funny stories? Do you like stories with cows? Well if you said yes then you should read Wayside School Is Falling Down by Louis Sachar. There are lots of characters in this book. For example, Benjamin Nushmet, he is a new student at Wayside school and says his name is "Mark Miller". Another person is Miss.Jewls. Miss.Jewles is a fun teacher,whoose classroom is o rge top of Wayside school. There arer lots of other people to. You should read Wayside School Is Falling Down because it is very funny and has a lot of stories! (The chapters are stories, that take place in Wayside school.) I liked this book beacuse it was really funny! My favorite chapter was the last chapter because the school was filled with cows!! So you should read Wayside School Is Falling Down!

This book is about a school with a teacher who is not very smart at all. She says things like "It matters what is on the inside" but what she means is wearing expensive underwear. The kids love her because class is very easy. One teacher is on the 19th floor, but there is no 19th floor. This book made me laugh because school is usually serious and this was just really funny. I would recommmend this book to kids who don't like school because it might make them relax and see that school can be funny too. JG

Do you like funny stories about school? How about books on zany teachers? If your answer is "yes" then this is totally the book for you! With 30 wacky stories, Wayside School is Falling Down, by Louis Sacher, is one of those `hard-to-put-down' books. The story all starts when the architect who built the school built it with 30 classrooms on top of each other instead of side-by-side. If you think that's a weird beginning, try imagining a teacher teaching her class to make pickles, a girl who saves a boy's life by pulling him in through a 30th story window by the girl's pigtails, and a class where nobody is weird because nobody's normal! With fantasy as its genre, Wayside School is Falling Down not only includes all those and more, but is a great book for comedy-lovers of all ages!

Wayside school isn't like other schools. Wayside school is 30 stories high. Mrs. Jewls classroom is on the 30th story. Weird things happen in that school. Like when Sharie brought a hobo for show tell. Or Mark Miller the new kid, whose real name is Benjamin Nushmutt but after Mrs. Jewls introduced him as Mark Miller he's been to afraid to tell anybody his real name. And there's a lot more wacky sideways stories about the kids in wayside school waiting discover.

I was only 11y/o when I read the book.It's also the first D.Steel's book that I read!Im already 26 y/o and some of the lines still lingers in my mind.."Some people aren't meant to live in our lives forever...some just passes by to give us a GIFT."..etc. My sister also read it and she also love it.On some days, we would still talk about Maribeth and her story! That's how the movie striked me! It's a simple, short story but you'll definitely love it!

This is the ONLY Danielle Steel book I have ever gotten into. It's a real tearjerker, and I have read it 5 times and I can read it another 5 times, it's that good!!!

Danielle Steel is simply Brilliant! I sincerely recommend this novel to anyone who has ever lost someone they love!

My mom told me about this book so i decided to give it a chance since I am not a big fan of romance novels. I read this book in a couple days and when I got to the end I cried for a long time. I have told everyone I know to read this book. They all tell me how much they loved it and how it made them cry also. I would recommend this book to everyone.

This book is a perfect `gift' for you or anyone that love romance.

My three grandchildren ages 9, 5, 3 all love this story by Beverly Cleary. They have listened to it several times in a row and still want to listen again!

My son is 7 and an advanced reader, but he doesn't pick up a book for fun--until we checked this one out of the library. Now he is interested in all Beverly Cleary books. This classic from my childhood (the first Cleary book I ever read too) still holds up. The interactions between Ralph and Keith are realistic and sweet, Ralph's adventures on the motorcycle are thrilling, and the world inside the hotel is vivid. While my son still prefers my reading this to him, he has wanted to read a chapter here and there. This is a wonderful, charming introduction to Cleary and a good start as a first chapter book.

I can't remember the last time I read this. I figured it was simple enough to read to my class of 1st graders and sure enough we were soon all in love with the story (though I believe that this is more of a boy book).

It is more than a story about a mouse who uses a human boy for his toy motorcycle. It has a great message of courage, responsibility, and friendship. Ralph is a fascinating character and you come to feel everything he feels. His thoughts are suprisingly deep and thus his courage is wonderful.

This is not one of those little stories that puts a tiny little critter in a situation a normal human would find terrifying. Here we deal with the horrors of owls, vacuums, waste baskets, and the forbidden ground floor of the hotel where Ralph lives. Even so, they become scary and one cannot imagine how Ralph will survive.

An utter classic. Everyone should read it.

This book really let's you use your imagination and enter the world of a hotel mouse. I somehow missed reading this book as a child. I loved it so much, I went out and bought the 2 sequels. I can't wait to have my 11 year-old son read it.

After purchasing The Mouse and the Motorcycle for a long road trip with my 7-year-old granddaughter, I can't say enough about the story or about the reader, B.D. Wong. While there is at least one other audio version available, Wong is absolutely superb in his rendering of the characters and noises. We rode absolutely enchanted by Cleary's story and Wong's interpretation of it. Although the long road trip is over, my granddaughter still requests that I play The Mouse and the Motorcycle when she rides with me. This will be a favorite of your children and grandchildren. In fact, when I'm invited to book showers for babies, this is one of the gifts I present. It will become an all-time favorite, I guarantee it!

An old boys netw. left over from the Bay of Pigs fiasco (our own home grown freedom fighters invaded Cuba in April 1961) fantasizes on how to rekindle support for the Castro project: arrange for some non compis mentis to take a shot @the President & let the trail lead back to El Jefe. However, patsy Oswald doesn't know he's supposed to miss, & besides, he's already missed old racist Gen. Walker. Just once, he'd like to nail someone & be a hero.

Delillo's Lee Harvey Oswald is desperate for some kind of recognition; after all, even his own brother wouldn't know him. Oswald's defected to the Soviet Union & returned to the States again. Despite all the high-falutin' chatter about bourgeois oppression & Marx, all old Lee wanted was a crowd to meet him @the airport.

Even just leafing thru the single-volume compendium of the Warren Commission can prepare you for the familiar names of conspiracy here: Guy Banister, David Ferrie. Delillo also gets some extra mileage outta the grassy knoll.

In a way, Oswald & Ruby were similar characters: desperados waiting for the attention train. Come to think of it, they weren't so different from those guys cut loose by the CIA.

Delillo is the foremost poet writing in America today.

The fact he writes it in prose means nothing.

His dialogue is so brilliant it makes you think you are eavesdropping--on minds.

His descriptions of places and emotional states are breathtaking.

His relentlessness in seeing the dark side is like Dostoyevsky.

BUT!

But he wants to make BIG HISTORICAL STATEMENTS, and I am not sure fiction can quite do that. Even Dickens and Hugo have a hard time of it.

Fiction, even poetic fiction, like "Libra," deals with individuals; history deals with groups.

Groups are dull to read about; individuals interesting. Delillo tries to fuse the two (Americana, Endgame, Ratner's Star, The Names, Underworld, even White Noise--better, because less serious), by making his individuals reflect history.

But it still never quite works.

I applaud his attempt.

His writing is always worthwhile, even if his points don't always succeed.

Another problem with this particular book--wonderful as it is--is that it focuses on the death of JFK as the Defining Moment for the American Loss of Innocence.

But what really broke the back of American Innocence was Vietnam--because American Innocence was and is a self-deception for imperialism, and Vietnam is where the provinces fought back, and won. (We're seeing this all over again in Iraq.)

Still, a great book. Some of the scenes are as profound and memorable as dreams.

I've read Libra at least 30 times in the past 12 years and I'm still looking forward to reading it again.

So what is it that keeps me coming back to this book? Its the way Delillo created a virtual reality of history, character and place. As I read, I feel as if I'm inside the minds of each different character, even characters that have bit parts.

There he is, standing in the front car of the subway, peering into the tunnel as the train hurtles "on the edge of no control" through the darkness. "A tenth of a second was all it took to see a thing complete."
Sewer rats, workmen with lanterns, people standing on the local platforms. The wheels of the train howling in the curves.

Here's an example of vivid: "There was so much iron in the sound of those curves he could almost taste it, like a toy you put in your mouth when you are little."

The structure of Libra can be a bit overwhelming on the first read: a large cast of characters and multiple threads to the story. It helps to be familiar with the history of the JFK assassination too.

"Libra", to say this book is about the assassination of JFK is to miss the point of the book. By using basically the same exact cast of characters as James Ellroy does in his The Cold Six Thousand, DeLillo comes to a likewise and evenly frightening conclusion. Unlike many novels relating to JFK assassination DeLillo's attempt details events from two unlike perspectives. The first which explores Lee Harvey Oswald's life is well accounted by the authors fulgurous creativity. The other more schematic plot construes the infamous conspiracy to assassinate the President. By the end the quality of the author's delivery and characterization, we are left with empathizing Lee Harvey Oswald, Who is known to the mass public as one of the most notorious men of the twentieth century.
Libra is a fictional novel about the history of the assassination of President John Kennedy and an insightful narrative about the man who is said to have pulled the trigger: Lee Harvey Oswald. This dead obligating novel was found to be confusing by some people, but I really enjoyed reading it. What fascinated me for the most was how DeLillo takes this historical event, tear it up, and remodels it, playing with all different types of stereotypes that were made, and fighting the challenging hypothesis. He follows Oswald life from a young boy, to manhood, and to an assassin (is he?). Don DeLillo delivers many sides of Oswald giving readers a chance to come to their own conclusion. The meaning of the title itself if given a second look, deliver multi-levels of meaning to what DeLillo is actually conveying.
The assassination scene finally hails after 400 pages of reading and is worth the waiting. Very well written, I found the events to flash in slow motion. It's gripping and intense, the examining descriptions of his time spent in USSR, his wife and his mother. Libra contains Delillo's most accomplished characterizations, especially of women - Oswald's mother and his Russian wife. The dismaying and scary Mrs. Oswald is a proof of her son's insanity. Mrs. Oswald was demented, and so was lee.
His cold and brilliant novel begins with thirteen-year-old Lee Harvey Oswald sharing oppressively close quarters with his mother. Lee was the third of three children in the family the youngest of all, the oldest boy Robert Oswald, was Marguerite's son from her previous marriage. As a single mother, Marguerite was often unable to provide for her three sons. They spent several years in and out of orphanages. Lee's childhood was marked by constant turmoil, as they had to move from one place to another. It was rare for him to attend more than one semester at any given school. His grades were poor and as he grew older, his attendance became less even. He was characterized as a lonely child. And his mother generally refused to comply with recommendations about counseling and other treatments for her son.
"If she had faced it, if she had seen to it that Lee received the help he needed," Robert Oswald would state, "I don't think the world would ever have heard of Lee Harvey Oswald."

Before reading Libra, I was curious about the title. Why Libra?

It becomes apparent (for those of us that didn't know) that Oswald is a Libra, and like the tipping scales of his astrological sign, Oswald is presented as a mass of contradictions; a confused, idealistic young man who can easily tip (or be tipped) one way or another. Delillo manages to make Oswald (somewhat) sympathetic, reminding us how young he was in 1963 and presenting him as someone prone to manipulation.

Libra is a fascinating novel that seamlessly blends fact and fiction. In Libra, the JFK assignation is not a carefully constructed, brilliantly executed conspiracy. Like the tipping scales of the title, the assassination is presented as a merging of conspiracy and chance. There are shadowy secrets and plans within plans that tip the scales one way, while spontaneity and chance tip the scales the other way. The outcome on November 22 was unpredictable; part strategy, part circumstance. In the end there is no overarching plan. Conspiracies are runaway trains that take on a life of their own, hijacked by others and affected by chance.

Libra is a brilliant novel, extraordinarily well written. The novel is not, as some might expect, Delillo's attempt to settle, once and for all, what happened on November 22, 1963. History is our collective consciousness. Our reality is what we believe is real. The truth is something else.

Excellent pointers for a wide variety of cleaning challenges. She is very succinct and to the point. One can quickly refer to her information and then quickly go and do it. My only feedback has to do with the blue writing in this new edition of the book. Ms. Cobb I don't know who persuaded you to change color, but the black worked much better. Highly recommend it. Extremely practical and her suggestions work!!

How to clean just about anything in your home, using common, inexpensive products like vinegar, baking soda,peroxide, etc. Back to basics! It's well organized, indexed, and covers a lot of territory. An enthusiastic friend got it for me, I recently bought it for my daughter. I keep it handy for easy refernce for everything from mold on leather to a cruddy barbecue grill!

Have a stain you need to expunge? Pull out this handy dandy reference guide to help you get rid of it using common household products.

Maybe it is my fault, but I was hoping for a "book" about how to get my house clean AND NEAT. This is basically 150 recipes for mixing baking soda, vinegar and borax to remove different stains. Useful, but not what I was looking for.

Talking Dirty With the Queen of Clean: Second Edition is a book that will save you time, money, wasted effort and needless exposure to the dangerous chemicals that are lining the supermarket shelves (and probably the shelves of your own cupboard!)

The Queen of Clean is like that neighbor or relative who knows just about everything there is to know about housework after a lifetime of experience. With the help of the Queen of Clean, you can be the expert!

Wether you read it from cover to cover or just thumb through it for the information that you require at the moment, you'll be sure to agree that Talking Dirty With the Queen of Clean is one of the most useful books you've ever owned.

This book is very intensive. I agree with other reviewer that the car chase description is really difficult to follow, but that only happens at the beginning of the book. If you read "Lord of the Rings" you'll agree with me that the first 100 pages are the most boring thing ever written, but the other 900 pages are really, really good. It's the same here. The rest of the book flows nicely. There are a number of unexpected turnarounds that make it worth reading. And the plus side, this time Hoag hasn't included those really boring "I hate you/I love you" couples. It's just a straight story.

I hope to see a movie adapted from this novel. The plot was excellent, and I enjoyed reading it. Whenever I put the book down, I would rush to get whatever I had to get done so that I could hurry back and continue with the book. Tami Hoag did an excellent job. She made me forget I was reading a novel. I felt so close to these characters...like there were my next door neighbors or something. Great job, Tami Hoag!

I couldn't put this down! Recently given Dark Horse, which I loved, I picked up Kill the Messenger and never put it down! A great read, very suspenseful and interesting characters, you really don't know the outcome until the final chapter. a MUST Tami Hoag read!

Everytime a Tam Hoag novel comes out, one wonders if she can possibly do better than the last novel. She never disappoints. This book is no exception.

Kev Parker, LAPD homicide detective, is on the trail of a young messenger boy who has become the number one suspect of the murder of a bottom-feeding attorney. But, things don't seem quite right. The messenger himself seems to be running for his life from others who are interested in silencing him.
Parker doesn't buy any of it and tries to unravel what has really occurred. In the process he ends up trying to save the life of the suspect.

On a romp throughout some of the seamier sides of LA, Parker finally stumbles upon the solution.

You simply cannot put this novel down. Pure excitement from page to page. Tami Hoag once again outdoes herself. She is, without a doubt, one of the most exciting writers of suspense.

Densel Myers
Yukon, Oklahoma

This is a spine-tingling, action-packed mystery with characters you cannot help but fall in love with starting with Jace, the bike messenger on his last delivery of the day. He's a great guy who just wants to provide a good home for his 10-year-old brother while hiding from the watchful eyes of society and the people who would take his little brother away.

But the real hero of this story is Kev Parker, an unconventional police detective, who becomes intrigued by and later protective of young Jace and his sibling, while trying to solve a dark mystery and a series of crimes surrounding the elusive bike messenger. Jace is the main target and the bad guys will do anything to get to him, including brutally murdering everyone he knows and cares about.

There is a reason critics call Tami Hoag the "Queen of Suspense," and once you read this book, you will understand why. As are all of her books, this one will make you laugh out loud, while simultaneously mesmerizing you with breath-sucking suspense. This was the first one of Hoag's books my husband read and he is now also a big fan of hers. Enjoy!

This book contains some language that is hard for my 5 year old to understand--lots of dialect. But the story is good and there are a fair number of black and white pictures.

This is one of the best books for horse (and pony) crazy girls. My mom read it when she was younger and now I fell in love with it. It's a sweet story and really makes me want to go to pony penning day!

Book was advertised as hard-bound in very good condition. Book received was paperback in poor condition. This was very disappointing, as I intended the book as a gift for a young boy after describing to him that I had known Grandpa Beebe, a central character in the book. I did receive a refund of my payment and the seller chose not to pay for return of the mis-advertised item.

In a very real way, this book changed my life. I still remember the exact moment. I was 7 years old and went to a friend's house to play. She was reading when I got there. Reading? That was just something you did when your teacher's made you.... Well, she handed me Misty and from that moment on I was hooked. I have been an avid reader since that book showed me what amazing worlds could be found between the pages of a book.

We got this book for our 7 year old daughter for Christmas. She's a good reader and loves horses. She read this book to herself in three days and loved it! She told us she now knew how to "talk like a horseman!" We can always tell when she loves a book because she gets emotionally wrapped up in the story and tells us all of the drama. This book seemed to make quite an impression on her. I haven't read it myself, but can say that my daughter fell in love with it.

This is a readable and oft-gripping version of Mr. Leroux's famous tale. The ingredients are here for a fun read - mystery, intrique, love, danger, difficult choices, etc., all set at the Paris Opera in the early 20th Century. Readers follow along as Raoul competes for the lovely Christine Daae against the disfigured phantom who also loves her, and who taught her the craft that she now performs so flawlessly. We see the bodies pile up, experience the mystery of box 5, and feel the grip of fear haunting the opera. Perhaps the climax occurs when Raoul and the Persian's search the cellars, keeping one hand up and never knowing what trick will next befall them. Reading this novel for the first time I enjoyed the mystery and intrigue, yet felt like something was missing - the ending seemed somewhat unreasonable. Perhaps one needs to peruse the full version for better understanding. Despite uncertainty, this is an interesting, readable tale of mystery and intrigue.

The mask, the music, the dark mysteries, and the tortured, deformed genius who just wants love. "The Phantom of the Opera" is so well known that its story needs no explanation.

But Gaston Leroux's novel is still a spellbinding experience, full of atmospheric horror, a sense of gothic mystery, and lushly evocative language. But its crown jewel is Erik: a magnificently tortured anti-hero who inspires more horror, pity and sympathy than the rather flat hero and heroine.

The Paris opera house is said to be haunted by a ghost with a "death's head," who demands a small salary and a reserved box. Despite the sightings and fears of ballerinas and stagehands, the new managers are determined to stamp out this ridiculous story -- despite threatening letters and increasing accidents that happen around them.

Meanwhile, budding diva Christine Daae is taking Paris by storm, although nobody quite knows who taught her how to sing. And when her childhood friend Viscount Raoul de Chagny pays her a visit, he hears a passionate exchange between her and a man -- but there's no man there. She credits her new vocal abilities to the Angel of Music, but of course, that self-same Angel is the opera ghost.

As the Phantom becomes even more attached to Christine, Raoul soon finds that the ghost is actually a half-mad, horribly deformed musical genius named Erik -- and that after Christine saw his true face, he made her become engaged to him. The young lovers plan to run away together, but the "Angel of Music" isn't about to allow his beloved Christine to leave him...

Apparently there actually were some odd events -- including rumours of an opera ghost -- happening when Gaston Leroux began writing "The Phantom of the Opera." And it's a credit to his imgination that he was able to spin a some odd facts into a harrowing, heartbreaking love triangle that's based on music, obsession, adoration, and a bit of pity. And, of course, a frighteningly sympathetic "villain."

Admittedly the style is very "penny dreadful": melodramatic and overloaded on prose. But Leroux's talent shines through -- he drapes the book in a haunted atmosphere, full of snowy graveyards, dark opera backstages and underground labyrinths, all with Erik's presence hovering over it. The plot is mostly a slow, satiny procession toward the inevitable blowup, but Leroux does tinge it with scenes of romantic drama, a feeling of dread, one shocking action scene, and even some quirky humour at times.

And Leroux's writing is simply astounding as he describes the corpselike appearance of Erik ("... tore his terrible dead flesh with my nails") and his "death's" head appearance at the party. But he also excels at the more poignant moments -- Erik's final, rambling monologue to Christine after she kisses him is heartbreakingly clumsy and saddening.

Though Christine and Raoul are the hero and heroine of the book, they're actually kind of flat. Erik is the real star -- an arrogant genius who is also pitifully lonely. And insane. Despite his crazed behavior -- which results in at least two deaths -- it's hard not to feel sympathy for someone cursed with such a ghastly appearance, and so starved for human contact that a single kiss changes his life ("... he tried to catch my eye, like a dog sitting by its master").

Despite being a bit overblown in the style of its time, "The Phantom of the Opera" is a triumph of atmosphere, horror, and one of the most memorably sympathetic "villains" that you can find on the shelves. Magnificent.

I read this novel for the first time about 4 years ago and I knew then I just had to teach it. I've been using this particular translation in my 8th grade classroom for the past 3 years because, in my opinion, it is the best one out there. The language is beautiful, and there is so much that can be analyzed and discussed. I look forward to teaching it every year! Each year the students whine when I give them such a long book, but when they have finished it, they admit that it was actually good! Then when we compare it to the 2004 Andrew Lloyd Webber film, almost all of them say that the book was much better!
This novel is also great to read for fun. There is something for everyone because Leroux includes a bit of everything -- horror, murder, obsession, romance, melodrama, mystery, suspense, tragedy, action, history, gothic elements, supernatural elements... There is a convoluted plot that twists and turns, and Leroux successfully reveals just enough information to keep you reading. In the end, all is explained and the reader is amazed at how Leroux was able to weave together such an interesting cast of characters and a complicated plot.
The setting adds to the story. What setting could be more interesting than an underground lair that is on the edge of a subterranian lake beneath the famous Paris Opera House?
Character development is fantastic and the readers clearly see how Christine could be torn between her love for Raoul and her love for the phantom, Erik. Because Leroux portrays Erik as a very complex character, the reader will have a difficult time answering the question of "Should Erik be pitied or cursed?"
I highly recommend this book!

This review is about the book the Phantom of the Opera I hope you like it.In the early years of the phantoms life's he was s beaten and jeered at home,how could the phantom get away.

The only way for a getaway the phantom could see was to run away.One day the phantom [who always wears a mask] went into a freak show and was offered a job.His act was called The Living dead boy.He soon made himself star.

He was one day asked to perform for a king!The living dead boy performs so well that he and and the boy become friends [or so he thought].One day he heard the king talking to a guard telling him to kill the phantom.The phantom got out as fast as he could.

The phantom was now called The phantom of the opera.The phantom of the opera now lives in a opera.He is feared and because of this he gets money and free seats.[He is feared because people think he's a phantom. He soon falls in love for a girl who sings in the opera.

The phantom at the opera soon finds out that the girl loves someone else this makes the the phantom of the opera almost kill the girl's love and blow-up the opera house but, he comes to his senses and let the lover go and does not blow up the opera house but his love for the girl kills him in the end.

I like this book and I recommend it to people who like good books that keep them guessing till the end.So get this book, don't come home with out the phantom of the opera.

(I am 14 years old) The Phantom of the Opera in the Modern Library version was much better than the 2004 film. I loved the film but then I wanted more so I read this. Gaston Leroux characterizes the Erik (The Phantom) so differently from the Don Juan-ish charcter in the film. Erik is just searching and longing for someone to love him as himself, he's not overly lustful or seducing as in the movie. He also isn't attractive beyond his face, but more described by some as a "living corpse." This new idea about Erik made my parents approve of the book more than the movie (they haven't read the book but they said that Erik was too "creepy" in the movie). I love how Leroux tells it as almost a documentary or a report, I haven't read a book told like that before. Although it seems that it would be so much more descriptive and attention holding if he told it as if he were there. Nonetheless I am very satisfied with this book and I will re-read it in the future! I highly recommend this book to adventure/love/suspense/not-so-gruesome horror story lovers! Enjoy!