Caldwell Books

This is a very readable book, but Miss Caldwell's psychic "revelations" are totally unconvincing. Not much proof of reincarnation here.

I read this book years ago and found it extremely hard to put down! Taylor Caldwell was very much a skeptic about reincarnation, but under hypnotic regression she revealed some very interesting past lives that explained why she wrote some of the books she that she wrote and where the knowledge of those periods of time came from. I didn't really believe in reincarnation before reading this book, but found it hard not to after reading it. I'd recommend it to anyone interested in this subject.

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This was a great book for the working Christian adult. It gave a lot of practical advice. It is a must read for all working adults but especially for parents who work outside the home.

"But is old, old, good old Christmas gone? Nothing but the hair of his good, gray, old head and beard left? Well, I will have that, seeing that I cannot have more of him."

-- "Hue and Cry after Christmas," from the opening page of Old Christmas.

This book is what Washington Irving called a "sketchbook" -- a collection of impressions about something, gathered into a fictionalized story. It's a melancholy, fond evocation of fading English Christmas traditions of the author's time.

The story's simple: Irving sets himself in the English countryside, where he's travelling one Christmas Eve. At a country inn he runs into an old schoolmate, who invites him home to spend Christmas at the family estate. The friend's father, it turns out, dotes on all things Christmas, and has tuned his household to some of the more quaint and obscure English traditions celebrating the day. That lets Irving include lots of odd little bits and pieces of Christmas tradition, told through the old man, as part of his plot. The book covers a night and a day. The chapters are pieces of that time: the stagecoach ride is one chapter, then "Christmas Eve," and so on through "Christmas Dinner."

I read this every year lately, and it's a nice, low-key, sad and happy little way to mark the Christmases passing. Washington Irving wrote it in the early 1800s -- the dates of most of his "Sketch Book" are right around 1819 or 1820 -- and the story is mostly a reminiscence about even earlier Christmas traditions. Then it took until 1894 for this edition to be printed, with the illustrations by Caldecott. Later the facsimile edition I have was printed, in maybe the early 1980s... For a little book about Christmas past to have made it through all those years, and come down to me in this personal "sketch," is a glad thing. Coming back to the same copy year after year makes a nice little private tradition.

The text to this is available in a few places on the Web. That's an okay way to get to know the language, but a facsimile of the original book, with the illustrations, is still worth the few dollars it'll cost. The Caldecott who illustrated this is the one for whom the children's book award was named, among other things. You need to read this one next to the Christmas tree, not by the glow of a computer monitor.

Very enjoyable reading for those who like to pull up a chair, have a cup of tea, and escape to a simpler, more elegant time. Those who enjoy Christmas stories, or Anglophiles who can never get enough of English history will enjoy this insight into an Old English Christmas from one who was there.

well i havent read the book which is both stories combined The Poor Fool&The Bastard for 42 years it was a good read then and i hope i can aquire it again. Top Book but most of Erskine Caldwell books are. Thank You

grahame mccarthy

While this is probably not the best Caldwell book to read if you've never read Caldwell, it is gripping in a lurid, over the top, stink of death and madness kind of way. I loved it.

One of my hobbies is historical geology; e.g. I have most of the Roadside Geology books. I rate this one just behind the one from Massachusetts that I consider to be the best of the lot.

It was a pleasure adding this book to my Roadside Geology Collection. It is appropriate that Mountain Press had Dr. Caldwell do this book. His vast field experience and knowledge highly qualify him as an Maine geology expert. I fell in love with geology and work as a geologist having been a student of Caldwell's 25 years ago. The book continues his legacy on the Geology of Maine.

Having only vague recollections of Boadicea from my high school days I had little interest in reading a book about her until my son, who's not an avid reader, finished the book and told me "I couldn't put it down. It felt like I was there!" So, I read the book.

The hero Steve, who sometimes came across as a muscle-bound, bumbling spoiled brat could, on occassion, become a courageous warrior, a humorous wit or a tender lover.

I don't know if Boadicea was as beautiful as she is portrayed in the book but I did come away with a sense of admiration and respect for the woman.

A Mary Poppins or June Cleaver type she was definitely not. But after all the Romans did to her and her family it is understandable why she acted in the murderous, vengeful way that she did.

It is evident that a godly amount of research went into this narrative. The description of the Roman and Celt habits, weaponry and beliefs is so detailed.

Boadicea's revolt is billed as one of the bloodiest in history. I had no idea of the slaughter or number of casualties involved, especially in the final battle.

So well-written it grabs you from the outset and holds your interest throughout. There were times when I really did feel like 'I was there'.

I've read both of R. T. Caldwell's books and have found them entertaining. Steve Sherman, Time Traveler is his first novel. He tells an interesting tale of adventure, love, conquest, and self discovery, for Steve Sherman, the protagonist. The story held my attention and the plot made sense; however his editor and writing coach should each get thirty lashes for allowing his work to appear more amateurish than it is. Fire your editor and get a new writing critique group.

Despite the fact that I wasted a lot of time one summer searching high and low for a book called "Tobacco Road", which had been forbidden me as a read "unfit for children", Erskine Caldwell turned out not to be one of my favorite writers after all. For some reason, his style didn't fit my psyche.

Tobacco Road was a bust to me, but there is a collection of his short stories that I read later and found one story among them called "Rachel" that I have remembered all these years because of it's depiction of grim hopelessness regarding a tragic human condition known as "dire poverty". Rachel came out of an alley each night to meet the teller of her tale, and would not let him take her back to her home when the "date" was over. The conclusion in the final page is shocking; and the reader is taken into a realm unknown to most of us when the realization of what has happened sets in.

There are several stories among the collection that merit recognition, and although I couldn't get into much of Mr. Caldwell's themes, it's surely worth a look for the book enthusiast that wants to round out the experience by an older set of writings and concepts.

Caldwell's stories are very sharp, concise and pointed. No word is wasted in his deceptively simple way of adressing Southern life in America. This anthology of short stories makes it pretty obvious that Caldwell ought to be read for years to come. Far more than a vulgar comedian; he is one of the very few writers that really manage to satirize the crudest, meanest, lowliest people you ever saw, and still come across as a story-teller who loves his characters.

A sweet love story, a little churchy, but no lust to make the plot of the story work.

I just couldn't get into this book, its too formulaic. The main female character wants to help, the guy is resentful, and tries to push her away, etc. I've seen it before in other books, but if you don't mind the formulaic premise, then you might want to check this out.

When Erskine Caldwell returned in 1941 from a visit to the war-torn USSR, he wrote this gripping adventure set in occupied Byelorussia. The main protagonist is Sergei, a young tractor-driver who joins the Partisan band of the charismatic guerrilla leader Pavlenko. Separated from his wife Natasha while escaping an encirclement, Sergei worries unceasingly about her safety while continuing to carry out raids against the invaders. He and his daring comrades, with the support of the Red Army, wreck trains, ambush trucks, and pick off sentries. Tragically, successful action often reaps swift retaliation from the Hitlerites, who slaughter and burn entire villages, and kidnap young women to frontline brothels. Erskine Caldwell, who authored such "lewd" literature as "God's Little Acre" and "Tobacco Road", is probably the only American novelist of his time who could describe so unflinchingly the mass rape of Slavic peasant-girls. Throughout the book, the Germans are depicted entirely as evil, inhuman beasts. Contrastingly, the Partisans are without exception brave, noble, and good. If such characterization seems unduly simplistic for a writer of Caldwell's stature, one must consider the times in which this novel was published. No reader could fail to feel sympathy and solidarity for the sacrifices of the distant Soviet Allies. Indeed, on the back cover of my yellowing 1942 edition is a patriotic message: "This book, like all books, is a symbol of the liberty and the freedom for which we fight. You, as a reader of books, can do your share in the desperate battle to protect those liberties -- BUY WAR BONDS!"

The Balance Wheel has all the strengths and all the weaknesses of the page-turner, pot-boiler novel: decent people caught in the cross purposes of turbulent times; far too many instances of "simple belief" and instictive or intuitive understanding; a passionate statement about the waste and futility of war and an ending that is only ironic when fully comprehended. This is not a "feel good" book but one worth rereading.