Greene Books

These stories make the beauty of the outdoors come alive. There are adventure stories and tales of children overcoming their fears and gaining confidence in themselves as they face adventures in the wilds. Also a delightful Christmas story about four sled dogs helping Santa deliver presents is fun for the Holidays.

"Storytelling: Art & Technique" is an excellent book for anybody interested in becoming a storyteller. It begins with the history, purpose, and value of storytelling. The chapters on selecting and preparing a story are very helpful. Also included is information on storytelling to different audiences, from children with special needs to young adults. At the end are thirteen delightful stories to tell. Each story contains the source, culture, telling time, audience, and notes on telling. I found this chapter as well as the appendix full of sources to be incredibly valuable! Although this book can be a little dry in places, it is an outstanding resource for storytellers, especially those just starting out!

My 11 year old daughter and her friends enjoyed reading this book. The only problem was that it was a bit below their reading level, but that's not a biggie. Anything that encourages a child to read is a plus in my book. I recommend this book for elementary kids who enjoy "strange but true" stories.

From whole grain whole wheat bread that really rises to english muffins, biscuits and apple pan dowdy, Diana Greene explains the hows and whys to enable anyone (even my inexperienced 13 year old daughter) to be a success the first time. We love the great success we've had with her recipes, and look forward to trying every recipe in the book!

Written originally as the outline for the screenplay of the famous 1949 film of the same name, Greene sets the story in Vienna just after World War II, employing the sectors established by the conquering British, Americans, French, and Russians to provide tension, mystery, and an almost palpable aura of menace as residents and visitors alike must deal with four different governments, four sets of officials, and four collections of laws as they move throughout the city. With massive bomb damage, the city is still emerging from devastation, with black markets selling everything from food to penicillin abound.

Rollo Martins, the author of cowboy novels written under the name of Buck Dexter, arrives in Vienna to visit an old school friend, Harry Lime, only to find that is the day of Lime's funeral. Investigating Lime's death, Martins learns that a neighbor saw the traffic accident that killed Lime and observed three men carrying Lime's body from the scene. Only two of those men have been identified-the third man has vanished. As Martins investigates, he must deal with the city's several different governments, each of which has carved out a sector. The initial co-operation among sectors has vanished, and co-operation with the Russian sector is almost non-existent. Wanted men use the city's sewers to escape from one sector to another, where they cannot be followed. The investigation of Lime's death becomes more complex when an inebriated Martins is sure that he has seen Harry Lime on the street.

By turns exciting and darkly humorous, the novel is a curiosity among Greene's entertainments, since this story was never written to be a novel at all. Intensely visual in its descriptions and action, it lacks the characterization and thematic focus which one associates with most of Greene's work. The novel's dialogue, rather than narrative, conveys the story, as it does in the film, and the setting in a war-torn city adds to the sense of danger and drama. Certainly not one of Greene's "finished" novels, it is still fun to read, especially when one is familiar with the even better film of it, directed by Carol Reed and starring Orson Welles, Joseph Cotton, and Trevor Howard. Of particular interest to those studying writing and film-making, Greene's novella is full of wit and dark theatrics, and includes everything from a chase through the sewers to a love story. Mary Whipple

Written originally as the outline for the screenplay of the famous 1949 film of the same name, Greene sets the story in Vienna just after World War II, employing the sectors established by the conquering British, Americans, French, and Russians to provide tension, mystery, and an almost palpable aura of menace as residents and visitors alike must deal with four different governments, four sets of officials, and four collections of laws as they move throughout the city. With massive bomb damage, the city is still emerging from devastation, with black markets selling everything from food to penicillin abound.

Rollo Martins, the author of cowboy novels written under the name of Buck Dexter, arrives in Vienna to visit an old school friend, Harry Lime, only to find that is the day of Lime's funeral. Investigating Lime's death, Martins learns that a neighbor saw the traffic accident that killed Lime and observed three men carrying Lime's body from the scene. Only two of those men have been identified-the third man has vanished.

As Martins investigates, he must deal with the city's several different governments, each of which has carved out a sector. The initial co-operation among sectors has vanished, and co-operation with the Russian sector is almost non-existent. Wanted men use the city's sewers to escape from one sector to another, where they cannot be followed. The investigation of Lime's death becomes more complex when an inebriated Martins is sure that he has seen Harry Lime on the street.

By turns exciting and darkly humorous, the novel is a curiosity among Greene's entertainments, since this story was never written to be a novel at all. Intensely visual in its descriptions and action, it lacks the characterization and thematic focus which one associates with most of Greene's work. The novel's dialogue, rather than narrative, conveys the story, as it does in the film, and the setting in a war-torn city adds to the sense of danger and drama. Certainly not one of Greene's "finished" novels, it is still fun to read, especially when one is familiar with the even better film of it, directed by Carol Reed and starring Orson Welles, Joseph Cotton, and Trevor Howard. Of particular interest to those studying writing and film-making, Greene's novella is full of wit and dark theatrics, and includes everything from a chase through the sewers to a love story. Mary Whipple

The Third Man, written originally as the outline for the screenplay of Carol Reed's famous 1949 film of the same name, is set in Vienna just after World War II, when the conquering British, Americans, French, and Russians have divided the city into four separate zones. Residents and visitors alike must deal with four different governments, four sets of officials, four collections of laws, and four sets of mutual resentments as they try to navigate the city, and Greene uses these divisions to provide tension, mystery, and an almost palpable aura of menace to his story.

Rollo Martins, an author of cowboy novels, arrives in Vienna to visit an old school friend, Harry Lime, only to find that he has arrived on the day of Lime's funeral. Investigating Lime's death, Martins learns that a neighbor saw the traffic accident that killed Lime and observed three men carrying Lime's body from the scene. Only two of those men have been identified--the third man has vanished.

As Martins investigates Lime's death, the novel is by turns exciting and darkly humorous, intensely visual in its descriptions and action, but lacking the characterization and thematic focus which one associates with most of Greene's work. The story is full of wit and dark theatrics, and includes everything from a chase through the sewers to a love story.

The Fallen Idol, an alternative title for Greene's short story "The Basement Room," is a psychological, rather than plot-based story. Nine-year-old Philip, who idolizes the family's butler Baines, is left with Baines and his wife while his parents go on vacation. Baines is having an affair, and Philip innocently discloses this to his wife.

The resulting confrontation results in an accident in which the wife ends up dead, and Philip, panicked, runs out, only to be picked up by a policeman, to whom another innocent remark conveys the idea that Baines has murdered her. Irony and a delightfully drawn (and unusual for Greene) child's point of view make The Fallen Idol one of Greene's more twisted stories

Both The Fallen Idol and The Third Man led to film collaborations between Greene and director Carol Reed. The Third Man was produced in 1949, just after Reed directed The Fallen Idol, both early examples of film noir. Dark humor, elaborate ironies, and surprising twists characterize both stories and show Greene to be a master manipulator of perceptions. Mary Whipple

The book that I read is called, "Thomas Alva Edison, Bringer of Light." This book is a pretty good book. It is written by Carol Greene. It is about Thomas Edison's life as a child and when he became older. He was born in 1947 in Milan, Ohio. He started out as a little boy wanting to know about everything. He had 3 brothers and sisters. When he became 7 years old he got the scarlet fever. When he became 8 he started going to school and his teacher was very harsh so he didn't go there anymore. He then started setting up science experiments in his room, before he knew it his whole room was full of science experiments. When Edison was a teenager he became a newsboy for the Grand Trunk Railroad. In the summer of 1863 he started working in the Port Huron telegraph office. Then he wanted to go to Brazil because he had heard the telegraphers could earn lots of money there and then he made his way to New Orleans and someone told him how hard hi life would be as a telegrapher in Brazil, so he changed his mind. After that he started working with the financial wizards of the east. He invented many different things and then sent some of the money he had made to his family because they were in poor condition. He then owned his own company and lost so much money that the sheriff ordered to close down his business because he owed miney to so many people. Finally he then invented a telegraph that could send more than one message at a time. He also then came up with many other things and then had so much money he didn't know what to do with it. He then later in his life died in 1931. So I think this was a good book. I learned a lot about Edison that I didn't know. There were many interesting things. So, that is what I think about the book.

These three adventure novels were all filmed by Hollywood in the 1940s. These stories are similar to the Eric Ambler novels where an ordinary person gets caught up in government intrigue but manages to survive. While fictional, there is a moral lesson to these stories. Their settings reflect the European politics of the 1930s. You can watch Greene's progress as a writer.

"This Gun For Hire" is about a killer hired to bump off an old politician. The corporation that hired him paid this gunman with money that was stolen; if caught he would be guilty of a robbery. This gunman resolves to take revenge on those who double-crossed him, and does. It is an adventure novel that recalls Continental politics of that time.

"The Confidential Agent" is about a middle-aged politician sent to England to buy coal supplies for his government; or to prevent them from being acquired by the other side in their civil war. D. fails in the first, but succeeds in the second by sheer luck. We get a glimpse of corporate politics behind the scenes. D. escapes England in an unbelievable ending.

"The Ministry of Fear" is about a middle-aged man just released from a sanitarium. By luck he acquires a home-made cake made from fresh ingredients (war time rationing). But this gets him involved in a spy-ring operating in London as part of the "Free Mothers" charity organization. Bombings, committal to another sanatorium, and an escape to find Scotland Yard (they don't think he is crazy). They catch the spies before the secret microfilm leaves the country. [This novel gets bogged down by too much psychological prattle. The film was much better.] The Ministry of Fear refers to the way secret services can blackmail people into doing what they want because of hidden scandals in their past.