May Books

Martin Gilbert, now Knighted as Sir Martin Gilbert, is one of the great historians of our time, and he has written the definitive biography of Sir Winston Spencer Churchill. He has been at work for 38 years, and the task is not yet complete. The biography itself was completed in 1988, the production of these companion volumes continues.

The biographic work itself is 8 volumes in length, and presently there are 15 additional companion volumes that contain every note and correspondence imaginable. These books get right down to the one-sentence telegrams of congratulation. To give you a sense of their scope and detail, this volume that covers 9 months runs to 1,370 pages with notes.

The books are fascinating for what they contain, and for the completeness they represent. All the information is here, these were not meant to be widely read, but to be documentary, so there is nothing missing. I also enjoy them as they give the reader a glimpse in to the world of the Biographer, a man who in this instance has spent nearly 40 years of his life on his subject.

These put the work of the Biographer in perspective. It may be more appropriate to say a Biographer of Mr. Gilbert's stature. It is often remarked that no biographical study has ever been so complete as his work of Churchill, and if you happen to have one of these books you will certainly see why. I enjoy reading them a bit at a time, as they bring you into Mr. Churchill's day, note-by-note, letter by letter, and they document an incomparable life.

Never Surrender is yet another volume in what already is the longest biography in the world. (At least according to the good people at the guiness book of world records. ) It is a collection of all the speeches and papers of Winston Churchill during the most critical phase of his Prime Ministry, and perhaps the most critical phase of World War Two. In this volume we get to witness Churchill's reaction to Dunkirk, the fall of France, and the Battle of Britain, and we also get to witness Churchill's heroic response to them. In this volume we see Churchill at his absolute best.

The offical biography is written by Martin Gilbert, a task he assumed after Randolf, Winston Churchill's son, died. The bigraphy consists of eight biographic volumes, and each volume has a few volumes of relevant documents to support it. Never Surrender is one of the document volumes which support the biographic volume "Finest Hour: 1939-1941" which is perhaps the finest volume of the entire biography. With all biogrphic volumes and the supporting books, The entire biography now stands at 23 volumes. Roughly 7-10 more are expected.

Never Surrender is probably the finest supporting volume of the entire set. It covers possibly the most important moment in British history, and it is a fine read in itself thanks to the usual outstanding work of Gilbert. The book is not for everyone, only those well versed in Churchill lore, and also keep in mind the book is not a narrative, but more like a collection of letters. But to anyone truly interested in Chuchill, or this era of English history, the book is nearly a must-have.

Doc May is currently my professor at St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN. He is one of the most brilliant men that I have ever met. We got to read his book before it was published for a literature class. It is a very good translation. I would highly recommend it to anyone.

As a Dubliner, I can attest that Ena May writes about a city that even James Joyce could not access, a city with a range of personalities made of the kind of flesh and blood understood by ordinary mortals and not just a band of Jesuits that seem to have comtaminated the mind of the great one. When viewed from a wider perspective, this book is not just a close-up of ordinary Dubliners doing ordinary things (like cross-dressing, child-abuse, lesbianism, and, even murder), like all good literature it is appropriate to any city anywhere. And the nice thing, it is well written! (And mark this, JJ, all the puntuations are in the right place!). I have now heard that the movie rights to this collection of gems may be sold shortly, so if you don't read the book, watch out for the movie. toby incher 19th December 1999

this comic book was a favorite of mine, even though it wasn't made for little kids. I still enjoy reading it today. I never got a chance to read any other Northstar comic books, but they always looked like they too had very interesting and different storylines by their ads.

I had the pleasure of discovering Denis Devlin a few years ago when a friend emailed me his beautiful "Renewal by Her Element". I was stunned! As a lyricist myself, it is rare for me to so moved by poetry or music; to the point of tears. While reading his work, I felt alive and numb at the same time. I could hear the music of his thoughts and see the images of his emotions. I wanted to know this man, his life, his innermost thoughts. He is romantic and daring, vulnerable and abrupt, honest and mysterious. Collected Poems of Denis Devlin will take you where ever you want to go, and bring you hurtling back agan. Where ever you want to escape to, or which ever obstacles you wish to face, Denis Devil will take you along for the ride.

Doris Lessing's excellent short-story "To Room Nineteen" is doubtless an extraordinary piece of literature. It is a story about a failure in intelligence, about depression, suffering, disintegration, alienatation and finally - about suicide. There are many approaches to this text: For example, one can read it as a psychological case study especially by using Freud's ideas about the "id" and the "super-ego". The super-ego is obviously the ethically aware element, restricted by morality principles, whereas the id, which stands in direct contradiction, represents the source of all our psychic energies. It is the source of our aggressions and desires. The protagonist, Susan Rawlings, is kind of torn between these psychic zones: her entire life is marked by doing things intelligent and sensible, but later on, when she is in her early forties, she gets to understand that she is ruined by the very achievement of her goals - goals that are determined by society. Therefore, the message of the text is that it is irreperably wrong to do everything right by society standards and means. Susan has everything she wanted: a good-looking husband, lovely children and a house in the suburbs, but some day, when her husbands confesses an affair, her orderly planned world collapsed. Slowly but surely she comprehens that her rational world was only a fake and not much more than a big misconception. Henceforth she tries to develop different strategies to cope with that new insight. All she needs is a space, or a state of affairs where it would not be necessary to keep reminding herself on all the boring bits that life demanded from her. Since she can't find solitude in her own house she looks for a hotel room, in which she sits, thinks and stares into empty space. Here she finds complete isolation that helps her regenerating. Unfortunately, one day the room loses its revitalising effect, because her husband suspected that she is having an affair and engages a detective to keep a watch on her. Susan goes a last time to the hotel, turns the gas on and drifts off into the dark river.

This volume is the first of four works written by members of the US Army Center for Military History detailing the combat operations of the Army during the Vietnam conflict. The period covered in the work ranges from arrival of the first large combat units in May 1965 until late 1966, when MACV began to take the war into the enemy's back yard. Detailed accounts are given of the 173rd Airborne Brigade operations around Saigon and War Zone D, 1st Air Cav Operations Silver Bayonet (the Ia Drang Valley Campaign), Masher/White Wing, and Crazy Horse. It then moves northward to cover 1st and 25th Division operations in II ans III Corps. The Army is well depicted testing out the new airmobile concept and getting its first tate in fighting an elusive and committed enemy. The style is tight and concise and it reads very well considering its official nature. The author is currently working at the Army's Center for Military History and teaches Vietnam War History at George Mason. I encourage anyone interested in a detailed account of the Army's initial deployment and operations to pick it up. The only bone of contention I have is with the center. The Marine Corps' official history has been completed for years, yet the Army has only published two volumes in this operations series, the last ending in late 1967.

Having recently enjoyed May's BRIDGE OF SIGHS AND OTHER STORIES, I was more than ready for COME OCTOBER... subtitled "Short Stories and Poems for Lovers of the Bizarre", this is quite a treat. And treat is an apt word since these horror stories and poems are sewn into the fabric of Halloween.

My personal favorites are "Misery House", "The Past Has an Appetite", "The Thing You Fear the Most", and "The Contest". The super short story "The Vigil" and a poem, "October Wind" also rate high. Edward May has a way of mating haunted houses, trick or treating, and other rituals with a fertile imagination to craft very creative and readable stories. He clearly remembers what it was like to be a young boy on Halloween. I remember it well enough myself to get totally involved with this book - and had a chillingly good time.

For lovers of the bizarre is COME OCTOBER... I love a good bizarre as much as the next guy. And you need to get acquainted with Ed May. Let's give him the audience his talent deserves.

HUGE 46-page Frank Miller interview. He talks about Sin City, 300, and lots of other topics that any Frank Miller fan would find a great read. I bought this years ago just for the Frank Miller interviews.
Interview part 1 focuses on Miller as an artist. The second part focuses on industry topics and aesthetic launching points.
This is a must-read for any Frank Miller fan.