P Books

Wonder is absolutely wonderful. Nicole Pollifrone is not afraid to open up and share her heart and soul with her readers. She is definitely a poet's poet. I can wait for more from this modern day troubador.

The raw emotion melts from the pages to fill the reader's soul and provide a mirror to see themselves. We all experience and can relate to the poetry written here. Nicole writes concisely but the words expand your thoughts as you read. The best poetry I've read in a very long time.

Wonder is a great collection of inimitable poems that convey energy and confusion of love. Wonder demonstrates that poetry is inseparable from live and living. In every single poem I felt confession and emotional tension. I really enjoyed reading Wonder - brave poetry written with sensuality and sincerity.

On rare occasions a poetry collection comes along that is so totally reflective and enlightening that, when you reluctantly arrive at the end, your first inclination is to simply start again at the beginning. Not only is Wonder such a collection but it is an invitation to sit close and listen even more closely as Nicole Pollifrone deftly uses few words to express raw emotion.

In our small world of heavy population there are countless souls crying out everyday in an attempt to connect to someone, anyone, who may feel as they do, experience what they have experienced, through the darkness and the light. Pollifrone does well in letting us know we are not truly alone.

Wonder is beyond doubt a timeless `message in a bottle' cast out to anyone willing to discover they are not alone. This is precisely a book to give a friend. It's a book to keep and to share, to savor and to digest, to begin and ... to begin again.

This is simply the BEST poetry I have ever read!! When's the next book coming out? :)

I have all 9 books in English and every one is wonderful. I too would love to purchase the next three if they were translated to English. I saw two books in German about 15 years ago when I was in Germany. One was titled Angelique und die Verschung which my dictionary translates as Temptation, and the other was Angelique und die Verschorung which translates as conspiracy. I don't know if the second is a new one but it sounds like it might be. Since I don't speak German either, I did not buy these books but have been looking for a translation.

I have the 1st nine of the Angeliquie books in my library and would never part with them. She is a captivating heroine and the history that is woven with the the characters made me thirst for knowledge about history. Sergeanne Colon is a spectacular story teller. I wish I was able to read French, I'd go and snap up the next 3 in the series that I never knew existed! If you can find this series in the used bookstore, go for it!
I wish someone would translate the the last 3 books or even make a mini-series of movies out these books.

Phew! I just finished re-reading the Angelique books (more than 30 years later)and what a rousing, great ride through history and across continents. Not wanting the story to end when I finished the first seven, I ordered the next two available online. This series is often categorized under "romance." In the cover blurbs, Angelique is compared to other literay heroines. Don't be fooled by these misguided attempts at promoting the books - to date, no other historical novel matches Sergeanne Golon's work in detail, complexity and presentation of a great love story. Well-developed characters. Timeless depiction of political,ethnic and religious conflict. Proved in-depth research by the depiction of 17th century geography, social mores, weaponry, clothing. The Golons do ascribe negative attributes to the non-European characters, with frequent use of pejorative terms like "savage." What saved this from diminishing my reading pleasure is that the writers artfully used the characters' voices to speak the common prejudices of the time. Besides, the story contains a host of stupid white men, who are fanatical, superstitious and murderous. Because "Ghosts" is weak in story movement, vis-a-vis, the previous books, I gave it a 4-star rating. Standing alone, I would have given it three stars, however it must be read as a "chapter" in a 5-star collection.

I have read all nine Angelique books in a row, it took me 2 weeks and now I am stuck awaiting their triumphant entry into Quebec. Please, if there is any kind soul of a translator out there in "bookland", we must go on reading the impossible traumas of this adventuress and intimate of kings and beggars. I am half in love with the Count de Pyrac myself, and cannot decide either which dress Angelique should wear upon her arrival in that glittering city, Quebec, among the nobles and notables of the French court and Indian hierachy. Is Piksarett still guarding his captive. Is the Jesuit father really after Angiligue's downfall? Will the King ever see her again? I want each and every person who can inform me about Angelique's further adventures to contact me ASAP. RAIN

I am very lucky to be french, and have read them all. Including the ones not yet translated in english of course.
To the reader what dress wonders who Angelique wears for her great arrival in Quebec: She wears the ice blue dress, and a white fur coat over it.
I have started reading these books in 1960, and still enjoy reading them again and again.
They made me love Versailles, wish to know more about King Louis 14th, and about New England, where I live now.
Never dare going up to Gouldsboro, being afraid to spoil the idea I have in my mind's eye!
I hope that they will be printed again and translated, so a whole generation of readers can enjoy them.

So pleased with the product, the company I purchased it from,the prompt delivery everything was first rate.

My husband is one of Betty's nephews.All of the sisters had an incredible wit about them - probably because of their mother Sidney Bard. She did a wonderful job raising her children with out her beloved husband Darcy. It's too bad the children and grandchildren didn't learn lessons from Betty's books. She would be sad to see the way the family turned out.

It's just so heartening to know that others love Betty MacDonald's books as much as I do. I've been giving Anybody Can Do Anything as my female gift book of this year.

we get the story of what she and the children did with themselves.

Her father had been a mining engineer, and although he died fairly young he had been able to save quite a bit; her mother had come from a 'good' East Coast family--not REALLY rich, but apparently quite well off. Betty and her siblings had grown up in large houses with music and dance lessons. However, the Great Depression reduced the family's portfolio to wastepaper. The children had never been taught to actually *do* anything, and actually going out to work for a living was something that they (especially the daughters) had never thought that they would have to do.

The story of how they scrambled to make ends meet during the 1930s would have been grim, but the Bard family despises self-pity above all other faults, and Betty is able to find humor in any situation.

After women having to work to survive during the 1930s, and having to work in the 1940s when all the men were off to war, is it any wonder that the women of this generation and their daughters wanted to retreat into domesticity during the 1950s?

This book is hard to find, so if you get the chance, snap it up!
This is a hilarious account of the author's life post-"Egg & I."
Betty moves from the chicken ranch back to her family's home in Seattle.
Sister Mary, undaunted by the fact that Betty has no experience, eagerly launches Betty's business career and social life.
The mishaps that ensue are absolutely hilarious.
Skillfully written, this book makes the Depression a laugh riot.
BUY IT!
I only wish that Betty had written more books.

I own and use this book frequently but was dismayed when it was re-released without updating it(language and gender roles, more up to date celebrity references) or fixing it's lack of reference to semi-square or other modern aspects to say nothing of it's inconsistencies in dealing with aspects to the angles or nodes, some planets have them, others don't. It's a good book, it just wants a thorough revision!

Whether you're an astrologer or just an astrology buff, your library is just not complete unless this classic book is a part of it. Sakoian's Astrologer's Handbook is not just one of my favorite "go to" astrological sources, it's every astrologer's "timeless" professional "bible".

This was the book which actually introduced me to astrology, and it remains by far the best I have seen after all these years, both in that category, as well as a general book on the topic for the whole spectrum of those acquainted with the field from beginners to scholars. It is a serious, easy to read, no-nonsense primer, which at the same time acquaints the novice with the actual philiosophy behind the subject in the form of concise delineations, and that is what is really important. More than that, it is also devoid of the mumbo-jumbo which many use to try and "spice up" and mystify an otherwise very real art, and which has ended up in discrediting it and making it a laughing stock. I will say no further, suggesting to the reader that it should be read directly instead to form an opinion about it, rather than reading its reviews.

ive used this book for over 10 years, well written
and fundamentally sound methodology, some sections
are not fullfilled, since it was written in 70s
planets in later signs such as neptune in scorpio,
to aqquarius , pluto in libra to capricorn are thin
still one of the best, buy this instead of online
horoscopes, because its got the basics, however, does
not do interpretations of transits to natal , or
progressions still i like it

I like this book quite a bit. It has the standard introductory to casting a chart, but it has two particular things in it that I have not found in any other book I have ever read.

First, it describes each house cusp in each sign. Normally books just describe Ascendant and Midhaven, but this includes the other 10 houses.

Second, when describing the aspects, it doesn't do the standard Good Aspect - Bad Aspect - Conjunction. It does all five major aspects: Conjunction, Sextile, Square, Trine, and Opposed. Separate interpreations for each aspect for each planetary combination.

Those are two excellent things that no other book I've ever ran across has.

The only down side is that the interpretations are a bit new-agey, so you have to sort the wheat from the chaff while using it.

Nanci Danison's book is my new bible. As an avid reader of NDE material, her work is the most comprehensive analysis of such an experience as I have reviewed. She is in no ways bound down by traditional religious dogmas. After reading "Backwards", I feel much less fear of the unknown future, more relaxed about being on the right path with my life, and more hopeful than ever about the human race. You will probably enjoy this book if you have read and enjoyed any of the following authors/works: Raymond Moody's "Life After Life", Dannion Brinkley's "Saved By The Light", anything by PMH Atwater, and especially Neale Donald Walsh's "Conversations with God". At times the text is difficult to follow but if you hang in there, it gets easier. Also I found that the book can be read from any place. Ironically I started reading it's last chapters and began working my way BACKWARDS before I went to the beginning!

Nanci,

First, a really BIG `Thank You!' for a book that is insightful and honest - devoid of religious platitude and `imaginative goobly gook.'

I have been researching Electronic Voice Phenomena (EVP) over the past few years and have found correlations between people's NDE accounts and EVP communications.

The wide-ranging variables around the descriptiveness of NDEs is related to individual mindsets, backgrounds and interpretations - and your NDE account in particular helps me to understand the extremely broad `random-type' recorded comments passed on by discarnates from within their new realms of being.

Your insights will also greatly assist other EVP researchers to begin to broaden their own mindsets as they understand that they are dealing with a great number of discarnate energies with a multiplicity of views about their particular disembodied status.

Maybe, rather than considering anything `demonic' in this life, people start to perceive human becomings as being various `shades of grey', rather than simply considered as being`evil' or`good!'

I agree - we are ALL Light Beings who exhibit different facets and hues of our godly basis in human form.

Nanci - Great Work! - You're book is a watershed for me - very much looking forward to the next two books in t

I was relieved to find out that God isn't a humorless, authoritarian parent figure keeping tabs on us. Thanks, Nanci!

Elaine Lewis

Nanci Danison's Near Death Experience (NDE), as described in Backwards, is the most detailed NDE I have ever read. And I have read thousands of NDE's, since being riveted by my first one in 1977 from Dr. Raymond Moody.

Nanci was a successful lawyer in a large law firm in the Midwest when she crossed over to the other side. She had not spent 10 years in an ashram wondering about the meaning of life. Rather, this "death" happened unexpectedly and changed her life forever - which in many ways makes her book all the more evidential. And for the skeptics, she did not die alone but in a major Midwestern hospital under a physician's care.

Nanci confirms what I have known for a while now; there is no death. Death and dying are a process. What we call death is no more than stepping through a doorway back to our real home. We leave this dimension at death and go back home. There we evaluate our recent life and our recent progress and get ready for another learning experience. Such is the real nature of light beings, she writes.

She confirms what thousands of NDEs teach. We come to this dimension to learn, to teach, to serve our fellow humans and to make a positive difference. The rub is that we come here with free will. Free will allows us to live a life of service or turn and serve ourselves with a dark, selfish, self indulgent evil lifetime.

Nanci confirms, in no uncertain terms, that our "purpose" here is to learn how to love and to give and receive love. Our real purpose is the antithesis of our materialistic "grab all you can get," world we inhabit; yet it is true. All of my travels through various belief systems (religions) confirm what Nanci learned in her grand tour on the other side.

Backwards is not merely a book, but rather it is a journey. You travel with Nanci to the center of the Universe and discover again why you came here in the first place.

I am thankful for Nanci Danison's insightful recall of her personal NDE which resonated deeply within me; and, as I read her account, I had the sense I was hearing truth spoken, finally! I was recently privileged to hear Ms. Danison speak in person and found her personal account of her profoundly life-changing experience surprisingly candid and honest, thus, very credible - a woman who needed to do something with the knowledge she was given during her incredible journey and in so doing, she's become God's Messenger. This is a book I will return to over and over again.

Due to ever degrading literary taste of our post-war generation, Stefan Zweig has been forgotten for few decades,in spite of the fact that the first half of the 20th century , Zweig was perhaps one of the most famous and popular authors in the world. He and compatriot Hugo von Hofmannsthal had almost pararell lives.They were both some sort of literary prodigies(Hofmannsthal and Zweig earned their fame in their teens).They began their literary careers as poets and ended up writing various kind of literary genres,including libretto for Strauss. Also both ended up committing suicide. Zweig wrote many memorable fictions ,but only one novel.And, this is "Beware of Pity".
The novel is a kaleidoscope of the Habsburg dual monarchy.Zweig's talent lays on his superb description of human psyche of each character and the representation of comtemporary time. this work well represents decaying , both morally and physically , Habsburg dual monarchy. It shows how anarchoronistic system of mores( of K.u.K) that led otherwise good natured and a bit simple minded Leutenant Hoffmiler conered to the desperate situation. Does Hoffmiler deserve his fate? read book and decide that by yourself. what amazed me was how well Zweig synchronized and symbolized tragic denoument of kekeskalva family with the outbreak of" the war to end all wars". This is both pcychological and historical drama par excellence.One of forgotten masterpiece that recently rediscovered. Thank you NYRB to bring Zweig back.

This is an intense, psychological drama, and a page-turner to boot! What's so great is the wonderful language, the "lofty" writing. I just loved every page, and our poor, tortured hero.

It's a fabulously written book about love instigated by pitty, which can be very dangerous. Worth reading as this kind of thing still happens every day.

...no, not the book by Dave Eggers, but this masterpiece by Stefan Zweig. I came upon this by accident, and bought it, intrigued by the story outline and the reviews below. Only very, very rarely does a book have the power to draw me into the lives of the characters, probably because they're usually just that - characters. Not so here. Here we have flesh and blood and all that entails. I'm still amazed at Zweig's story telling. He's the kind of writer who could make a shopping list fascinating. I lived and breathed every single word in this incredibly beautiful book, and, as has been said elsewhere, the tension becomes almost unendurable. I can hardly do justice to it in a few words. Weirdly, I often found myself smiling, not because it's a funny book, far from it, but just through an appreciation of Zweig's supreme mastery of his art. This is one of those books appearing only a few times in your life that wring emotion out of you whether you like it or not. A heart-breaking, unforgettable and life-enriching experience.

I'd also like to praise the translation, by Trevor and Phyllis Blewitt. At no time is there even a hint that you're reading a translation - something that occurred to me only after finishing the book. On the contrary, it seems to me that the elegance of the language and all the magnificent virtues that contribute to Zweig's humanity and genius have been faithfully rendered. The proof is in my twin disappointments; coming to the end, and learning that there are no further full-length novels by Zweig. I'll definitely be reading all his other works, though.

In the introduction to this book Joan Acocella tells Zweig's story as a writer. One of her claims is that despite his enormous popularity as biographer, essayist, writer of great novellas and stories, this novel is his masterpience. The novel is in essence the story of a feeling, of 'pity' of how it becoming the obsession and duty of the main character turns self- serving and destructive. Briefly , the book revolves around the relationship between a poor Austrian officer Hoffstein and a crippled seventeen year old daughter of a wealthy family Edith Kekesfalvas. After he has inadvertently insulted her by having asked her to dance he becomes bound into a relationship with her, in which she falls deeply in love with him without his truly reciprocating. This is how Acocella reads the protagonist's reasoning and its result after her doctor informs him that it would be disastrous for him to abandon her.

"So he descends ever deeper into hypocrisy. In the process, Zweig gives us a piercing analysis of the motives underlying pity. Gradually Hofmiller realizes how much he enjoys the courtesies paid to him for his emotional services, how it pleases him that when he arrives at the Schloss his favorite cigarettes--and also the novel (its pages already cut) that he had said in passing that he wanted to read--are laid out on the tea table. Nor is it lost on him that his own sense of strength is magnified by Edith's weakness and, above all, by his growing power over the Kekesfalvas, the fact that if he, a poor soldier, does not present himself at teatime, this great, rich household is thrown into a panic, and the chauffeur is dispatched to town to spy him out and see what he is doing in preference to waiting on Edith. Beyond the matter of power, however, Hofmiller finds that the emotion of pity is a pleasure just in itself. It exalts him, takes him to a new place. Before, as an officer, he was required only to obey orders and be a good fellow. Now he is a moral being, a soul."

This end in destruction is somehow a foreshadowing of what would happen to Zweig.Having been betrayed with the rise of the Nazis by the Europe he loves, tried to make a new home and life with his second wife in Brazil. But it does not work out and the both of them are found after having taken fatal overdoes of drugs hands intertwined.

I have been a shell collector for more than 25 years and along this years, this is the first time that I get such an interesting, well-documented, beautyfully illustrated and skillfully designed book on this subject. I am very happy with this purchase. The book has 411 pages with information and has about 12 photographs in each page giving a perfect appreciation of thousands of shells from everywhere. Each photo includes the common name (obviously valid in English speaking countries only), the scientific name, average length of adults (in centimeters and inches), brief information of geographical distribution and synonym names. Oh!, I almost forget to say that the authors,R. Tucker Abbott and S. Peter Dance are two famous conchologists leading this field of science for many, many years. So, this book informs, teaches and makes it very funny to learn and investigate in the universe of shells. "Bon apetit", collectors!!!

I had an earlier printing of this book (1983) and was disappointed to find that the 2000 edition I just purchased was virtually identical apart from a page of corrections at the end which would be much more useful if incorporated into the text. I feel that this excellent book needs updating to keep it as the No 1 general book on seashell identification.

This book is very informative and descriptive if you're looking to collect exotic shells from different parts of the world.

I have been a shell collector for a very long time now. This is now my second copy of this book, as I have worn the first copy out. It is the most comprehensive identifier book around. The color photos are excellent, and the amount of species depicted is impressive! This book, along with Jerome M. Eisenberg's A Collectors Guide to the Sea Shells of the World, are probably the only two books on Sea Shells, a novice collector will ever need. The serious collector will also benefit from these books as well.

This is a great book which hv given me alot of info, but still can upgrate by increase more pictures & decription for seashells of the world.

Poet and writer Ralph Carpio takes a unique approach to instruct the reader on how to become powerful. The Constant Creator In You is an enthusiastically recommended, "reader friendly" addition to any personal self-help, self-improvement reading list and reference collection.

In The Constant Creator In You, poet and writer Ralph Carpio takes a unique approach to instruct the reader in how to become powerful, radiant, loving, and creative in their daily life. Carpio talks about Life Power (an ability to examine possible consequences and receiving all of what we wish to receive); The Giant Soda Machine (life is participatory and works in an organized way); Living Statements (the importance of life's communication with us); Unnecessary Boxes (it is a natural state to live in a steady stream of desires requiring decisions and choices); Reality Check (the role of reality checks in the empowerment process of taking charge of our lives); and The Constant Creator In You (a strong, creative force within us creates helps us deal with and shape our material conditions and circumstances). The Constant Creator In You is an enthusiastically recommended, "reader friendly" addition to any personal self-help, self-improvement reading list and reference collection.

The Constant Creator in You is a refreshingly powerful book that breaks the mold of self-help books on the market today. His straightforward, almost humorous way of presenting age-old material in an easy-to-digest format, makes reading and utilizing the principles in this book a delight, while also serving to help change the reader's life. I firmly believe that this important book will be of major assistance to all, no matter how far or how long one has been on the path to self improvement or self actualization. Thumbs up for Carpio's The Constant Creator in You!

The Constant Creator In You turned me on to the enormous power I have in the present moment. The universe is on MY side, listening to what I'm asking for! This book tells you just how to listen to what you're asking for in such a simple, easy to read way, I really treasure it. A must read for anyone with personal challenges to overcome.

Constant Creator is a modern new age message-quick, clean, so simple it's unsophisticated enough to be the truth. Carpio writes with sheer honesty. Sheer in the sense that he did it and he knows we can do it. Honest because it's in the grand tradition of American writing that says it's free as the air, available as freedom, and as simple as Allowing.

I can just see Mr. Jorgenson playing the wise-cracking, dumb American tourist with European tour-guides! In this book, what totally "shines through," however, is his distinct knowledge of European history and culture. In Kregg Jorgenson's case, the pun, is the highest form of humor!

This book is awesome, Kregg is a great author and a better friend. He personally signed his first book for my dad who was battling cancer. His words inspired my dad every day. Buy this book, it is very entertaining!!!!

Great book to read! Mr Jorgenson had me laughing throughout the book. I really enjoyed his insights to traveling over in Europe, and his humor is just the best!

This book received an EVVY Award for humor and it is easy to see why. The author clearly loves to travel in Europe and clearly enjoys the people and places he visits and helps us enjoy them along with him. I love the line "Can I help? I speak a number of languages badly."

I read this book while traveling around Italy by train. I laughed out loud! Kregg, Thank you for sharing some of your travel experiences. I especially liked the Amsterdam rental-car-counter story. While waiting in line at the Uffizi Gallery, we witnessed someone with a similar "klein komommer" complaining to the entrance guards. Katherine plays a great straight-man!

These stories set in Mr. Parkhill's classroom at the American Night Preparatory School for Adults ("English -- Americanization -- Civics -- Preparation for Naturalization") are wonderfully humorous and warm. They reflect a generous humanity and a keen ear for language in author Leo Rosten (1908-1997), who first wrote the stories for The New Yorker using the pen name Leonard Q. Ross.

When Rosten wrote the stories in the 1930s, the debate that had roiled American society over the high levels of immigration at the beginning of the century had ended with passage of the restrictive Johnson-Reed Immigration Act of 1924. Readers of The New Yorker could well remember the rancor and the stereotyping of the debate.

Rosten countered the prejudice against immigrants by portraying Mr. Parkhill's students, drawn from several national and ethnic groups, as earnest learners eager to know about and join American society by first learning the English language.

When people from different cultures meet, there are bound to be some collisions. A dark side take on those meetings is the ethnic joke. The bright side is this book, finding humor in the encounters that all can smile at.

I read The Education of H*Y*M*A*N K*A*P*L*A*N as a teenager in the early 1960s. Though I do not recall negative attitudes about immigration in my family, school, or suburban New Jersey neighborhood in that decade, the book surely shaped my attitudes and feelings about immigrants and immigration in a positive way. Hyman Kaplan taught me immigrants make America a better and richer society.

Each time I look through the book now, I worry whether Rosten crossed any of our modern "PC" redlines that would cause it to be crossed off reading lists. The book's humor ("comic dialect" is the scholar's term) depends on the rendering of accents, not much used at present. I found one use of the N-word (misspelled, in accent, not in anger) by a student character. On the whole, however, the book stands up well.

I give copies of this book to friends who are ESL (English as a Second Language) teachers. Leo Rosten's own nights as an ESL teacher, while he was working on his Ph.D., gave him the inspiration for the stories.

The shape of our nation's immigration policy is certainly a licit issue for debate and disagreement. Current immigration has some different countours than in the 1930s. Some voices, however, get carried away and tip over into negative stereotyping. They should take a break, have a cup of coffee, read this book, and meet Mr. Kaplan.

-30-

Having just begun teaching English As A Second Language to a group of Asian adults, a relative thought I might enjoy "The Education of Hyman Kaplan". The novel takes place entirely at the American Night Preparatory School for Adults. There under the tutelage of Mr. Parkhill, Hyman Kaplan, Miss Mitnick, Miss Caravello, Mrs. Moskowitz and an assortment of Jewish and Italian immigrants struggle with the complexities of the English language, anxious to master the language and learn about the history and culture of their newly adopted home. The irrepressible Mr. Kaplan takes center stage in the classroom with his singular logic in using the English language. Abraham Lincoln becomes Abram Lincohen, King George III of England is an autocrap, and Valley Forge becomes Velly Fudges. Kaplan conjugates the tense to die as "die, dead, funeral", and when talking of the contents of a newpaper he can't understand why he must say "it said", instead of "he said", since the paper is decidedly of the masculine gender. It's the Harold Tribune after all. This is a hilarious yet touching book. We are never laughing at Hyman Kaplan's linguistic foibles but with him, as we appreciate the struggles of all immigrants, those seventy years ago, or those today to come to terms with becoming Americans and learning the language that binds us together.

Think you can read an uproariously funny book without laughing out loud? Think again. Adventures of an English-as-a-second-language class for new immigrants in 1950's America.

As a new ESL teacher, my husband thought I'd enjoy this book. H*Y*M*A*N K*A*P*L*A*N* is an irrepressible immigrant to the US, struggling to master English, but that doesn't stop him from communicating at every opportunity. Waves of malapropisms spoken with a thick Eastern European accent don't get in the way of his enthusiasm. Set in the 30's, this is a world where teachers and students are Mr., Mrs. and Miss, immigrants worked in garment factories, and all still believe in the American Dream. Even Mr. Parkhill, the god-like teacher, can't help but be infected by Mr. Kaplan's unique interpretations of the great works of English literature--the Shakespeare story was a classic. Definitely dated, certainly politically incorrect, these stories hail from a simpler, but maybe tougher time--Leo Rosten originally wrote under the name Leonard Ross. A lovely little collection of stories!

This book, along with its sequel, "The Return of H*y*m*a*n K*a*p*l*a*n," (and don't be fooled, those stars are important) is a beautiful work and one that I'm surprised hasn't been rediscovered by critics and readers alike. Originally published as a series of stories in a magazine, these stories were finally collected into book form and later combined with its sequel in a grand form called O, K*a*p*l*a*n, My K*a*p*l*a*n (which is now out-of-print, but worth reading if you find it in a library or rare book store, since it was edited and improved by the author, with new characters and stories).

The stories all revolve around a group of immigrant adults attending the American Night Preparatory School for Adults in New York City in the 1930s. Under the tutelage of the fastidious, but patient and kind, Mr. Parkhill, the book chronicles their challenges in learning the English language. This is in and of itself a masterpiece: Leo Rosten (who had to publish the stories under a pseudonym since he wrote them while living off a fellowship and did not want to let his professors know that he was working on totally unrelated research) has found humor in GRAMMAR!! He not only shows how difficult English is to master, but how irrational and arbitrary the grammatical rules are that we all, as students, desperately try to commit to memory. Moreover, he writes with an expert ear, hearing the subtle differences in the accents and common foibles of English speakers from various language backgrounds. The fact that these passages are life-out-loud funny (and not at all in the sense of laughing at any character's mistakes but at the English language itself for torturing non-native speakers so) is astounding enough.

But this is the story, however, of a true comic hero - Hyman Kaplan. Leo Rosten has created a character as complex and poignant as Shakespeare's Falstaff, or John Kennedy Toole's Ignatius J. Reilly. Hyman Kaplan is a force of nature, yet distinctly human -- irrascible, dogmatic, determined and yet sensitive, noble and joyous. He is a man who refuses to kow-tow to the rules and guidelines of the English language and who truly relishes the joys of wrestling with learning. Since his exuberance leads him into constant conflict with his fellow students, his character is one of the greatest literary devices ever devised by an author. The stars emblazoned in red, green and blue crayon that are part of his signature, only serve as the ultimate monogram, defining this character as one worthy of the ages.

While this book is about efforts by foreigners to assimilate as Americans, it also highlights the glories of America's immigrant, melting-pot past -- a heritage and tradition that is sadly rapidly being forgotten and lost in this modern globalized world. Moreover, with the advent of the politically correct era of hypersensitivity, it is likely that this book will never experience a renaissance of popular support that it richly deserves. This is a true treasure -- I discovered it as a teenager and have often enjoyed returning many times to visit with these charming, inspiring characters. I cannot recommend it enough!