Windsor Books

Jim Dixon is in his first year as a college lecturer and he's been in trouble nearly from the second he arrived...unfortunately, since he's also on probation, he's panicking a great deal that he'll lose his job. He despises his boss - an elderly, absent minded and rather self important gentleman called Professor Welch - and doesn't even like his subject, Medieval History. (He only ever studied it himself because he'd seen it as the easy option when he was a student). He's had a few unfortunate encounters with his fellow academics since he started - he'd barely arrived at the college when he accidentally caught the Prof of English (??) with a stone on the knee, and then knocked over the Registrar's Chair at his first Faculty Meeting. (If only the Registrar himself hadn't been on the verge of sitting down...) There had also been the essay submitted by one of Dixon's pupils had submitted an essay heavily criticising a book written by one of Welch's ex-pupils. What made this difficult to sweep under the carpet was the level of Welch's involvement - the book was written at his suggestion and under his guidance - while the essay was based heavily on Dixon's lecture notes.

Jim, however, does have a few allies - including Alfred Beesley, (who works in the college's English Department), Bill Atkinson (someone always happy to provide Jim with a cover story) and Carol Goldsmith (the wife of a colleague at the history department). However, Jim spends most of his time with Margaret - another member of staff at the university. It's not that he particularly wants to - rather, he more or less feels morally obliged to. The problem is things have now got to the point where they're widely seen as a couple. Margaret is now "recovering well" at Welch's house after a recent (apparent) suicide attempt. (Prior to Jim, she'd been spending some time with an utter cad called Catchpole...who, rather understandably, ran off with his new girlfriend to North Wales for a couple of weeks). Jim had been supposed to meet her for a pot of tea that evening , but had backed out to write the following day's lecture...it's something he feels rather guilty about that, bearing in mind what had happened. (This guilt is something Margaret shamelessly trades on throughout the book).

Since Margaret is staying at the Prof's house, Jim can't avoid visiting once in a while. One of the most significant - not to mention disastrous - visits is for a weekend long artistic gathering. Jim manages to set fire to his bedclothes, destroy his bedside table, and make an enemy of Bertrand - one of the professor's sons. Bertrand, a pretentious artist with an awful beard and a significant superiority complex, arrives from London for the proceedings with a very pretty guest called Christine Callaghan. Jim naturally is smitten - but is afraid to make any move...partly for fear of what it will do to Margaret, and partly because he knows stealing Betrand's girlfriend will lower his standing in the Professor's eyes even further. Still, at least he's interested in Christine herself...unlike Bertrand, who's only interested in her uncle - the noted art critic, Julius Gore-Urquhart.

An amusing and easily read book. Jim proves a likeable character - although the laughter comes mostly at his expense, as he lurches from one disaster to another.

I enjoyed the clever satire of the absurdity of British academia where status and pretension can be valuable, and yet luck, both good and bad, can suddenly change everything. Very smart, but I just didn't feel the connection with the story personally.

This novel almost cost me my job. Many years ago I taught a seminar in satire, and one of the books on my reading list was "Lucky Jim." When a senior faculty member heard about this, he tried to rally others in my department to deny me tenure, proving, of course, that the novel's searing attack on academic snootiness was right on. I got tenure anyway, and the novel still makes me smile.

"Lucky Jim" borders upon enduring excellence as a novel. The writing is strong, but the characters and story are weak which makes this a "good read" or "light fiction" or "popular press" rather than literature. I offer this distinction at the outset since many reviews of this novel praise it so highly and it can lead one to expect something more than you get. When you read to pass time, this is good pasttime reading.

I was particularly struck by Kingsley Amis's strong observation and artful writing. He seems to observe the world closely and accurately, then comments upon it with strong writing. For example, he describes a character as disliking another couple so much the character wonders why the couple doesn't hate each other, too. A fabulous observation and conceit, too.

As other reviewers have noted the situation of the novel is highly specific - post World War II England with academics at a second rate college. The story revolves around a small set of characters most of whom are employed by a college. As someone who spent a lot of time at American universities, I can affirm that the stereotypes of academics appear on both sides of the ocean and it was painful at times to see myself and other colleagues in the characters in this novel. However, you can enjoy the book even if you know nothing about post World War II, England, or universities.

The British literary theorist Terry Eagleton characterized Kingsley Amis as a "racist, anti-Semitic boor, a drink-sodden, self-hating reviler of women, gays, and liberals." Well well! And what is the reader of "Lucky Jim" to think of such a venomous outpouring of contempt toward the author whose book he innocently holds in his hands? Indeed, Kingsley's famous offspring, Martin Amis, stands accused of following in his father's infamous footsteps. He has had his fair share of literary dust-ups too and is in the middle of a raging and anguished public argument about England's cultural identity. Like father, like son?

Certainly, no matter what anyone says about Kingsley, "Lucky Jim" stands up as a comic masterpiece. For me it's a memorable and complex characterization of British class differences as shown in the myopic world of academia. The tortured reflections of Jim Dixon, lecturer, as he tries desperately to appease the abominable and self-absorbed Professor Welch are at the crux of this classic. Dixon's troubles only begin with Welch. They also involve two women, one who's highly neurotic and rather plain, and another who's very young, very attractive, and very confused. Margaret and Christine are both unfortunately connected to the good Professor, which sets up drawing room comedy of the highest order. Hilarious confrontations and elaborately absurd schemes inundate the action. But what lifts this novel above the rest is the precise and brilliantly realized writing. Listen, for instance, to this passage about Dixon waking up the morning after an excess of drinking: "Dixon was alive again. Consciousness was upon him before he could get out of the way; not for him the slow, gracious wandering from the halls of sleep, but a summary, forcible ejection. He lay sprawled, too wicked to move, spewed up like a broken spider-crab on the tarry shingle of the morning." Wow! Then there's this passage about having breakfast early at his lodging house: "There was something about Miss Cutler's cornflakes, her pallid fried eggs or bright red bacon, her explosive toast, her diuretic coffee which, much better than bearable at nine o'clock, his usual breakfast-time, seemed at eight-fifteen to summon from all the recesses of his frame every lingering vestige of crapulent headache, every relic of past nauseas, every echo of noises in his head." Yes!

I read the Penguin edition with David Lodge's entertaining Introduction (a plot spoiler, by the way, which should be read after you turn the last page of the book). There you can find from Lodge a bit of an apology for Amis' 1950s "politically incorrect" characterization of women. From Amis: "Christine was still nicer and prettier than Margaret, and all the deductions that could be drawn from the fact should be drawn: there was no end to the ways in which nice things are nicer than nasty ones." But Lodge is generous about this rather simple view of things, since Amis later on found the "nasty" things inescapable. Lodge also places this work in the context of the British literary and theatrical scene of the late-1950s and points out "Lucky Jim"'s mold-breaking impact on that generation. No question this entertaining work cracked open some stodgily sealed doors and piquantly pointed out British academic and cultural absurdities.

O lucky me, to have found this book, warts and all. I highly recommend it.

I wish this book were more conclusive about Allyson's fate- but I guess you can't have everything. It sure is easy to hate the husband in this book!

I'm a huge fan of Danielle Steel I have read all but maybe 8 of her books.This book is one of the first books I read of hers.The first book I ever read was House On Hope Street and I was hooked.I Love all of her books so far,but this is my favorite with House on Hope Street my second.That was a hard choice to make since I really love all of her books so much.I'm reading Loving now.......ENJOY

I really liked this book. I hadn't read any of her books before and I owned 3 of them I got from a bookstore a while back and decided to go with this one because it seemed the most interesting. It was a good first choice..Very good book, she keeps you interested right from the beginning and throughout the entire book you are constantly wanting to know what happens next which is the fun part of reading a book! I do agree with someone that wrote a review saying that it tends to get a bit repetitive but it's not really in a bad way. One of the big things I noticed about Danielle Steel, is the way she writes. She words things nicely and keeps the interest without trailing off about stuff you don't care about. The story is very suspensful at times and also very sad. I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 because it seems like she tries cramming the ending all in one chapter. Like she made the middle of the book so big and at the end she just had rush it. Other than that, great book..highly recommended!

This book is not a tear jerker like Fine Things or Once in a Lifetime, but it is very moving, inspiring and brilliantly written. The novel was a bit predictable and I found myself skipping through some of the pages, but it is still a novel that I would recommend!

i made the purchase as a gift for a friend and she loves it and because of that i am very happy with choosing to buy this novel.

The second book in Patrick O' Brian's Aubrey-Maturin series, 'Post Captain' is a worthy follow up to 'Master & Commander'. This novel has the usual naval action, but much of it takes place on land giving the reader a broader overview of English society in the early years of the 1800's.
I have some quibbles, the difficulty in understanding nautical terms and 19th century slang made following the plot difficult at times, which was compounded by O'Brian's writing style, where scenes change without warning. Also I found the lack of a map(s) irritating.
On the other side of the scale there is the fascinating detail in not just naval life in the Napoleonic era, but life in early 19th century England in general. There is also the wonderful characters of Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin. And of course lots of action with the occasional bit of humour (for example Stephen's bees on the 'HMS Lively')

This second volume in the Aubrey/Maturin Series continues both the friendship and the adventure for the two protagonists. They vie for love, struggle with poverty, and continue to harass both French and Spanish shipping. Anyone who enjoys a good sea adventure will be sure to be entertained.

I am a great fan of the Aubrey-Maturin series, so I am loathe to write anything negative. However, I have struggled to finish "Post Captain". It is tedious reading, and dull for the most part. The book never really establishes a plot line. It shifts through a listless struggle between Aubrey and Maturin's romantic aspirations, and then back to Jack's dicey struggle with his chain of command. The book confuses and makes painful reading at times. It lacks the sublime feeling I had from reading other volumes in the series.

Many complain that this volume lacks sufficient adventure, focusing too much on the manners of the time. I can understand that sentiment, although I don't sympathize with it. Patrick O'Brian was not merely trying to write rousing adventure novels - pot boilers, as they're commonly called. This he could have easily done, and saved much paper. However, I wouldn't have read them more than once, if that.

Instead, he chose to weave a complex tapestry of the time, to immerse us in the history, society and characters as they lived and breathed. The difficulty of this undertaking can hardly be overstated, and his mastery of languages, history, science, seamanship, culinary arts and the craft of authorship is astounding.

I am grateful that he would not sacrifice history to make a story more exciting; I don't mind having our doughty protagonists watch a battle as prisoners so that I can have a grander view of the events of the time. Or that we see how they would have found their respective spouses in the Dickensian society of the time. It doesn't make Aubrey and Maturin any less interesting -- and provides a depth to the plots that could not be had otherwise.

In fact, it is truly amazing how well these novels tie together, how events in earlier books can naturally lead to complications and subplots several volumes later. And how the characters evolve with extreme subtlety and psychological depth.

Perhaps, then, these novels were written specifically for me; sometimes I feel as if it were so. I revel in the minutiae, in the playful humor, in the nascent science and discovery. I enjoy the story on land as much as on the sea; the manners as much as the adventures. I have read them all several times.

Patrick O'Brian, whatever his faults, bequeathed upon humanity a rare and wonderful gift: a fully encompassing view into another time and place that let's us understand our own world better. And he did it with compassion and understanding and marvelous wit. It is with that view that I implore readers with a similar bent to embark on this enthralling voyage.

The setting is strong and the characters are interesting. This series has been given accolades for a quarter-century, and I know it has promise, and I know I'll keep reading. Even with all this, the sophomore entry in this series was a let-down in tension.

Tension doesn't have to be big sea battles between military-grade warships, but it does have to be engaging and threaten the protagonist. Other than a somewhat minor relationship issue between Jack and Sophie and Diana the only real novel-length theme was Jack's continuing struggles with his finances.

As a chronicle of the life in opening of the nineteenth century it is a great book. It demonstrated the core of military power - the Navy and it's ongoing internal political struggles as well as a rivalry with the Army. More interesting than Jack Aubrey and his money troubles is the revelations in this volume of the hidden life of Stephen Maturin, land-heir and intelligence spy - but for whom? His mini-adventures and influence keep one interested in the book and keep one guessing.

It's a serviceable book in the series, which put it above many author's best work.

- CV Rick, February 2008

Pelagia has grown up on the peaceful Greek island of Cephallonia with her father, a widower and rather eccentric doctor who has taught her to be strong and independent. She takes for granted, somewhat ruefully, the fact that she will marry a local boy and settle down to a quiet life of her own.

Instead of her quiet life, Pelagia finds herself touched by World War II. Her fiance leaves to fight, hoping to prove himself worthy of her. Meanwhile, Cephallonia is occupied by German soldiers as well as Italian soldiers, one of whom is quartered in Pelagia and her father's home.

Pelagia and her father try their best to hate this Captain Corelli, who is an Italian soldier and therefore one of their oppressors. But as he continues to be charming and even seems apologetic about his place in their lives, it becomes harder and harder to cheerfully make his life miserable.

I loved the middle of this book. I found it funny and engaging in many parts. I especially enjoyed the story of Carlo and the events that led him to Cephallonia. It was interesting to see how the characters and the island changed as a result of war, and how such an idyllic setting could be tarnished. I liked the determination of Corelli to charm Pelagia, and the pace at which their relationship developed.

However, I found the beginning and the end of the book to be weak. It was hard for me to get a handle on the characters at first, as the story kept jumping from one to the other, and didn't start off with any context to make things easier. The ending was disappointing to me as well. After such a detailed story of Pelagia's life and the building relationship with Corelli as well as the development of her own talents and ambitions, her entire adulthood was simply skimmed over. Her descendants were made of cardboard, seemingly added in not to round out the story but just to prove that time had passed her by. A vibrant character was reduced to a caricature of a weepy grandmother, which I found unsatisfying. The Pelagia and Corelli plot twist also left me feeling empty, like this book about a young woman finding her place in her world was all a waste, as she ended up pining away in unhappiness.

Friends who know I`m interested in war history recommended this book. But this is not war history. This is a rather banal love story mixed up with a lot of bloody details. If you are looking for the real stuff, go somewhere else.

Make no mistake about it. This is not a romantic novel and even though one cannot help but get carried away with the romance that gradually develops in Pelagia's life this is rather a humorous novel for even within the romance itself and the harsh reality of the war that is soon to overwhelm the life of every character there is plenty of humour making the entertainment value of the novel undeniably high. Just one reservation about the actual plot of this book or rather not so much the plot itself but the way the novel actually ends. It makes one wonder whether the author was having second thoughts about this since the end seems rather contrived and quite detached from the development of the rest of the plot, particularly if one considers the point in time at which Captain Corelli escapes from the island of Cephalonia.

In my life so far, the enormity of 17years i have NEVER read a book that was so beautifully constructed. The characters are perfect, and the beautiful island of Cephallonia leaves a taste in the mouth that lingers for months afterwards. Carlo, Antonio, Pelagia, and Dr Iannis are wonderful, and each in there own way unique. This is the only book that as soon as i finished i immediately began again. My only word of advice is not to watch the film, which pales in comparison to the book!A book that puts things in perspective!The best i've ever read!

A superbly crafted story of a woman caught in the throes of transition from deep tradition to the modern world. For Pelagia Iannis the cost of transition is heavy. Daughter of the village's widower doctor, she is caught up in global forces beyond her ken. The imperial ambitions of Italy's dictator, Benito Mussolini, bring the Italian army of occupation. Among the troops is Captain Antonio Corelli, artillery officer and musician. An unwitting and hesitant imperial minion, he is billeted in the Iannis household. Although the doctor urges passive resistance, Pelagia, although committed to a partisan youth, is drawn to Corelli's musical talents and unworldly charm. De Bernieres weaves an intricate tale of love, war, humour and pathos with unrivaled skill. His characters sparkle with realism, an aspect permeating this outstanding work. His descriptions of the interactions of the differing nationalities and ideologies ring vividly true.

As he builds the story through the characters and events, de Bernieres gives little away. There are continual surprises as events twist and bend the characters. Some break, others find a means to extricate themselves from a tangling fate. Pelagia bears the main burden throughout. Her love for Corelli, after a fitful start, blossoms, then is tested by the swirl of events. Other characters come into her life, remain or depart. All make some impact as de Bernieres adroitly builds her role. Each chapter becomes a minor tale in its own right, with all tied together flawlessly. Characters and events are imparted with meticulous detail, yet, like a Mozart opera, not one word would bear excision.

If you like a story that successfully ranges over a variety of issues and people, you will seek far and wide to surpass this tale. De Bernieres' skills in portraying life's complexities, yet maintaining reader attention and interest are peerless. He has clearly build his work on thorough scholarship - there's even a source list at the end. His sweeping view will leave you exhilarated and breathless, but fulfilled. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

This little BIG book was described to me as a "wahoo! book".
I have nothing else to add.

This is one of my favorite books ever. Anna is a delightful little girl with a most tragic background, but she has all she needs to go back home! This book is simply wonderful.

A life-changing, heart-opening, mind-expanding story. I highly recommend it. I was dissappointed with my order though - the books were in perfect condition but in an unusual size - very small making the book hard to read - and the paper is not of good quality. I don't feel i got great value for money with this purchase.

This is a nice fairy tale, but no more true than Rousseau's Emile or Kipling's The Jungle Book. I've known many five year olds, including some very gifted ones, but Anna simply doesn't ring true. Her short stature, mysterious origins, and bright red hair all suggest that she is a figment of "Finn"'s imagination, in the tradition of stories of "the wee folk". In fact, Finn is a frequently used pseudonym of Celtic folk tales, somewhat like "Mother Goose" is the authoress of English folk tales. The words "a true story" emblazoned on the front left a bad taste in my mouth, like I'd been conned. Somewhere in the book there is a mention that "all fairy stories are true" and I realised that this was the author's disclaimer. This is a good story, but the author's sly attempt to pass it off as literal truth taints it all. Had it been presented frankly as inspirational fiction, like "The Little Prince", it would have gone over a lot better, without the bitter aftertaste.

I hate to begin a book and walk away from it without finishing. I did read the entire book but found it real struggle to hang in there.

I read several of Graham's books when I was young and thought them great. Now at 55 I am not so sure about Greene (I recently reread the Comedians). Most of his books are OK except for too much heavy emotional attachment stuff.
This book is supposed to be funny but is just plain terrible. For instance what is so funny about things like a policeman who makes human skin cigarette cases? I quit reading it after about 50 pages. I advise you to find something else, life is too short. He must have been experimenting with drugs or drunk when he wrote this.

This is the fifth Graham Greene novel I've read, and the first with an even moderately happy ending. A pseudo-spy novel with a pseudo-spy named Wormold, the book is more a meditation on where human allegiance should really be when government and family seem at odds with each other. It's also a fairly quick read (for Greene) that's funny as hell.

I read a lot of Graham Greene, and this is the one one of his works that disappointed. Characters were dull and the plot, slow to develop. Also, the technology described seemed very dated in view of today's world.

Nice to see this classic in print again. Hitchen's insightful forward adds to the pleasure of reading Greene's wonderful "entertainment" again. If you haven't read it yet, do so now!

Graham Greene, a major, well-known 20th century British author, had a very long life, most of the century, and a very long and prolific writing career. He may be best known for "The Third Man," "The End of the Affair," and "The Power and the Glory," but his books were greatly honored, highly-praised by the critics, generally best sellers, and often made into movies. As was "Our Man in Havana," a later work of his, initially published on October 6, 1958, and just re-released. Greene famously divided his books into 'novels,' such as the "Power and the Glory," and 'entertainments,' such as "Our Man in Havana." While working on the book at hand, he wrote to the Indian writer R.K. Narayan, a friend, that he was at work on "a rather hack job, an entertainment called 'Our Man in Havana.' I am getting too old to boil the pot." However, he also wrote to his mistress Catherine Walston in 1956 that "Our Man" was potentially a "very funny plot which if it comes off will make a footnote to history."

The book is set in Havana, Cuba, during the last days of the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista, and reproduces time and place very accurately on the page. The plot's reasonably gripping, and resonant. Like his later follower, John LeCarre, Greene had first-hand experience of the British Secret Service. On the recommendation of his lifelong friend Kim Philby, who turned out to be England's most notorious postwar spy/traitor, Greene had served in Africa's Sierra Leone during World War II, and this is a spy story. The lead character is Jim Wormold, an English seller of vacuum cleaners based in Havana. (Everyone can take a moment here to remember Alec Guinness as this character in the excellent movie based on the book.) Wormold is poor and desperate: his wife has left him, and he hasn't enough money to pay his hefty bar bills, let alone keep his beautiful teenaged daughter Milly in her preferred lifestyle. So, without realizing what he's doing, or where it will take him and those he loves, he agrees to become a British spy; "Old Blighty's" man in Havana.

This may be an entertaining entertainment, but not to worry: there's plenty more serious Greene here. His instinctive anti-Americanism, left-wing viewpoints; and jaded cynicism as to the spy's life. His remarkable ability to create characters, even those who don't get many pages, such as Captain Segura, a local policeman/torture enthusiast, with a cigarette case made from human skin. Segura strongly resembles Batista's dread 'enforcer' Captain Ventura, and in his dark glasses and unmarked car, he will turn up again, and again, creating terror in various Latin American countries, most notably in Haitian dictator "Papa Doc" Duvalier's feared "toutons macoute."

Greene traveled widely, as a journalist, and to research his novels. He had great serendipity in his visits: many of them occurred at highly interesting times. "Our Man" was published in October, 1956; on New Years Day 1959 the revolutionary Fidel Castro came down from the mountains. The author set his Vietnamese war novel, "The Quiet American" just before the critical battle of Dien Bien Phu. He set "The Comedians" in the last days of Duvalier's Haiti. He had another stroke of luck: the long American blockade of Cuba has resulted in the country, and the city of Havana, staying much the same as the writer described them nearly fifty years ago.

All in all, think I'd have to go with "a very funny plot which if it comes off will make a footnote to history."

I read that Roddy Doyle was J K Rowling's favorite author. His fiction was too real and depressing. Plus it was hard to follow as he jumped from the past to present day often.

I think my main problem with this book was the language. I found all the cursing distracting, and made the flow of the book choppy. I gave it three stars because if you take all the cursing out of the book, it was quite good.

Doyle did an excellent job in describing the life of a physically abused wife, I was completely drawn into her life from page one.

I would recommend this book to a friend. It is not a happy story, but the main character is immensely likable, and her story is interesting and worth reading. I liked Paula Spencer. She's funny, insightful, vulnerable and charming. She is also flawed, which makes her seem very real to me. It was hard to read this book though, because the shadow of her tragedy creeps across every page. Doyle waits until the final chapters to tell us, though, about Paula's battering at the hands of a man she loves, her "shattered" husband, Charlo. The title tells us what we do and do not want to know, so I think it's fine that Doyle waits until the end to reveal it all.

This book is written in the first person, and as an American the Irish vernacular was initially difficult for me, but Paula's inner dialogue is well written, and very enjoyable. I think I might have picked up a few Irish colloquialisms.

Kudos to Roddy Doyle! He has created a wonderful, likable, character in Paula Spencer.

Written in 1996, this "prequel" to 2007's Paula Spencer, tells of Paula's life from her teen years to her passionate relationship with Charlo Spencer. Part of a family of robbers, Charlo is an exciting man who makes her feel alive and gives her a sense of selfhood. Booker Prize-winner Doyle crafts a dramatic first-person narrative told by Paula, who leaves her rigid home and unsympathetic father to marry Charlo, a man her father disapproves of. Their passionate relationship and remarkable sense of communication vanish when Paula becomes pregnant with the first of their four children. Gradually, Paula finds solace in alcohol, as Charlo becomes an absentee husband and father and eventually a philandering wife-abuser.

Paula begins her story in the present, with Charlo's death--shot by the police after he has murdered a woman during a robbery--then develops the story through her reminiscences about both the good and the bad times. As she relives her courtship and early marriage and explores her early past and her more recent past,, she also tells us about her present battle with alcohol. She regrets that Nicola, her teenage daughter is responsible for the family on many occasions, since Paula works nights cleaning offices and then returns home wanting only to tell Jack a bedtime story and then abandon herself to drink.

As the story of her abuse evolves, the reader is privy to Paula's innermost conflicts. Though she knows that "I lost all my friends--and most of my teeth," she also bemoans the fact that "he beat me brainless and I felt guilty." The tendency of abuse victims to blame themselves, especially when their love has been as great as that of Paula and Charlo, explains Paula's comment that "for seventeen years I was brainwashed and brain dead." She knows that she has made her children suffer, not only because of her abuse but because of her alcoholism, but she has been powerless to change until in one violent moment, she sends Charlo out of the house and determines to live her life on her own.

Doyle's ability to structure a novel such as this one, which moves from immediate present into recent and then distant past, providing important information about character in the process, brings this dramatic novel to life. His trademark humor is subdued here in favor of the ironies of Paula's life. This is a far more serious novel than the Barrytown Trilogy--more in keeping with the Booker Prize-winning _Paddy Clark, Ha, Ha, Ha_, an equally sad story of a deteriorating marriage from the point of view of a ten-year-old boy. This poignant novel is ultimately a celebration of the human spirit as Paula determines to take control of her life and to provide a family for her children. n Mary Whipple

Paula Spencer in Roddy Doyle's "The Woman Who Walked Into Doors" spends much of the book telling the story of her life, initiated by the death of her estranged husband. There is a profoundness to her sadness recalling the courtship she had with Charlo and the life they lived as a couple and as parents. She slowly realizes why her life came about as it has (single, alcoholic, poor), why Charlo's life ended the way it did. Paula spent her life making excuses for why Charlo did the things he did, always letting herself be convinced that Charlo truly loved her despite the horrible beating he inflicted on the the mother of his children. Not until she is able to stand up and take matters into her own hands does her life begin to straighten out.

Doyle's writing is sinply magnificent. Writing from the perspective of this alcoholic high-school dropout, he keeps her words as would be expected from someone of her educational background. The way he is able to write from a woman's perspective is remarkable. Paula's struggle with her alcoholism seems very real and probably all too familiar to those who have decided they can quit drinking any time they want.

While this book is not one to read if you expect to have a bit of light reading, it is time well spent.

disappointed-- narrative is hard to follow, maybe it's the small print. I was hoping that Georgiana would jump out at me -- but she still seems distant. Well-researched.

I was never a biography fan until this book. Foreman does a dazzling job of bringing Georgiana to life. I could read this book over and over again!

if some one told me what really happen 18th century upper crust i would not believe them.money,sex,adultery,hidden preganacy,lesbianism,royality,gambling and drug addiction.fashion theather social scandals,politics,betrayal, blackmail and war.it's a soap opera that really happen.even a evil bestfriend who bears two childern by georgina husband is through in.this book is addictive.i didn't put it down till last page.

After finishing "Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire" by Amanda Foreman, I have come to the conclusion that the flaming youth of the 1770's and 80's were just about as wild a bunch that could be. It seems that the generation of aristocrats who came of age in the decade and a half immediately before the French Revolution liked to live life at the edge. Fashions were extreme, homes were elaborate, and fortunes were gambled blithely away. Traditional morals and religious practice were given a public nod while being privately cast aside. The "sweetness of living," as Talleyrand nostalgically referred to the "ancien régime," was to be replaced by the wars and successive revolutions of the next two centuries.

The decadent old world, which would soon be turned upside down, was in England presided over with glamor and opulence by Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire. In France, Marie-Antoinette was perceived as being the queen of the fashionable whirl, but she was never so popular in society and genuinely influential in politics as was her friend Georgiana in England. Also, Marie-Antoinette's domestic life became calmer after the birth of her first child at age twenty-two. With Louis XVI to steady her, she eventually gave up gambling, and became the strong and courageous queen who was able to face the upheavals of the Revolution. Furthermore, Louis did not indulge in chronic infidelity as did the Duke of Devonshire. Georgiana, on the other hand, went from one personal fiasco to another, hardly ever letting up until she was in her forties, and even then died with enormous debts.

The book gives a detailed account of the vast political influence wielded by ladies of high society in the days when women could not vote. The assortment of characters depicted by Reynolds and Gainsborough were finally given personality for me in Foreman's well-written biography. My trouble was with Georgiana herself. I could not grasp why she was so psychologically needy, what with the drinking and all night parties and spending and inordinate attachments to her friends. She had come from a loving family, although they were not perfect, but at least they cared and actively intervened in her troubles. Her husband did not love her, clearly, but many women were in loveless marriages. Unlike Marie-Antoinette, Georgiana could not seem to get her gambling under control. I do not understand why such a charming, intelligent and popular woman would be so insecure. Part of this is because I am so used to reading and writing about people who had extreme traumas and upheavals, such as Louis XVI, Marie-Antoinette and their immediate family. Most of poor Georgiana's troubles were of her own making and completely avoidable. While she is a fascinating character, adored by the common folk for her ability to mingle, she is a bit puzzling.

For one thing, it was so odd for Georgiana to tolerate Bess Foster's presence in the Duke of Devonshire's bed for all those years. Georgiana was such a bottomless pit of emotional need that she insisted on keeping Bess as her friend no matter what. As for Bess, she wanted everything Georgiana had; she wanted to be Georgiana. In the end, she had her way, and became the Duchess of Devonshire, but she was never loved the way Georgiana was loved. Georgiana's daughter Harriet described Bess thus: "...More perverted than deceitful...I really believe she hardly knows herself the difference between right and wrong now." (p. 308) Foreman says that Bess' version of events in her diary "was more fantasy than truth." (p.177) This is why I take it as a grain of salt when anything Bess wrote in regard to Count Fersen and Marie-Antoinette is given as evidence that they had an affair.

The person I find to be most sympathetic in the biography about Georgiana is her long-suffering mother, Lady Spencer. I do not blame Lady Spencer one bit for having the governess as her spy. After all, she had to keep track of the various illegitimate children who were being smuggled into the Cavendish nursery, after being born and fostered out with utmost secrecy. Between Bess Foster and Georgiana's sister Harriet, I lost track of which child belonged to whom. And then Georgiana herself, fleeing to France to give birth to little Eliza. At least the children were not abandoned or destroyed; each was given care and love. For Lady Spencer to try to supervise the situation, and attempt to have Bess thrown out, was basic prudence. She was the only responsible adult in the clan and how her daughters carried on must have broken her heart.

I wish I could have understood why Georgiana plunged into the affair with Charles Grey, Eliza's father. Her life was already a mess, what with the heavy drinking and gambling; her involvement with Earl Grey served to further complicate matters. The affair seemed to come not so much from a great love but from sheer recklessness on the part of someone who had totally lost control of her life. However, the book does not capture any sense of passion. Perhaps that is because so many of Georgiana's letters were censored or destroyed by her Victorian descendants, quite an editorial feat in itself.

To Georgiana's credit, she often displayed genuine remorse for her disordered ways and tried to amend her life. Her failing health eventually forced her into a simpler, calmer existence. Her oldest daughter wrote that she was the best of mothers. The Duchess was devoted to her family, no question about it, while struggling with so many addictive behaviors, so many demons. Tormented she was, without a doubt. I only wish I understood why.

Georgiana Spencer Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire, was born in the eighteenth century and died in the early nineteenth century, but her life was very modern in many ways. She was an open activist at a time when women were supposed to stay behind the scenes, a bold and flamboyant hostess who used her social prestige to advance her political agenda, and a beautiful but ultimately self-destructive woman whose emotions helped shape British history.

Georgiana was born into one wealthy and powerful aristocratic family and married into an even wealthier and more powerful one. The Cavendishes were bastions of the Whig oligarchy, which governed Britain almost continuously through the eighteenth century until the 1760s, when King George III forced them out of power. In opposition the Whigs became the progressives or liberals of the day, calling for curbs on the King's powers, protection for the liberties of the people, and for progress and social reform (with the ultimate aim of regaining power for themselves, of course). Georgiana was married to the Duke of Devonshire, who was retiring where she was outgoing, far more interested in living a quiet life with various mistresses than in helping to advance the Whig cause. Georgiana, frustrated with a husband who did not appreciate her, threw herself into politics, becoming a friend of Whig leaders like Charles James Fox and campaigning openly for him and others.

Georgiana's private life was complicated. She and her husband were involved in a years long menage a trois with Lady Elizabeth Foster, who was simultaneously Georgiana's best friend and the Duke's mistress and mother of his illegitimate children. Georgiana was addicted to gambling and lost enormous sums which she feared to reveal to the Duke. Eventually Georgiana herself had a love affair which nearly caused her marriage to end and forced her temporarily out of sight. Although she returned to political life after some years, her health broke down and her influence remained diminished.

Amanda Foreman has produced a work of great scholarship which reads like a novel. Georgiana's life is so fascinating that I've read this biography several times just to see what she would get up to next and how she would get out of one scrape after another. Foreman makes the good point that Georgiana epitomized many women of the eighteenth century, who were far more active and involved in politics than is generally supposed, as well as being a harbinger of the kind of power base to which women in the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries still aspire.

Okay, so now that this reviewer has recently warmed you up with review of James M. Cain's lesser works, including the minor classic Double Indemnity it is time to bring up the big guns- The Postman Always Rings Twice (hereafter, Postman). I have reviewed elsewhere in this space both the movie versions of this novel- the original one with John Garfield and Lana Turner in black and white in the 1940's and the color version with Jack Nicholson and Jessica Lange in the 1980's. Both have there merits although the Nicholson/Lange version produced at a time when there was a more permissive atmosphere in portraying raw, primordial sexual passions is closer to the sense of Cain's novel.

Both films also take some license with the story line from the novel. That line, in summary, went something like this- Girl is unhappily married to older uncouth owner of a highway diner and gas station in sunny California of the 1930's. Boy an outlaw tramp, who also happens to be handy, very handy, with a wrench, comes down the road and hubby puts his to work in the station. Boy meets girl. Bang. Hubby is doomed but the newly formed couple, after a false start in clearing up that little matter, seemingly is ready to start a new life together once the murder rap is cleared up. Or are they?

After a fair exposition of Cain's works in this space, including a few short stories not reviewed, it is apparent that he was onto something about the way that novelist could look at crime and the vagaries of human passions. Most of his works, including Postman, center on the reactions of his characters to the way that their lusts (and it is mainly the distortions caused by their lusts that Cain wants to look at) lead them inevitably to crime, mainly the most heinous one murder. Moreover, as demonstrated here, no crime no matter how perfectly committed or maneuvered around, will go unpunished either as a result of the psychological reaction and revulsion against their crimes, no matter how deeply submerged, of the characters, as here, with Frank and Cora or by some quirk of fate. No police or gumshoes need apply to solve these crimes.

I have sometimes mentioned in reviewing Cain's work that the women tend to be femme fatales and that is true to the extent that these women have strong sexual identities, use that fact, and are, usually, to the extent they are fully developed by Cain stronger than the men. But then we are back to the old Adam and Eve story, aren't we? After all Eve was the one who took the chance. I would argue, as an aside here to the theme presented in Postman, that as conventional as Cora is in many ways, trying to make a go of the diner and trying to create a stable environment after the close call on the murder rap, that there is also some primitive Christian notion at work here. Something about the fates being played out a certain way and the gods best stay on the sidelines while they get worked out. But, hey, why don't you read this little gem and try to figure it out for yourselves.

I easily read this book in a few hours, it was short and it keeps your attention. It's definitely entertaining, but I can't say that I truly loved it. The characters are such bad people that it's hard to sympathize with them in any regard. For a love story, it wasn't that romantic or inspiring, and I will probably never read another book by the same author, because I was really just not blown away by it.

Great story and Stanley Tucci does a great job with the narrative. Far better than the Nicholson-Lange movie version.

The Postman Always rings Twice is an Americal classic--a great book by any standard. Cain's plot for the book is simple enough: an immoral hustler who lives by his wits gets in cahoots with an equally desperate and amibtious woman who is seeking to escape her loveless marriage.

Cain's book is remarkable for its suspensful account of a well laid out murder plan that succeeds but doesn't bring the two perpetrators much happiness. The book stands out for its blunt and realistic portrayal of vicious criminal behavior.

It's helpful to know that Cain was a screenwriter in Hollywood before he wrote the book. That I think is the reason for his sharp dialogues, some of which will stick with you forever! Cain's great dialgoue writing skills are a key factor in keepign the action tight throughout the many twists and turns of the book.
I haven't seen either of the movies based on this book, for one reason or another. Surprisingly, I've read this book atleast a half adozen times and the book has left an indelible impression on me. I can literally see the entire movie in my head everythime I think about it!

This book essentially is Kerouac meets the three horsemen of mystery: Marlowe, Hammett and Spillane. Written with curt statements, little detail, and almost exclusively dialogue (could be a movie script), this book quickly outlines a thorough story in about 100 pages.

The protagonist, Frank Chambers, is basically another impulse driven, good-for-nothing, tiger on the road. He is the bad boy which good girls fall for. And the girl in this book is Iowa blond beauty queen, Cora Papadakis - whose surname comes from older husband Nick Papadakis. Frank's character reminds me immensely of Kerouac's "On the Road" hero - Dean Moriarity.

Cora hates herself and her life. After Nick employs Frank, she falls for the help. The femme fatale employs Frank to free her from her misery - which means murdering Nick. After botching the job the first time, and failing to run away while Nick sits in a hospital bed, Frank meets up with Cora for a second chance (hence the title).

The second attempt leads you through another botched caper which only leads to an ingenious and fruitful legal maneuver which climaxes with the insurance agent perjuriously testifying in order to save the company money. Money acquits evil.

But, if you sleep with dogs, you wake up with fleas. A few escapades later, Frank and Cora mutually mistrust one another to the point where each believes the other will do to them what they did to poor Nick.

The ending is classic irony. And, that is what makes the book so ingratiatingly wonderful for film makers and readers. Love is conquered by the unknown. Isn't it usually "Love conquers all?" Then the unknown conquers all, or does it?

If you are looking for flowery prose, detailed description, or poignant passages of reflection - forget about it. This is Hemingwayesque, it is Marlowe-like or Hammett-influenced. This is about dialogue, slang, or street talk. This is classic fodder for film noire. This is a classic mystery novel.

The Princess Trilogy was a great read inspite of the atrocities that were mentioned. I also enjoyed the history of Saudi Arabia and the royal family's origin.

The bravery of this woman is brilliant. I have read only two of the three books. She has overcome remarkable odds to open the eyes of all women to what goes on in Saudi Arabia with women. Jean P. Sasson has proven beyond all doubt that the pen is mightier than the sword. What these two women have done is remarkable. I was wondering, does Princess Sultana's Circle come on audio cassette or cd perhaps?? I wanted to get copies of these books on audio cassettes or cds for friends. BRAVO!!!!!

Yocheved Cook

Excellent read . Makes me glad I am an Autralian able to live a free life. Could not put it down.

This story is written simply but soon captivates the reader by taking them into the mysterious palace, heart and world of an Arabian princess. I was pleased to discover a well told story that gave me a light but unprotected look at Sultana's world and the culture of her nation. American women are generally aware that Middle Eastern women live under great restriction. What we don't see is how they live with it, feel about it, rationalize it or deal with it when it becomes too much. This book gave me a sense of understanding from a point of view other than my own very American one. I found myself understanding the weights that tug at the hearts and manners of these women. For American women, to defy is ordinary and not typically met with resistance. This story follows the fuel that ignited the courage to stand up to long standing injustice... no matter the cost. Admittedly, it was an easy read but it did it did offer some cultural education.

I highly recommend reading the Princess Trilogy. I had a hard time putting the book down. It's a really easy read.