Irish Books

Kamehameha enjoyed surfing Hawaii's highest waves with his human pal Jeffrey. Such a sight to see, an Irish Terrier perched on the front of a surfboard with Jeffrey right behind him, riding the waves. Until the biggest Kahuna of a wave came out of nowhere and killed his best friend and surfing companion.

Kamehameha now had a new owner, Sharon, Jeffrey's daughter. Sharon wanted to be far away from the sea; and didn't give Kamehameha any choice but to go to California with her. On the plane ride Kamehameha meets Georgie a spider monkey always looking for mischief and adventure. Georgie became a great friend and literal lifesaver to Kamehameha.

With Georgie and Juliet's help, Kamehameha escaped the plane to California only to end up in the jungle where dangers lurked around every turn. Kamehameha encounters animals he had never seen before such as; twin jaguar kittens, a gigantic snake, vampires, and many more interesting carnivores. Each of which were always looking to make Kamehameha or his friends into a tasty snack.

Will Kamehameha survive in the jungle with all the beasties wanting to have him for dinner? Has he ridden his last and final wave; or is there still hope?

Billy Lambert has a very vivid imagination. Children will love to hear this story many times over. Exciting events popped up all through this book, it never ceased to amaze me at what Kamehameha and his friends could get themselves into. Mr. Lambert had me laughing aloud while reading; that along with his colorful characters, gladly earns 5 hearts from me.

This adventure goes from the warm surf of the Hawiian islands to the jungles of South America in a action-packed trail of chaos, adventure, fun and danger that kept my 8 year old begging for "a few more pages" when I read it to him each night. The antics of dog and monkey, coupled with the interaction of other animals they met along the way in their effort to find their way to freedom and home, is alternately amusing and educational, with the occasional dangerous moment to get the adreneline going. Just enough to peak a child's interest and keep him hanging on for more. It was a delight to read. I found myself wanting to read 'just a few more pages' with him!

La

I've read some definitely mundane, inane, downright silly books to my two kids. And that's okay. They liked them. Although I grimaced and simultaneously wished for something as enjoyable...hey, I had to read the darned things!...for me, as well as for them. Luckily, ever so often, a book comes along that can span all age groups, by way of enjoyability, and DOG ON A SURFBOARD (AND THE REST OF THE ADVENTURE) by Billy Lambert is one of those, rare, universally appealing pleasers. My kids liked it. I liked it. Heck, my 82-year-old mother liked it.

What's not to like about this book's hero, Irish Terrier, Kamehameha? Never a more endearing surfer, not even Bridget, came riding down the sheer face of a wave. But even this book's villains are a delight, despite their obvious attempts at mischief. Victor and Vera Vampire, and their fellow inept bloodsuckers, had me laughing aloud. As for Mother Jaguar and her twin cubs, Jack and Jock, out to make a meal of our hero?...what can I say? but that I loved them!

I loved Huge Hugh (the anaconda), Helen Harpy (the eagle), Kerry Caiman (the retile), Georgie and Juliet (the spider monkeys). What's more, I'll bet you'll find them equally as irresistible as my kids, my mother, and I did! If you pass on this one, you're passing on a book that has every potential for becoming as classic as it is classy.

This book was so hard to put down!! Dog on a Surfboard has appeal not only to children, but adults too. It follows the adventures of a strong-willed dog who gives a canine perspective to human emotions. We all wish that we could see the world through our pet's eyes, and this book does the best job I've seen so far. While Lambert has written the book in a way that is appropriate for children, it definitely has emotional and psychological undertones that adults can appreciate and analyze. Bottom line: Read and enjoy!!!!

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

This was the first poem by Dylan Thomas I read while in college, and its words haunt me still. This poem, and others such as "Fern Hill," "A Refusal to Mourn the Death, by Fire, of a Child in London," "The Force That Through the Green Fuse Drives the Flower," "Poem on His Birthday," "I See the Boys of Summer," and "Over Sir John's Hill" established him as the epitome of romanticism and one of the greatest poets of the 20th century.

Dylan Thomas, "the Rimbaud of Cwmdonkin Drive," was born on Oct. 27, 1914, in Swansea, Wales. He died of pneumonia and acute alcoholic poisoning in New York City, during his fourth lecture tour in the United States, on Nov. 9, 1953. His final resting place, marked by a simple white cross, is in St. Martin's churchyard, Laugharne, in West Wales.

Andrew Lycett's Dylan Thomas: A New Life was published in England last year to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the poet's death. Lycett, a regular contributor to the Times (London), has written a thorough, astonishingly detailed study of Thomas' life. A cynic might describe this exhaustive biography as exhausting, for one needs patience and perseverance to wade through its intricate details.

Nevertheless, at the end, one is glad to have read this highly informative and scholarly work. One marvels at the amount of research needed to create such a sustained narrative.

As I read Lycett's work, the image of the prodigal son often rose to mind: the story of an irresponsible young man who "wasted his substance in riotous living." Much of the book is a sad chronicle of Dylan's marathon pub crawling, multiple fornications, and shameless sponging off his friends.

Dylan once revealed his personality in a nutshell: "One: I am a Welshman; two: I am a drunkard; three: I am a lover of the human race, especially of women."

To put it bluntly: Dylan Thomas chased anything and everything in skirts (the gentleman doth protest too much, methinks ... concerning his protestations of disinclination toward homosexuality). A pitiful alcoholic, he often drank his breakfast, lunch, and supper. He was forever cadging from his friends, "borrowing" the "loans" that he had no intention of repaying.

In a classic statement of his professional purpose, Dylan wrote: "I have a beast, an angel, and a madman in me, and my inquiry is to their working, and my problem is their subjugation and victory, downthrow and upheaval, and my effort is their self-expression."

Lycett describes Dylan Thomas as "this oddly religious man who lived outside any formal creed," and who, "caught between Muse [poetry] and Mermaid [a tavern], wrote of "the absurdity of life in the midst of mortality, and of the inevitability of death. [Dylan wrote] of the relativism of a world where good and bad are 'two ways / Of moving about your death.' He was not the first poet to see the indifferent universe . . . Shakespeare anticipated him by over four centuries. But Dylan gave this philosophy a modern existentialist perspective."

The great mystery, then, surrounding Dylan Thomas is this supreme contradiction: How could a wastrel who lived like the devil write with the pen of an angel? What heavenly muse inspired this secular humanist to compose poetry of transcendent beauty and sacred spirituality? The paradox is puzzling; strange and inexplicable are the ways of genius.

Lycett reveals the dark side of Dylan's tumultuous marriage to Caitlin Macnamara; the birth of their three children--Llewelyn, Aeronwy, and Colm Garan; and of Caitlin's decision to have four abortions.

Lycett also cites a comment that Nelson Algren made concerning Dylan: "You have to feel a certain desperation about everything either to write like that or to drink like that." Indeed, the story of Dylan Thomas is that of a man who lived a life of unquiet desperation. Some of his friends believed that this 40-a-day-man (two packs of cigarettes) drank his way into the grave because he had an overpowering death wish. Dylan Thomas had gazed into the abyss and had been horrified.

In the midst of a distressingly mediocre pop culture, Andrew Lycett, in Dylan Thomas: A New Life, offers a volume of depth and dignity, of scholarship and substance--an antidote to the mindless drivel of our time. The book contains 64 black-and-white photos.

It's a long book but surprisingly compact, and Lycett seems to have the happy knack of being able to condense the long drawn out memories of others into snappy paragraphs or two-liners. His previous book on the life of Ian Fleming raised the bar for James Bond studies and I am not surprised to see that his life of Thomas (who like Fleming cut his own brand of swaskbuckling throughout the English speaking universe) is also something of a triumph. It is the first biography of Thomas to set out properly his confusing travels to California (where I live)--his sojourns to San Francisco and LA (where he met Chaplin, Shelley Winters, Isherwood, etc) finally make some chronological and emotional sense.

Lycett is also good, as he was with Fleming, at showing particular moments in each man's career where popular enthusiasm brought their work to a new level of acceptance. For Fleming, of course, the filming of the Bond stories brought him an attention he had craved for years but then decided he didn't want. For Thomas, it seems to have been the publication in 1946 of DEATHS AND ENTRANCES that shook him up and created in a fiery fogre of fame and alcohol, a new Dylan Thomas, one cockily confident and supremely able to go about life with only a smile and a vast adoring public to sustain him. And, in each case, Lycett also sketches "the wife" tidily, so that we see how Ann Fleming and Caitlin Thomas pulled the strings--or failed to.

Hooray for Andrew Lycett, can't wait to see who you turn your sights on next.

Long ago, I came upon Dame Edith Sitwell's description of Thomas: "He was not tall, but was extremely broad, and gave an impression of extraordinary strength, sturdiness, and superabundant life. (His reddish-amber curls, strong as the curls on the brow of a young bull, his proud, but not despising, bearing, emphasized this.) Mr. Augustus John's portrait of him is beautiful but gives him a cherubic aspect, which though pleasing, does not convey ... Dylan's look of archangelic power. In full face he looked much as William Blake must have looked as a young man. He had full eyes--like those of Blake--giving him at first the impression of being unseeing, but seeing all, looking over immeasurable distances." Of course, she does not describe what was in his mind and heart. For that, we rely on what was revealed by his behavior during an avoidably brief life (1914-1953) and by what is suggested in what he wrote. Also, we have two excellent biographies. This one and another written by Paul Ferris.

Briefly, here is some background information about Thomas' life. He was born in the Welsh seaport of Swansea, Carmarthenshire, and received all of his formal education at the local grammar school. He then earned his living in a variety of jobs as an actor, reporter, reviewer, and handyman. At age 22, he married Caitlin Macnamara and thus began an especially tumultuous relationship which continued until his death. She bore him three children. For most of his adult life, he struggled to support his family (e.g. writing for the Ministry of Education) before serving in World War Two as an anti-aircraft gunner. Afterward, his struggles to support himself and family continued, even with writing assignments for the BBC. Then in 1950, he delivered the first of a series of readings of his works in the United States, returning twice more for additional tours in 1952 and 1953. Caitlin soon grew to hate the United States because (in her opinion) the adoration he received there activated, indeed encouraged his excessive appetites, especially for alcohol and for other women. One of my college English professors had accompanied Thomas during several of his binges in New York City in 1953. I asked him what Thomas had died of. He replied "Everything." His life ended prematurely but probably inevitably in San Vincent's Hospital in Manhattan on November 9, 1953. He was 39 years of age.

Credit Lycett with rigorous and comprehensive research on Thomas' life. He also had one significant resource which Ferris did not: Ferris. (Also Welch, Ferris was born about a mile from Thomas' childhood home.) There are passages in this book when it seems that Lycett is as charmed by Thomas as were so many others, giving the brilliant poet the benefit of the doubt when discussing his frequently offensive behavior, especially his mean-spirited abuse of family members (notably wife Caitlin) as well as of others who befriended him. (Ferris is far less forgiving of Thomas' misbehavior.) According to Thomas, his work provides "the record of my individual struggle from darkness toward some measure of light.....To be stripped of darkness is to be clean, to strip of darkness is to make clean." As both Lycett and Ferris clearly indicate, there were many times in Thomas' life when he disappeared into the "darkness" of his self-indulgences, cleansing only temporarilty whatever self-loathing may have driven him there.

Commissioned by the BBC for its Third Programme, Under Milk Wood was Thomas' last published work. It is much more a pageant or review rather than a classically structured drama, one in which Thomas celebrates his heritage in much the same spirit Edgar Lee Masters celebrates his in Spoon River Anthology. It is also worth noting that when he died, Thomas had been at work on several promising radio projects (e.g. The Town That Was Mad and Quid's Inn) which could have led to greater fame and fortune. Those who have heard recordings during which he reads from his works are already aware of his talents as a performer. (By the way, I have often wondered what Garrison Keeler's influences were when he first envisioned Lake Wobegon as the centerpiece of his Prairie Home Companion. Did they include Masters and Thomas?) His premature death denied him these promising opportunities and all others the pleasure of new works of poetic art he may well have produced, had he lived longer.

I rate this book so highly because of its wealth of carefully developed biographical material. However, as indicated earlier, it is important to keep in mind that Lycett allows Thomas far more latitude than does Ferris when commenting on Thomas' personal behavior. Many of those who knew him well despised him but countless others, few of whom knew him well, adored him. Their adoration apparently justified in his mind the excesses which eventually caused his death. In terms of literary criticism, I think Ferris has much more of value to say but I am grateful to both for helping me to gain a better understanding of the man whose reading of A Child's Christmas in Wales is among our family's greatest joys each holiday season.

It is late. I am tired, but I have just finished a compelling book on a deeply compelling and tragic man. Dylan Thomas burned bright and fast, and this tale of drunken excess and amazing talent could have read like an exteneded episode of E! True Hollywood Story. It is the beauty of the words that raises Thomas's life up so high, the twisting of phrases, the power of poetry. This book made me want to throw my television off the balcony and embrace the world. Thomas was damaged goods, but at least he tried to live life to the full. He did more in less than 40 years than most writers do in a lifetime. A great biography.

Excellent portrait of this facinating King. Highly recommended. Buy the paperback though....$28.00 as opposed to $60.00.

The late Charles D. Ross presents here one of the most readable and interesting presentations of of English monarch ever written. Highly recommended for anyone interested in the king or his era-I used it extensively in my senior thesis!

Edward IV is one of the great enigmas of history. Even how he was able to become King is not self-evident. His seizing the throne was then followed by government marked by occasional brilliance and great folly. For someone who at times was keenly aware of dynastic considerations, his own marriage was the height of folly compounded by giving far too much influence to the Queen's relatives. He gave far too much trust, power and wealth to a few individuals, especially the Earl of Warrick and his traitorous brother Clarence alienating in the process much of the established nobility and wrecking in his early years the King's finances. Overthrown in the course of his reign, he nevertheless succeeded in recapturing the throne in short order and then repairing his fortunes spectacularly. Even so, this was accompanied by the strangest series of preparations for invasion of France, ending in an almost farcical procession in Northern France and a pusillanimous retreat. Lazy, debauched, perceptive and effective-many such adjectives can be applied to him - and all miss the puzzling essence of the man and his reign. What a set of stories could be woven out of this material without clearly capturing the essence of the situation! One cannot help wondering why of the adult kings between Richard II and Henry VII, Edward IV alone did not attract Shakespeare's pen.

Charles Ross wrote a fascinating book on this puzzling ruler, making as clear as the scanty and somewhat unreliable records allow the course of Edward's life and reign, and the various episodes that both fascinate and puzzle. The book (with a short introduction by R.A. Grifffiths rather than a revision by him) proceeds first by laying out the story, and then returning to give separate investigation of various aspects of Edward's rule, such as governance, his relations with the community and his finances. This latter subject is particularly well handled, as is the penultimate chapter on law and order. The story is well told, without excessive pedantry and without any attempt to hide when the record is unclear or the author has had to make large interpretations. One may not really know or understand Edward by the end of the book, but one's feeling is that it is the man himself who escapes capture by the biographer's art, not any weakness of the biographer himself. For those interested in such matters - and this is not light reading - Griffith's biography should prove highly satisfying.

Charles Ross presents an unforgettable tale of the most confusing, uneven and adventurous reign of any king in the English history. Edward IV remains the only king who was able to loose a kingdom and them successfully reclaim the crown. Possessing remarkable talents in administration and warfare, he however managed to bring the treasury to almost complete ruin by the end of his term, and botch the most impressive show of force in France any English king (including Edward III and Henry V) can ever master to assemble. Edward IV lived in the extraordinary age, full with great personalities like Richard Warwick the "Kingmaker", Margaret, the queen of Henry VI, and his own kid brother Richard, future most vilified by Shakespeare king Richard the III.

It is very easy to fell victim to novelized history when relating the events as extraordinary as the events of Edward's reign. Not Charles Ross. He is extremely well researched and versed in the records of the period, and presents the somewhat dry details of the records of the Household and Exchequer, in an interesting way and extremely well cross-referenced. Internal English sources are corroborated by continental and papal records. I would recommend this book to a serious student of history.

Also see Charles Ross's "Richard III" for a mysterious, bloody, and tragically brief concluding reign of Plantagenet dynasty. This one is also highly recommended.

I dedicated one of the poems in my recently published book of poems to Emily Bronte, and did so after falling in love with her own poetry. What divine spark burned within her bosom? What muses inspired her? Although we may never know, we can see their impact. Her poems are stunning, powerful, curious, entrancing.

Have you ever been at wits' end? Perhaps you believe in God but are shaking your fist at the sky and asking 'What are You thinking? How could you do this to me?' Then add for a bit more drama rejection, rejection and more rejection from those who don't understand one's unique artistic point of view. Last, add a dash of difficulty - yourself - you're not easy to deal with and bottomline the conventional is not your style. Then, you'll adore this book of poems by Emily Bronte. Most known for "Wuthering Heights" (which when repeatedly rejected by publishers - she would pack it up in the same wrapping and send it on again); some do not know what a great poet she was. Every facet of the human condition is explored in this little book - so readable, accessible, poignant and brilliant. For me, I never tire of reading it. And it's lovely to know that...she is still here.

This book is spellbinding and captivating. I couldn't put it down once I started it.

I dedicated one of the poems in my recently published book of poems to Emily Bronte, and did so after falling in love with her own poetry. What divine spark burned within her bosom? What muses inspired her? Although we may never know, we can see their impact. Her poems are stunning, powerful, curious, entancing.

I'm very impressed with this anthology. Explanatory notes and definitions are added in all the right places, making the plays easier to understand than any other annotated Renaissance literature I've read (including Shakespeare). I've read about six of these plays and still haven't had to consult a dictionary; the brief definitions in the margins explain nearly all archaic words and phrases. And the notes are always on the same page as the text, no disruptive endnotes! This anthology is, as a result, remarkably readable.

Many of the important plays of Shakespeare's contemporaries are included in this excellent collection. In other editions of these plays, the reader is left to his or her own devices, but this edition has thorough notes and introductions of the type one usually only sees in Shakespeare collections. Plays that one has often read about, but not actually read, such as Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy, become wonderfully accessible in this superb edition.

This is an excellent anthology--good selection, fine editing, helpful notes, BUT it is printed on incredibly light-weight paper. So much so that it can be hard to read because the printing from the other side of the page always shows through.

This is an excellent selection of plays from authors contemporary to Shakespeare. There are some real masterpieces here, such as Women Beware Women and the Maid's Tragedy, that have been unfairly neglected due to the looming presence of Shakespeare. The editing is generally fine, although perhaps a bit overdone. According to the editors, every second line includes a sexual reference. The introductions to individual plays are helpful AFTER you've read the play. For English Majors and scholars, these plays are an unexplored gold mine!!

thankyou for this opportunity.
I first read this play in 1968, preceding my role as "Fellowship" for my school's production of 'The Reading of Everyman", played out within our School Chapel. In later years I can now better understand about my role not knowing then, the impact that this play would have in my adult life. I am now 57 and a retired Army Chaplain(not that you really retire). Over the years I had lost the books that I had, and now through the ability of [...] I can relive those years and can more fully understand the content. thankyou.

Everyman may have been writen in the 1400s but its values are very true to the new century. 'Everyman' is a story about Humanity's battle for salvation, and that beauty may lose its luster, your intelligence may fade, and your Five Wits may up and leave you, all you have is your Good Deeds to take with you as a compainion to the grave. If you enjoy English Literature, read this book.

Mike Fulton, Freshman Advanced English.

Everyman transcends all times, every time. Written six hundred years ago, the tale remains as relevant now as it was then. I recommend this for anyone who has ever pondered the human condition and wonders about its future. It's all here at "Everyman."

Everyman could be my next door neighbor. Seriously. He could be virtually anyone. This character appears on every television show, every comic strip, and in almost every movie. Why? Because the character "Everyman" IS every man. The trials and tribulations of Everyman are the trials and tribulations of every man. It's that simple. Read this small tome and learn about the human condition. See how man hasn't changed one iota in half a millenium. Scary, huh? --- C.B.

Northrop Frye manages to convey in sweeping master strokes the brilliance of William Blakes poetry and unlocks the mysteries of Blakes symbols. More importantly, Frye engages the reader in learning a new way to look at literature in general and open up his eyes to a deeper world.

Blake sets us in the middle of a rich mythological structure. This is the best book for explaining what that structure is and how Blake will come to an element and illuminate sometimes inconsistent characteristics of that element if viewed in a limited selection. And yet when Blake's work is examined as a whole an encompassing structure is revealed where each part has been carefully delineated and accurately described throughout. Since Blake's collected works are rather massive it is very helpful to have an overview of Blake's view of man when examining how any one particular image is dealt with in a poem. Else, one might think that Blake's portrayals are incongruent from poem to poem, while his vision is actually quite cohesive. Frye wrote another excellent essay on Blake, the title has something to do with the Fourfold Key. It shows the structural similarity between Blake, Marx and Freud.

This punch statement belongs to William Blake .
Enthusiasm , passion and a huge sense of commitment describe the enormous effort behind these admirable lines written by Frye
Every major poet demands from his critic a combination of direction and perspective , of intensive and extensive reading . Cosmology is literary art but there are two kinds : the first designed to understand the world and the other designed to transform it into the human desire .
The part one The argument
1. The case against Locke
2. The rising God
3. Beyond Good and evil
4. A literalist of the imagination
5. The word within the word
Part two The development of the symbolism
6. Tradition and experiment
7. The thief of fire
8. The refiner in fire
9. The nightmare with her ninefold
Part three The final synthesis
10. Comus Agonistes
11. The city of God
12. The burden of the valley of Vision
Fearful symmetry was written during the Second World Two and the principal reason which persuades me to recommend you this wise essay is the fact you can draw a line in the story which starts with Homero , Dante , Michelangelo, Blake and Beethoven and obtain a powerful conclusion about the enormous significance of this admirable thinker.
Beware the fact the unforgettable conductor Wilhelm Fürtwangler whose father was an intimate friend of Hans Schliemann liked to visit Rome and Florence to watch over and over the Michelangelo sculptures and paintings ; this fact allows me to onclude the underground road between the Florentine genius and the Bonn genius .
An indispensable book in your library.

One disadvantage of browsing online bookstores is that you can't simply skim the cover blurbs; sometimes you just have to settle for the opinions of strangers like me. So it may be helpful to read the quotes on the back cover of my copy of 'Fearful Symmetry.'

"To say it is a magnificent, extraordinary book is to praise it as it should be praised, but in doing so one gives little idea of the huge scope of the book and of its fiery understanding . Several great poets have written of Blake, but this book, I believe, is the first to show the full magnitude of Blake's mind, its vast creative thought." -- Edith Sitwell, 'The Spectator'

"According as we agree or disagree with Mr. Frye's contention we shall decide finally on the supremacy of his book. In following the structure of Blake's total vision and relating it to the thought of his age he has triumphantly carried out a task which, given the giant shape of the material, cannot help being immense. His cadences, by sheer explanatory devotion, approach the sonorities of Blake's own." -- 'Times Literary Supplement'

"Frye conducts his ambitious study with unflagging energy, great enthusiasm, and immense erudition." -- 'Poetry'

"An intelligent and beautifully written critical interpretation of the poetry and symbolic thought of William Blake..." -- 'New Yorker'

My opinion: Northrop Frye's literary criticism manages to shift the ground underfoot in the same rare way Blake's poetry does. Frye was the first to crack Blake's code, remove from him the labels of Mystic and Nutcase, and reveal him as a poet who systematically recreates the world. Frye taught Blake to Jesuits, Communist organizers, deans of women, and angry young poets. He was continually pleased to encounter doctors, housewives, clergymen, teachers, blue-collar workers, and shopkeepers, all with a great and deep appreciation of Blake.

Frye's deep appreciation and admiration for Blake comes through on every page, six times over. I reread this book about every five years, each time coming away seeing the world upside down, inside out, and worth renovating.

This book tells the reader all he or she needs to know, and even some things they might not want to know about the food in the Georgian Royal Navy. In this highly detailed book, Ms. Macdonald traces the supply of food from sources to purchasing to consumption from the lower to the Captain. Included are charts of calories, vitamin content, recipes, conversion charts, etc., etc. The book is very readable and of use to the casual reader as well as the scholar. This is a permanent edition to my bookshelf.

Author Janet Macdonald writes an informative and in depth book about feeding English sailors in the early 19th century. Macdonald covers everything that made up the sailors diet, from hard tack (ships biscuit) to salted beef. She writes in detail for example how the hard tack was made, who made it, and how it was delivered, stored and dispensed on the ships. She covers the different subjects throughly and supports her writings with facts from many sources such as the Naval historical archives and log books to name a few sources.

This book is an interesting read for those who want to know about such a integral part of the English sailor's life!

In "Feeding Nelson's Navy", author Janet MacDonald has put together some remarkable research to lay waste the myths of shipboard feeding in the British Navy during the Napoleonic Wars.

The British Navy, in the long struggle against Revolutionary and then Imperial France, kept tens of thousands of men at sea for months on end. Popular myth has them subsisting on rotten salted meat and weevily bread. MacDonald shows the sailor aboard the average British warship ate a sufficient and reasonably nutritious diet. Official rations were based on biscuit (pilot bread for today's readers), salt beef, salt pork, cheese, peas, oatmeal, and beer. These were the foods which kept best in a world without refrigeration or canning. Other foods were provided when available, and the British Navy lead the way in experimenting with dried vegetables, "portable" soups, and lemon juice to stave off nutritional diseases such as scurvy.

The British Navy's ability to supply its sailors with a good ration through years of war were thanks to the efforts of the Navy Board and its victualing system. MacDonald's description of its business techniques may be daunting for the reader, but the lesson is that the system was made to work, around the fleet and around the world, in a consistent manner. No other navy of the period enjoyed so much consistent success at sea.

Along with the details of the ration cycle and the mechanics of the supply system, MacDonald provides considerable insight into "messing" at sea, a vital and often unremarked portion of naval culture.

This book is very highly reccommended to students of the Nelsonian Navy and of the Napoleonic Wars. MacDonald has mined this particular academic niche to its reasonable limits.

Cervantes in "Don Quixote" lampoons the writers of chivalric romances for failing to address the mundane realities of life, chief among them being how their heroic knights errant managed to feed themselves. To a lesser degree, perhaps, the modern authors of nautical fiction likewise do not much address the question of how their seaborne heroes (and their crews) were fed, day in and day out. Undoubtedly this is partly because it is far more interesting to write about boarding an enemy frigate than boiling salt beef, but I suspect that it also has to do with the absence of readily available, reliable information about the subject. Now, Janet Macdonald has addressed this want of discussion with "Feeding Nelson's Navy: The True Story of Food at Sea in the Georgian Era". Coming from a background of writing about cookery, she has tackled the complex and surprisingly mysterious question of how in the world the Royal Navy fed itself during the classic Age of Fighting Sail. Although it might be thought that a matter of such obvious vital importance to maintaining a fighting fleet of tens of thousands of mariners would have been recorded officially in detail, in point of fact Macdonald has had to sift through obscure primary documents such as ships' logs, personal memoirs, and period letters to adequately explore how it was all done: from procuring the foodstuffs (and drink) in the first place, to storing them, getting them to the ships in port and at sea, storing the victuals aboard, preparing meals, and serving them to officer and crews. And even with such diligent research, she must resort to informed speculation to address some questions, such as just how a ship's cook kept separate the rations for the various messes and served them out in an efficient manner. The breadth of coverage is impressive: the Navy's Victualling Board administration, officially mandated rations and substitutes, typical recipes, shipboard organization, disease and vermin, the "hardware" of food preparation and consumption (stoves and dining implements), and surrounding social customs. For anyone interested in the real world of the Royal Navy behind the fiction Horatio Hornblowers and Jack Aubreys, "Feeding Nelson's Navy" is a revelation, dispelling old myths and offering new facts such as the caloric and vitamin content of the men's meals. Macdonald throughout her book illustrates the practicalities of the subject by citing numerous real-life incidents drawn from period documents.

"Old ploughsocks gorge the subsoil of each sense / And I am quickened with a redolence / Of the fundamental dark unblown rose." In the face of such mastery, we cannot comment or explicate, for fear of impertinence; we can only quote, and hope that something of the maker's joy communicates itself.

This was the third book of poetry that this reviewer purchased as a youth, the first two being Eliot's Four Quartets and Rimbaud's Illuminations. This book remains a favourite of ours, fifteen years after its purchase.

The Glanmore Sonnets occupy a central position in this slender but rich volume, as is fitting; it is perhaps Heaney's masterwork. The Elegy to Robert Lowell, the "welder of English" who composed "heart-hammering blank sonnets of love for Harriet and Lizzie" is also noteworthy.

There is much about the sectarian warfare of the troubled six counties of Northern Ireland, but like Dante (who appears via epigraph and translation in this book) Heane!y can transfigure the sins of his land into glorious language that is an exemplar of poetry's redemptive potentiality. "I think our very form is bound to change ... Unless forgiveness finds its nerve and voice."

There is much here about love, nuptial, natural, sexual. At the end of "The Guttural Muse," there is a couplet of exclusion from the joyful earthiness that the poet observes: "I felt like some old pike all badged with sores / Wanting to swim in touch with soft-mouthed life."

There is warfare and loss, violence and bliss, the joys of the flesh and the crucifixion of a country. But after reading the poems in FIELD WORK, the reader will doubtless share in Seamus Heaney's faith that "the end of art is peace."

This was my first exposure to Seamus Heaney and his work (other than seeing the portly fellow with his unkempt white hair walking purposefully around campus here in Cambridge.) It is still my favorite collection of his work. Like all previous reviewers, I will not critique any particular poem, but only give the volume what can be one of my highest forms of praise: The poems have such a resonance that they have stayed with me long after putting the book down. That is a rare feat, in any artistic genre.

With "Field Work" the metaphor of "digging" with which Seamus Heaney began his first volume of poetry ("Death of a Naturalist") has become a succinct and overarching symbol of his entire literary endeavour. In that poem "digging" comes to connote the agricultural roots of his childhood (and of the Irish people) but also the search for word-fodder that his poetry enacts. "Field Work" continues to explore these concerns in a powerful collection of poems. Here the deeply personal ("Glanmore Sonnets"), primarly poetic ("Elegy") and cautiously political ("Triptych", "The Toome Road") sit comfortably alongside one another. While Heaney (as the most famous voice in contemporary Irish literature) has been repeatedly criticised for his silence on the Ulster situation, this volume shows that (as in "North") he is able to deal with its complex issues without taking sides. Always his concern is for the impartial victim (the position he himself assumes, that of the "unmolested orchid" ["Triptych 1"]) and the place he or she occupies among the combatants. "Casualty" describes a friendly but laconic pub drinker (apolitical and an acquaintance of Heaney's) who was killed by the British for defying curfew. "Triptych 1" includes the description of "Two young men with rifles on the hill" - we do not know if they are Unionists or I.R.A., they are two sides of the same coin. Heaney's continual "digging" allows him to move beneath the emotive surface of events and to unearth their common history, culture, landscape, experience. In "Field Work" the very poetry with which Heaney draws these moments is itself a tool to pare bloody and partisan politics back to its single seed, the common root of the Irish field and furrow.

Seamus Heaney, in "Field Work" makes accessible what is best about poetry and, especially, modern Irish poetry. Heaney's impact on modern poetry will certainly extend on into the centuries as he lays down his words in beautiful rythmic language, a language forgotten by many contemporaries, but coming back with many new poets. Heaney's protrait of Irish life, the "troubles", and just his love of people and the land makes this a must read not only for those who love good poetry, but wish to understand the beauty, people, politics, and history of a great people to be free. Heaney writes no bad poems, remains accessible to the occasional reader, and offers more than enough solid food for the critic and student of poetics to keep all happy for long after the read.

When C. S. Lewis read "Phantastes" by George MacDonald he wrote that he encountered holiness. I read "Phantastes" and I agree, but I encountered holiness far more in FQ. I was blown away by the book. The language is archaic, but Maynard does a good job of footnoting the tough words and the hard to understand phrases. He encourages the reader to read FQ aloud and I agree. I have a tin ear for poetry, but even I caught the cadences occasionally and it helped.

Saint George or the Red Cross knight is a flawed character, but he is brave. He fails over and over again, but with fair Una's help, he keeps getting up until he finds grace. I don't catch all the symbolism in the allegory, but the allegorical elements energizes the narrative. I know there is much more going on than what is on the surface.

The author's notes are too cutsey at times, but he shares his enthusiasm with the reader. Maynard comes across as a friend who is encouraging you by saying, "Yep, you're right. This is really great. Are you having fun, yet?" Maynard is obviously a Christian who fundamentally agrees with Spenser on the important things, so Maynard's enthusiasm is real.

Holiness and goodness is palpable in the these pages. It is a life-changing experience. The book is full of gory battles. The battle is real and there are casualties.

Roy Maynard ought to be commended for aiding us in reading Spenser. Personally, I think Spenser tells a better yarn than Shakespeare, with all due respect to the Bard. This book was written by a Christian, with powerful Christian overtones, and Christians will benefit the most from it. The language is archaic, the story is...well...schockingly relevant.

I said in the title that the book is transcendental. What I mean is the book, in certain sections, touches areas that strikes the reader to the core. No, the hero is not perfect. Yes, he fails over and over again. But the battles he fights! The nature of forgiveness, pain, guilt, ecstatic joy--Spenser pulld no punches. And to point out another irony of historical revisionism prevalent in the public schools: Spenser has sexual allusions (fear not, for they are used to show, in the words of CS Lewis, "the fierceness of Chastity" and the bloody fight that its worth); even more shocking is that Spenser is a proto-Puritan, thus debunking the whole Puritan "prude" myth. By the way, the true hero in the book is King Arthur, not Redcrosse; you will see why later in the book.

Yes, the book is hard to read, even with Maynard's annotations. But oddly enough, it is easy to follow, by and large. I will end with a quote from CS Lewis, "...to read Spenser is to grow in mental health."

I have never had much patience with poetry; I prefer a good story to sentimentalism and obscure imagery. Nevertheless, I read this book when I learned that St. George and the Dragon, one of my favorite stories, is in The Faerie Queen. What a pleasure! I could hardly put the book down. The imagery is so vivid and the language so beautiful. Mr. Maynard's notes are very helpful without being distracting or interrupting the flow of the poetry.

For anyone who enjoys reading about knights, legends, and heroic deeds, this book is a must. In a fantasy world, created by Edmund Spencer, the young and inexperienced Redcross Knight must save Lady Una's kingdom from a fierce dragon. The annotations and definitions are a valuable contribution to this work originally written in the 1500's.