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All the King's Men

Robert Penn Warren

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 176 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

One of the great classics of American fiction reissued as it was originally written.

Winner of the 1947 Pulitzer Prize, All the King's Men is one of the most famous and widely read works in American fiction. Its original publication by Harcourt catapulted author Robert Penn Warren to fame and made the novel a bestseller for many seasons. Set in the 1930s, it traces the rise and fall of demagogue Willie Talos, a fictional Southern politician who resembles the real-life Huey "Kingfish" Long of Louisiana. Talos begins his career as an idealistic man of the people, but he soon becomes corrupted by success, caught between dreams of service and a lust for power. All the King's Men is as relevant today as it was fifty years ago.

In a momentous publishing event, Robert Penn Warren's masterpiece has been restored and reintroduced by literary scholar Noel Polk, whose work on the texts of William Faulkner has proved so important to American literature. Polk presents the novel as it was originally written, and without the deletions required by its original editors. The result restores Warren's complexity and subtlety to an already near-perfect work, charging the characters with an energy and a more tangled web of relationships than previously was available. All the King's Men is a landmark in letters. This new edition brings it fully to life.

"The publication of a new, corrected edition of All the King's Men is welcome
news for all who care about American literature. Robert Penn Warren's
prize-winning novel has remained a classic since its publication more than half
a century ago. Editor Noel Polk has studied the manuscript and all other
available versions of Warren's finest novels, eliminating errors and retrieving deleted material. The result has been to enrich the character of narrator
Jack Burden and his protagonist, Willie Talos, in this story of tumultuous Louisiana politics which also has implications for morals and manners in the modern world." -Joseph Blotner, author of Robert Penn Warren: A Biography

The "Witches": Plays for Children: Plays for Children

Roald Dahl

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 254 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Disasterously wicked, with a smile 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This will continue to be one of the most dazzling examples of children's literature. How can you not love something of so much horror that comes off with such humor and charm?

In classic Dahl fashion, a boy is horrible orphaned to be left with his grandmother, a woman who belives in the dangers of witches.

What follows is a hotel adventure that manages to make witches villainous and yet as properly British as possible.

It's tongue-in-cheek and continuinly clever. I also think it is some of the best imagination Dahl has ever shone.

The Witches 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This is an excellent book for 3rd grade readers. It is very exciting and keeps my child interested. I recommend this book.

A Gem 5 out of 5 stars.
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I love this book! I was at my cousin's house when she had book club, and having read this many times, I forgot how great it was! Luckily, I chose to read it again, and fell in love for the second time! With characters that only Roahld Dahl himself could come up with, this book is a find. An eccentric grandmother, a curious boy, and evil creatures, this book is masterpiece. One of my favorites in the Dahl collection, thank you to the author!!!!

Editorial Review:

A collection of seven short plays following the story of Roald Dahl's book in sequence. Some are for three or four actors and a couple are ideal for performance by a whole class.

Confessions (The World's Classics)

Saint Augustine

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 47 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

In his own day the dominant personality of the Western Church, Augustine of Hippo today stands as perhaps the greatest thinker of Christian antiquity, and his Confessions is one of the great works of Western literature. In this intensely personal narrative, Augustine relates his rare ascent from a humble Algerian farm to the edge of the corridors of power at the imperial court in Milan, his struggle against the domination of his sexual nature, his renunciation of secular ambition and marriage, and the recovery of the faith his mother Monica had taught him during his childhood.
Now, Henry Chadwick, an eminent scholar of early Christianity, has given us the first new English translation in thirty years of this classic spiritual journey. Chadwick renders the details of Augustine's conversion in clear, modern English. We witness the future saint's fascination with astrology and with the Manichees, and then follow him through scepticism and disillusion with pagan myths until he finally reaches Christian faith. There are brilliant philosophical musings about Platonism and the nature of God, and touching portraits of Augustine's beloved mother, of St. Ambrose of Milan, and of other early Christians like Victorinus, who gave up a distinguished career as a rhetorician to adopt the orthodox faith. Augustine's concerns are often strikingly contemporary, yet his work contains many references and allusions that are easily understood only with background information about the ancient social and intellectual setting. To make The Confessions accessible to contemporary readers, Chadwick provides the most complete and informative notes of any recent translation, and includes an introduction to establish the context.
The religious and philosophical value of The Confessions is unquestionable--now modern readers will have easier access to St. Augustine's deeply personal meditations. Chadwick's lucid translation and helpful introduction clear the way for a new experience of this classic.

The Picture of Dorian Gray

Oscar Wilde

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 260 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Wilde sees the world more clearly than any writer of fiction in the last century. It is for that reason that his work is so filled with countless paradoxes and contradictions that challenge the mind and titillate the senses. Wilde lived in an infinitely ironic age, when society had grown so influential as to crowd out the individuals that made it up. Today, we have taken for granted this incongruity and so our writers cannot express the kind of irony that Wilde mastered, despite the fact that we all know that something is amiss.

`The Picture of Dorian Gray' is filled with this irony. The plot shows us the ultimate irony of a man giving up his soul for the beauty of youth--the condition that is exalted in the modern age above all else, intellect, truth, justice, life itself. Interspersed are dialogues and epigrams that persist one hundred years later as some of the finest word handling ever recorded. Even a few samples should compel the potential reader:

"The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about."

"Every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter."

"A man cannot be too careful in his choice for his enemies."

"The only difference between a caprice and a life-long passion is that the caprice lasts a little bit longer."

"Men marry because they are tired, women marry because they are curious. Both are disappointed."

"I love acting, it is so much more real than life."

- "I am on the side of the Trojans, they fought for a woman."
- "They were defeated."

The mastery of wit that Wilde displays must be seen in its context. He was a decadent as much as the characters he portrays are. Ultimately, the disillusion that the decadent faces comes through in the story and the reader is left with a very uneasy feeling upon completing `Dorian Gray.' Is life as absurd as it seems? Is there a solution? Or are we stuck with a life of paradox? Perhaps our current period of decadence will show us an alternative. Until it does, we can enjoy the astounding word play offered here.

Editorial Review:

Enthralled by an exquisite portrait of himself, Dorian Gray makes a Faustian bargain to exchange his soul for eternal youth and beauty. Thus is he able to indulge his desires while only his picture bears the traces of his decadence and the gradual corruption of his soul.

Wilde's only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray was a succès de scandale. Early readers were shocked by its hints at "unspeakable sins," and the book was later used as evidence against Wilde in the trials for "acts of gross indecency" that would make him the most notorious sexual outlaw of his time. A knowing account of a secret life and an analysis of the darker side of late Victorian society, Wilde's compelling examination of art and morality still fascinates readers more than a hundred years after its first publication. This edition has all new apparatus, but retains Peter Ackroyd's introduction from the previous edition as an appendix.

The Pearl

John Steinbeck

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 497 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Keeping It Sad And Simple 2 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Walking through middle school corridors, I'd spy kids in the grade above mine carrying John Steinbeck's "The Pearl" and think them lucky. Judging from the cover it was some kind of sea adventure, probably involving sharks and Jacqueline Bisset. This was back in the 1970s, and I was obviously confused.

Flash forward to the present. Feeling nostalgic, I decide to take the book on after years of wondering. It was certainly short, and Steinbeck is a classic writer, so it seemed a good idea.

A terse morality play about the pitfalls of materialism and the depravity of man, "The Pearl" is clearly a think piece rather than a conventional novel focused on characters and storyline. It made me think, too: However bad middle school was, it could have been worse.

Kino is a poor Mexican Indian who lives off the meager pearls he finds swimming for oysters in the Gulf. One day, desperate for a miracle as his infant son squirms from a scorpion bite, he finds the largest pearl anyone has ever seen, large as a gull's egg and jet black. Kino sees a brighter future for himself and his family, but the jealous villagers and the plutocratic pearl buyers conspire to keep him in his place.

"The pearl has become my soul", Kino tells his wife, who begs him to get rid of it before someone gets hurt. "If I give it up I shall lose my soul."

Steinbeck does nothing to make you care about Kino, his soul, or his wife and child, other than relate their poverty. They aren't people with personalities, but constructs designed to trot out points Steinbeck wants to make. Published in 1947, when socialism was fashionable and Steinbeck a recognized purveyor of the worker ideal, "The Pearl" might pass as a message about the folly of wealth and the value of living within one's means. Yet Kino and his family are clearly living below any decent standard. Collectivist comradeship may be the hallmark of socialist society, but the village Kino lives in is full of thieves and cheats.

As the novel moves slowly on to a finale obvious from the midpoint of the book, one wonders what Steinbeck is trying to say. "The Pearl" is not supposed to be just a story, it's so unsatisfying in that department its clear the Bard of Salinas had other fish to fry. But what?

You are left in the end not really knowing. As a classroom exercise, I guess it can provide some lively discussions if the teacher isn't too much of a tool. There's bits of good Steinbeck prose here and there, like his description of a watering hole where cats take their prey and lap water "through their bloody teeth" and the last image of the pearl itself, which captures a sense of otherworldly menace quite unexpected from this otherwise realist story. As an account of cruel nature, it works in a reductivist way.

But I can't see it as a "classic" in the same sense as other Steinbeck novels I've read. It's no "Grapes Of Wrath". Maybe because it's short it makes for a more popular scholastic reading assignment than "Grapes Of Wrath". But "The Pearl" is no easy read, nor is it satisfying.

Editorial Review:

A fisherman finds the great pearl, only to lose it again. Re-issue of Steinbeck's classic.

The Tale of Three Trees: A Traditional Folktale

Angela Elwell Hunt, Tim Jonke (Illustrator)

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 75 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Wonderful book! 5 out of 5 stars.
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This is a wonderful book for all ages! The meaning is beautiful. Highly recommend!!!

Best Story Ever 5 out of 5 stars.
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This is one of the best books ever; for children and adult. If you have Christian Beliefs, I highly recommend it.

tnvolsgirl 5 out of 5 stars.
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I love this book and so do my kids. I'm sure my grandkids will too. I was surprised at what excellent condition it was for a used book. Even the cover looked really good. Thanks much!

Christian Classic 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

There is something absolutely timeless about this story--that is probably where the "traditional folktale" bit comes in. I'm not sure just how old the story itself is but I can see why it is still loved today. Ms. Hunt does an incredible job retelling this meaningful and beautiful story of a connection with Jesus Christ through sweet, emotional prose and fantastic pictures. Definitely a keeper.

Great story! 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

It's a touching story and the illustration is beautiful. I'm glad I found this book on Amazon. But for now, I think I enjoy the book more than my 2 year old. May be in a couple years he can start to understand the meaning of the story.

Editorial Review:

Once upon a mountaintop, three trees stood and dreamed of what they wanted to become when they grew up. Each of their dreams come true in the most unexpected of ways.

Ten Little Indians (A Mystery Play in Three Acts)

Agatha Christie

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 597 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

My first Christie book... 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

and I'm no kid, believe me. I didn't think I'd like mystery, but this one makes me want to come back for more. It was assigned for my daughter's English class at school, so I picked it up and read it -- in one day. It kept me guessing and flipping back to find clues all the way to the end. Bravo!

Then There Were None-- Best book 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Then There Were None, also published as The Ten Little Indians, was one of the most page-turning thrillers I've read. This book will keep you up all night and day wanting to finish it. This book is about 10 unsuspecting people going to an unknown island for a vacation. Each person is persuaded over for various reasons. The longer they stay, the weirder things get. Each day someone is killed, but there is no other people on the island despite a butler. As the members are being killed off, it leaves everyone thinking. Who is the murderer?

This book will be the best thriller/mystery book you may read. It's darkness and spookiness keeps you interested. The way the book's written makes you feel like you're in the book, trying to save yourself. But you never know which order you may go in. I highly reccomend this book, so enjoy.

Editorial Review:

The first ever unabridged audio CD edition of Agatha Christie's most successful novel. Ten strangers, apparently with little in common, are lured to an island mansion off the coast of Devon by the mysterious U.N.Owen. Over dinner, a record begins to play, and the voice of an unseen host accuses each person of hiding a guilty secret. That evening, former reckless driver Tony Marston is found murdered by a deadly dose of cyanide. The tension escalates as the survivors realise the killer is not only among them but is preparing to strike again...and again...

An Hour to Live, An Hour to Love

Richard Carlson, Kristine Carlson

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 25 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Please read and put into practice in your life. 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I cannot think of a better book to recommend. Those who should be reading it, likely are not and those of us who try to cherish each moment are likely to be the fans. Like preaching to the choir...if only the others would listen too.

Editorial Review:

If you had one hour to live and could make just one phone call, who would you call? What would you say? Why are you waiting? Richard Carlson's sudden, tragic death in December 2006 left his millions of fans reeling, but even their many letters, calls, and emails couldn't erase the loss felt by his wife, Kristine. To try and come to terms with her loss, she pored over 25 years of love letters, reliving the memories and cherishing her late husband's memory. But one letter stood out. Richard had written to his wife on their 18th wedding anniversary and attempted to answer the question: if you had one hour to live, what would you do, who would you call, and what would you say? An Hour to Live, An Hour to Love is a profoundly moving book that shows the importance of treasuring each day as the incredible gift it is.

To the Lighthouse (dramatization)

Virginia Woolf

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Total reviews: 168 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

An insightful, sensitive reading. 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

The idea of Virginia Woolf's fiction being read aloud effectively has struck me as an impossibility. The very interiority of Woolf's style seemed to suggest that readers hear the narrative voice within themselves. This reading proves me dead wrong. Virginia Leishman's reading--and interpretation--added much to my passion for a novel I have always loved. Readers--and listeners--new to Virigina Woolf need to be able to listen for long stretches of time in order to follow the stream of consciousness that propels the story. This commitment will be amply rewarded.

I am glad I purchased this. I will listen to it many, many times.

Editorial Review:

A great literary achievement, and the author's most popular novel!

The serene and maternal Mrs. Ramsay, the tragic yet absurd Mr. Ramsay, and their children are vacationing on the Isle of Skye. From the seemingly trivial postponement of a visit to a nearby lighthouse, Virginia Woolf constructs a moving examination of the complex tensions and allegiances of family life.

Presented dramatized by a Full Cast on 2 CDs.

The Odyssey (Naxos AudioBooks)

Homer, William Cowper

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 140 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

DON'T buy into the Fagles "hype"! 1 out of 5 stars.
3 of 4 people found this review helpful.

Although I respect Fagles as a modern translator, I cannot recommend his translations of Homer...I would probably only recommend his translations of Sophocles's 3 Theban Plays.

Homer's Iliad and Odyssey don't sound like Epics anymore under Fagles...they are turned into mild nice sounding children stories! He tones down Homer to the point that I feel that Fagels wants his personality to shine NOT Homer's! I am gravely disappointed by this.

I also find that he not only forces beauty into the text but adds too much of his personal warmth that gets in the way of the texts and creates a vision of Homer's epics that is truly unsound to the original.

Not only that but the font and design of the print is an eye sore, I don't like the choice the publishers and Fagles gave to the works. It doesn't make for easy reading...

Stanley Lombardo's translations are unparalleled in their print layout, design and font...not to say vivid and powerful evocative translation.

I continue to find Richmond Lattimore's facinating translations the most accurate to how the Ancient Greek language sounds to English ears. I would buy Lattimore over Fagles (and Fitzgerald).

And I still think Rieu's famous Prose version from 1946 is hard to beat for it's modernity and readibility.

...Find out for yourself by comparing a few versions but don't be duped into this mysterious "Fagles hype"!

Editorial Review:

Homer's Odyssey is the thrilling and moving tale of the wanderings of the hero Odysseus after the end of the Trojan war. For ten years he experiences storm, shipwreck and seduction as he tries to find a way home to Ithaca, contending with the wrath of Poseidon but protected by Pallas Athena. Meanwhile, his wife Penelope is beset by suitors who believe him dead...William Cowper's 1791 verse translation captures both the touchingly human episodes and the adventurous sweep of Homer's original.