( I ) Books

A Prayer for Owen Meany (Modern Library)

John Irving

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1074 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

AWESOME 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I LOVE this book. I am an avid reader and a writer, and I'm fairly particular about the fiction I read. This book was amazing. The characters are so clearly drawn that they seem like real people. The plot kept me enthralled till the end. The ending itself surprised me (and I'm hard to surprise). Irving is a great writer; his skill at putting together words made the story move along mostly effortlessly. (Though I agree with one of the other reviews - some of the flashbacks were hard to follow at times.) None of his characters are "perfect," which makes them all the more likeable. Parts of the story are totally hilarious, while other parts are sad -- a lot like life. This is the best book I've read in years - and I've read a LOT of books in the past several years! I recommend it to everyone I know who reads a lot.

Editorial Review:

In the summer of 1953, two eleven-year-old boys—best friends—are playing in a Little League baseball game in Gravesend, New Hampshire. One of the boys hits a foul ball that kills the other boy’s mother. The boy who hits the ball doesn’t believe in accidents; Owen Meany believes he is God’s instrument. What happens to Owen, after that 1953 foul ball, is extraordinary and terrifying.

A Prayer for Owen Meany was first published in 1989. This Modern Library edition includes a new Introduction by the author.

Never Let Me Go

Kazuo Ishiguro

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 193 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Will stay with you for days 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Haunting, yet devoid of gratuitous gruesomeness one would expect given the subject matter. Ishiguro plays all the emotional chords very well: this is possibly the least British (and most Japanese) of his books, and I think the comparison with Murakami's "Norwegian Wood" mood setting is inevitable. Original, masterfully done: I don't give him five stars just because the setting is one bit too artificial, and the author does not care about responding to some obvious questions any intelligent reader would come up with.

Editorial Review:

From the Booker Prize-winning author of The Remains of the Day comes a devastating new novel of innocence, knowledge, and loss. As children Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy were students at Hailsham, an exclusive boarding school secluded in the English countryside. It was a place of mercurial cliques and mysterious rules where teachers were constantly reminding their charges of how special they were.

Now, years later, Kathy is a young woman. Ruth and Tommy have reentered her life. And for the first time she is beginning to look back at their shared past and understand just what it is that makes them special–and how that gift will shape the rest of their time together. Suspenseful, moving, beautifully atmospheric, Never Let Me Go is another classic by the author of The Remains of the Day

The Remains of the Day

Kazuo Ishiguro

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 197 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Like Watching Dust Settle on My Grandmother's Finest China 2 out of 5 stars.
2 of 4 people found this review helpful.

There is a reason why there are so few books written about the lives of butlers: they're BORING! Indeed, half-way through and I think I shall retire this book in favor of re-organizing my linen closet.

Bantering and Dignity 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Kazuo Ishiguro was born in Nagasaki in 1954 and moved to Britain at the age of five. He was awarded the OBE in 1995 and the Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 1998. "The Remains of the Day" is his fourth novel, was first published in 1989 and won that year's Booker Prize.

Opening in July 1956, the story is told by Mr Stevens - a butler approaching the end of his career. He has been based at Darlington Hall for many years and, for most of his time there, had served Lord Darlington. While the outside world has changed dramatically since Stevens started out as a butler, the changes within the walls are proving a little more difficult for him. Following the death of Lord Darlington a few years previously, the stately home is now in the hands of an American called Farraday. Unsurprisingly, Farraday is a great deal less formal than Lord Darlington and Stevens isn't quite sure how to relate to his new boss. Furthermore, when once there were twenty-eight members of staff at Darlington Hall, there are now only four. Sections of the house have now been put 'under wraps' - effectively closed down - with fairly radical alterations to what would have been each person's 'traditional' responsibilities. Stevens has become rather worried when some small errors creep into his own work - these, he feels, stem from the slightly flawed staff plan he developed.

Stevens is taken by surprise when his new employer suggests he takes some time off and borrows the car - to the point he, initially, doesn't take the suggestion seriously. However, he starts to change his mind when he receives a letter from Miss Kenton, Darlington Hall's former housekeeper - the first time in seven years he'd heard from her. Technically, Miss Kenton has been Mrs Benn since she left Darlington Hall in 1936 - though it seems, her marriage has recently ended. In her letter she spoke of her time at the Hall as the happiest period in her life and, reading between the lines, Stevens believes she may be willing to return as a member of staff - an appointment, he believes, that would iron out the kinks in his staff plan. Accordingly, having organised a meeting with his former colleague, Stevens takes a road trip to the West Country. "The Remains of the Day" follows Stevens on his trip and, as he looks forward to his meeting with Miss Kenton, he looks back on their shared times together at Darlington Hall.

Stevens proves to be a very stiff, formal, nearly snobbish character - one who has become quite obsessed with 'dignity'. He (rather ridiculously) believes that only the English are capable of 'emotional restraint' required to being butlers - though, as time goes on, it becomes clear that Stevens' emotional restraint has cost him more than he cares to admit. His memories of Miss Kenton tend to focus on professional matters, and - while it began and ended a little badly - for many years, it seems they had got on quite well. Stevens' memories, of course, only tell half of that story. Lord Darlington, naturally, also features strongly in his memories. Stevens had been blindly loyal to Lord Darlington - under no circumstances would he disagree ever disagree with his lordship's decisions, publicly or privately. Darlington had fought in the First World War, though - being an honourable gentleman - believed the Treaty of Versailles was excessively harsh on the German people. He had become an important figure in the period between the wars - and, having played host to many influential people during this time, had even tried to shape Britain's foreign policy towards Germany. Unsurprisingly, his reputation has been in tatters since the Second World War. Stevens still feels Lord Darlington was a well-meaning man, though perhaps misguided - though still denies having worked for him several times during the book.

Ishiguro's books are definitely better than most you'll find on the bookshelves, and many people seem to rate this as his best to date. Personally, I think he's done better - particularly with "When We Were Orphans" and "Never Let Me Go". However, "The Remains of the Day" is certainly a worth reading and, despite Stevens' stiffness, it was hard not to feel sorry for him come the end of the book.

Editorial Review:

After three decades in service at Darlington Hall, Stevens, the perfect English butler, faces doubts about his life in a changing postwar world. Reprint. Movie tie-in. 100,000 first printing. $50,000 ad/promo. NYT.

The World According to Garp (Modern Library)

John Irving

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 292 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

                                          


The World According to Garp is a comic  and compassionate coming-of-age novel that established John Irving as one of the most imaginative writers of his generation. A worldwide bestseller
since its publication in 1978, Irving's classic is filled with stories inside stories about the life and times of T. S. Garp, novelist and bastard son of Jenny Fields--a feminist leader ahead of her time. Beyond that, The World According to Garp virtually defies
synopsis.
----"Nothing in contemporary fiction matches it," said critic Terrence Des Pres. "Irving's blend of gravity and play is unique, audacious, almost blasphemous. . . . Friendship, marriage and family are his primary themes, but at that blundering level of life where mishap and folly--something close to joyful malice--perpetually intrude and disrupt, often fatally. Life, in Irving's fiction, is always under siege." Time magazine commented: "Irving's popularity is not hard to understand. His world is really the world according to nearly everyone."
----This Modern Library edition includes a new Introduction by the author.

The Modern Library has played a significant role in American cultural life for the better part of a century. The series was founded in 1917 by the publishers Boni and Liveright and eight years later acquired by Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer. It provided the foundation for their next publishing venture, Random House. The Modern Library has been a staple of the American book trade, providing readers with affordable hardbound editons of impor-tant works of literature and thought. For the Modern Library's seventy-fifth anniversary, Random House
redesigned the series, restoring
as its emblem the running torchbearer created by Lucian Bernhard in 1925 and refurbishing jackets, bindings, and type, as well as inaugurating a new program of selecting titles. The Modern Library continues to provide the world's best books, at the best prices.

A Doll's House

Henrik Ibsen

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 72 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

A pleasant surprise! 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

This was quite an entertaining play! Very nice - I like it! In all seriousness, it's a fascinating story that revolves around the ideas of gender roles and the negativity that is associated with creating such distinctions in society. `Tis a well constructed (translated) piece, despite originating in Norway.

The characters within speak frequently and frankly, constantly interacting with one another. The simplicity with which this play is written is used to convey a broad message about how society is harsh towards those who do not live up to their associated gender roles. For example, Krogstad is seen by the other characters as a scroungy rogue, minus the charm, associated with being a divorced father of two.

While it may not be the sort of drama that can draw a sleazy crowd with a brief tagline or an action packed trailer, it entices it audience with realistically portrayed characters in a convincing setting with an invigorating premise. Oh, and it speaks for universal human efficacy.

Editorial Review:

A Doll's House is a play written in 1879 by Norweigian playwright Henrik Ibsen. This play, being Ibsen's most famous, is a required reading in many high schools and colleges around the world. Although the play was considered controversial when it was originally published, it's critical view of victorian marriage is now seen as being educational. This work is known for its unconventional ending, which ends in a discussion instead of an unraveling, which are common in most plays.

The Berlin Stories: The Last of Mr. Norris

Christopher Isherwood

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 23 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

A classic of 20th-century fiction, Berlin Stories inspired the Broadway musical and Oscar-winning film Cabaret.

First published in the 1930s, The Berlin Stories contains two astonishing related novels, The Last of Mr. Norris and Goodbye to Berlin, which are recognized today as classics of modern fiction. Isherwood magnificently captures 1931 Berlin: charming, with its avenues and cafés; marvelously grotesque, with its nightlife and dreamers; dangerous, with its vice and intrigue; powerful and seedy, with its mobs and millionaires—this is the period when Hitler was beginning his move to power. The Berlin Stories is inhabited by a wealth of characters: the unforgettable Sally Bowles, whose misadventures in the demimonde were popularized on the American stage and screen by Julie Harris in I Am A Camera and Liza Minnelli in Cabaret; Mr. Norris, the improbable old debauchee mysteriously caught between the Nazis and the Communists; plump Fräulein Schroeder, who thinks an operation to reduce the scale of her Büste might relieve her heart palpitations; and the distinguished and doomed Jewish family, the Landauers.

The Hotel New Hampshire (Ballantine Reader's Circle)

John Irving

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 93 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

An absurd look at life 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

"Hotel New Hampshire" a great read. It looks at the life of an anything but normal family. An impulsive often harebrained yet passionate father, an incestuous brother and sister, etc. The story also contains several family friends like Susie who runs around in a bear suit, the old man Freud who is blind and uses a Louisville Slugger as a cane, and whores and bomb-chucking revolutionaries. Since it is a lengthy story that covers practically the entire histroy of a family, to describe the plot would be too much for here. However, it is a beautiful story of a family and their honorary members.
At times is seems to drag a bit due to it being a lengthy tale, later you'll probably find that it is necessary to set up the next part of the story. Some of the symbolism is heavy-handed and some of the changes that happen come across as abrupt and jarring. For some reason though, this works. It was frustrating, but when it comes down to it, it brought a uniqueness and charm to the writing. It almost seems like Irving reigned in his editors, instead of the other way around.
It is absurd, surreal, hilarious and most of all full of love and has passion for life. It looks at all the things that make us human, love friendship, loss, failure and joy.

Editorial Review:

"The first of my father's illusions was that bears could survive the life lived by human beings, and the second was that human beings could survive a life led in hotels."

So says John Berry, son of a hapless dreamer, brother to a cadre of eccentric siblings, and chronicler of the lives lived, the loves experienced, the deaths met, and the myriad strange and wonderful times encountered by the family Berry. Hoteliers, pet-bear owners, friends of Freud (the animal trainer and vaudevillian, that is), and playthings of mad fate, they "dream on" in a funny, sad, outrageous, and moving novel by the remarkable author of A Widow for One Year and The Cider House Rules.

A Single Man

Christopher Isherwood

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 16 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Fiction

The author's favorite of his own novels, now back in print!

When A Single Man was originally published, it shocked many by its frank, sympathetic, and moving portrayal of a gay man in midlife. George, the protagonist, is adjusting to life on his own after the sudden death of his partner, and determines to persist in the routines of his daily life; the course of A Single Man spans twenty-four hours in an ordinary day. An Englishman and a professor living in suburban Southern California, he is an outsider in every way, and his internal reflections and interactions with others reveal a man who loves being alive despite everyday injustices and loneliness. Wry, suddenly manic, constantly funny, surprisingly sad, this novel catches the texture of life itself.

"A testimony to Isherwood's undiminished brilliance as a novelist." Anthony Burgess

"An absolutely devastating, unnerving, brilliant book." Stephen Spender

"Just as his Prater Violet is the best novel I know about the movies, Isherwood's A Single Man, published in 1964, is one of the first and best novels of the modern gay liberation movement." Edmund White

Bhagavad-Gita:: The Song of God

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Total reviews: 14 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

timeless wisdom for today 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 4 people found this review helpful.

I haven't read any other translation of the Gita, so I don't have any opinion about this translation vis a vis any other translation. However, I can say that this translation is simple to read and understand, and that the message of the Gita has had an enormous impact on my life. I read it every day for guidance and inspiration, and it is a wonderful antidote to the toxic messages that bombard us daily from advertisers and the media. I highly recommend this book.

lucid poetry 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

This is arguably the best translation of the Gita. Most translations are too scholarly (in an attempt to be precise with the original sanskrit) but since there is no modern language to actually translate sanskrit word for word, it typically results in text that is both heavy and inaccessible.

This one is different. A masterful collaboration of both a hindu and a westerner, this Gita is both verse and prose (in an almost mystical balance) and flows like the river. It is in this verse/prose balance that keeps the reading moving forward where the deeper (and most important) messages of the Gita seem to drive it home.

Editorial Review:

The Bhagavad-Gita is the Gospel of Hinduism, and one of the great religious classics of the world. Its simple, vivid message is a daily inspiration in the lives of millions throughout the world and has been so for countless generations.

Here is a distinguished translation that can be read by every person, not as an archaic monument to an ancient culture, but as a living contemporary message that touches the most urgent personal and social problems.

A Doll's House - Literary Touchstone Edition

Henrik Ibsen

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Ladies Be Carefull 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 4 people found this review helpful.

Ladies, if you're unhappy at home, this book is definately for you. Timeless, controversial, and very telling about the said plight of overly self-sacrificing women. It saddens me every time like the painful struggle of some sick child.
Guys, think you have a good perspective of women? Read this book and find out. A must have for any strongly introspective individual, be it man or woman. Enjoy!

Editorial Review:

This Prestwick House Literary Touchstone EditionTM includes a glossary and reader’s notes to help the modern reader contend with Ibsen’s approach to complex human interactions and the relationship between the sexes. Norwegian-born Henrik Ibsen’s classic play about the struggle between independence and security still resonates with readers and audience members today. Often hailed as an early feminist work, the story of Nora and Torvald rises above simple gender issues to ask the bigger question: "To what extent have we sacrificed our selves for the sake of social customs and to protect what we think is love?" Nora’s struggle and ultimate realizations about her life invite all of us to examine our own lives and find the many ways we have made ourselves dolls and playthings in the hands of forces we believe to be beyond our control.