Multiples

This is a very comprehensive collection, worthwhile for students and teachers of classics, comparative literature, and modern poetry and for anyone interested in mythology and literature. One of the attractions of this book is the mixture of poems by modern English-language poets and poems translated from foreign languages. The editor has obviously searched far and wide for poems on Greek myth--poems from Romanian, Lithuanian, Chinese, Bengali, Hebrew, Danish, Hungarian, Polish, and Estonian are included in addition to the expected languages. The poems are well chosen and the translations are masterfully done. Another thing that makes this collection so comprehensive is the sheer
number of mythological characters covered. A great collection in every respect!

Mamet, in the introduction, calls these "three and ten minute plays some of the best work I've ever done, but what are they good for?" Many of these plays, especially "Four A.M.", "Cross Patch" and all of the short plays in the "Vermont Sketches" series are between two and five pages and are brief but powerful stories from the man who wrote "Glengarry Glen Ross" and "American Buffalo". One of these, "The Spanish Prisoner", was recently developed into a box office hit starring Steve Martin and Campbell Scott (directed by Mamet himself). Most of them were openers for his plays, and one or two were published in the New York Times. Overall, a very good series of short plays, stories and monologues.

I was fortunate enough to receive an advance copy of this great book! Ralph Lopez has a unique understanding of the American condition, and writes about it in captivating detail. This book has given me a completely new and exciting perspective.

English lyrical poetry is among the world's finest poetry. Many years ago Francis Turner Palgrave, a professor of poetry at Oxford, compiled a highly respected anthology of English lyrical poetry.

I clearly recall my excitement in my first reading of Palgrave's collection. I have since become familiar with several other good anthologies, but Palgrave's remains my favorite.

Palgrave's remarkable anthology of English lyrical poetry is found with various titles: "The Golden Treasury of the Best Songs and Lyrical Poems in the English Language", or "Palgrave's Golden Treasury from Shakespeare to the Present", or "Palgrave's Golden Treasury", or simply "The Golden Treasury". Sometimes one title is found on the book cover and another on the title page.

Palgrave's "The Golden Treasury" has remained continuously in print since 1861, with Oxford University Press editions in 1907, 1909, 1929, 1940, 1964 (Section V added), and 1994 (Section V1 added). New printings occur every few years.

Today this remarkable anthology is now nearly 700 pages. The font size is large and easy to read.

Palgrave's somewhat sparse footnotes are only available for Sections I-IV. Many readers may need a good dictionary for occasional archaic words and unfamiliar references to Greek and Roman mythology. I have found it quite helpful and entertaining to have a copy of Bulfinch's The Age of Fable nearby. Whichever edition and printing that you acquire, I hope you enjoy Palgrave's selections as much as I did. Cheers.

I now enjoy poetry almost as much as mathematics and physics. I credit my appreciation for poetry to the cumulative effects of three Poetic forces: a Publisher plus Perrine plus Palgrave.

I could not resist the attraction of Dover Publications' Thrift Editions of the poetry of Keats, Wordsworth, Burns, Blake, Shelley, Shakespeare, Marvell, Frost, and many other poets. I began to read poetry for leisure and enjoyment.

Perrine's Sound and Sense, an intriguing text on reading poetry, helped me to recognize poetic forms, structure, sounds, and meanings. I began to see the subtleties and beauty of great poetry.

My discovery of the third force, "The Golden Treasury of the Best Songs and Lyrical Poems in the English Language" by Francis Turner Palgrave, was pure serendipity. I had read some lyrical poetry, some odes, elegies, and sonnets, but I had never explored the full scope of English lyrical poetry.

I clearly recall my excitement in my first reading of Palgrave's collection. I am fortunate that my first extended travels into English poetry were guided by a master. I have since become familiar with several other good anthologies, but Palgrave's remains my favorite.

Palgrave's "The Golden Treasury" has remained continuously in print since 1861, with Oxford University Press editions in 1907, 1909, 1929, 1940, 1964 (Section V added), and 1994 (Section VI added). I have the 1994 edition (sixth). The two additions, Sections V and VI, include a sampling of modern poets. This remarkable anthology is now nearly 700 pages. The font size is large and easy to read.

Palgrave's notes for Books I-IV are good, but many readers, like myself, may need a good dictionary for occasional archaic words and unfamiliar references to Greek and Roman mythology. I have found it quite helpful and entertaining to have a copy of Bulfinch's The Age of Fable nearby. I hope you enjoy Palgrave's selections of the finest poets in the English language as much as I did.

It's rare in these busy times to stumble upon a novel worthy of the glorious yet exhausting all-night read. But within the first few pages of "The Good Body," I knew that a good night's sleep was not in the cards. It's 5AM in the morning; my work day is doomed, yet my mind still reels from the poetic beauty and honesty that is this novel. Can a mere book still move a jaded reader to tears? The answer, thanks to Lewis Nordan's "Sharpshooter Blues", Jonathan Franzen's "The Corrections," and now Bill Gaston's "The Good Body," is a resounding YES! What a triumph!

This edition of Granta focusing on 'Crime' takes a unique approach, incorporating contemporary examples of short "crime fiction" with two real-life accounts of murders committed in Glasgow, as told by the murderers themselves. It seems this structure encourages reflexion on our personal reactions to the nature of crime and the extent to which our perception of what is real and what is fiction will color our tolerance of graphic descriptions. While we see violence depicted in film and in fiction constantly, to an extent that many of us feel largely desensitized to its "shock" effects, it is interesting to read these real-life autobiographical accounts embedded in the series of "crime fiction" pieces. Personally, I found myself shocked and horrified as I listened to the real-life murderers tell their all too graphic stories, while I breezed through the less threatening fictional descriptions of similar events. I think the experience which comes by reading these two types of stories, juxtaposed, is what makes GRANTA 46: CRIME worthwhile.

This is why I love this publication. Usually there's a clunker or two in any given Granta, but this one is perfect. Wow.

If you look back to 1983, Granta selected the likes of Ian McEwan, Salman Rushdie, Martin Amis, and Kazuo Ishiguro as the outstanding young British writers. They next had the issue in 1993, where they were less successful in projecting the new award winners and critically praised novelists.

There are good stories throughout this volume, though I liked the Ben Rice and Sarah Waters stories the best. The really nice part of a short fiction collection like this one is that you're bound to find a new writer that you'll follow for the next 10 years. As weak as I thought the 1993 collection of writers, I still found Iain Banks, perhaps the best genre-busting writer of the recent past, and Jeanette Winterson.

If you enjoy finding a fresh voice or you just like reading a good story, I think you'll find this edition of Granta well worth your time. I don't always pick up this sort of magazine because they are often loaded with less than stellar short fiction by otherwise good writers, but this particular issue has many excellent short pieces that will lead you to find the upcoming novels from these artists.

There are some really great stories in this edition. Some are memories of being American in other parts of the world at significant times in history, others recount American lifestyles right here. My favorite story is about a Thai worker at an island resort for farangs (foreigners) and his devotion to his pet pig named Clint Eastwood.