literature

Christiansen did a fascinating and exceptional job on The Voyage of the Basset! The story is phenomenal; taking you through a dream world full of magic, imagination, and wonder. What a great book! And no matter how wonderful the book is, the paintings are absolutely exsquisite! They are all beautiful! I have to tell you to buy it and read it right now! You're going to love it! And if you loved this book, I know more that you are going to love! Dinotopia (James Gurney), Dinotopia: The World Beneath (James Gurney), The Goblin Companion (Brian Froud), Good Faeries/Bad Faeries (Brian Froud), and Faeries (Brian Froud)! I know you're going to love them all! Enjoy!

If you are like me and enjoy fantasy books, you will love "The Voyage of the Basset" by James C. Christensen, Renwich St. James and Alan Dean Foster. This book will capture your imagination and make you believe you are in the story. This is one of my favorite books because of the adventures it holds.
Imagine you and your family are taking a walk and a little boat with six dwarfs and who-knows-how-many Gremlins on it, is docked right in front of you. The dwarfs invite you aboard and take you on a magical journey of incredible adventures. This is what happened to Professor Asiling and his two daughters Miranda and Cassandra.
I think that "The Voyage of the Basset" is an incredible story. In my opinion, this book takes the best qualities of fiction, which are mythology, fantasy, adventure and imagination and then combines them into the best book I have ever read! And I have read at least 1,000 books. I believe that "The Voyage of the Basset" will capture the hearts and imaginations of children everywhere.

A story about a family coping with heartache and struggling to pick back up the pieces of their torn lives. Full of whimsical illustrations and imagination. For kids and the kid at heart, the only thing you will regret is not going on this fantastic voyage of distant shores and mythical creatures.

Like Patrick below, I was brought up on Guernsey and now live in the US. And I'd never gotten around to reading Edwards' book, until I came across it in a 2nd hand bookshop a couple of weeks ago on Liberation Day, of all days (the anniversary of the end of the German Occupation of the Channel Islands).

Isn't it great? I'd actually peeked into my mother's copy on several occasions and thought it looked kind of boring, and it took me a while to get into it, but slowly I found myself becoming hooked. Half way through, it's difficult to say why I can't wait to get back to it, because it really is little more than one man's telling of his own not extraordinary life. But stick with it and you will probably understand.

This is the first time in 9 years that I feel homesick!

I completely agree with the other reviewers who have described that feeling that you get with only a few books of *living* inside the book, and the sadness that hangs around for a few days when you finish. I strongly recommend this book!

It was like a book that, at first, I'd never heard of, and I was destined to read. I was on a sales trip, visiting the Channel Islands on a whistle stop tour, but still wanted to take my family with me to share the sights of Guernsey. We were waiting to catch the ferry home, having lunch in a pub in the centre of town and for some reason or other, I got talking to a gent who was visiting the Island, simply to put a place to the names described in a book he had just read. The Book of Ebenezer Le Page. He assured me that if I ever came upon this book and read it, I would love it. The following weeks, back on 'the mainland', during other sales trips, covering all other towns, I would just pop into second hand book stores to see (even though I had no idea what the book looked like.) I was in Lyme Regis, again I went into a book store and I felt compelled to ask them if they had a copy of the book. It only turned out that this particular book store specialised in books by John Fowles, The writer of the forword. The particular book was out of print, but YES they had copies. "Hard back or paper back", they offered. Well, needless to say, I have just finished the book and I am now left with a sadness at almost having left a friend behind. At least I had the fortune to share a piece of Ebenezer Le Page's life.

I enjoyed reading the other readers' reviews to see how in-sync we were about this marvelous novel. It was a bittersweet moment when I finished the book. On the one hand, Edwards didn't need to write another word -- this was a masterpiece. On the other, I realized that was it -- no more coming from this wonderful writer. How sad.

My 18-month-old son and I both fell in love with this book at first sight. Between the deceitfully simple black-and-white covers lie the many artistically created surprises. My son loves to flip the solid-colored flaps--under considerate supervision so that he does not tear the delicate figures--to see what's hidden behind and has never ceased to be amazed. As he pages through the book, he would say the names of the featured animals that he has learned, "tigger" "fish" ... he would sit there and look at this book for a dozen times or more, and he always comes back to ask to read it the next day. The beautifully designed and perfectly crafted surprises have really impressed him. It delights as well as teaches. An excellent book for kids as well as "big people" who love good books. I am getting a few more copies for friends with young children. (p.s. Murphy`s "one to ten pop-up surpises" is just as wonderful and enchanting, but a little bit too delicate for our little guy's fingers to handle--to pull, to dial, etc., so I always need to help him with that one.)

Chuck Murphy is a treasure. Children and adults alike will thrill to the magical images revealed with the lift of a flap or the pull of a tab. A pink flamingo, purple butterflies, a blue parrot .... these are just three of the beautiful images that pop up, and the multi-colored finale never fails to elicit a squeal of delight from our two-year old.

We have given several of Mr. Murphy's books as gifts and they are always appreciated, even by kids who normally prefer mechanical toys to books. Two of the pages use tab manipulatives and are a bit more difficult for young children.

Its joined his list of favorites -- He reads it a dozen times at a sitting and has learned to pull the tabs and open the flaps albeit with a little supervision so that he doesn't get carried away and try and pull those amazing images off the page. The only delicate one is the green pull tab of the snake. I've had to fix that twice in the last month. Its so beautiful, I don't mind experiencing it umpteen times a day with my son. Its incredibly educational too -- He's already learned to make tiger sounds!!!

Children will enjoy this book and the illustrations clearly depict TITANIC's sinking and discovery. My daughter pointed this book out to me in 1991. I was surprised to see my picture in it! ( I was one of the US Naval officers to accompany Dr. Ballard on his 1986 expedition to the site.)

I am in love with the great liner that took her first and last voyage over 86 years ago. Titanic's 45,000 ton body was built in Belfast, Ireland, and now rests two miles under the sea! For many, many decades the question was put, over and over again- where exactly is the great liner in the sea?The question (along with many other questions) were answered when Robert D. Ballard discovered the long lost ship. Ballard's book, "Exploring the Titanic" takes you 12,460 feet under water to Titanic herself. "Exploring Titanic" has wonderful pictures, graphics, diagrams and intense information. Even though it is written for about the age of 8, adults might find interest in the book as well. I would have given it a 10, but graphics are not as clear as they could be, and is written quite simply.

I first read this book almost 15 years ago, at age 5 : I loved it, and read it uncountable times. Today it is still just as fascinating. Beautifully illustrated and clearly written, it was the first of many Ballard books that I read. I would also recommend the Discovery of the Bismark and The Wreck of the Isis, just as interesting but less well known. A great way to start reading about the great ships of the past.

Gitanjali is a sweet collection of poems and songs from Nobel Prize winning poet Rabindranath Tagore. These are songs that touch on love, faith, truth, life in general. Tagore has written from the heart. The wisdom contained in these works is startling. This is Eastern poetry that is a wonder to behold. Tagore embraces the personal as well as the universal. He encourages his people to transcend. I refer to this book variably over the years. Its alluring beauty has not faded in any way.

"Gitanjali" is a collection of prose poems by Indian author Rabindranath Tagore. The Dover Thrift Edition contains an introductory note on the life of Tagore, who lived from 1861 to 1941. According to this note, Tagore, who wrote poetry in Bengali, translated "Gitanjali" himself into English. The Dover edition also contains a 1912 introduction by William Butler Yeats.

This English version of "Gitanjali" is a series of prose poems that reflect on the interrelationships among the poet/speaker, the deity, and the world. Although Tagore had a Hindu background, the spirituality of this book is generally expressed in universal terms; I could imagine a Christian, a Buddhist, a Muslim, or an adherent of another tradition finding much in this book that would resonate with him or her.

The language in this book is often very beautiful. The imagery includes flowers, bird songs, clouds, the sun, etc.; one line about "the riotous excess of the grass" reminded me of Walt Whitman. Tagore's language is sensuous and sometimes embraces paradox. Like Whitman and Emily Dickinson, he sometimes seems to be resisting traditional religion and prophetically looking towards a new spirituality.

A sample of Tagore's style: "I surely know the hundred petals of a lotus will not remain closed for ever and the secret recess of its honey will be bared" (from section #98). As companion texts for this mystical volume I would recommend Jack Kerouac's "The Scripture of the Golden Eternity" and Juan Mascaro's translation of the Dhammapada.

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Fluff or Not? Not
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I've loved Tagore since I first discovered him in 'The One and The Many.' Gitanjali is a wonderful echo of peacefulness when everything else may seem awry. At once a prayer of thankfulness, a cry for help, a song of praise, and a quiet rumination, Tagore has captured the essence of what it is to be spiritually awake. I've set out several times to memorize portions just to be sure I have them on hand. A gem that teaches us to float in a world that knows only how to run.

+: lyric, relaxing, awakening, powerful, motivating, and strangely freeing.

Benet's Reader's Encyclopedia is the most complete one-volume encyclopedia based on literature. Its entries are numerous and cover a vast variety of topics, from 'portmanteau words' to 'The Inferno.' I highly recommend this book to everyone who has an interest in literature or who need some extra help in that subject to get by.

A handy reference work for scholars, literature students, readers and booksellers, the headings include authors, titles, literary terms, fictional protagonists, historical personages, and so forth. This is one to keep at arm's reach, right there next to the dictionary.

A quick & ready reference for unfamiliar terms encountered during literary jaunts and journeys, and a great aid for booksellers needing some accurate background information to list a literary find online! One wishes the numerous online booksellers just entering the fray would purchase a copy, and familiarize themselves just a little with the world of books and literature of which they have become purveyors! - I've seen listings that betray the seller's ignorance of the difference between Winston Churchill the British statesman (& prime minister), and Winston Churchill the American novelist! A quick check of this easy reference work would have made the difference between accuracy and diletantism!

I purchased this for myself my second year of college. Being an English major especially interested in the Modernists, it soon became the most used volume in my bookcase. A fantastic quick reference when crunched for time and excellent for understanding those oh-so-esoteric literary allusions. It's wonderful, with references for historical and artistic events and movements, novels, epics, authors, poets . . . a must for any lover and/or student of literature. This would make a fantastic gift, too!

Alice in Wonderland is an extraordinarily fascinating and delightful story, replete with jokes, puzzles, and nonsense of the highest order. But in order to appreciate it fully, the modern, non-Victorian reader requires some guidance, as well as an adequate background on the man and the times that produced Alice. Martin Gardner, the greatest figure ever in recreational mathematics, provides readers with all the information they need to appreciate this story at its various levels. This book occupies a place of privilege in the library of every serious Alice fan.

A joke is always funnier if you understand it, and the Alice tales are so full of inside jokes that you need someone to explain them. The Annotated Alice does just that. Carroll's tales are here, complete and unabridged, and the editors have painstakingly provided every piece of explanation and commentary you could ever wish for. Complete with Tenniell's original illustrations (although, alas, not colorized), this is a book any girl, little or big, can cherish.

In this case the foreign country is in time and space. This book appears to be stand alone logic and fun on the surface. Some may even think it is a children's book. If so why all the courses and scholarly writings on the story?
Some things are self evident as being so short that you can touch your toes. Others may take some time as the reason hatters are mad is the process includes mercury. Still when was the last time you used a bathing machine? Knowing some of information can enhance the enjoyment of reading the story.
You get the original illustrations to boot. So when you are finished perusing this book it can be used as a coffee table conversation book.

I read this a few months ago; these are lasting impressions of the book.

I have read some of Renault's historical fiction, and this moden novel differs. The Charioteer is not infused with the history of a period, no descriptions of politics or great battles or historical details. Writing in this modern wartime setting is, I think, so close to Renault's own world that it evaporates from her prose. The characters and events, what events there are, occur almost in a dreamy vacuum. Renault writes inside her characters' minds, not looking out from their eyes into the world, but inward-turning. It's also a sort of cryptic, poetic style of writing, which I personally did not enjoy so much. If you are a fan of poetry and philosophical meandering, you may enjoy this, but readers looking for a visceral book in terms of place and time setting, characters, action, etc should look elsewhere. The book is filled with emotion, but it's emotion tempered by self-contemplation and self-doubt. The main characters are pressed down tight, a stranglehold on their actions and feelings.

It's brilliantly written, but I didn't enjoy it.

I read this book before ever indulging in Mary Renault's ancient Greek fiction, although this story is every bit as entertaining, even set in World War II.

The two main characters, Laurie and Ralph, struggle with their love for one another as well as their devotion and dedication to their relationship, and their friendship as well.

This book is every bit as timeless as the ancient Greece novels, yet a bit dated of a read amidst modern day views and sensibilities about homosexual relationships. It does, however, send readers back to a time where more value was placed upon the root of a relationship and of love. It transcends the need for graphic sexual display, yet does not hide the nature of the involvement between the two men.

Of all the homosexual themed novels I have read, this is far and away my favorite. Even though it was written over forty years ago, it stands the test of time in its message of understanding the value of love, regardless of gender.

Reading this book as a heterosexual female, I can't say that I identified with any of the characters; but Mary Renault has written a remarkable book that explores the issue of love from various sides and gives us an in-depth view of a people coming to terms with their own sexuality and what it will mean for them in the world at large.

The time is 1940 and the place is England just after the retreat from Dunkirk; in the memorable words of Winston Churchill, it was their finest hour. At the center of the book is Laurie Odell, wounded in action, waking up in a military hospital to the fact that he will be crippled for life. The problem for Laurie is that he fears being emotionally crippled as well. Laurie is a graduate of a rigid British prep school where the head boy, Ralph Lanyon, was the object of his hero worship; Ralph is kicked out in a sensational scandal involving a hysterical accusation of homosexual activity with another boy in the school. Laurie is sexually attracted to Ralph and when Ralph is expelled, he realizes that the attraction was mutual, but that Ralph never approached him because he knew better than Laurie himself did that Laurie hadn't awakened to his own sexual orientation yet, and Ralph was not about to take that responsibility for him. While recuperating in the hospital, Laurie meets Andrew, a young conscientious objector who looks up to him as Laurie had looked up to Ralph. Andrew, however, is a total innocent, and his uncompromising religious views would make him look upon homosexual love as an abomination, even while he is attracted to Laurie. While on leave from the hospital, Laurie runs into Ralph, whom he hadn't seen since he was expelled from prep school seven years earlier, and learns that it was Ralph who piloted the navy boat that rescued him from Dunkirk. Ralph has been wounded as well, however, having had half his hand shot off, so the two of them are basically free and unfettered to start a relationship.

Ralph has grown hard and cynical after seven years of searching for love with increasingly superficial partners, and he has hit rock bottom with his current partner, whose sole attraction is his dazzling good looks. The attraction between Ralph and Laurie is immediate and compelling, and throws Laurie into a dilemma: he can hook up with Ralph and face up to the fact of his homosexuality which he has been hiding from everyone, including himself; or he can remain on a platonic basis with Andrew and remain sexually frustrated. At the core of his problem is trying to resolve how one can be gay and maintain his integrity at the same time. After meeting some of Ralph's associates, he isn't so sure. Laurie doesn't want to be dragged into the gay milieu, and Ralph sees Laurie as his means of escape from that milieu, and the bottom line for them both is, are they homosexual men, or are they men who happen to be homosexual.

Things get complicated when Laurie tells Ralph about Andrew (one of the things that attracts Ralph to Laurie is his fundamental honesty) and although he understands Laurie's dilemma, Ralph isn't about to let him off the hook; he tells Laurie that he has a choice: he can continue to help Andrew tell lies to himself about himself, or he can help Andrew face up to what he is. Laurie doesn't want that responsibility with Andrew any more than Ralph wanted it with him seven years earlier, and he temporizes until someone intervenes and Andrew has to face his own nature up close and personal. The resulting explosion shakes everyone up; Laurie finally realizes that being human ultimately means being true to oneself. What that means for Laurie is resolved at the end of the book.

There are several interesting secondary characters in the story, including Alec, one of Ralph's previous partners, decent, honest, but unable to commit more than superfically, and Sandy, Alec's current partner, insecure, demanding, jealous, but also capable of love, and Bunny, Ralph's latest, despicable, devious, and totally amoral. But the three main characters are the most compelling: Andrew, whose rigid, unbending morality finally makes him snap; Ralph, hard, jaded, yet with a core of innocence and trust that still makes him believe that love is not a myth; and Laurie himself, trying to resolve who he is and what he stands for as a man and as a human being. For all its being a World War II story, the problems and issues are timeless and make the book as fresh today as it was 60 years ago when it was first issued. Mary Renault has shown with "The Charioteer" that she is not only a great historical novelist, she is one of the best writers of the 20th century.

The Consolation of Philosophy is the last work that can be described as classical. Boethius, a Christian scholar (De Tractes)and public servant, penned the Consolation while awaiting death by torture on the orders of Theodoric, Ostrogothic King of Italy. Boethius consoled himself by writing an allegory in which Philosophy, in the bodily form of his nurse, comes to him to clarify his mind, weighed down with unhappieness over his misfortune. The style is called the Menippian Satire, which alternates prose sections with short verse stanzas that serve to reinforce the points made in the subsequent prose. Philosophy shows Boethius that he is not abused by Fortune because, as Boethius agrees that God exists, that He is good, and all-powerful, that nothing can happen which God does not permit. His treatment of divine foreknowledge and free will is sublime, as is his discourse on Time and Eternity. Boethius is heavily indebted to Plato for much of his natural theology. This book became the bedside companion of many people, and was translated by Alfred the Great and Elizabeth I. All this, in a work that runs less than 100 pages, depending on the edition.

This is a must for any student of philosophy. Boethius is the transition from Roman and Neo-Platonic philosophy into the Medieval Period.

I would also recommend this book to those facing doubt in their studies, or college students thinking of quitting. It is a short work, easy to read and great in its comfort.

"Be not overcome by your misfortunes, for the gifts of fortune are fleeting and happiness is not to be found in temporal goods. Only by being like God, who is the highest good, can lasting happiness come to man." Lady Philosophy counsels.

Although the work is neo-Platonic Aristotle and Porphyry are heavily drawn from - so the advanced reader could consider those volumes too.

For a long time, this would stand as the last major work in which philosophy played the role it was accustomed to play in Antiquity; most medieval thinkers would make philosophy the servant of theology and strip it of its profoundly ethical roots - after all, Christianity became the philosophical way of life par excellence. By using philosophy as a character, Boethius emphasizes its vital role in everyday life and the choices that life entails. Although Boethius is usually mentioned in conjunction with Aristotelian and Christian thought, this work is especially linked to Platonism, Stoicism and Neoplatonism: a) it follows the progression of Socratic discourse in a journey that leads one from the suppression of false beliefs towards a gradually clearer approximation of what Good is, and Philosophy is akin to the priestess Diotima of Plato's Symposium; b) the harrowing context in which it was written mirrors the composition of Seneca's Letters to Lucilius; c) its frequent allegorical use of poetry and myths follows the path set forth by the Stoics and Neoplatonists. The first few books free Philosophy's interlocutor from his errors, and Boethius then explores the work's central subjects: justice, the nature of good and evil, providence (themes that also intensely preoccupied Plotinus late in his life). Treating 'Consolation...' only as a compendium of ancient Greek philosophy would be doing it a major disservice, as it would underscore the personal dimension lying at the very heart of the work. Those who forgot that philosophy is a lot more than the mere juggling of concepts should definitely read this key book.

Journey with a guy with much testosterone, but a HUGE heart. I was not looking forward to reading this book for my 18th Century British novel class, but upon starting to read I found it to be a pleasurable story. This piqaresque novel has a humor that I have seldom encountered in other narratives. What is ironic is that Fielding wrote this piece during one of the most traumatic periods of his life. His wife just passed away, his daughter was dying, and he was inflicted with the gout. One would never think it from the clever way the book is written. The point of view gives us an in so that we feel as if we ourselves have roles in the storyline. Rooting all the way for Tom despite his flaws, we find out more about human nature along the way. A good read, light a candle and sit down with some wine like they would've and enjoy this classic comical delight.

I first picked up Tom Jones because to put it bluntly I am a bibliophile and it was a cheap book. However, I was suprised at how engaging and hilarious the story was despite the claims on the back cover, which are often far off. To tell the truth I did not expect to make it through this extremely lengthy tome, I only wanted to satisfy my curiousity.

Although I am a fan of Jane Austen I was shocked by the freshness and wit that Fielding's writing still retains. Every book in the novel begins with an essay by the author. Do not skip these, they are one of the best features of the book. My favorite is the essay before the ninth book which explains the purpose of these introductory chapters. What a riot!

The story of big hearted and big appetited Tom Jones and his adventures and misadventures is one long satirical gem. Fielding's interpretation of morals, piousness, love, and high society is still as hilarious and relevant as it was in the 18th century. For anyone who appreciates wit and history, this is a must read.

Readers will probably be amazed at how modern this book is in a variety of ways. Virtually every sentence is dripping with hilarious irony, and the hypocrisy of various ostensibly pious, upright citizens is pointed out everywhere possible. It's a remarkably kind-hearted book, though, for a work of satire. What makes the experience of reading this odd is the mix of this modernity with the denseness of the writing style. Sprawling sentences abound and there's far more (often hilarious) commentary on action than actual action, though there is definitely no dearth of plot. I found myself spending a lot of time figuring out what the heck a long, convoluted sentence was trying to say quite often. But that said, once I figured it out, I was usually laughing hysterically. All that adds up to a curious creature - a rollicking, yet somewhat slow read. Fascinating and tons of fun.