Book Description
(Book Jacket Status: Jacketed)
Joan Didion’s incomparable and distinctive essays and journalism are admired for their acute, incisive observations and their spare, elegant style. Now the seven books of nonfiction that appeared between 1968 and 2003 have been brought together into one thrilling collection.
Slouching Towards Bethlehem captures the counterculture of the sixties, its mood and lifestyle, as symbolized by California, Joan Baez, Haight-Ashbury. The White Album covers the revolutionary politics and the “contemporary wasteland” of the late sixties and early seventies, in pieces on the Manson family, the Black Panthers, and Hollywood. Salvador is a riveting look at the social and political landscape of civil war. Miami exposes the secret role this largely Latin city played in the Cold War, from the Bay of Pigs through Watergate. In After Henry Didion reports on the Reagans, Patty Hearst, and the Central Park jogger case. The eight essays in Political Fictions–on censorship in the media, Gingrich, Clinton, Starr, and “compassionate conservatism,” among others–show us how we got to the political scene of today. And in Where I Was From Didion shows that California was never the land of the golden dream.
Customer Reviews:
Joan Nadaion.......2007-09-15
Tasteless, meaningless, insipid, Joan Didion is a writer for our times. Her cool detached nihilism dovetails perfectly with a world that abjures conviction and commitment. Even so, her work won't long outlast her life.
Beautiful Collection.......2007-07-29
What I had read from Didion in my college comp. class could not have prepared me for the depth and beauty of her body of work. In retrospect, I cannot believe that my professor only asked us to read ONE essay from this remarkable woman. Her work is amazing! Now I see what thousands of others have always known--that Didion is undoubtedly one of the best essayists and authors alive today. I can't wait to read The Year of Magical Thinking next.
What a great compilation.......2007-04-29
I checked this out from our local library the other day and it turned out to be a serendipitous find. I've read some of Didion's work previously of which _The Year of the Magical Thinking_ was the most recent.
This compilation was actually fun to read. My favourite pieces were the ones that focused on California or Southern California, respectively. She is a gifted storyteller.
I couldn't help but feel a keen sense of sadness for her with the noted timeline of her life (and historical moments, too). She lost both her parents, then her spouse and two years later her daughter.
I would suggest this book to others. It's a real treasure.
Reporting with a View.......2007-04-25
Joan wrote her best when she wrote about California. She's in a league of her own. She writes about California the way it is,the strangest foriegn country in the nation. She gets at the psychic truth of her subject, which is no small thing. One of the very few true writers,ever.
Worthwhile compilation.......2007-03-13
I only became aware of Joan Didion after hearing about her bestseller, The Year of Magical Thinking, which I got, and found absolutely touching. When I came across this compilation, I thought I'd give it a try...I wasn't disappointed...each of the essays/ articles have something to offer, and Didion is truly a gifted writer. I'm only sorry that I had missed out on such a talented author before finding her on a bestseller list.
Book Description
The Collected Stories of Amy Hempel gathers together the complete work of a writer whose voice is as singular and astonishing as any in American fiction. Hempel, fiercely admired by writers and reviewers, has a sterling reputation that is based on four very short collections of stories, roughly fifteen thousand stunning sentences, written over a period of nearly three decades. These are stories about people who make choices that seem inevitable, whose longings and misgivings evoke eternal human experience. With compassion, wit, and the acutest eye, Hempel observes the marriages, minor disasters, and moments of revelation in an uneasy America.
When Reasons to Live, Hempel's first collection, was published in 1985, readers encountered a pitch-perfect voice in fiction and an unsettling assessment of the culture. That collection includes "San Francisco," which Alan Cheuse in The Chicago Tribune called "arguably the finest short story composed by any living writer." In At the Gates of the Animal Kingdom, her second collection, frequently compared to the work of Raymond Carver, Hempel refined and developed her unique grace and style and her unerring instinct for the moment that defines a character. Also included here, in their entirety, are the collections Tumble Home and The Dog of the Marriage. As Rick Moody says of the title novella in Tumble Home, "the leap in mastery, in seriousness, and sheer literary purpose was inspiring to behold.... And yet," he continues, "The Dog of the Marriage, the fourth collection, is even better than the other three...a triumph, in fact."
The Collected Stories of Amy Hempel is the perfect opportunity for readers of contemporary American fiction to catch up to one of its masters. Moody's passionate and illuminating introduction celebrates both the appeal and the importance of Hempel's work.
Customer Reviews:
As a collection stands this is excellent!.......2007-10-01
As with most collections, instead of selections, the work of the author can be somewhat marginal. I would say that the first two collections, " Reasons to Live," and,"At the Gates of the Animal Kingdom," show an author with extreme talent, yet is still in the midst of finding her voice. "Tumble Home," and ,"The Dog of the Marriage," really show you what Hempel can do. She's very original so I struggle with thinking of a name to compare her with. Hempels' work reads like poetry. She is imagistic. She can be called minimalist, but no other minimalist I know of can pack a life into so few pages, with such grace. And she is always, ALWAYS, funny. I will say that she is not for most, her work should be read more than once, as often enough the true beauty of the story will not be accesible the first time. If you love Nora Roberts then steer clear of the Hempel! A true enjoyment to read.
Completely Overrated.......2007-09-25
I read the rave reviews and decided to give this a try and I was very disappointed. I think she tries a bit too hard to be funny and there does not seem to be a theme at all. She goes for 'sophistication' beneath 'simplicity' and I guess it worked for the reviewers. But I see nothing fresh here and the entire thing is contrived. I stopped reading at page 247 after three grueling evenings. The style, the content, the sentences... nothing in here was worth it for me.
Interesting mind.......2007-09-03
Amy Hempel writes about what goes on in our imagination but we don't usually say out loud. She has an enchanting style, a unique point of view and a very intelligent approach and way of looking at otherwise average situations. I experienced a few laugh out loud moments reading this, recommended it to friends and family and they all recognized a similarity to my strange imagination and somewhat silly, introspective mind.
Pure narration............2007-06-27
It's all in that word. If you like reading stories - every kind of story - this is THE book for you. Amy Hempel's writing style is simply perfect.
Hugely overrated.......2007-06-12
I believed the hype about this author. Her books were impossible to find and going for huge prices on the Internet, and Chuck Palahniuk said she was great, so she had to be good, right? Nope. I read the collection shortly after it became available, and again recently, thinking I might find it better with re-reading. As several others have said, these stories are disappointing. Frankly they remind me of the pretentious horse pucky a lot of us turned out in college creative writing classes.
Customer Reviews:
Has stayed with me for 10 years.......2007-07-06
I bought this book maybe 10 or 12 years ago very shortly after it was published when I found it in a gift shop near my house. I fell in love with it standing in the store browsing through it and had to take it home. It has travelled with me to 4 states and 6 homes and has consistently been unpacked and placed right back on my bookshelf where it belongs. One of only about 10 books that I can say that about. It inspires me whenever I look at it, full of the most obvious and wonderful wisdom told in the most eloquent voice of Brian Andreas. You will connect with several of the stories you read, probably most of them, and like me you will want to hang them on your wall to remind you daily of how you really feel in your soul. This is a great find.
story people rule.......2006-07-21
I bought this book for a friend after he discovered the website and loved all the drawings and stories. I don't think anyone can escape from being touched by them. There is something in there for everyone, for every situation. I highly recommend you give it to someone you love today.
Silly, Witty and Wise.......2003-07-26
This little book defies classification. It is a collection of goofy-looking, childlike drawings, on one page, and enigmatic strange little aphorisms, on the facing page, all the way through the book. The pages aren't numbered and there are no chapters, so you just have to wander around and experience whatever you happen to find. Whatever time you spend with this book will be worth it.
Author Brian Andreas is one who thinks outside the box. He draws outside the box, too. And you will soon realize, outside the box is a very good place to be. A place to consider what is really important and meaningful: Love, relationships, children, magic. These are the important things.
The childlike manner is deceptive. This is a book of serious wisdom and serious art, with a silly and childlike appearance. If you can play outside the box, you will love this book, and you will want to give it to all your out-of-the-box friends.I can't recommend Mostly True too highly! Reviewed by Louis N. Gruber
Warm and Fuzzy.......2002-08-16
I saw this book in a boutique in Paducah, KY about 4 years ago. Flipping through a few pages, I needed no more convincing. I purchased the book, read it and placed it in our bookcase. Within the last four years, I have had two children and moved to a different town. I was unpacking some boxes the other day when I found this book. There I sat on the floor, reading through it. I couldn't stop until I was done. I logged on to find more of Brian Andreas's work. It is amazing. So simple, yet so touching. You have to read it!
Mostly Great.......2002-01-01
I wish I had discovered this fascinating work earlier. The stories and drawings help me put things in a perspective that simplifies the complex. It makes me appreciate my surroundings and to understand the value of family and friendships. What a great way to express ones thoughts, feelings, fears and enlightenment. It is impossible to find just one favorite story.
Customer Reviews:
Classic.......2007-05-11
Now that I've read everything by O'Connor (including works that were part of her thesis for her degree in writing) I am still amazed and inspired by her work. I'm not from the south or Catholic and I was not alive during the eras of which she wrote, but her writing transcends region and time. My favorites remain A Good Man is Hard to Find, Everything That Rises Must Converge, and Revelation, but I love all her stories, although I find the novels a bit more challenging - I think short story was her finest form. Her ability to mix desperation and violence with comedy is amazing, and often when I read her I think: "I shouldn't be laughing at that." I often wonder what additional work she would have produced if she had not died so young. Highly recommended.
Great literature in great binding.......2007-01-16
I am thoroughly enjoying this authoritative collection of O'Connor's writings. The writing speaks for itself as truly great and unique. This particular book is very classy and well put together; an excellent choice for someone with a significant interest in O'Connor.
Amazing Grace.......2006-01-21
How sweet the sound that saved this wreched human race. O'Connor writes of God's love and redemption of humanity. She uses exaggeration to make her point. Her characters are so very silly, obtuse, bigoted, loathsome they become cartoons, yet there is a deep integrity to their shallowness. She's not making fun of them, but giving them the justice of a pitiless description. Indeed they do not seem judged, but naked -- the fruits of their stupid, misguided ideas and actions on display. And these children of God do shocking things to others and themselves. And yet . . ..
And yet God allows them to live and learn, or not learn if that is their inclination. He gives them this freedom. He loves them. How can this be? How?
I love O'Connor for her art, her convictions, her courage, and her love. She is so very true and honest.
In addition to her novels and a thorough selection of short stories, there is a chronology of her life and a selection of her letters which are rewarding reading. The book itself is a wonderful object. The pages are of fine paper. The binding is such that you can lay it open on a table without breaking its back, and the pages will not move unless a breeze or you do so.
a lovely book.......2004-12-23
Oh yes! I adore her, and so do my mum and dad. They talk about her all of the time, and so I grew up with the prose ringing in my ears. I am so pleased to be reading her now.
Just Read It All.......2004-09-02
The complaints about the poor organization of the collection can be overcome by simply reading it from front to back. Surely it is that good.
My foray into the works of Flannery O'Connor, a southern, gothic author of darkly humorous novels and short stories came via a recommendation in Harold Bloom's, "What to Read and Why." As it turned ot, I had read one of her short stories, "A Good Man is Hard to Find," in a collection somewhere and had been surprised and shocked, by the turn of events and ending of the story, so much so, that I remembered it instantly, even though it has to have been thirty years since I read it. I enjoyed everything, short stories, novellas, and even her letters. She writes about southern Christ-haunted people, most backward, all damned, but many redeemed. Bloom says that according to her, we are all damned but one should put that aside and simply enjoy her beautiful, grotesque, and wonderful comedic stories. Her protagonist is often a woman, forced to take on a role and duties she didn't sign up for but resignedly and with no illusions playing and discharging both out of a sense of morality or necessity; those women are usually the most superior beings in her stories.
Many of her insights stick with me months afterwards. For example, O'Connor says in one of her letters, "...Hazel's integrity lies in his not being able to do so. Does one's integrity ever lie in what he is not able to do? I think that usually it does, for free will does not mean one will, but many wills conflicting in one man. Freedom cannot be conceived simply. It is a mystery and one which a novel, even a comic novel, can only be asked to deepen." That brought tears to my eyes -- perhaps because it is so beautifully put.
Amazon.com
Although Jorge Luis Borges published his first book in 1923--doling out his own money for a limited edition of Fervor de Buenos Aires--he remained in Argentinian obscurity for almost three decades. In 1951, however, Ficciones appeared in French, followed soon after by an English translation. This collection, which included the cream of the author's short fictions, made it clear that Borges was a world-class (if highly unclassifiable) artist--a brilliant, lyrical miniaturist, who could pose the great questions of existence on the head of pin. And by 1961, when he shared the French Prix Formentor with Samuel Beckett, he seemed suddenly to tower over a half-dozen literary cultures, the very exemplar of modernism with a human face.
By the time of his death in 1986, Borges had been granted old master status by almost everybody (except, alas, the gentlemen of the Swedish Academy). Yet his work remained dispersed among a half-dozen different collections, some of them increasingly hard to find. Andrew Hurley has done readers a great service, then, by collecting all the stories in a single, meticulously translated volume. It's a pleasure to be reminded that Borges's style--poetic, dreamlike, and compounded of innumerable small surprises--was already in place by 1935, when he published A Universal History of Iniquity: "The earth we inhabit is an error, an incompetent parody. Mirrors and paternity are abominable because they multiply and affirm it." (Incidentally, the thrifty author later recycled the second of these aphorisms in his classic bit of bookish metaphysics, "Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Teris.") The glories of his middle period, of course, have hardly aged a day. "The Garden of the Forking Paths" remains the best deconstruction of the detective story ever written, even in the post-Auster era, and "Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote" puts the so-called death of the author in pointed, hilarious perspective.
But Hurley's omnibus also brings home exactly how consistent Borges remained in his concerns. As late as 1975, in "Avelino Arredondo," he was still asking (and occasionally even answering) the same riddles about time and its human repository, memory: "For the man in prison, or the blind man, time flows downstream as though down a slight decline. As he reached the midpoint of his reclusion, Arredondo more than once achieved that virtually timeless time. In the first patio there was a wellhead, and at the bottom, a cistern where a toad lived; it never occurred to Arredondo that it was the toad's time, bordering on eternity, that he sought." Throughout, Hurley's translation is crisp and assured (although this reader will always have a soft spot for "Funes, the Memorious" rather than "Funes, His Memory.") And thanks to his efforts, Borgesians will find no better--and no more pleasurable--rebuttal of the author's description of himself as "a shy sort of man who could not bring himself to write short stories." --James Marcus
Book Description
The New York Times bestseller, "a marvelous new collection of stories by . . . one of the most remarkable writers of our century" --Richard Bernstein, The New York Times
Jorge Luis Borges has been called the greatest Spanish-language writer of our century. Now for the first time in English, all of Borges' dazzling fictions are gathered into a single volume, brilliantly translated by Andrew Hurley. From his 1935 debut with The Universal History of Iniquity, through his immensely influential collections Ficciones and The Aleph, these enigmatic, elaborate, imaginative inventions display Borges' talent for turning fiction on its head by playing with form and genre and toying with language. Together these incomparable works comprise the perfect one-volume compendium for all those who have long loved Borges, and a superb introduction to the master's work for those who have yet to discover this singular genius.
* Exquisitely packaged edition with French flaps and rough front, quality paper stock
* Named a Notable Book by the New York Times, Publishers Weekly, and the American Library Association
"An unparalleled treasury of marvels." --Chicago Tribune
"An event worthy of celebration . . . Hurley deserves our enthusiastic praise for this monumental piece of work." --San Francisco Chronicle
Customer Reviews:
Sobering readings.......2007-05-08
After reading Borges Collected Fictins I have found it difficult to take most other authors seriously.
Borge's prose is fluent and easily read. The stories are short, sometimes even short-short, which makes them suitable for reading before going to sleep. The stories have a basic structure with a beginning, middle, and end.
So much for the easy part! There is the superficial text, of course, but within each story are metaphors and philosophical questions that stimulate my mind. Each story reads like a riddle - that's the closest simile I can think of. Borges is never obscure, even when the riddle is unsolvable it is very clear what he means. Borges himself does not claim too have any answers that are general. That makes his writings so very human.
Life for Borges is just too rich and complex to recude it just too a series of problems and their solutions. Therefore, and this is possibly Borges's only firm stance, he is decisively against any form of dictatorship or mass-movement, since they destroy the identities, and importance, of the individual.
Magnificent.......2007-05-07
Excellent collection of Borges' Fictions. Borges transports you to reasonings and philosophies not so common in the world we live in. There is a message behind every single story, one has to look deeply to see it.
Excellent Book, Grating Translation.......2007-02-18
I will admit that my Spanish is not amazing, but I understand enough to get a sense of Borges' work, and I have read enough translations to be able to speak with a certain degree of confidence. And I have to ask, who let Andrew Hurley near this book, and were they appropriately disciplined?
His English is flat and completely without style, very much the work of an academic. As Eric Ormby wrote in The New Criterion, "he appears not to have a good sense of English prose style, or to command such a style himself." Alberto Manguel hammered the nail in Hurley's coffin when, for the Observer, he wrote: "English-language readers have either to resign themselves to the old, barely serviceable translations, or submit to the new, barely serviceable translations by Andrew Hurley, Professor of English at the University of Puerto Rico. Hurley has no ear for the rhythms of Borges's language." I could not agree more. Hurley's translation was minimalist where Borges was baroque, stiff where Borges was supple, and obvious where Borges was sly.
Hurley's endnotes were also obsessive to the point where I began to wonder if he was going to annotate every concept that might be above the reading level of a five year old. This felt more like a kind of intellectual arrogance rather than scrupulousness. And the change of the title "Funes the Memorious", quite possibly the most compelling and apt translation of a title in all of short fiction, to the clunky and obscene "Funes, His Memory" is frankly nothing less than a sin against literature.
I have given this book three stars because it is Borges (who deserves all five) and because it is a useful thing to have all his stories in one place in English. I would have given it five if Hurley had not made such a colossal mess of it.
I now describe my pet turtle as monstrous.......2007-02-06
I have always been hesitant to read fiction originally written in any language except English. I'm fickle enough as it is without needing another person's biases and tendencies interfering with my own... and so it was with great trepidation that I bought Hurley's collection.
The stories in summation: marvelous. Hurley's work? I'll never be able to read these Borges stories again without Hurley's translation heavily influencing, and that is an endorsement. I suspect that for most people their first experience of Borges will always be their most memorable, and their preferred. I don't think there are many "On first reading Chapman's Homer" instances: that initial shock of strange and monstrous (perhaps my favorite Borgesian adjective) is evident through any kind of translation so long as it is basically competent. Whatever arguments others may have with Hurley's, they can at least admit that his is that.
But I feel there's more: a playful lilt to the language, one that isn't overly scholarly or mechanical. Hurley's introduction briefly talks about the particular style Borges would become famous for: a laconic, matter-of-fact myth disguised as mere sentences, with the employment of words normally alien to each other. Hurley serves this style well, and his presentation of the most memorable lines of each story were the ones that stayed with me even after readings of several different versions. I'm not exaggerating when I say that I sat down with four different versions of "The Library of Babel" and compared them sentence by sentence. I was living in a bookstore at the time, stuck on an island in the middle of the Aegean and co-habitating with an Englishman who held Irby's version as the superior. I listened politely, and compared, and found that even after ouzo and attempts at persuasion it was my original experience that resonated. Reading Irby's left in me a strange longing for Hurley's words. I remember this line in particular:
"They were urged on by the delirium of trying to reach the books in the Crimson Hexagon: books whose format is smaller than usual, all-powerful, illustrated and magical." (Irby)
"They were spurred on by the holy zeal to reach - someday, through unrelenting effort - the books of the Crimson Hexagon - books smaller than natural books, books omnipotent, illustrated, and magical." (Hurley)
It was that "someday, through unrelenting effort" which stuck with me, and its absence in Irby doomed the entire enterprise. Is this a lack of Irby's, or my own bias towards the translation I first read? I'm not sure, but in almost every way I preferred Hurley.
There seems to be a distinct wave of anti-Hurley sentiment, and it's of the "I read a review that said it, but I'll assume that opinion as my own" variety. I eventually found that the Irby-devoted Englishman hadn't even bothered to read the Hurley version. Don't make his mistake of dismissal-by-proxy: try it for yourself.
Some Of The Greatest Short Stories Ever Written.......2007-01-29
Borges masterfully weaves philisophical fragments between strands of reality and fantasy. If his words were not translated into English, the rest of the world would be learning Spanish.
Book Description
Many thousands of readers consider Philip K. Dick the greatest science fiction mind on any planet. Since his untimely death in 1982, interest in Dick's works has continued to mount and his reputation has been further enhanced by a growing body of critical attention. The Philip K. Dick Award is now given annually to a distinguished work of science fiction, and the Philip K. Dick Society is devoted to the study and promulgation of his works.
This collection includes all of the writer's earliest short and medium-length fiction (including some previously unpublished stories) covering the years 1952-1955. These fascinating stories include We Can Remember It for You Wholesale, The Cookie Lady, The World She Wanted, and many others.
"A useful acquisition for any serious SF library or collection". -- Kirkus Reviews
"The collected stories of Philip K. Dick is awe inspiring". -- The Washington Post
"More than anyone else in the field, Mr. Dick really puts you inside people's minds". -- Wall Street Journal
Customer Reviews:
cool book but title story is waaaaay to short.......2007-09-12
all of the stories in this one are good sci-fi stories. unfortunatle the title story for which i bought the book was only like 13 pages long:( We can remember it for you wholesale was the story on which the movie TOTAL RECALL was based on.
Early work shows promise.......2007-05-28
The forward said that this collection of short stories was PKD's early work and it shows. I had problems with some of his endings but found the majority of the stories enjoyable. I should also mention that not all of the stories are really science fiction. I am, however, looking forward to reading some of the later works by (...) to see the development of the author.
The Evolution Of Dick's Short Stories.......2007-04-03
In May of 1987 Underwood-Miller published a five volume set titled "The Collected Stories of Philip K. Dick", with the second volume being subtitled "Second Variety". In September of 1990 the Carroll Group republished the second volume with a few of changes including changing the subtitle to "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale". In addition to the change of title, they removed the title story from the original volume and replaced it with the new title story. This was probably done to take advantage of the release of the movie "Total Recall" which was based on the story. The last change they made was to move the story "Prominent Author" from the last story to the third story.
This is another great volume in the collection of Philip K. Dick's early short fiction. The original intent of the series was to present the stories in the order in which they were believed to have been written instead of the order in which they were published. However, by switching stories and changing the order in this book, the stories are now no longer in either order. There are 27 stories here, so it doesn't make sense to go through them all in detail, but there are several ones of note:
The title story, as mentioned earlier, was the basis for the movie "Total Recall", and for those familiar with the movie the first part of the story matches the first part of the movie very well. Douglas Quail is unsatisfied with his life and has a desire to go to Mars, he decides to check-out Rekal and is convinced to get the memories of a trip there as a secret agent implanted. At some point the two stories diverge though, and while the movie turns into an action film, the story takes a different twist at the end. The story was written in 1965 and first published in 1966, so it is much newer than the rest of the stories in this book which were mostly written and published in 1953 and 1954. In 1999, this story tied for 32nd on the Locus All-Time Poll for novelettes.
There are stories about our humanity such as "Progeny", which takes a look at what our society might be like if parents are taken out of the business of raising their children. There is "Human Is", which looks at what it really means to be human. "Breakfast at Twilight" involves at a family which is pulled into the near future to witness a war which appears to be the end of civilization. Lastly, there is James P. Crow, which looks at a future society which has forgotten that humans created robots and instead believes the reverse.
This is a very good collection, despite the decision to break away from the chronological order of the stories. The original collection was ranked 3rd on the Locus poll for collections in 1988. The diversity is greater here than in the first volume. Some of the stories may be a bit predictable, however that is largely due to other writers copying Dick's style and ideas. This volume leaves the reader looking forward to volume 3 and the continued evolution of Dick's writing.
Laboratory Of The Strange.......2003-04-02
Philip K. Dick's short stories are the best work of one of the greatest ( science) fiction writers in the history of the genre. His spare style leaves plenty for the imagination, as opposed to those writers who feel it necessary to fill their pages with endless technological detail. His staid characters are straight out of the Eisenhower Years, and are put through hoops such as no one has dreamed up before or since. Brilliant premises create psychological dilemmas that almost always resolve unexpectedly. As testament to his fertile imagination, five movies directly credit his short stories, and many more arguably rip him off. This five volume set comprises half of my ten most treasured books; if you like fiction, short stories, or genius social commentary, buy these stories.
First Book of his that I read.......2003-03-13
I must have missed something about this book. I can't believe that Minority Report and Total Recall, two movies that I did enjoy, came from this author. The stories seem to be missing something. Perhaps, this version should not have been the first works by this author for me to have read.
Book Description
The only hardcover edition of Roald Dahl’s stories for adults, the Collected Stories amply showcases his singular gifts as a fabulist and a born storyteller.
Later known for his immortal children’s books, including Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, and The BFG, Dahl also had a genius for adult short fiction, which he wrote throughout his life. Whether fictionalizing his dramatic exploits as a Royal Air Force pilot during World War II or concocting the ingeniously plotted fables that were dramatized on television as Tales of the Unexpected, Dahl was brilliant at provoking in his readers the overwhelming desire to know what happens next—and at satisfying that desire in ways that feel both surprising and inevitable.
Filled with devilish plot twists, his tales display a tantalizing blend of macabre humor and the absurdly grotesque. From “The Landlady,” about an unusual boardinghouse that features a small but very permanent clientele, to “Pig,” a brutally funny look at vegetarianism, to “Man from the South,” in which a fanatical gambler does his betting with hammer, nails, and a butcher’s knife, Dahl’s creations amuse and shock us in equal measure, gleefully reminding us of what might lurk beneath the surface of the ordinary.
Customer Reviews:
Dahl makes you laugh and..........2007-09-10
forces you to look in the mirror. I was introduced to Dahl by my 8th grade English teacher who saw something very dark inside of me (yes, another plug for better teacher pay!). "Pig" gave me nightmares, "Skin" made me wonder about the greed of human beings. What's missing are the "My Uncle Oswald" stories, but this collection is absolutely priceless!
Splendid book.......2007-06-11
Excellent book from all points of view. Sewn edition, bound and quality of printing. I have another edition of Roald Dahl but unfortunately it's a paperback edition and the pages disappear one after another. I decided never to buy again paperback books. When I saw that Roald Dahl was published in Everyman's Library I immediately decided to order it and I am more than happy with what I received. It's very good for work with my students and I will leave it to my children as well. Many thanks to the publishers.
A great collection of Roald Dahl's short stories!.......2007-03-11
I actually have a compendium of Roald Dahl's stories in a different edition but when I came across this edition with the inimitable Mr Dahl on the cover I had to buy it. It is a lovely edition that collects all of Dahl's short stories in one book, and I love the fact that it comes with a lovely red satin page marker! A great addition to any library.
Greatest Writer Ever.......2007-02-06
This collection of stories by Roald Dahl is great. He was one of the best and entertaining writers that composed such original work. I have read some of his stories more than once. I read them and when I am in the mood I pick them up again and read them again. I highly recommend these to anyone who especially has never read anything by Mr. Dahl.
It doesn't get any better than this!.......2006-11-10
I grew up on Roald Dahl stories, not just his classic children's stories, but dark tales like "The Skin" and "The Taste" and "Lamb to the Slaughter." Dahl was a master storyteller, able to get under the skin in the most unconventional ways. It is real treat to have all his "adult stories" gathered here in one volume. Dahl's stories always had a sinister element, exposing the anxiety and frustration that lied beneath mundane middle class life. While ostensibly these stories qualify as "British humor," they have long transcended the bounds of Great Britain and become part of the world's collective imagination, inspiring everyone from Alfred Hitchcock to Tim Burton with his tales of the macabre and the fantastical.
Book Description
Published in chronological order, with extensive story and bibliographic notes, this series not only provides access to stories that have been out of print for years, but gives them a historical and social context. Series editors Scott Conners and Ronald S. Hilger excavated the still-existing manuscripts, letters and various published versions of the stories, creating a definitive "preferred text" for Smith's entire body of work. This first volume of the series, brings together 25 of his fantasy stories, written between 1925 and 1930, including such classics as "The Abominations of Yondo," "The Monster of the Prophecy," "The Last Incantation" and the title story.
Customer Reviews:
A Literary Treasure.......2007-09-12
This first volume in what promises to be the definitive collection of short fiction by Clark Ashton Smith is nothing short of a literary treasure. For those who have previously had to satisfy their craving for Klarkashtonia by seeking it out in scattered and hard-to-obtain tomes, The Collected Fantasies of Clark Ashton Smith is a blessing nonpareil. Do yourself a favor and get it while it lasts.
Indispensable: Smith's fantasies restored to their full splendor.......2007-08-15
As established here and reinforced by the second volume, all five books in this series are essential to anyone interested in Smith's work and literate fantasy as a whole. Connors and Hilger have followed earlier textual studies by Donald Sidney-Fryer, Steve Behrends, and others with extensive studies of their own to restore as much of the glory to Smith's texts as is currently possible - and what glory! Smith is one of the few fantasists capable not only of creating multiple fantasy cultures, but with investing each of those worlds with its own distinct atmosphere, tone, and use of language. Many earlier versions of these texts toned down the richness, eroticism, and grotesquerie of these stories in order to appeal to what Smith's editors deemed was acceptable to the lowest-common-denominator among its readership. Scores of deletions, simplifications, bowdlerizations, and other alterations which have served to remove the sheen from these works have here been corrected through painstaking attention to all available manuscripts and correpondence. Here, at long last, is Smith in all his mordant, coruscating splendor. If one considers all of this, along with intelligent introductory material; alternate endings; unpedantic notes to each story detailing its composition, publication history, and its place within the larger context of Smith's work; as well as Jason Van Hollander's inspired integration of Smith and his sculptures into the macabre and affectionate cover art; Night Shade and these editors have presented to all lovers of fantasy an edition of the master's prose fiction which will serve as the benchmark for many years to come.
Smith at last.......2007-04-19
What happened to Lovecraft with S.T. Joshi and David E. Schultz, or to Robert E. Howard with Patrice Louinet, has just happened to Clark Ashton Smith. Two long devoted scholars, Scott Connors and Ron Hilger, have spent years editing this definitive edition of the collected tales and short stories (some of them being in fact extended prose poems of an incredibly bewitching quality as the CAS scholar Donald Sidney-Fryer has often pointed out) of Clark Ashton Smith. This is what any serious CAS fan has been waiting for.
First Volume of the Ultimate Smith Collection.......2007-04-08
One cannot imagine a better representation of the fantastic fiction of the late Clark Ashton Smith than that to be found in this and the forthcoming volumes in this collection. Connors and Hilger have tirelessly restored Smith's stories to their original form after comparing the texts of holographic manuscripts, published versions, and even bits and pieces from Smith's personal correspondence. The stories are being published herein in chronological order with notes for each tale and more (including an alternate ending for one tale that was deemed too "racy" at the time it was written).
The sturdy and handsome library binding, excellent typesetting, and beautiful dustcover top off this first of what cannot help but be the definitive Smith collection.
Fans of Smith's fantasmagorical tales, this collection tops all others.
Literary Justice at last.......2007-04-01
Superbly printed and bound the words of CAS here receive literary justice. This first volume of a planned set of five looks to be the definitive edition. Highly recommended.
Book Description
The forty-seven stories in this collection, selected by Singer himself out of nearly one hundred and fifty, range from the publication of his now-classic first collection, Gimpel the Fool, in 1957, until 1981. They include supernatural tales, slices of life from Warsaw and the shtetls of Eastern Europe, and stories of the Jews displaced from that world to the New World, from the East Side of New York to California and Miami.
Customer Reviews:
Magnificent and Masterful, Spirited and Profound.......2007-01-13
Isaac Bashevis Singer was a master storyteller and any reader will be well-rewarded for spending time with his "Collected Stories." Many of these stories are set in Poland before World War II or post-war New York City, but there is a spiritual energy that drives all of these tales, regardless of location. Old World demons and devils can be found in "The Unseen," "The Destruction of Kreshev," "Henne Fire," "Zeidlus the Pope," about the Devil tempting a Rabbi into becoming the Pope, and one of the collection's best, "The Dead Fiddler," about a would-be bride inhabited by dueling dybbuks. New World mystical forces are recounted in "Powers," about a man's seductive past, and "The Psychic Journey," about war breaking out during a writer's trip to Israel. Several stories involve survivors of World War II, among them "The Cafeteria," about a woman who imagines seeing Hitler in a New York City deli, and the unexpectedly heartbreaking "The Joke," about a practical joke taken seriously. Every story is deeply felt and richly detailed, including the more comic ones such as "Gimpel the Fool," "The Yearning Heifer," and "The Admirer," about a writer's fan disrupting his day. Choosing favorite stories in this collection is almost impossible, because they are all unforgettable, but ones that resonated most richly for me include "Taibele and her Demon," about a woman's mysterious night visitor, "The Little Shoemakers," about a family of cobblers who courageously survive two world wars, "The Manuscript," about a mistress who saves her lover's novel from destruction, and the transformative "A Crown of Feathers," about a young woman losing and then trying to regain her faith.
Wonderful storyteller.......2006-12-28
This is the first ive read of Bashevi Singers work but its sure aint the last.
Ive read quite a lot of the classics and more than a couple of the Nobel prize winners, but I can honestly say that I have a hard time remembering such joyous storytelling. Singer was amazing; it all seems so easy when he tells his stories; its almost like the stories flows from his pen.
The fact that the stories often stem from the culturally rich jewish community in Europe makes it even more interesting. We tend to forget today, that much of what we call art was carried at great length by that community, together with the russian.
Anyway...if we forget all this and center on the prose, i end up with the following recommendation:
If you want to read something marvellous, enchanting and extraordinary,
dont miss Singer.
The Vanished Yiddish World Returns To Life.......2005-09-17
This truly excellent collection of Singer's stories (all originally composed in the Yiddish language) are as colorful as the people about whom the stories were written. Here are tales of weddings, of jokesters, of happy occasions of all variety, of feuding farmwives, and of unrepentant fools. After reading through a handful of Singer's works, a person gets the feeling of how it must have been to live as a Jew in eastern Europe a hundred years ago. This was a culture rich in its traditions and lore, a people who loved life and kept their identity through good times and bad. Singer, himself born and raised in the region so many of his short stories describe, was one of very few authors I would unhesitantly dub "a human treasure".
A lost world from the inside.......2005-04-01
The greatest paragraph in all of Singer is the one at the beginning of his story, Shosha, where he says he knew two dead languages, Hebrew and Aramaic, and was educated to read about the cultic requirements of a temple which had not existed for 1900 years; he knew Yiddish which he considered perhaps not a language at all, and that although his ancestors had lived in Poland for five or six hundred years he knew only a few words of Polish, although he lived in Poland for all of his youth until he came to America.
Nothing says more about the unhealthy state of the Jews than this. Zionists should use this quote as the supreme justification for their idea that Jewish life in the Diaspora was very disfunctional and certainly unhealthy.
One of the greatest short stories collections of all time.......2004-07-19
Singer is one of the supreme masters of the short story. His stories are filled with incredible energy and life. Demonic lust drives many characters, and one of the reasons he is much loved is his seeming modern depiction of characters who come from the old world, the world of Jewish Poland . But the stories I most love are ones in which a power of beneficence overwhelms in some surprising way. The great Gimpel the Fool is one example of this, the story of the cuckold the eternal innocent and believer who knows once he stops believing in his wife he will stop believing in God and the goodness of the world. Another of these great stories is the Little Shoemakers with its tale of successive generations in old world and new continuing the family trade despite the loss and transformation in tradition time brings. Another of this kind of great story is the 'Spinoza of Market Street' with its revelation of an unexpected love. The list is long of very great and moving stories.Singer is a master- teller who can be stark and frightening at times but gives that sense the great writers' do , of life in literature as something deeply deeply meaningful. Who reads this book will taste life deeply and more deeply love it.
Average customer rating:
- Still Scary...and fun
- Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark
- Scary Stories Book review
- Moderately Scary Stories, Highly Creepy Illustrations!
- A Funny, Scary Book
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Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark 25th Anniversary Edition: Collected from American Folklore (Scary Stories)
Alvin Schwartz
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Similar Items:
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More Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark
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Scary Stories 3: More Tales to Chill Your Bones (Scary Stories)
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In a Dark, Dark Room and Other Scary Stories
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Scary Stories Boxed Set
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The Best Ghost Stories Ever (Scholastic Classics)
ASIN: 0064401707 |
Book Description
This spooky addition to Alvin Schwartz's popular books on American folklore is filled with tales of eerie horror and dark revenge that will make you jump with fright.
There is a story here for everyone -- skeletons with torn and tangled flesh who roam the earth; a ghost who takes revenge on her murderer; and a haunted house where every night a bloody head falls down the chimney.
Stephen Gammell's splendidly creepy drawings perfectly capture the mood of more than two dozen scary stories -- and even scary songs -- all just right for reading alone or for telling aloud in the dark.
If You Dare!
Customer Reviews:
Still Scary...and fun.......2007-05-04
I purchased this book as one that I fondly remembered from childhood. I don't know for certain how many times my brother and I checked this out from the public library, but it was a lot. The stories in it are fun and the artwork is fantastic. As a matter of fact, even though I remember most of the stories from reading them before, it's the artwork that lodged this book into my head so firmly. Although all black and white, the images are spooky and gruesome. Exactly what an impressionable pre-teen needs to be sufficiently creeped out!
The stories themselves are usually 1 to 2 pages each and are still fun. While they wouldn't scare the bejeepers out of me today, I can see why I was drawn to them as a child. The last section of stories is also fun as they are in the same line as the spooky tales, but are intended to be humorous and silly.
All in all this is a fun book for kids of all ages and I really was glad that I went ahead and purchased one of my childhood favorites.
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark.......2007-03-29
Scary Stories to tell in the dark
How would you like to be woken up by the sound of a ghost walking up the stairs toward your room? I wouldn't, but reading about it is fun. If you are a enthusiastic reader you might never get a chance to put it down. This book is full of fantasy and legends that have been passed down for years, but some of them are from recent times. A haunt, a man that is killed by a white wolf, and a priest in a church full of living dead. My personal favorite story is The Window. In this story a girl living with her brothers sees a creature that looks like a man stand up in the moonlight. Megan doesn't think it will return and goes back to sleep. Then later in the night the creature returns and closer, Megan wants to run but is afraid it will break in before she could escape. She goes back to sleep again. At about midnight Megan hears a scratching at her window, she runs but-but you will have to read the rest to find out what happens. Since the author is the most thrilling one alive these are the most thrilling stories ever to be on the face of the earth.
By Ellie
Scary Stories Book review.......2007-01-16
Book Review for Scary Stories
If you want a spine tingling book this is the one for you. The awesome book Scary Stories by Alvin Schwartz. Alvin Schwartz is the scariest author alive, from my point of view. This book is a top 10 rating because the author uses such descriptive words that I had chills running down my spine. Scary Stories is so good that I read it two times just to get every little detail out of all the stories. You should read this book because the stories are so descriptive. Some of them I wouldn¡¦t read at night.
My example of the theme is the story The Thing. The theme of this story is based on two boys that see a man with dark, ripped, muddy clothes on, in a
turnip field. The boys go up to see if it really is a man and ¡K you¡¦re going to have to read it to find out the rest.
The characters in the story are Ted Martin, Sam Miller, and The Thing. Ted and Sam were good friends. Ted¡¦s personality is a mama¡¦s boy personality. Sam is the kind of kid that will do anything. It doesn¡¦t say much about The Things personality so ill tell you what he looks like. The thing has sunk in eyes, yellow square teeth, rotting flesh, and black pants with black suspenders and a white shirt.
The setting is mostly in two places. One is on a fence by a post office. The other setting is in Ted¡¦s house hiding and the worst part is that it¡¦s dark out and everything gets scarier when it¡¦s dark out. Well I think it dose.
The story ends by¡K I don¡¦t know you will have to read the story. You have to read this book it is a bone chiller. Remember it¡¦s by Alvin Schwartz and it¡¦s called Scary Stories. Read it it¡¦s a series. ºº
Moderately Scary Stories, Highly Creepy Illustrations!.......2007-01-11
This is my first experience with Schwartz and the Scary Stories trilogy and I wasn't really sure what to expect as I actually picked this up as part of my reading list off of the American Library Association's list of most frequently challenged books (from 1990-2000). In some small way, I can see how this book (and the two others) get challenged by parents...there are some gross, gruesome, frightening, and creepy stories in this book...but (you knew it was coming...right) really, what's here, for the most part is pretty tame. For kids 8-12, this might be their first introduction to what (for most older children, adolescents and adults) are pretty standard, traditional campfire stories and urban legends. Further, they are the tamest and least embellished versions I think I've ever seen, so there is little actual gore. Probably the most frightening thing in this book are the illustrations...they are done in a style that is truly evocative of the theme...this is something that I really enjoyed about the book. Each illustration makes you squirm a bit, but then you look back and find yourself looking even more closely to pick out the details of each barely there illustration!
There are 29 stores covered in this book, all drawn (as the title indicates) from American Folklore (even some of the more contemporary ones like the hook and high beams), so it's a nice wide swath of scary folklore cut from the cloth of the American oral storytelling. In the first part of the book nearly every tale is by necessity one that should be told out loud around a campfire (as they require screaming, jumping at, or grabbing someone to "get them" at the end of the story). As the book progresses, more and more of the tales stand alone as reading material...but really each is just a bare-bones minimum of the story without any embellishments and are probably best enjoyed orally (also around a campfire or in a dark room with candles or flashlights) and embellished...having a group of kids take one story each and memorize it and tell it to the group would be a wonderful activity that Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark would lend itself to quite well!
Overall, Scary Stores to Tell in the Dark is a fine introduction to the oral tradition of folklore and urban legend. This book would make a fine addition to the library of anyone who regularly deals with kids in groups (particularly outdoors, like boy or girl scouts) and/or for group story telling...this book would provide a wonderful jumping off point for kids to learn a legend, folktale or urban legend well enough to tell out loud without reading and to encourage embellishment or discuss other versions (activity for older kids who are more familiar with the stories given and the many variations that are around). I give it four stars, as the text itself is rather uninspiring as a cover to cover, stand alone read...the illustrations are what saves it from getting three stars and as I said above, it's best use is as an introduction to folklore and/or as a way to increase one's repertoire of stores to frighten children with in those times and places where campfires, candlelight and flashlights rule the darkness!
A Funny, Scary Book.......2006-12-20
I chose this book because I think its one of the best books I've read because it's funny and scary. The author's name is Alvin Schwartz. He has written Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark,
More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark and Scary Stories: 3 More Tales to Chill You're Bones. I've read each of them at least three times. I think you should read this book and hopefully you'll like it as much as I do. It has a lot of short and scary stories. It is one of those books you never get bored of.
by Alexandra
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