Book Description
THE LAST MIMZY IS THE IDEAL INTRODUCTION TO AN AUTHOR WHO WAS AHEAD OF HIS TIME–AND WHOSE TIME HAS FINALLY COME.
These seventeen classic stories create their own unique galaxy of vain, protective, and murderous robots; devilish angels; and warm and angry aliens. In “Mimsy Were the Borogoves”–the inspiration for New Line Cinema’s major motion picture The Last Mimzy–a boy finds a discarded box containing a treasure trove of curious objects. When he and his sister begin to play with these trinkets–including a crystal cube that magnifies the unimaginable and a strange doll with removable organs that don’t quite correspond to those of the human body–their parents grow concerned. And they should be. For the items are changing the way the children think and perceive the world around them–for better or worse.
Ray Bradbury called Henry Kuttner “a man who shaped science fiction and fantasy in its most important years.” Marion Zimmer Bradley and Roger Zelazny said he was a major inspiration. Kuttner was a writer’s writer whose visionary works anticipated our own computer-controlled, machine-made world. At the time of his death at forty-two in 1958, he had created as many as 170 stories under more than a dozen pseudonyms–sometimes writing entire issues of science fiction magazines–in close collaboration with his wife, C. L. Moore.
This definitive collection will be a revelation to those who wish to discover or rediscover Henry Kuttner, a true master of the universe.
Customer Reviews:
Liked the fantasy in this book........2007-08-09
There were some interesting stories in this book. Henry Kuttner not only had a good imagination, he had a great sense of humor too.
True authors need recognition.......2007-07-18
It's too bad that the true nature of the "author" Henry Kuttner is not recognized. Originally, the short story "Mimsy Were the Borogoves" was published with the author's name as Lewis Padgett which was, in fact, a pen name for Henry Kuttner and his wife C. L. Moore. Since she was a fine writer in her own stead, it would be nice to give both contributers credit for the work they did together. The author of "Mimsy..." is neither a he or a she: the author is a they.
The story collection, by the way, is excellent. Even the weakest stories have kernals of gem value.
Truly Like New - Fast Delivery.......2007-05-16
Nothing much else to add, but I would shop with them again.
marshiajames.......2007-05-14
Although a childrens movie is loosley based on one story in this book, it is not a childrens book. It is a sci-fi book of short stories that has not been dumbed down and reflects interesting and creative ideas that are well written. I did read "mimzy were the borogoves" to my children, but I am afraid that much of the story was over their heads. It did spark an interesting conversation at the conclusion indicating to me that they did at least pick up the main plot points, but were upset by the conclusion (which I will not spoil here).
try something else.......2007-05-12
i had higher hopes for this collection of short stories after seeing 'the last mimzy'. i was blown away by the movie, and at the time of seeing it, really believed that it was all due to the short story from which it came. but, after reading the short story, i really believe that this is one of the extremely few instances where hollywood took something mediocre and made it great.
there are some ok short stories in this book, but i wasn't the biggest fan. i'd give it about 2.5 stars and reccommend roald dahl's short stories if its short stories your after.
Book Description
All steamed up and nothing to read? Best Women’s Erotica 2007 opens a Pandora’s box of pleasures, with scorching encounters, dreamy partners, and heart-pounding thrills that won’t put a run in your fishnets (and a few that will). In Teresa Noelle Roberts’s “Voice of an Angel,” an opera costumer helplessly infatuated with a countertenor — a man who sings a female part in baroque opera —makes interesting discoveries as she measures his inseam. In Susie Hara’s “Puffy Lips,” a refined woman indulges her primitive urge to take what she wants from a modern-day caveman in a dark alley. Kathleen Bradean’s “Chill” describes the lengths to which the heroine will go to enact her unusual, icy fetish at an exclusive “spa.” “Kink was the candy coating that made sex tastier,” she explains. “Fetish was sweet dark chocolate, straight up.” Stylishly edited by sex guru Violet Blue, the Best Women’s Erotica series showcases the most daring, best-written erotica available. And, like a gorgeous lover, it complements any bedroom decor.
Customer Reviews:
Not very good .. or erotic.......2007-08-24
I was very disappointed with this, I thought the stories while reasonably well written weren't at all erotic. They have very little buildup or character development and focused on a wide variety of unusual or fetish topics rather than just good writing. The good stuff at Literotica.com is much better than this.
Full of weird fetishes.......2007-08-23
I bought this book for some fun and 'stimulating' reading before bed and can't even finish the book it's so bad. I've read about 3 or 4 stories and they are all freaky weird fetishes that do nothing for me but gross me out and make me feel weird in a bad way. The stories are also very short so by the time I may have been getting interested the story was ending.
Interesting read if you are looking for weird sex fetishes but not so great for what I wanted.
Women's Erotica.......2007-06-06
I bought this for my wife, she loves the book. Most of the stories are very steamy, this is to my benefit. Enjoy, she does and so do I...
Stylish Erotica.......2007-04-07
I must admit I do like this kind of book. The short erotic stories from different angles (if you pardon the pun)are much easier to digest than long winded novels. Some of the stories are a relavation and all are enjoyable. I can heartily recomend it. Another book I can recommend is Suzie Van Aartman's 100 Percent Erotica, a very sexy and explicit collection of short stories.
Definitely Not Literary.......2007-04-04
Okay if you just want sex, but for good writing look elsewhere.
Book Description
"While a single short story may have a difficult time raising enough noise on its own to be heard over the din of civilization, short stories in bulk can have the effect of swarming bees, blocking out sound and sun and becoming the only thing you can think about," writes Ann Patchett in her introduction to The Best American Short Stories 2006.
This vibrant, varied sampler of the American literary scene revels in life's little absurdities, captures timely personal and cultural challenges, and ultimately shares subtle insight and compassion. In "The View from Castle Rock," the short story master Alice Munro imagines a fictional account of her Scottish ancestors' emigration to Canada in 1818. Nathan Englander's cast of young characters in "How We Avenged the Blums" confronts a bully dubbed "The Anti-Semite" to both comic and tragic ends. In "Refresh, Refresh," Benjamin Percy gives a forceful, heart-wrenching look at a young man's choices when his father -- along with most of the men in his small town -- is deployed to Iraq. Yiyun Li's "After a Life" reveals secrets, hidden shame, and cultural change in modern China. And in "Tatooizm," Kevin Moffett weaves a story full of humor and humanity about a young couple's relationship that has run its course.
Ann Patchett "brought unprecedented enthusiasm and judiciousness [to The Best American Short Stories 2006]," writes Katrina Kenison in her foreword, "and she is, surely, every story writer's ideal reader, eager to love, slow to fault, exquisitely attentive to the text and all that lies beneath it."
Customer Reviews:
Mostly a collection of boring, pointless stories........2007-08-07
My daughter was assigned this book over the summer for her IB English class so I read it along with her. I enjoyed reading the rest of her assigned books: "Pride & Predjudice," "Travels w/Charlie" and "Frankenstein," but have to say that BASS of 2006 was PAINFUL to get through. How this book got lumped in with actual literature I will never understand! These short story authors may know some of the mechanics of writing, but, with very few exceptions, don't have a compelling story to tell. There is nothing like an O. Henry or "Incident at Owl Creek Bridge" among them - no plot twists, no surprises, nothing to make a story memorable. I don't blame Ms. Kenison for giving up! Do yourself a favor and pick up a copy of "Welcome to the Monkey House" by Kurt Vonnegut. There you will find stories that amuse you and will be fondly remembered for many years to come.
If this is literature, give me pulp.......2007-04-21
I confess to giving up on this year's collection after reading about half of the stories, because, in fact, there wasn't a gripping tale in the bunch. Those I did read lacked dramatic tension, interesting characters and a distinctive author's voice. If these bloodless exercises are what high school and college students are introduced to as the "best," it is no surprise so many conclude that reading as a chore and not a pleasure.
Disapointing.......2007-04-12
These are suppose to be the best of the best and I was very disapointed. I was looking forward to ready something new and different but now I am turned off from short stories. The stories in general were depressing. Many didn't have a point or clear story. I only liked a couple of the story. I read this book as part of my book club and none of us were impressed.
They ain't what they used to be........2007-03-09
I guess I'm a throwback to the days when short stories were really stories: Hemingway, Anderson, Poe, London, even Stephen King. They had plots that moved, characters you loved or hated--page turners! Now, most SS seem to be emotional trips through someone's looking glass, vague attempts to reach into the reader's psyche for a response that we (I) have to work to deliver.
But it's probably me. I am well aware that some of these stories were originally published in The New Yorker, Ploughshares and The Paris Review, but most do not satisfy (me).
Modern short stories may be the height of literary excellence in 10,000 words; If these are "The Best American Short Stories," I think I'll go back to novels, where you can quite often find a work of fiction that is both elevating and hard to put down.
Perfect bedtime companion........2007-02-21
Love these type of anthologies. Some stories are excellent but some also,
are a bit lame. Still enjoyable just for the mix.
Amazon.com
At age 67, the perennially youthful John Updike may at last qualify as something of an elder statesman. But the Best American Short Stories annual--whose greatest hits package Updike has now assembled--is almost a generation older, having commenced publication in 1915. This staying power allows the hefty Best American Short Stories of the Century to perform double duty. It is, on the one hand, a priceless compendium of American manners and morals--a decade-by-decade survey of how we lived then, and how we live now. Yet Updike very consciously avoided the sociological angle in making his selection. "I tried not to select stories because they illustrated a theme or portion of the national experience," he writes in his introduction, "but because they struck me as lively, beautiful, believable, and, in the human news they brought, important." In this he succeeded: the 55 fictions that made the grade are most notable for their human (rather than merely historical) interest.
So who got in? There are a good number of cut-and-dried classics here, including Hemingway's "The Killers," Faulkner's "That Evening Sun Go Down," and Philip Roth's acidic spin on religious connivance, "Defender of the Faith." In other cases, major authors are represented by relatively minor works. Yet it's hard to quibble with the inclusion of Willa Cather, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Tennessee Williams, J.F. Powers, Eudora Welty--particularly when you take into account that their second-tier creations are fully the equal of anybody else's masterpieces. And the final third of the book really does constitute an honor roll of contemporary American fiction, with brilliant entries by Saul Bellow, Donald Barthelme, Raymond Carver, Tim O'Brien, Bernard Malamud, Cynthia Ozick, John Cheever, and Vladimir Nabokov. (For the latter, Updike actually succumbed to his own idolatry and bent the rules for admission--but nobody who reads the hallucinatory "That in Aleppo Once..." will regret it.) It goes without saying that fiction fans will be complaining about the editor's sins of omission well into the next century. But no matter how you slice it, this remains an elegant and essential advertisement for the short form. --James Marcus
Book Description
Since the series' inception in 1915, the annual volumes of The Best American Short Stories have launched literary careers, showcased the most compelling stories of each year, and confirmed for all time the significance of the short story in our national literature. Now THE BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES OF THE CENTURY brings together the best -- fifty-six extraordinary stories that represent a century's worth of unsurpassed achievements in this quintessentially American literary genre. This expanded edition includes a new story from The Best American Short Stories 1999 to round out the century, as well as an index including every story published in the series. Of all the writers whose work has appeared in the series, only John Updike has been represented in each of the last five decades, from his first appearance, in 1959, to his most recent, in 1998. Updike worked with coeditor Katrina Kenison to choose the finest stories from the years since 1915. The result is "extraordinary . . . A one-volume literary history of this country's immeasurable pains and near-infinite hopes" (Boston Globe).
Customer Reviews:
Not what I really wanted.......2007-10-10
Only unknown authors to me. I was expecting some works by Edgar Allan Poe, O. Henry and/or Agatha Christie (maybe I ordered the wrong volume!). Also, some of the stories are quite dull and end as if the author didn't know how to end it! Quite disappointing!
A good effort.......2007-06-20
I read "The Best American Short Stories of the Century" to get a broad overview of the contemporary American short story genre. John Updike edited the collection. The introduction, written by Updike, is an interesting essay on the difficulties inherent in assembling any best-of collection. I suppose I would have liked to have read more of his thoughts on the form, its progress over the century and perhaps its place in contemporary fiction rather than his struggle in selecting pieces. But taken together with the forward, written by co-editor Katrina Kenison, the two essays offer an interesting look into the fickleness of publishing tastes and how those tastes can be influenced by only a few people. It makes the current consolidation of the publishing world seem slightly less troubling.
In any event, there are many people I would have included in the collection that are absent--John Edger Wideman comes quickly to mind, and Latino writers seem strikingly absent. And similarly, though I would not even pretend to know all that one needs to know to authoritatively assemble a collection with such a presumptuous title, I would nonetheless exclude more than one or two pieces that were included in the anthology. But as I reflect on the collection, it occurs to me that it was written more for the general reading public and less for a person interested in the diversity of the form and its practitioners. There are some great stories in the collection, however, I suspect that it more closely represents a particular writer's tastes than a true overview of the form.
The most interesting pieces for me were those written by writers who I associate with other genres. Robert Penn Warren's "Christmas Gift" is a beautifully raw and sensual story. And although it has been some years since I've read Warren's work, my vision of him was always that of a country gentlemen poet living the gentlemanly life in semi-rural Connecticut. The "Christmas Gift" rivals Faulkner or O'Connor in the evocation of the rough-knuckled rural life. The language of the piece and the structure of the lines felt fresh and new. The images were so unique and evocative that I must make a point not to mimic them in my own writing. The opening paragraph is wonderful, his attention to the details of the place and its people comes out with poetic precision that is at once authentic for the place and yet far, far above the circumstances of anybody involved. In this sense it brought to mind Steinbeck (another writer who didn't make the cut) yet his prose seemed even more carefully measured.
I have always admired E.B. White's essays and now, after having read the short story, "The Second Tree from the Corner," I have come to appreciate his abilities as a fiction writer. It has inspired me to track down some of his fiction--other than that written for children, though those stories are also good. "The Second Tree from the Corner" was somewhat unexpected. It's a decidedly non-country story--a far cry from many of the essays I have read. Its protagonist is a patient who is undergoing therapy--another surprise. However when I think about many of his essays, even the most well known essays written at the height of the war, essays that were intended to bring some measure of comfort to a society and culture that could not escape the general sense that they were indeed fighting for their very survival, I still find in these essays a certain sense of existential angst, of an uncertainty that seems thoroughly modern and non-sentimental.
When I hear people talk about White's well-known essay, "Once More to the Lake," it seems almost as though the last lines are forgotten. There is so much talk of lake weather, farm-girls, and berry pies that that final line seems to somehow not stick to memory. But what a line--the entire piece is informed by that last line. The last two paragraphs keep the essay from become a simple, shallow reflection on the American way of life. It was almost as though, despite the Nazis and the Imperial Japanese Emperor, White could not help but feel almost desperately modern. When he wrote, "As he buckled the swollen belt, suddenly my groin felt the chill of death," he rescued the essay from the slash pile of Americana.
And just as he rescued "Once More to the Lake," he may have condemned "The Second Tree from the Corner." Though it is a good short story, it is not at all the warm and fuzzy piece that some may expect from White. And again, in the story White waits to put the last nail in the emotional structure of the piece, which could until the final line go in any one of a number of directions. The final direction of the piece is not nearly as comfortable as it perhaps could be. He closes: "He crossed the Madison, boarded the downtown bus, and rode all the way to Fifty-second Street before he had a thought that could rightly have been called bizarre."
We never discover the nature of his bizarre thoughts, we are left to fill them in with our own interpretation of the strange, never the less, the piece is far from conclusive or comforting.
Similarly, I was impressed with Elizabeth Bishop's "The Farmer's Children." Again I am familiar with her essays and of course her poetry, but I had never before read one of her short stories.
There were also stories by writers whom I have never before read, at least as far as I can remember. Susan Glaspell's 1917 story, "A Jury of her Peers," was impressively fresh and full of a very modern sense of feminism. Grace Stone Coates', "Wild Plums," was an emotionally complex story about class in the early years of the Great Depression.
I did not find what I wanted in the collection--that is, an overview of the contemporary American short story form. I suspect that there is no easy or fast way to come to such an understanding. Maybe that has something to do with the nature of the short story, like the personal essay it is a constantly shifting form, something that responds quickly to contemporary pressures, but also somehow stays true to its form as laid down by Chekhov (or in the case of the essay, Montaign).
I did find some things I did not expect in the collection. And thought I confess that I did not like some of the stories in the and found myself questioning why they were included at the expense of other writers, it was a worthwhile read.
Very Well Done.......2007-06-14
To reduce the boredom of exercise I decided to listen to audio books. Short stories work well as I'm inclined to keep moving until the end.
This audio CD collection is very good and really well done. Many of the stories are read by their authors. The sound is crisp and clean, and (with rare exception) the diction fluid and natural. The stories themselves are varied and high-quality.
One thing to note, though, is that the audio version does not contain all the stories from the print version. That may seem obvious, but if you are expecting to hear one or anther of the stories from the book, know that the CD set only includes 22 stories.
Grand American tales of the nineteen hundreds.......2007-03-24
The quintessential in the American short story is represented in this collection of fiction. I am reading these tales both for the pleasure they bring me and as a means of studying the craft of masters in a field I hope to enter. As part of my fiction class at the University of Iowa, I have read "Janus" and "Where are you going, Where have you been?" (Beattie and Oates).
These two tales explore the psyches of two women: one a successful married realtor obsessed who owns an artistic bowl that assumes a character of its own and, the other, a young girl who becomes a victim of her and others' obsession with her beauty.
Lesser-known authors are represented alongside the giants of American literature. Points of view representing various walks of life, ethnicities, languages and periods of time abound in the volume. For my own pleasure and out of curiosity, I have read "Zelig," a tale about a lonely man obsessed with saving his money, torn between his new home in America and his native Russian village (Rosenblatt).
Ann Beattie, Joyce Carol Oates and Benjamin Rosenblatt are authors whose works I have relished so far from the collection, and because the stories are so intricately woven, I find myself re-reading them, delaying the pleasure awaiting me in the remaining fifty plus tales.
NOT THE BEST.......2007-01-30
I AM A FAN OF BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES SERIES, BUT I DID NOT ENJOY THE STORIES CHOSEN HERE. I STARTED AT THE BEGINNING, TRIED THE END, FLIPPED THROUGH A FEW IN THE MIDDLE AND FOUND THEM DISAPPOINTING. THIS SERIES WOULD DO BETTER WITH MORE THAN ONE EDITOR TO MAKE THE FINAL CHOICES.
Amazon.com
Lovecraft is "the American writer of the twentieth century most frequently compared with Poe, in the quality of his art ... [and] its thematic preoccupations (the obsessive depiction of psychic disintegration in the face of cosmic horror)," writes Joyce Carol Oates in the New York Review of Books. Del Rey has reprinted Lovecraft's stories in three handsome paperbacks. This first volume collects 16 classic tales, including "The Rats in the Walls," "The Call of Cthulhu," "The Dunwich Horror," and "The Colour Out of Space." Introduction by Robert Bloch. Wraparound cover art by Michael Whelan.
Book Description
This is the collection that true fans of horror fiction have been waiting for: sixteen of H.P. Lovecraft's most horrifying visions, including Lovecraft's masterpiece, THE SHADOW OUT OF TIME--the shocking revelation of the mysterious forces that hold all mankind in their fearsome grip.
"I think it is beyond doubt that H.P. Lovecraft has yet to be surpassed as the Twentieth Century's greatest practitioner of the classic horror tale."
Stephen King
Customer Reviews:
Revolutionary of Horror.......2007-09-25
So how do I describe H. P. Lovecraft? Picture Michelangelo sculpting a cow patty. The artistry is there, but everything else is wanting.
I am a big fan of anthologies. You get the wheat without having to swallow a lot of chaff.
To his credit, HPL is a master of suspense, chilling horror, and psychological misdirection. He is clearly a revolutionary in horror fiction, having the advantage over Edgar Allen Poe with the advent of Science Fiction. However, he is also a victim of his own clichés, plot ruts, and ho-hum nihilism.
(So am I reviewing HPL, or this collection? A little of both.)
My experience with HPL began with reading "The Doom That Came to Sarnath (A Del Rey Book)." When I finished, I said, "This one story is better than all The Silmarillion. I wish Tolkien could write like him."
HPL beats Tolkien on style and execution, hands down. Yet Tolkien outstrips HPL in every other aspect: plot, theme characterization, setting, and conflict. However, HPL is SO strong in style and conflict, especially psychodrama, that it is almost an even balance.
I spoke of HPL's ruts. Some stories end with a jerk, as the narrator passes out. This is a psychological deus ex machnia. But more about God in the machinery of the story later . .
His conflicts are about Man versus His Own Sanity, and Man versus Irresistible Cosmic Beings and Forces. Instead of rising up and "take arms against a sea of troubles, and by opposing end them," or by bowing down, the anti-heroes in these stories take a pointless mid-ground position. They snap into a gibbering lunacy.
HPL said it best himself when he criticized "naïvely insipid idealism" and denounced the attempts of "didactic literature to `uplift' the reader toward a suitable degree of smirking optimism." (Supernatural Horror in Literature). Why he derives a sadistic pleasure by feeding his appetite for destruction is beyond me.
Søren Kierkegaard once complained about having a melancholy arrow in his heart. He knew if he pulled it out, he would die, so he left it in and kept his gift of irony (Papers and Journals: A Selection (Penguin Classics), 268). HPL does the opposite. He also had an arrow of melancholy, ye he yanked it out, loaded his crossbow, and began shooting everyone in sight.
So much of the man, now for the collection . . .
Being a selection, this book is a best of the best. Here is my best of the best of the best.
First of all, I suggest reading the book in order, since the arraignment does have a logic behind it. "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" must come after "The Thing On The Doorstep," and the last story is a knot to all the threads of the short stories. They are knotted up, but the knot is loose, without the Disney Saccharine Ending.
But if you are in a hurry, you may wish to begin with "The Call of Cthulhu." This is the keystone myth for HPL's whole legendarium. The story will seem familiar, since it was vulgarized in both "Ghostbusters Double Feature Gift Set (Ghostbusters/ Ghostbusters 2 and Commerative Book)" films.
"The Silver Key" reminded me of George MacDonald's "The Golden Key and Other Stories (Fantasy Stories of George MacDonald)" or a darker version of "The Chronicles of Narnia." "The Music of Erich Zhan" is a quirky tale with a core of friendship lurking behind it. "The Dunwich Horror" and "The Colour Out of Space" are good, solid SF/Horror stories. If you are a fan of the Twilight Zone, the you'll love the feel of these stories. The anthology ends on a prospective note with "The Shadow Out Of Time." This is a cross between "Last and First Men and Star Maker : Two Science Fiction Novels" and "The Time Ships."
The best story out of the lot is "The Thing On the Doorstep." This story has HPL only truly heroic character--Edward Derby.
SPOILERS:
Derby is so stout of heart and has such a sharp sense of justice and duty that while being trapped in his dead wife's decaying body--three months old and liquefying--he claws his way out of the shallow grave, marches over to Daniel Upton's doorstep, and issues the Call to Adventure to kill the evil Ephraim. Therefore Derby is quintessentially Christic Albeit a moldy, fetid, and crude Christic figure, but one nonetheless. It parallels Christ's Resurrection and issuing the Great Commission to the Apostles on the Olivet.
Additionally you have Cosmic Justice being satisfied. Upton is able to avenge his best friend's death (Gilgamesh here) and stop the demon body-snatcher from further menace.
This story would make an hour long and very dark Twilight Zone story. Yet it would be worth it because the key element of justice--righting a wrongful death, death of a villain, and Derby's Herculean effort to deliver the critical massage to Upton. If only HPL could have written more stories like this. Not with happy endings--Derby does not get his body back--but with just endings like Oedipus, Jack Bauer, Beowulf: A New Verse Translation (Bilingual Edition), or Ender's Game (Ender, Book 1).
2/3 great, 1/3 mediocre........2007-09-24
This is not really 'the best of Lovecraft' collection. It doesn't include "At the Mountains of Madness" and "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward".
Of the 16 stories in this collection only 9 are really great. Three others "The Rats in the Walls", "The Outsider" and "The Silver Key" are good. The rest don't belong in this collection at all. Especially generic, forgettable crap like "The Picture in the House", "Pickman's Model" and "In the Vault". I don't understand what the publisher was thinking. They should have included "Cool Air", "Dagon", and "The Lurking Fear" instead.
Still at least 9 of the stories in this book are essential for any fan of Lovecraft's work. These include "The Call of the Cthulhu", "The Dunwich Horror", "The Whisperer in Darkness", "The Colour out of Space", "The Haunter of the Dark", "The Thing on the Doorstep", "The Shadow Over Innsmouth", "The Dreams in the Witch House", and "The Shadow Out of Time". For this reason it's still worth buying, I just wish someone would publish the 'best of Lovecraft' collection that's truly only the very best.
Shub niggurath never tasted so good..........2007-09-13
What can I say about Lovecraft that hasn't been said before? He's the first and real master of Gothic horror. Forget Stephen King, forget Clive Barker, forget 'em all cept for maybe Edgar Allen Poe himself. Lovecraft gets better as the years go by--his archaic language only adds to the layers of creepiness.
A Chilling Read.......2007-08-07
H.P Lovecraft scares me worse than any Stephan King novel. His combinations of graphic descriptions, eerie settings, odd circumstances, and unique characters come together to scare the reader on a whole new level.
SLOW DOWN!!!.......2007-07-09
There's not much to say about Lovecraft and his work, and of its quality. What I feel to urge those starting the book is to take it slow, not trying to read it all at once. I personally felt the experience growing quite boring after the first five or six stories in a row. The rich and retro style of Lovecraft's is rather enjoyable if not abused...then it just gets dull and almost annoying. So I advise this anthology, but I'd advise to read it in more takes.
Book Description
A brilliant collection, The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2006 highlights a bold mix of fiction, nonfiction, screenplays, television writing, and more alternative comics than ever. Compiled by Dave Eggers and students from his San Francisco writing center, contributors include Judy Budnitz, The Onion, The Daily Show, This American Life, and George Packer.
Customer Reviews:
Find new and interesting authors - expand your horizons.......2007-09-14
This is a great book for those who wish to be exposed to new contemporary authors. I especially enjoyed the story on Dubai by George Saunders, "The New Mecca". If you've never read about Dubai (or even if you have), it's a real treat to hear more about the Fantasyland of the Middle East...
Different brand of humor, but its the kind I like!.......2007-09-04
I first became a Dave Eggers fan after getting into McSweeney's thanks to an NPR review. I'm actually not retirement age, listening to NPR, but a 20 year old college student. This book is great because I can read it in short spurts, like before class starts, and not really lose the focus of an intense novel. Also, the stories in this edition are truly riveting- the tale of a "freedom fighter", a future "Body Works" corpse- and yet some just make your face light up- the best fake headlines, courtesy of The Onion, random first lines of books. Overall, this is random, but a great cross section of pop culture. Weird? yes. Nonrequired? It's so good, it should be required.
worst edition yet.......2007-08-24
I've been reading the Nonrequired Reading since its first volume, and it is usually one of my favorites of the series, but, much like this year's essay collection, this is the worst I've seen yet. I love Matt Groening, but his introduction just seemed pointless. Eggers has a new format, with his best new words, band names, fake headlines, etc. basically section one is a waste of trees. In fact, most in this volume is a waste of time and energy and ink. The only things worth reading are the Onion headlines, the excerpt from the military blog, Downey's Rolling Stone piece, "The Insurgent's Tale," which helps to humanize and somewhat better understand jihadist, Michael Lewis's "Wading Toward Home" a piece about New Orleans in the aftermath of Katrina, Murakami's short story, Jeff Parker's short story, Rakoff's story of becoming a citizen, Joe Sacco's comic, Saunders fluff piece on Dubai, Julia Sweeney's "Letting Go of God, and finally, the masterful Kurt Vonnegut. But over half the book isn't worth reading. I hope next year's edition is back up to the standard Eggers set early in the series.
Some of it is more nonrequired than you may think.......2007-08-05
This is a good enough read mostly for the fact that you can skip whatever you don't care enough about and read only what peaks your interest. It's even better if you did like me and got it from the library.
The first section is good with all the Onion articles and Daily Show transcript. Then I also enjoyed Julia Sweeney's essay about letting go of God like he was almost an imaginary friend. Also, The Innocents and one or two of the other comics were good. False Cognate as well, was superbly done. And Kurt Vonnegut, c'mon, the man could find something interesting to say about parting your hair, let alone creative writing, which he did know quite a bit about. The best was the diagram of Kafka.
Too many of the stories unfortunately deal with Iraq and the Middle East in general, however, and this is the part I meant when you are able to skip over uninteresting parts. This is no doubtdue to the selection committee is mostly high school area kids from the Bay Area. You take that impressionable age group and you throw in a democratic selection process so everyone gets a say, you're going to wind up with a message along the lines of "Uh, this is like real important to us, man. Cuz". Yeah, you kiddies mean well, but teenagers, if you're going to attempt vague hippie-esque techniques, don't forget the dope, guns, and f'ing in the streets.
Good stuff.......2007-08-03
The collection of stories was surprisingly good. I'm not much for compilations like this, but I found myself truly enjoying this one.
Book Description
Essence Best Selling Authors T.N. Baker, Tu-Shonda Whitaker and Danielle Santiago unite to create a feisty yet Sheisty triple threat novella of love, drama and passion. Cream takes you through the life and times of Wassuan, Bruh and Lovi as they deal with the trials and tribulations of life.
Rollin' Dice
T.N. Baker
Wassuan Wells has two loves - his strikingly beautiful girlfriend of two years, Enychi Carter, and the dice game. Rollin' Dice is an everyday hustle for Wassuan. Using the tactic of shit talk and confidence, Wassuan feels he can't be defeated. That's until he meets his match -- a dude named Tone who possesses just as much confidence and a little too much mouth. This one game may cost Wassuan everything, including his girl.
The Last Run
Tu-Shonda Whitaker
After a 2-year bid, Bruh comes back to the mean streets of New York bitter, confused and ready to take care of some unfinished business. During his mission, Bruh stumbles across old feelings for his baby's mama's best friend, Zion. Through drama and expressing her dislikes for the game, Zion sticks by her new found man's side. Will she stick around for her man's Last Run?
Fair Exchange, No Robberies
Danielle Santiago
The sassy, sexy, family business-inherited college student, Lovi, falls for Nicky, a drug dealing king pin who just so happens to be her brother's childhood best friend. Follow Lovi and Nicky as they try to conceal their feelings from Lovi's older brother, Dough. Will love prevail? Or will Lovi's life downwardly spiral?
Customer Reviews:
Triple Threat!!!.......2007-07-12
This book was amazing true the stories were short but they were sweet and to the point. I really enjoyed the last story by T.N. Baker I thought it left us hanging but I see she continued it in the new book Dice how ingenious. You will love this book!
Hot & fast..........2007-06-01
That's what these stories were!! I was almost mad because they didn't end "right" but then I realized that these were SHORT stories!! :-) I really loved the extremely GRAPHIC sex scenes and the humor. This is a good one yall.
cream.......2006-11-09
it was really good ,i enjoyed the whole book i cant wait til cream 2 it shows ride or die chicks at its best a true chick book. keep up the good work triple crown
Cream - Off the Hook.......2006-10-26
I couldn't put this book down. Each story had me wondering what the next story was about. The writers did a great job at making the stories somewhat similar, but with different writing styles. It's funny how each story left me hanging. I hope there is a Cream 2.
Talk about....leaving you hanging!!! .......2006-09-15
Okay, I am going to start off by saying all 3 stories were very well written and had me wanting more. All of the stories were tied into relationships and friendships. I don't know if the authors met to leave you hanging or plan on finishing the stories in seperate books. They all were so good I would like to read each story in its entirety. Come on Ladies, get to writting!!!
The Last Run- Bruh and Zion were met to be. Although she was Tomika's friend it was evident that Bruh and Zion had better chemistry. I am just glad she came thru when she did or her man would have had it coming to him...I am curious to know what will happen next. Tu-Shonda you better not leave me in suspence too long!!!
Fair Exchange, No Robberies- Lovi was a real down A*S chick. She really had her brothers (Dough) back and was down for whatever. Dough knew that his friend Nicky was a good guy and would be good to his sister, that is why it wasn't no thing for them to hook up. Things were really looking up for all 3 of them after Dough spent some time in jail and then the altimate happened. It was messed up how things turned out. What will Lovi do now????
Rollin' Dice- Wassaun, Wassaun, Wassuan...what was he thinking doing his girl like that...over a dice game???? All I have to say was she was a heck of a woman to do that for her "so called" man but what did he expect after it was all said and done. The relationship would NEVER be the same after that. He should have handled this situation differently. Now he wants revenge...LOL!!!
Book Description
"I looked out the window and was filled with contentment. I was on a train. There was no landscape, ugly or beautiful, to demand my attention . . . None of the passengers within my view were badly dressed. I had the right book with me . . . I was happily married but alone, nothing in the immediate past to regret, nothing in the immediate future to fear. In between -- the best place to be."
At fifty, Grace Hanford has lived long enough to be a daughter, a stepdaughter, a girlfriend, a sister, a sister-in-law, a wife, a stepmother, and an orphan. She has fallen in and out of love -- with troublesome men, with her glamorous mother, with her wild best friend, and with New York City -- more times than she can count. Still, Grace is more comic than melancholic, and a gifted confessor. She lives life as if every day is a movie in which her role is yet to be determined -- and her audience loves her for it.
In The Best Place to Be, we follow Grace from her fatherless childhood through her years at an all-girls college to adulthood in the city and her many dating escapades (and escapes) as an urban sophisticate. Wherever she may be, Grace tries to find her place in the world with humor and the blunt surprise of truth. And always, in the background, there is Grace's mother, brother, and the man she could or might or will call husband, out of reach -- until she reaches.
In the tradition of Melissa Bank's The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing, The Best Place to Be is at once funny, moving, and deeply provocative, a love letter to the self-determined woman that shimmers with hilarious insight and graceful wit.
Customer Reviews:
Read and re-read.......2007-09-16
I very rarely re-read a book. I read this book in May, loved it and just finished it again. Getting so much more out of it this time. It feels like a weekend with your best friend. It was so relateable, her relationship with her husband was so wonderfully nice, and true. I at times felt like I was reading about my life in regards to her marriage. But it was also just nice to read, that, in spite of some bad things, the character still finds so much enjoyment in life. It is all about finding joy, after all in the everyday living. I laughed out loud several times. Buy the book you won't be dissapointed.
seriously good.......2007-08-11
I read this book the way I eat chocolate truffles: savoring and devouring at once, with the best sense of indulgence. I love Grace's humor, her perfectly tuned guilt, her yearnings and--despite her various efforts--her kindness. And I love the redemptive power of her irony. Bring this book to the beach or on your work commute; read it before bed. It will both take you out of your life's grip and at the same time make you recognize that grip more...forgivingly. DELIGHTEDLY recommended.
Brava.......2007-08-02
These stories are hilarious. And heartbreaking. If you have ever been a daughter, adored or hated your sibling, gotten older, loved New York City, stayed in the mystery that is marriage, or braved being alone, you should read this book.
beautifully observant.......2007-07-19
Although this is less a novel than a collection of linked stories, the stories are extremely well-written, especially the title story. The main character is an observant, intelligent, philosophical, interestingly-damaged person. It is either autobiographical, or so well-conceived that it feels totally authentic.
Irresistible.......2007-07-18
I don't know if I love these stories most for their humor or for their despair. Neither budges for the other, and the two cohabit with a perfect (no pun intended) grace.
Book Description
Lumphy is a stuffed buffalo. StingRay is a stuffed stingray. And Plastic... well, Plastic isn't quite sure what she is. They all belong to the Little Girl who lives on the high bed with the fluffy pillows. A very nice person to belong to.
But outside of the Little Girl's room things can be confusing. Like when Lumphy gets sticky with peanut butter on a picnic, why is he called "dirty"? Or when StingRay jumps into the bathtub, what will happen to her fur? And where in the house can they find the Little Girl a birthday present that she will love the most?
Together is best for these three best friends. Together they look things up in the dictionary, explore the basement, and argue about the meaning of life. And together they face dogs, school, television commercials, the vastness of the sea and the terrifying bigness of the washing machine.
With all the appeal of a classic, here are six linked stories form Emily Jenkins, and illustrated by Caldecott winning Paul O. Zelinsky that showcase the unforgettable adventures--and misadventures-- of three extraordinary friends.
Customer Reviews:
Fun book, good quality and presentation.......2007-09-08
I bought this for my 6 year old cousin and she enjoyed it (except it does not have that much illustration). The story its self is fun and interesting and she has read it 3 times already! I would recommend the book
Stuffed animals have feelings too.......2007-08-23
Regardless of one's age, this book is a pleasant reminder of the simplicities of childhood. Who didn't have a favorite stuffed animal, or even toy, that was "real" to them? It was easy to fall in love with these toys!
A Huge Hit in Our House!.......2007-05-02
My 7-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter demanded I read this to them again. This is the first time they have ever requested a chapter book be read a second time. They wait for their favorite lines and speak them along with me, laughing the whole time. My daughter plans to write a letter to the author asking for more stories about the toys, also a first. What a wonderful book!
Wonderful read aloud.......2007-04-08
My six year old and I just finished this book, and I can't remember the last time I looked forward to reading aloud so much ! Even my 9 year old was so hooked that he snagged the book to finish on his own. Jenkins has a wonderful sense of humor and the illustrations are adorable. We can't wait for her next book !
A good read for all.......2007-03-26
This is a lovely book, with toys that talk and become as real and dear as any family pet. My 7 year old son has enjoyed reading and rereading this book and my husband and I always look forward to it as well. It's a refreshing break from some of the newer books that are so fast-paced and not very well-written. This feels like an old time classic to be kept and passed down.
Book Description
This year's collection is edited by the Pulitzer Prizewinning novelist and short story writer Michael Chabon. His eclectic selections include pieces from publications as diverse as Granta, Salon.com, Harvard Review, and The New Yorker. Another exciting installment of the always enticing, best-selling anthology.
Customer Reviews:
Rotten Selections for the Most Part.......2007-07-21
Chabon is much over-rated and he shows it with his taste for this selection. Always selected Alice Munro (yawn), the idiotic Cory Doctorow (must be a "friend" of Chabon), and several others ruins otherwise good choices of Perrotta, Lehane, McGuane, and Jones.
Redraw the Boundaries.......2007-04-12
As guest editor, Michael Chabon sets entertainment as the standard for good writing. Because for Chabon, entertainment is nothing less than human connection. If we derive pleasure from this connection, it is because through it we experience something real, visceral, and intellectual, albeit vicariously.
His mission, therefore, is to restore the fallen status of entertainment. To do this, he casts a wide net over water "serious" writers and readers often find too shallow. He trawls the waterways for writing that reeks of ghost stories, science fiction, detective novels, action movies, and folklore. Anything that leads to new and unusual forms. (Not surprising for the man who wrote The Mysteries of Pittsburgh.)
To avoid an exhaustive list, I'll contain myself to quick descriptions of seven stories inside.
"Until Gwen," by Denis Lehane, has the feel of a detective thriller, or film noir. It's a murder story told in the second person, with an accurate rendering of characters who have fallen so far, there's no bottom left to hit.
"Eight Pieces for the Left Hand," by J. Robert Lennon, is a series of eight folktale-like vignettes that have continuity in recurring themes.
"Death Defier," by Tom Bissell, is war story with an inescapable, catastrophic ending.
"Anda's Game," by Cory Doctorow, is almost sci-fi. It's the story of a child's online role-playing game with real-world consequences.
"The Secret Goldfish," by David Means, tells the story of the disintegration of a marriage from the perspective of the family goldfish.
"The Cousins," by Joyce Carol Oates, tells, in letter form, the story of two cousins separated by World War II and the Holocaust.
"Hart and Boot," by Tim Pratt, mythologizes the partly true, partly fictional lives of Wild West figures Pearl hart and John Boot.
Perhaps the best way to judge the quality of an anthology such as this is to measure how successful the guest editor has been in achieving the goals he or she set forth in their introduction. If that suits you, then this is a high-quality product.
The Best American Short Stories 2005 (The Best American Series).......2007-03-09
Very entertaining. Wide range of subjects. An easy way to read many different authors.
As always, a pleasure from start to finish.......2007-01-10
It's hard NOT to love this series, and this provides another great opportunity to catch up and sample contemporary authors.
Great collection.......2007-01-02
This collection is great. I enjoyed every story to some degree, and a couple are fantastic. Tom Perrotta's (ELECTION) "The Smile On Happy Chang's Face" is absurd and hilarious. Thomas McGuane's "Old Friends," "Death Defier" by Tom Bissell, "Old Boys, Old Girls" by Edward P. Jones, "The Secret Goldfish" by David Means and "Natasha" by David Bezmozgis are all excellent reads. But my favorite two are Dennis Lehane's (MYSTIC RIVER) "Until Gwen" and J. Robert Lennon's "Eight Pieces for the Left Hand," an excerpt from his book 100 Pieces for the Left Hand, a series of short vignettes that somehow hold together as a novel. Overall, this entire collection feels more cohesive than most, at least in tone if not in theme. I look to these collections to find new authors to read, and I found several here.
Books:
- The Law of Attraction: The Basics of the Teachings of Abraham
- The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman: The Florida Edition (Penguin Classics)
- The Marcelli Princess (Marcelli Sisters)
- The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes: The Novels (A Study in Scarlet, The Sign of Four, The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Valley of Fear)
- The Oxygen Revolution: Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy: The Groundbreaking New Treatment for Stroke, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Arthritis, Autism, Learning Disabilities and More
- The Philosopher's Way: Thinking Critically About Profound Ideas
- The Picture of Dorian Gray (Barnes & Noble Classics Series) (Barnes & Noble Classics)
- The Quilter's Homecoming: An Elm Creek Quilts Novel (Elm Creek Quilts Novels)
- The Satyricon (Meridian Classics)
- The Turn of the Screw (Dover Thrift Editions)
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Crafting and Executing Strategy : The Quest for Competitive Advantage - Concepts and Cases
- Trees of Texas: An Easy Guide to Leaf Identification
- The Film Director's Intuition: Script Analysis and Rehearsal Techniques
- Spanish All Talk Basic Language Course
- To Catch a Predator: Protecting Your Kids from Online Enemies Already in Your Home
- Who Moved My Cheese
- Travels in Search of Endangered Species
- Complete Idiot's Guide to Market Timing
- Relevance Rediscovered: An Anthology of 25 Significant Articles to Help Solve Today's and Tomorrow's
- Origins of Macroeconomics, Volume Eight
General
| Short Stories
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
The Last Mimzy (Widescreen Infinifilm Edition)
This Is My Funniest: Leading Science Fiction Writers Present Their Funniest Stories Ever
Bridge to Terabithia
The Last Mimzy (Full Screen Infinifilm Edition)
The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume One: The Greatest Science Fiction Stories of All Time Chosen by the Members of the Science Fiction Writers of America (SF Hall of Fame)
