Charles Dickens Four Complete Novels (Great Expectations, Hard Times, A Christmas Carol, A Tale of Two Cities)

Book Description

Includes the major works by one of the greatest names in literature. Namely, Great Expectations, Hard Times, A Christmas Carol and A Tale of Two Cities. This Library of Literary Classics edition is bound in padded leather with luxurious gold-stamping on the front and spine, satin ribbon marker and gilded edges. Other titles in this Library of Literary Classics series include: Charlotte & Emily Bronte: The Complete Novels; Edgar Allan Poe: Selected Works; Mark Twain: Selected Works; Jane Austen: The Complete Novels: Lewis Carroll: The Complete, Fully Illustrated Works; and William Shakespeare: The Complete Works.

Customer Reviews:

Great value for the price.......2007-08-02

Let's face it, there are better editions of Dickens out there. You get what you pay for. This is not a top of the line leather edition. For the price, though, you can't beat it. It is what it is, a reasonably priced leather edition of four of his novels. At five dollars apiece, the price can not be beat.

Pretentious.......2007-06-07

Buying books because they look good on your shelf is pretentious and phony - and this book capitalizes on that. I got this as a gift and was amazed when I read it at the number of typos in it. There is simply no way this collection was proofed by an editor - that or the editing company is one of the worst in the world.

Buy these fantastic books, but not this edition, unless you just want people to think you read Dickens.

If nothing else, it looks good on your bookshelf........2007-03-13

You would do better off buying these books individually from a different publisher.
It sounds impressive, leather bound, gilded edges, but it is very cheaply done. On the plus side, it does have a ribbon book mark so you don't have to buy your own.
But this book was poorly edited, filled with needless typos, and with all four of these books available from numerous other publishers, I would suggest to just buy it from them.

Loved it,.......2006-02-12

I'm a big fan of long drawn out novles. I've always been a fan of Dickens. This book has on eof my favorite stories by his pen: Great Expectations. His style is very personal I found it a lot like Tolkien. His ability to tell a good tale is clear as the reader becomes part of the story. Very nice volume and worth the time and money in my opinion.

Lousy Binding.......2005-12-20

I've read all but "A Christmas Carol" in this edition. I've found several typos. Moreover, the binding is becoming unglued. I estimate by the time I finish "A Christmas Carol" the binding will be totally exposed. I value permanent books (otherwise I would buy paperbacks). I suggest anyone who enjoys Dickens buy a better edition.

Average customer rating:

Bittersweet with funny moments
A Great Summer Read
One Great Read!!
Falls short of earlier promise
Small Island Review

Small Island: A Novel
Andrea Levy
Manufacturer: Picador
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0312424671
Release Date: 2005-02-24

Amazon.com

Andrea Levy's award-winning novel, Small Island, deftly brings two bleak families into crisp focus. First a Jamaican family, including the well-intentioned Gilbert, who can never manage to say or do exactly the right thing; Romeo Michael, who leaves a wake of women in his path; and finally, Hortense, whose primness belies her huge ambition to become English in every way possible. The other unhappy family is English, starting with Queenie, who escapes the drudgery of being a butcher's daughter only to marry a dull banker. As the chapters reverse chronology and the two groups collide and finally mesh, the book unfolds through time like a photo album, and Levy captures the struggle between class, race, and sex with a humor and tenderness that is both authentic and bracing. The book is cinematic in the best way--lighting up London's bombed-out houses and wartime existence with clarity and verve while never losing her character's voice or story. --Meg Halverson

Book Description

Winner of the 2004 Orange Prize for Fiction
A Picador Original Trade Paperback

Hortense Joseph arrives in London from Jamaica in 1948 with her life in her suitcase, her heart broken, her resolve intact. Her husband, Gilbert Joseph, returns from the war expecting to be received as a hero, but finds his status as a black man in Britain to be second class. His white landlady, Queenie, raised as a farmer's daughter, befriends Gilbert, and later Hortense, with innocence and courage, until the unexpected arrival of her husband, Bernard, who returns from combat with issues of his own to resolve.

Told in these four voices, Small Island is a courageous novel of tender emotion and sparkling wit, of crossings taken and passages lost, of shattering compassion and of reckless optimism in the face of insurmountable barriers---in short, an encapsulation of that most American of experiences: the immigrant's life.

Customer Reviews:

Bittersweet with funny moments.......2007-09-17

This is a part of British history that the UK is only admitting to, its something that happened in our lifetime only 60 years ago, how the non white immigrants from the New World were treated by the Mother country.
This story concentrates on two immigrants from Jamaica, the four main characters are complex, neither totally likeable or totally characters that you would hate.
Hortense - a mixed race Jamaican, with a white father in a society that worshipped the fair skinned, due to her white heritage (tho illegitimate) she manages to get a reasonably good education but things don't go exactly as planned with her career so believes England is the answer to all her problems. She is the character I sympathised with the least but she does become almost likable in the end.
Gilbert-her husband, a match made in convenienece, with the same background but he is legitimate,a young man who sees the war as an adventure and a new life in England better than the life in Jamaica
but characters are in for shock when they realise Mother England may want them but their English 'siblings' do not.
Queenie/Bernard - the english couple in the story, who represent the different treatments that the immigrants recieved when the arrived. One welcoming and the other hostile.
The book meant a lot of me it was like getting a glimpse of the things my grandmother must have experienced back in the day. 2008 will be the 60th anniversary of the Windrush experience, I look forward to hearing their story told more often, they deserve it after what they had to go through.

A Great Summer Read.......2007-08-10

This book was a surprise. I had a slightly difficult time at first due to the Jamaican dialogue, but quickly got absorbed in the characters. Ms Levy's description of the war was excellent. This is the first time I felt like I understood what happened in England and India. I could feel the blast, smell the smells, feel the dirt and grime- when Queenie found herself in the middle of it. In some ways it was a tough read because the descriptions of war were so graphic and the racial prejudice so sickening.

Ms Levy pulled everything neatly together towards the end. I really enjoyed this book.

One Great Read!!.......2007-05-30

I so enjoyed this marvelous book [by a new author, for me]. Characters are so likeable -- especially Gilbert & Hortense. I especially liked that they spoke in their voices [chapters devoted to each character]. Learned much about Jamaica, emigration to England from Jamaica, the RAF, as well as the enormity of the human spirit & heart. This terrific read has alittle of everything -- including how true "newly weds" behave/adjust, mystery, etc. Another eye-opener [shamefully so!] regarding racism. The book is well orchestrated. Buy it & enjoy!

Falls short of earlier promise.......2007-03-27

This book is about the 2 small islands of Jamaica and Britain and has a good start but it's all downhill from there, the book fails because the characters are for the most part unlikable it was hard to care about any of them. The premise of this book seems to be that racism exists everywhere even in the small predominantly black island of Jamaica. Where Levy loses her footing is when she claims one form of racism is better than another. How this book won any prizes is beyond me, I am baffled by all the glowing reviews. The story centers predominantly around the characters of Hortense, Gilbert and Queenie.

The bulk of the book focuses on Hortense, a light skinned black woman living in Jamaica. Because she is lighter she has opportunities and is given breaks that she does not deserve(ie she is given high grades in cooking and it is shown in a comical way later that she obviously cant cook). Hortense glides through life as a light skinned woman in Jamaica and looks down on darker blacks as being "rough" or "coarse" but when she arrives in England and the tables are turned she is viewed with the prejudices that she had reserved for others. Because she is black most of the English people she meets thinks she is dirty, and lower class. Does all of this force Hortense to rethink her earlier views and prejudices that she had for other darker Jamaicans? Sadly the answer is a resounding No! Instead Hortense cries and feels sorry for herself because of the discrimination and racist attitudes she faces in Britain conveniently forgetting what went on in Jamaica. She feels it's okay for her to benefit from skin color discrimination in Jamaica but it's not okay when discrimination is used against her in England. Hortense never comes to any self-awareness but goes on to the end of the book with the same small minded attitudes and prejudices that she had when the book started. It was very hard to care at all about this character as she is also very selfish, narrow minded, and never experiences any personal growth or enlightenment. She goes through the book thinking the world revolves around her, she uses her friends, and when things don't go her way she cries and feels sorry for herself at what she see as the horrible injustice of her not always getting her own way.

Gilbert, Hortense's husband, doesn't fare much better. He also glides through life, and doesnt seem very bright. He puts up with a lot of Hortense's crap and seems pathetically grateful when she is nicer to him. Hortense only warms up to her husband when he gives her what her friend wanted(a nice home in London). Which goes to show how pathetic Hortense is as a character she doesnt even have her own dreams but is content to steal the boyfriend and dreams of another.

Queenie is the most likable character, but her story is the most absurd. She marries her husband Bernard for reasons that are not entirely clear. She doesn't love him, doesn't particularly seem to like him and is relieved when he goes off to war. Then inexplicably when he doesn't return to her after the war she is desperate to have him back. After the war she takes in black boarders because she knows her husband wouldn't like it and is hoping he will hear of it and come back to her. A few chapters later however, it is revealed that she doesn't love her husband but is in fact in love with another man whom she is desperate to be with. This contradicts what was said earlier but it only gets worse from here.

The whole baby part of the story was completely unbelievable. An overweight woman could hide the fact that she was pregnant but Queenie is described as very thin. Bernard even says when he sees her after the war that she is much thinner than he remembered, there is no way that she could hide the fact that she was in her last few weeks of pregnancy. I don't care how tightly you bind yourself the belly is going to show. It's also pretty silly because Bernard comments on her flat stomach when he sees her in her nightgown and then two weeks later flat stomach Queenie has a baby. When liberal minded Queenie rejects her baby because he is too dark, considering her earlier views and the fact that she claims to be madly in love with the baby's father, was just too silly for me. It was also unclear why she didn't leave for Canada like she wanted to when she found out she was pregnant. The time frame also didn't work. For the whole England part of the story to take place in the space of 10 months was also not believable.

Bernard is given a few chapters in the book but he is not very bright, more of a caricature than a character. He is the stereotypical British man, who is sexually repressed, racist, and a bit on the stupid side. Thankfully only a small section of the book is devoted to him.

Levy is a good writer and the book is at least readable even though her characters are not likable. Unfortunately Levy's message seems to be that Jamaica's racism and prejudices that has a darker underclass is better than Britains prejudices that views all blacks, regardless of skin tone the same, but that Britains racist attitudes is better than Americas racism because America has institutionalised racism. It would have been a much stronger book if the message was you shouldn't judge someone based solely on their skin tone. Hortense is upper class in Jamaica because she is light but lower class in England because although light she is still black. Racism is racism and one form of it is not better than another.

Small Island Review.......2007-03-21

This book was interesting and thought provoking but was unfortunately dragged out so that I found myself wishng she were less wordy

Messenger of Truth: A Maisie Dobbs Novel (Maisie Dobbs Novels)

Average customer rating:

A Little Off-Balance
Messenger of Truth: A Maisie Dobbs Novel
A Maisie Dobbs Novel
Maisie Dobbs #4
A dry watershed

Messenger of Truth: A Maisie Dobbs Novel (Maisie Dobbs Novels)
Jacqueline Winspear
Manufacturer: Henry Holt and Co.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0805078983
Release Date: 2006-08-22

Book Description

London, 1931. The night before an exhibition of his artwork opens at a famed Mayfair gallery, the controversial artist Nick Bassington-Hope falls to his death. The police rule it an accident, but Nicks twin sister, Georgina, a wartime journalist and a infamous figure in her own right, isnt convinced. In Messenger of Truth, Maisie once again uncovers the perilous legacy of the Great War in a society struggling to recollect itself. But to solve the mystery of Nicks death, Maisie will have to keep her head as the forces behind the artists fall come out of the shadows to silence her. Following on the bestselling Pardonable Lies, Jacqueline Winspear delivers another vivid, thrilling, and utterly unique episode in the life of Maisie Dobbs.

Customer Reviews:

A Little Off-Balance.......2007-07-26

"God, he's just a little off balance," thought Maisie Dobbs about Officer Tucker while he was questioning her. For Maisie is investigating the death of an artist who supposedly accidentally fell from a scaffold while he was preparing to mount his mysterious triptych (3-piece art work) in a museum in England. Off balance is right, and Georgina Bassington-Hope, a famous journalist in her own right, is convinced that her artist brother, Nicholas, was pushed off the scaffold to his death. Hired by Georgina, Maisie sets of to slowly, methodically investigate the Bassington-Hope family, friends and acquaintances. Her method is fascinating reading as she quietly intuits each vital step in this formidable process, punctuated by significant opposition from the police and some smugglers.

The reader through Ms. Winspear's carefully detailed presentation meets these characters and gets to share in the intimate knowledge about their finer and gauche personality aspects. A psychologist as well as Investigator, she's got the talent with which one is born and that which can't be taught! Astute and compassionately honest she is!

Depression England and the awful World War that preceded it are frankly and carefully presented, leaving no doubt how these events created suffering and incomparable struggle for all who are surviving both. Indeed these characters somehow manage to thrive out of some deeper fine qualities that slowly emerge as Daisie continues her exploration into the seamier side of men and women of both the upper and lower class British citizens.

This is a fine, fine novel that will thrill the true mystery lover who really doesn't want to figure out the puzzle on page 1 or 100 but wants to relish the truly intriguing art divided into successive canvases of a classic, wonderful mystery!

Reviewed by Viviane Crystal on July 25, 2007

Messenger of Truth: A Maisie Dobbs Novel.......2007-07-24

The book is well written, a good story line and makes for enjoyable light reading.

A Maisie Dobbs Novel .......2007-07-18

Some books you read as a main course dinner others you save for the dessert. This book could fall into either category. A top read when you
choose to read. The person of Maisie Dobbs has been building for the past three books, and has proven to be a top notch detective and a business person. Be prepaired to find that you will have a hard time putting this book down.

Maisie Dobbs #4.......2007-07-14

I love this series! A thinking woman! Looking forward to the continuation of the series.

A dry watershed.......2007-06-24

This is Jacqueline Winspear's fourth novel about Maisie Dobbs, "psychologist and investigator." Fans of the series may be slightly disappointed, but should still enjoy it. First-time readers will wonder what all the fuss is about. For, as I suspected already in the third novel, PARDONABLE LIES, the narrative span is becoming difficult to sustain over four books.

But Winspear's sense of period seldom lets her down, and there are still many interesting things here: her view of the vibrant art scene between the wars or the heady night world of jazz clubs and cocktails, contrasted with the effect of the Depression on the out-of-work poor and the lamentable state of public health. And those parts of the story which have to do with the rags-to-riches rise of the heroine (housemaid, war nurse, Canbridge graduate, private investigator) are mercifully shorter -- though Maisie's emotional problems would mean very little to those who had not read the earlier books. But Winspear seems caught on a difficult watershed: on the one hand, continuing to write about the legacy of the First War, which no longer has the resonance that it had in her first books; on the other, exploring the life of a nation moving inexorably towards the Second. There are aspects of both here, but they do not blend easily. If she is to continue, the author needs to move forward rather than back -- and also develop the inner life of her heroine so as to make her interesting for who she is now, rather than as the product of previous books in the series.

Readers who want to read more about the role of artists in the first War -- an important element in this book -- might be interested in REGENERATION by Pat Barker. Although Barker's novel deals with poets (Sassoon and Owen among them) rather than painters, it tackles head-on the conflict between war's brutality and artistic sensitivity, which has been a persistent theme in Winspear's books, and a moving one.

Average customer rating:

Easy Breezy Read, 3.5 stars
Perfect Royal Read
THE PERFECT ROYAL MISTRESS
Passion from England
Love it!

The Perfect Royal Mistress: A Novel
Diane Haeger
Manufacturer: Three Rivers Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0307237516
Release Date: 2007-02-27

Book Description

Born into poverty and raised in a brothel, Nell Gwynne sells oranges in the pit at London’s King’s Theater, newly reopened after the plague and the Great Fire devastated the city. Soon, her quick sense of humor and natural charm get her noticed by those who have the means to make her life easier. But the street-smart Nell knows a woman doesn’t get ahead by selling her body. Through talent, charm, intelligence, and sheer determination—as well as a keen understanding of how the world operates—Nell works her way out of the pit and onto the stage to become the leading comedic actress of the day. Her skills and beauty quickly win the attention of all of London—eventually even catching the eye of King Charles II. Their attraction is as real as it is unlikely, and the scrappy orange girl with the pretty face and the quick wit soon finds herself plunged into the confusing and dangerous world of the court, where she learns there are few she can trust—and many whom she cannot turn her back on.

From the gritty streets of seventeenth-century London, to the backstage glamour of its theaters, to the glittering court of Charles II, The Perfect Royal Mistress is a love story for the ages, the rags-to-riches tale of a truly remarkable heroine.

Customer Reviews:

Easy Breezy Read, 3.5 stars.......2007-09-06

This is the rags to riches story of Nell Gwynne, a one time orange girl and then actress of The King's Theatre who captured the heart of Charles II, The Merry Monarch. Since two other reviewers have done such a fine job of recapping the story, I needn't rehash it again.

While I thoroughly enjoyed the story, I felt the characters could have been better defined. Maybe it's because I've read Forever Amber and Dark Angels and I kept wishing for more like that. The author did a nice job of defining the Reformation society and the court, but it just wasn't enough for me. Buckingham's intrigues came off as too lighthearted, Queen Catherine a non-existent sap, and Louise a whiny immature child. I could never figure out how Lord Bockhurst started out as a worthless hellion that Nell dumped to being one of her greatest friends and supporters, along with Buckingham. Like another reviewer, I found the "h" dropping didn't quite do the dialect justice and I found at least one instance where Nell "forgot" to drop the "h".

All in all an enjoyable entertaining read, just not something to write home and friends about, one of those books that will go right back to the library and probably soon forgotten. 3.5 stars.

Perfect Royal Read.......2007-08-05

I read THE RUBY RING when it came out and wasn't that impressed with the depth of the characters or even the plot of Hager's first novel. However, I thought I'd give her books another try and I'm really glad I did. The Perfect Royal Mistress is a huge step above her previous work, and the story of King Charles II and his mistress Nell reads like some of the best historical fiction around. The pair of them drive this tale of jealousy, love and politics, and anyone who's a fan of English history will enjoy this romp through Charles's life, complete with affairs, mistresses, and illegitimate children!

THE PERFECT ROYAL MISTRESS.......2007-07-17

I had heard of Nell Gwynne in reading history, but I knew little about her except that she was an actress who became a King's mistress. This book really brought her to life. I couldn't put it down. The author Diane Haegar really brought Nell and the other people who surrounded her to life. I love historical novels, historical romances and anything that is historical. I shall continue to read other books by Diane Haegar, and I recommand this book to anyone who enjoys historical novels as much as I do.

Passion from England.......2007-06-28

This book brought front and center the traggic existance of a woman loving a king. This woman showed spirit and a true appreciation for her position. This novel very closely followed historical notes on the romance between Nell Gwynne and the king of England. It was a pleasure to read, written by a great author.

Love it!.......2007-06-28

This was my first Diane Haeger novel and I must say I can't wait to read more from her. I thought it was wonderfully written and an intriguing look into a woman's life in England in a time where nothing was certain.

Average customer rating:

Big Fan Felt very dissapointed
Poor Attempt
London Bridge Fell Down
Definitely not his best ....
One of the worst books I've read in months

London Bridges (Alex Cross Novels)
James Patterson
Manufacturer: Vision
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0446613355

Book Description

Alex Cross is back--and so is the Big Bad Wolf. Terrorists have seized the worlds largest cities. London, Washington, DC, New York, and Frankfurt will be destroyed, unless their demands are met--and their demands are impossible. After a city in the western United States is fire bombed--a practice run--Alex Cross knows that it is only a matter of time before the bombers threats to the other cities are brutally executed.Heading up the investigation by the FBI, CIA, and Interpol, Alex Cross is stunned when surveillance photos show Geoffrey Shafer, the Weasel, near one of the bombing sites. He senses the presence of the Wolf as well, the most vicious predator he has ever battled. With millions of lives in the balance, Cross has to see if the most powerful law enforcement agencies in the world can stay ahead of these two mens cunning.

Customer Reviews:

Big Fan Felt very dissapointed.......2007-09-20

I am big fan of James Patterson. But this book disappointed me so much that this is the first time, I am writing review any book. This book forced me write this review. If you are big fan of James Patterson, please please skip this book. Because this is nothing but big big disappointment. The story takes you to a peak and drop you from 50,000 foot free fall till you hit the rocky ground and felt I have wasted all this time on this stupid book. I am sorry to say this, but it is very true.

Poor Attempt.......2007-07-12

It seems as if the author wrote this while running for a plane at an airport. Short, meaningless chapters, poor pacing, and inferior character development. Does anyone really care what happens to these characters? Not me.

London Bridge Fell Down.......2007-07-08

This book seemed a formulaic labor that Patterson had to get through and be done with. Once he got to the point where Cross was going to capture the criminals he wanted to get, the rest seemed matter of fact. Cross chased these two guys through two previous novels, and this book - where he finally got them - seemed, to me, anti-climactic.

Definitely not his best ...........2007-05-30

I'm a big fan of Patterson's "Alex Cross" series, but this one was just not very good. It was very far-fetched and the ending was like hitting a brick wall. It was also tough to keep up with all the characters that were introduced. It's not the worst book I've read and it does keep you turning the pages ... just don't expect too much, and don't expect to have all your questions answered.

One of the worst books I've read in months.......2007-05-09

As I read through this book with its 4 paragraph chapters, I kept wondering how this book ever got published? London Bridges reads like an outline of a book, a skeleton -- where's the beef? Maybe it was just meant to be a pitch for a summer movie - lots of blowing things up, unbelievable plotlines, and underdeveloped characters. I wish I could be a literary bulemic - purge myself of this book's stupidity and get back my time spent reading it. Now I'm even hungrier for Lee Child's new Jack Reacher book due out in a week.

Average customer rating:

A delightful book full despite rat-eating violence
Original, adventurous, and completely enjoyable.
Great Writing, OK Story
A great page turner
Wonderful fantasy fiction

Neverwhere: A Novel
Neil Gaiman
Manufacturer: Harper Perennial
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | Fantasy | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0060557818
Release Date: 2003-09-02

Amazon.com

Neverwhere's protagonist, Richard Mayhew, learns the hard way that no good deed goes unpunished. He ceases to exist in the ordinary world of London Above, and joins a quest through the dark and dangerous London Below, a shadow city of lost and forgotten people, places, and times. His companions are Door, who is trying to find out who hired the assassins who murdered her family and why; the Marquis of Carabas, a trickster who trades services for very big favors; and Hunter, a mysterious lady who guards bodies and hunts only the biggest game. London Below is a wonderfully realized shadow world, and the story plunges through it like an express passing local stations, with plenty of action and a satisfying conclusion. The story is reminiscent of Douglas Adams's The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, but Neil Gaiman's humor is much darker and his images sometimes truly horrific. Puns and allusions to everything from Paradise Lost to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz abound, but you can enjoy the book without getting all of them. Gaiman is definitely not just for graphic-novel fans anymore. --Nona Vero

Book Description

Richard Mayhew is a young man with a good heart and an ordinarylife, which is changed forever when he stops to help a girl he finds bleeding on a London sidewalk. His small act of kindness propels him into a world he never dreamed existed. There are people who fall through the cracks, and Richard has become one of them. And he must learn to survive in this city of shadows and darkness, monsters and saints, murderers and angels, if he is ever to return to the London that he knew.

Download Description

"Special e-book feature: contains three stories - ""Fifteen Painted Cards From a Vampire Tarot""; ""Eaten""; ""Apple"" - not available in print edition. The distinctive storytelling genius of Neil Gaiman has been acclaimed by writers as diverse as Norman Mailer and Stephen King. Now in this new collection of stories--several of which have never before appeared in print and more than half that have never been collected--that will dazzle the senses and haunt the imagination. Miraculous inventions and unforgettable characters inhabit these pages: an elderly widow who finds the Holy Grail in a second-hand store...a frightened little boy who bargains for his life with a troll living under a bridge by the railroad tracks...a stray cat who battles nightly against a recurring evil that threatens his unsuspecting adoptive family. In these stories, Gaiman displays the power, wit, insight and outrageous originality that has made him one of the most unique literary artists of our day."

Customer Reviews:

A delightful book full despite rat-eating violence.......2007-09-25

Gaiman has this way of creating delightful stories even though they might contain less than delightful content: such as biting the heads of off live rats, bloody torture, and sifting through human sewage with a net. This is true in Neverwhere, where the story often turns violent. Somehow, though, it doesn't leave any feeling of nervousness or disgust, which is what grounds this type of story in Fantasy and out of Horror.

I'm not sure how he does it, but I believe it might the wondrous and complex worlds that he creates: in Neverwhere, this world is "London Below", a pseudo-real subterranean world in the tunnels and sewers under London. There are many interesting things happening, that the brutality of certain scenes is somehow made more palatable. Dont get me wrong - this is not a gore-fest, but there are very violent moments, as well as moments of extreme emotional distress for some of the characters... but there's no lasting sting. I associate it with a fine Single Malt: there might be a smokey or even sharp flavor to start, but the finish is pure velvety smoothness.

Another reason that Neverwhere appealed to me is the characters: each was a hard-survivalist on the surface (a requirement of living in the dangerous world below London), but they all had a depth to them that quickly revealed the heart under the hard exterior. I found myself liking every character, no matter how small their part in the story.

I highliy recommend Neverwhere, alhtough it may not be as suitable for younger readers as, say, Stardust

Original, adventurous, and completely enjoyable........2007-09-24

I'm relatively new to Gaiman's work, but I found this novel to be quite amazing. The subterranean world he creates below London is quite strange, yet I often felt as if I were there as I read it. The characters are quite appealing and easy to relate to, and the plot takes many unexpected twists and turns, making for a very interesting and enjoyable read.

Great Writing, OK Story.......2007-09-19

This book was highly recommended, but I found it somewhat difficult to get into. The characters are very sketchily drawn, and the story just seems to wander with no real point. There are plays on the names of several London Underground stations, but they seem randomly selected and don't really add anything to the story. There's no explanation of the talents of the various inhabitants of London Below, or any indication of the alliances/hostilities that require areas/times of safe passage. Some characters seem to move between the worlds and the main character suddenly "disappears" from the world above for no apparent reason other than to bring him below as the narrator. The book is very well written as far as the imagery, but without a compelling story to hold it together, it just doesn't mean much.

A great page turner.......2007-08-28

I was recommended this book by my friend, and I'm not disappointed. After reading this, I also read Stardust since it was by same author, and found Neverwhere to be better (darker). I would recommend this book to anyone who likes science fiction, has vivid imagination, or looking for a thriller. If you've ever been to London (I haven't), you might find this book close to home as well.

Wonderful fantasy fiction.......2007-08-27

I've always enjoyed fantasy fiction, and thrillers. Combine both, and throw in a good sprinkling of self-deprecating humor, and you have the wonderful read: Neverwhere.

I can't tell you how much I loved this book - I didn't want it to end. The world of Door, and Islington, and Croupe and company is entertaining, inventive, and imaginative. I love books where you are actively challenged to use your imagination, but to do so as smartly and whimsically as in Neverwhere is a total joy.

Set aside a few hours to read -- this is a can't-put-it-down-read-until-you-are-dizzy thrill of a book. I can't recommend any recent fantasy book more heartedly, I loved it.

Dark Assassin: A William Monk Novel (William Monk Novels)

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Anne Perry's Monk NEVER disappoints.
Great book
History and Mystery, an unbeatable combination
enjoyable
Deep Waters

Dark Assassin: A William Monk Novel (William Monk Novels)
Anne Perry
Manufacturer: Ballantine Books
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Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0345469305
Release Date: 2007-02-27

Book Description

For countless readers, one of life’s great pleasures is the mesmerizing magic of a Victorian mystery by New York Times bestselling author Anne Perry. Her dramas of good and evil unfolding inside London’s lavish mansions and teeming slums hold us spellbound. Now, in Dark Assassin, she sweeps us into a darkly compelling world that we never dreamed existed.

A Thames River Police superintendent struggling to win the respect of his men, William Monk is on a patrol boat near Waterloo Bridge when he notices a young couple standing at the bridge railing, apparently engaged in an intense discussion. The woman waves her arms and places her hands on the man’s shoulders. A caress or a push? The man grasps hold of her. To save her or to kill her? Seconds later, the pair plunge to their death in the icy waters. Monk can’t help but wonder, was it an accident, a suicide, or a murder? It seems impossible to determine the truth, but haunted by the woman’s somber beauty, he is impelled to try.

Mary Havilland was her name, and she had planned to marry Toby Argyll, the fair-haired man who shared her fate. Mary’s father, an engineer employed by the Argyll Company, had recently died–a suicide, according to the police and Mary’s sister. But Mary’s friends tell Monk that she suspected her father had been murdered because of his stubborn insistence that the Argyll Company’s current project–the construction of a splendid new sewer system for the metropolis–was so badly flawed that it put the entire city in peril from flood and fire.

Monk is now faced with the mysteries of the three deaths. Aided by his intrepid wife Hester, he starts looking for answers and is soon treading a slippery path that takes him from the luxurious drawing rooms where powerful men hatch their unscrupulous plots to a world beneath the city where poor folk fight starvation. In nightmarish tunnels, Monk and Hester find true friends, among them Scuff, a young mudlark; Sutton the ratcatcher; and Snoot, Sutton’s clever terrier. For once, even Monk’s old enemy, Superintendent Runcorn, is on his side. As rainfall strains the fragile manmade underground, Monk must connect the clues before death strikes again.

With characters as vivid as Dickens’s, gripping courtroom scenes, breathless horrors beneath the earth, and a plot that twists and turns toward a stunning denouement, Dark Assassin is absolutely one of Anne Perry’s best.

From the Hardcover edition.

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Anne Perry is the bestselling author of the World War I novels No Graves As Yet, Shoulder the Sky, and Angels in the Gloom, as well as the holiday novels A Christmas Journey, A Christmas Visitor, and A Christmas Guest. She is also the creator of two acclaimed series set in Victorian England. Her William Monk novels include The Shifting Tide, Death of a Stranger, and Funeral in Blue. The popular novels featuring Charlotte and Thomas Pitt include Long Spoon Lane, Seven Dials, and Southampton Row. Her short story “Heroes” won an Edgar Award. Anne Perry lives in Scotland. Visit her website at www.anneperry.net.

From the Hardcover edition.

Customer Reviews:

Anne Perry's Monk NEVER disappoints........2007-06-22

Anne Perry's beautiful prose and her excellent scope of social values in Victorian England is top notch. Her mysteries are of both historical value and pure, unadulterated entertainment. William Monk is often a mystery in himself except what Anne Perry allows us in exquisite probing. Once begun, it's difficult to put down any Monk book. Once you finish, you're looking for the next.

Great book.......2007-05-13

This was one of Anne Perry's best books. I've been waiting for another William Monk novel, and this one was superb. The plot was great, kept one guessing until the very end. A hard book to put down and yet so enjoyable that I didn't want it to end. The author's understanding of history in England in the Victorian era is fascinating. I feel as if I am right there in that particular time and place. Her descriptions of the characters are detailed enough to picture them in the mind's eye as if you saw actual pictures of them. I highly recommend this book to everyone who enjoys a good mystery.

History and Mystery, an unbeatable combination.......2007-05-07

First Sentence: "Waterloo Bridge loomed in the distance as William Monk settles himself more comfortably in the bow of the police boat."

William Monk is now an Inspector with the Thames River police. London is building a new sewer system after The Great Stink of 1858. While on boat patrol, Monk and his men see a couple arguing and both go into the polluted Thames which kills them. But what did they see? Was it an accident that became a fatal accident? A murder and the killer dies with the victim? A suicide and the man dies trying to save the woman? The woman's death is proclaimed a suicide. Monk doesn't believe anyone who was working so hard to clear her father's reputation, after he also died of a supposed suicide, and provide he was right in believing the way in which the sewers were being built was dangerous would take their own life. Monk even joins forces with his old nemeses, Superintendent Runcorn.

Ms. Perry continues to impress me with her writing. Her ability to take an historic event and build an interesting, suspenseful story around it is unsurpassed. She creates fascinating characters and makes them real; not only Monk and Hester, is wife, but Scuff, the street urchin who feels responsible for Monk, and Sutton the ratcatcher and his dog, Snoot. Each of the characters is brought to live and image under Ms. Perry's writing. I am always delighted to find the newest book by Ms. Perry.

enjoyable.......2007-04-11

I love the characters and the mood set by Anne Perry. Great story with a real feel for the time period.

Deep Waters.......2007-03-28

I am a William Monk fan to the point that I like this series better than Perry's other two. Monk and Hester have a social conscience, a steadfast integrity, a deep committment to search for justice and truth no matter how difficult it may be. It is this that gives these books a depth that keeps the reader coming back for more.

Monk has a new job as superintendent with the Thames River Police. He is still uncertain in his new job, and is not sure how his men will take to him. In this mystery, Monk is on regular patrol near the Waterloo Bridge when he and his crew helplessly watch as a couple fall into the dark frigid waters. The freezing water and heavy clothes insures that no rescue is possible. Was it a murder/suicide, an accident or a death pact?

The two are identified as Toby Argyll and Mary Havilland, a young couple in love and planning to marry. Monk discovers that Mary's father is also dead, an apparent suicide. He worked for the Argyll Company, an important firm involved in the building of what is to be a splendid new London sewer system. Monk also discovers that Mr. Havilland had expressed serious doubts about the proposed system and he voiced these doubts. Mary did not believe her father committed suicide, she claimed he was murdered because of his vocal doubts about the sewer system.

Monk and Hester investigate the deaths of the young couple and in an unual twist, Monk receives help from his old nemisis, Superintendent Runcorn. Runcorn investigated Mary's father's death and is having second thoughts about it being suicide.

I gave "Dark Assassin" 4 stars instead of 5, because Perry does not have Hester as involved in this mystery as she has been in the past and her absence is noticeable. It also delves more on Monk's new duties and his uncertainties in his new job rather than on the subplots that are usual in his other novels. However, it is still an absorbing read and one which furthers our understanding of Victorian England society and Monk and Hester's place in it.

Jack London : Novels and Stories : Call of the Wild / White Fang / The Sea-Wolf / Klondike and Other Stories (Library of America)

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An American Master...
Amazing on multiple levels!
Call of the Wild
Reality or Fantasy... Which one is it?
THE GREATES

Jack London : Novels and Stories : Call of the Wild / White Fang / The Sea-Wolf / Klondike and Other Stories (Library of America)
Jack London
Manufacturer: Library of America
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0940450054

Book Description

Thrilling action, an intuitive feeling for animal life, a sense of justice that often works itself out through violence: these are the qualities that made Jack London phenomenally popular in his own day and continue to make him, at home and abroad, one of the most widely read of all American writers. "The Call of the Wild," perhaps the best novel ever written about animals, traces a dog's education for survival in the ways of the wolfpack. "White Fang," in which a wolf-dog becomes domesticated out of love for a man, is an unforgettable portrayal of a world of "hunting and being hunted, eating and being eaten, all in blindness and confusion." In "The Sea-Wolf," the primitive takes human form in the ruthless, indomitable Wolf Larsen, captain of a crew of outcasts on the lawless Alaskan seas. Set in the Klondike, California, Mexico, and the South Seas, the short stories collected here--many for the first time--show London as one of the great American storytellers.

Customer Reviews:

An American Master..........2007-06-07

You can't lump too many people into the same sphere with London...Twain, Poe, and Lovecraft are a few that spring to mind. He's an American Titan, and he gets the fawning treatment you'd expect from the Library of America in this exemplary, extraordinary, green-registered book.

Call of the Wild is a page-turning yarn about a dog that becomes a wolf. It's listed on the MLA 100, but any competent kid of ten could tackle it...and enjoy it.

White Fang is a canine bildungsroman that inverts the plot of Call of the Wild, with the wolf becoming a dog. Also a page-turner, also something a kid would read without having to be coerced, and possessed of a truly classic scene where White Fang fights a bulldog.

The Klondike Short Stories are all superb--some people think London's metier was the short story rather than the novel--with Batard being a personal favorite.

The Sea-Wolf is a work of genius...until it all comes crashing down with the introduction of Maud Brewster, and the escape to Endeavour Island. What had heretofore been a truly transcendent work of art transmogrifies into a clunky, melodramatic, and tedious chore, where London's love of sailing jargon threatens to overwhelm the reader.

The Selected Short Stories show that London wasn't just a Yukon guy...he had some other arrows in his quiver. A few stories demonstrate his--at the time--devout socialism, which lasted up until he himself got rich. The Apostate is the weakest of these, but The Strength of the Strong is a pretty good allegory for fin-de-siecle capitalism, with all its gory excesses. London also writes convincingly about such diverse topics as boxing, South Sea cannibals, and straight-up science fiction.

This book of books is excellent, and any American who fancies himself a lover of literature would be remiss in not reading it.

Amazing on multiple levels!.......2007-02-24

Novels and Stories was the first of a two volume set that I scored for cheap on ebay a few years ago. The second, Novels and Social writings concentrates on his political/social novels and essays while this one is comprised of his Alaskan and sea bearing adventure stories.

This book weighs in at over 1000 pages and includes three GREAT novels in Call of the Wild, The Sea Wolf and White Fang as well as multitudes of his short stories.

I can't say enough about how much I love Londons writings and how much admiration I have for him as a man as well. I've read Call of the Wild about every two years or so since the first time I read it as a child and I get more out of it every time I re-read it. His adventure stories on one level are just great red blooded adventure stories that anyone who has any heart or spirit would enjoy and there is a deeper level to London as well. His stories are highly spiritual if you are able to look at them on another level. Although thats something that you have to "feel" from within I suppose.

Call of the Wild.......2005-05-17

This book was really good, but I believe that White Fang was better. Many settings took place, but I will start with the main ones. The first setting in this book was Judge Millers Mansion. The second is the dog breakers place, in which Buck (the main character, a dog,) learns the "law of Club and Fang." The third place is where Buck learns the method of husky fighting, and because the other dog died, he lived a long and well-lived life. The first major event in this book is when a person steals Buck from Judge Miller, and he is starved and strangled and is thrown in a shed to wait for a train to the dog breaker. There, he is introduced to the primitive law of club and fang. After that, he, and a Newfoundland, are taken to Alaska. There, he is introduced to the method of Husky Fighting, and then is put into the harness, and is put to work on the mushing sled. The next major event is when Buck is taken of his first mushing trip in the wild. There he learns how to keep warm in the harsh winters by digging into the snow and having your body heat heat up the space. The next area is when Buck and Spitz finally fight to the death, and Buck takes the position of lead dog on the mushing track. Finally, the last major setting is when Buck finaly turns to the wild, and he attacks the YeeHats with a vengance, because they had killed his LOVED master. The conflict in this book is Buck is a spoilled rotten dog, until he reaches the North and finds that he has wild ancestors. They eventually take over Buck and he lives with the wild.

Reality or Fantasy... Which one is it?.......2003-05-18

After reading this book for school, (not that I was forced to) I gave it a 4/5 star rating. It was excellent when it came to the setting of the story. Even though it is a very short, it crams alot of suspensfull and interesting moments into 100 some odd pages. This book is quite good and page turning. I highly recommend it to readers who like a mix of reality and fantasy in one. Masterful piece of writing.

THE GREATES.......2002-09-17

Jack London was one of the greatest American writers. I love everything he wrote and I wish I could write as well as he did.

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Brick Lane: a journey and a destination
Intelligent, subtle and broad.
The short anwer
Very enjoyable
This was hard work

Brick Lane: A Novel
Monica Ali
Manufacturer: Scribner
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0743243315

Amazon.com

Wildly embraced by critics, readers, and contest judges (who put it on the short-list for the 2003 Man Booker Prize), Brick Lane is indeed a rare find: a book that lives up to its hype. Monica Ali's debut novel chronicles the life of Nazneen, a Bangladeshi girl so sickly at birth that the midwife at first declares her stillborn. At 18 her parents arrange a marriage to Chanu, a Bengali immigrant living in England. Although Chanu--who's twice Nazneen's age--turns out to be a foolish blowhard who "had a face like a frog," Nazneen accepts her fate, which seems to be the main life lesson taught by the women in her family. "If God wanted us to ask questions," her mother tells her, "he would have made us men." Over the next decade-and-a-half Nazneen grows into a strong, confident woman who doesn't defy fate so much as bend it to her will. The great delight to be had in Brick Lane lies with Ali's characters, from Chanu the kindly fool to Mrs. Islam the elderly loan shark to Karim the political rabblerouser, all living in a hothouse of Bengali immigrants. Brick Lane combines the wide scope of a social novel about the struggles of Islamic immigrants in pre- and post-9/11 England with the intimate story of Nazneen, one of the more memorable heroines to come along in a long time. If Dickens or Trollope were loosed upon contemporary London, this is exactly the sort of novel they would cook up. --Claire Dederer

Book Description

After an arranged marriage to Chanu, a man twenty years older, Nazneen is taken to London, leaving her home and heart in the Bangladeshi village where she was born. Her new world is full of mysteries. How can she cross the road without being hit by a car (an operation akin to dodging raindrops in the monsoon)? What is the secret of her bullying neighbor Mrs. Islam? What is a Hell's Angel? And how must she comfort the na‹ve and disillusioned Chanu?

As a good Muslim girl, Nazneen struggles to not question why things happen. She submits, as she must, to Fate and devotes herself to her husband and daughters. Yet to her amazement, she begins an affair with a handsome young radical, and her erotic awakening throws her old certainties into chaos.

Monica Ali's splendid novel is about journeys both external and internal, where the marvellous and the terrifying spiral together.

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"Monica Ali's gorgeous first novel is the deeply moving story of one woman, Nazneen, born in a Bangladeshi village and transported to London at age eighteen to enter into an arranged marriage. Already hailed by the London Observer as ""one of the most significant British novelists of her generation,"" Ali has written a stunningly accomplished debut about one outsider's quest to find her voice. What could not be changed must be borne. And since nothing could be changed, everything had to be borne. This principle ruled her life. It was mantra, fettle, and challenge. Nazneen's inauspicious entry into the world, an apparent stillbirth on the hard mud floor of a village hut, imbues in her a sense of fatalism that she carries across continents when she is married off to Chanu, a man old enough to be her father. Nazneen moves to London and, for years, keeps house, cares for her husband, and bears children, just as a girl from the village is supposed to do. But gradually she is transformed by her experience, and begins to question whether fate controls her or whether she has a hand in her own destiny. Motherhood is a catalyst -- Nazneen's daughters chafe against their father's traditions and pride -- and to her own amazement, Nazneen falls in love with a young man in the community. She discovers both the complexity that comes with free choice and the depth of her attachment to her husband, her daughters, and her new world. While Nazneen journeys along her path of self-realization, her sister, Hasina, rushes headlong at her life, first making a ""love marriage,"" then fleeing her violent husband. Woven through the novel, Hasina's letters from Dhaka recount a world of overwhelming adversity. Shaped, yet not bound, by their landscapes and memories, both sisters struggle to dream -- and live -- beyond the rules prescribed for them.

Customer Reviews:

Brick Lane: a journey and a destination.......2007-10-05

This was Ms Ali's debut novel, and was shortlisted for the 2003 Man Booker Prize. While Brick Lane is about a particular set of experiences for a specific set of characters, it is also more broadly about the dislocation experienced by all migrants.

Brick Lane tells the story of Hazneen, who came to England from Bangladesh at the age of 18 for an arranged marriage to Chanu. When she arrives, she has very limited English, but falls into the role of a dutiful wife to a man who is also culturally dislocated and whose rigid adherence to remembered custom and practice renders him sadly ineffectual.

This novel explores cultural difference, family ties and associated impacts on individuals.

Highly recommended - not because it provides all of the answers or instant understanding but because it identifies so many of the questions.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

Intelligent, subtle and broad........2007-09-23

"Brick Lane" is an important and intelligent addition to immigrant British literature that deserves, and will amply reward, a thoughtful read. But it is a novel, not a text book about Bangladeshis in London, or about Bangladesh itself.

Unsubtly trailing the central concept of Fate over every chapter, it explores how the lead character, Nazneen, fights the Fate that is written for her, or at least appears to. From her refusal to accept her own birth as a still born to her passing comment in the closing pages of the book "But that was before I knew what I could do"; a comment which finally refutes her own mother's enduring words of suffering "we are women, what can we do".

For non-Muslim readers, it is important to note that Fate is a central part of Islam. Muslims believe that life is predetermined and individual choice (but not individual responsibility) is limited. This leads to complex theological and logical issues, which Brick Lane fudges. It is never clear whether Nazneen has followed her Fate, or changed it, although the book strongly suggests the latter. Ali takes this concept to its extreme in the sketch of the drug addict, Tariq. Addiction is not his Fate. His doctor says he will get better "if that's what he decides".

Ali contrasts Nazneen's "victories" over her Fate, against the series of disappointments of her husband, the heart-rendingly tragi-comic Chanu. Chanu is educated, full of potential. But Chanu's inaction leaves his promise unfulfilled. This is again contrasted with Nazneen's sister, Hasina. Left in Bangladesh, she sends letters about her two failed and violent marriages and her spell of prostitution; misfortunes suffered inspite of her best efforts to make life better for herself.

And then there's Karim. Nazneen's British born Bangladeshi lover, sometimes criticized as being "one-dimensional". But, their relationship is supposed to be one-dimensional. Nazneen herself comments that she "made him up". The relationship is a metaphor for the immigrant experience; from the point of view of the newly arrived "village girl" adjusting to the new country and from the point of view of the confused British born Bangladeshi. Through Nazneen, Karim "loves" the country he has never known. But through her pathetic father, Nazneen's own British born daughter, Shahana, "hates" it. Ali intelligently and subtly explores all these ideas in this broad work, which also has good background sketches of most of the issues that affect immigrant communities.

And for the benefit any non-immigrants reading this review, who have ever wondered what its like for us, I would point you to the most profound comment I have ever read about growing up in a second generation immigrant community; "Karim was born a foreigner. He did not have a place in this world. That was why he defended it."

The short anwer.......2007-09-09

This is a novel-reader's novel. Because this book covers half a life, it helps to have lived half a life, and to love good writing. Best also, though, not to know in advance what happens to the person "who was left to her fate," or how others have interpreted that fate, because "Brick Lane" is also a ripping good yarn. If you put it aside -- and most busy people will more than once -- wait until it calls. It will: you've been abandoned as a stranger in a strange land, and no one can finish that journey for you.

Very enjoyable.......2007-08-22

The core of this book revolves around the themes of submission, immigration and integration. It's the story of Nazneen, a quiet young girl whose life changes when the arranged marriage to a much older man takes them to London's East End. She leaves behind all she had ever known in her native Bangladesh. Whilst her husband Chanu's hopes and dreams of a "big life" are slowly shattered, Nazneen devotes herself to raising her family, trying to adjust and make sense of a world that she doesn't quite understand. A lot happens in London and new people enter their life, influencing their thoughts and actions. Nazneen has always thought of herself and the events in her life to belong to fate and fate only but, without quite realising it, a hidden strength and determination lead her to an unexpected path.

This book has a special depth, especially in connection with racial and social issues. The prose is flawless and make the characters come to life so vividly. I also very much appreciated the letters written in broken English by Nazneen's sister Hasina, which in themselves represent a different side of the story, directly from a member of the family left behind in Bangladesh.
Some parts of this book are very moving and dramatic, however there are some ironic and comical events/dialogues, sad in themselves given the often pathetic circumstances, but they made me smile nevertheless.
A lovely, gripping book, well done to Ms. Ali!

This was hard work.......2007-06-01

I bought all the books that had been nominated for the 2003 MAN Booker Prize, Brick Lane being one of them so I had reasonably high expectations. I'm a little relieved, judging by the other reviews around mine here, to find out that I'm not the only one who couldn't wait to finish it (some gave up). It was interesting at first, but it seemed interminably long and by the time I was crying out for it to end, I was barely halfway through! Perhaps people from that part of London will find it more appealing, or those from Bangladesh. But this was one of those rare occasions when I thought I could use my time more usefully than read a book. How on earth did it get nominated ahead of (for example) The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time? Beats me. All I can say is that it must be aimed at a niche market, those in that group will doubtless sing its praises but for the mass-market....I'm not so sure. Sometimes, the best people to write observations of specific cultures are those who live outside of those cultures rather than those who live within them. Maybe an 'outsider' can do it in a way that a wider audience will understand and appreciate.

Bram Stoker: A Biography of the Author of Dracula

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Insight into Bram Stoker & His Life at the Lyceum.
Best Book I ever read!

Bram Stoker: A Biography of the Author of Dracula
Barbara Belford
Manufacturer: Knopf
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Bram Stoker and the Man Who Was Dracula

ASIN: 0679418326
Release Date: 1996-04-09

Amazon.com

"I am here to do Your bidding, Master. I am Your slave, and You will reward me, for I shall be faithful." These words spoken by Renfield to Dracula might have been said by Bram Stoker to his boss, the mesmerizing, domineering actor Henry Irving. Stoker was such a mild-mannered, secretive man that the real subject of this acclaimed biography turns out to be the genesis of his novel Dracula, and Irving--the man who, according to Barbara Belford, inspired its famous monster. Other fascinating characters who appear in Stoker's life are Florence Stoker (courted by Oscar Wilde before Bram married her), Ellen Terry (Irving's leading lady), Walt Whitman, the aging Lord Tennyson, W. S. Gilbert, William Gladstone, Lady Speranza Wilde, her son Oscar, Queen Victoria (who knights Irving, the first actor so honored), George Bernard Shaw, and Mark Twain. As Margot Peters writes in the New York Times Book Review, "Stoker himself is pretty much swamped in these heavy seas. But as Ms. Belford's intelligent, well-written and always interesting book makes clear, Stoker lived to serve. His revenge for lifelong self-effacement was Dracula."

Book Description

The first full-scale biography of the complex man known today as the author of Dracula, but who was famous in his own time as the innovative manager of London's Lyceum Theatre, home of the greatest English actors of the day, Henry Irving and Ellen Terry.

Barbara Belford tells the story of Stoker the hidden man. On the surface: the very model of Victorian modesty, reserve, and duty, the devoted husband and father. In actuality: a man whose emotional and working energies were in large part expended on the care and cultivation of the flamboyant, mesmerizing genius of the stage, Henry Irving.

We see Stoker the writer of novels and stories that were imbued with sexuality, violence, and the celebration of death -- works at opposite poles from the decorum he presented in society. And Barbara Belford shows us in Dracula a mirror of the undercurrents of Stoker's own life, as well as a masked exploration of subjects utterly forbidden in his time -- seduction, rape, necrophilia, incest, voyeurism -- universal taboos dramatized with such a myth-making edge that the novel remains resonant and unsettling almost one hundred years later.

We follow Stoker from his sickly childhood -entertained by his mother's twice-told tales of Irish hobgoblins and banshees -- to his years as a Dublin undergraduate and newspaperman, when he first wrote to his idol Wait Whitman, spilling out his innermost thoughts and beginning a lifelong correspondence that culminated in their meeting when Stoker traveled to America on tour with Irving and Ellen Terry. We see Stoker's childhood friendship with Oscar Wilde, and watch as the two young men compete for the hand of the beautiful Florence Balcombe, who became Stoker's wife. And we see Stoker in the literary and theatrical circles of Victorian London among such figures as Mark Twain, Arthur Conan Doyle, James Whistler, Lord Tennyson, and George Bernard Shaw.

Belford gives us a vivid picture of the man, his time, his London -- the domestic and theatrical worlds he lived in -- and the dark imaginary realms that were the wellspring of all his writings, especially of his enduring and enduringly fascinating Dracula.

Customer Reviews:

Insight into Bram Stoker & His Life at the Lyceum........2005-05-17

Barbara Belford's "Bram Stoker: A Biography of the Author of Dracula" is considered to be the most scholarly and thorough of the 3 Bram Stoker biographies that have been published. But Mr. Stoker was a reticent person about whose personal life, opinions, and character there is precious little known. Whether out of humility or caution, he usually took care not to reveal himself. So what we know of Stoker comes primarily from his public life, which was thankfully shared with several grander, more loquacious personalities. Perhaps due to the scarcity of information about her subject, Barbara Belford gives Stoker's friends, colleagues, and the London theater community a lot of attention, especially Henry Irving, the great actor whose fame was dwarfed only by his ego, and whom Bram Stoker dedicated 27 years of his life to serving. Indeed, this biography of Stoker would serve well as a history of Irving's famous Lyceum Theatre for the decades that Stoker served as its acting manager.

The book starts by describing Stoker's childhood in Dublin, the third child born to a middle class Anglo-Irish family in 1847 during the potato famine, and his apparent debilitation until the age of 7. He grew up to be a civil servant like his father, and pursued personal interests as an unpaid drama critic for the "Evening Mail", through which Stoker met Henry Irving. After marrying the lovely Florence Balcombe, whom Oscar Wilde also courted, the Stokers moved to London where Bram's efficient management would help make the 1500-seat Lyceum Theatre fashionable and profitable. Since the Lyceum dominated Stoker's life, it dominates his biography, but Belford also discusses his trips to America on tour with the Lyceum company, his effusive admiration for Walt Whitman and Abraham Lincoln, and his novels and stories.

The upshot of "Bram Stoker: A Biography of the Man Who Wrote Dracula" is that Bram Stoker was a modest, hardworking man, exceedingly courteous even by Victorian standards, whose tireless work for Henry Irving was acknowledged by many but unappreciated and unrewarded by Irving himself. Stoker's genial but reserved manner harbored passionate, worshipful emotions toward his heroes, invariably men of power with larger-than-life personalities. Belford draws an occasional parallel between persons in Bram Stoker's own life and characters in "Dracula". Most notably, she sees a "sinister caricature" of Henry Irving in the vampire Count. Actress Ellen Terry seems to be reflected in Mina, and Stoker's wife Florence may have lent some of her character to Lucy. None of this is a stretch as long as one recognizes that "Dracula"'s characters don't have a single source, but many.

This biography includes a lot of good information for fans of Bram Stoker's work, but a couple of stylistic problems nagged at me. One is Belford's confusing tendency to refer to people by first or last name only, at the beginning of a chapter, instead of starting off with a full name. Another is the repeated use of the phrase "Unholy Trinity" to describe the business partnership between Henry Irving, Bram Stoker, and stage manager H.J. Loveday, which I found melodramatic. But Belford's book succeeds in creating a picture of Bram Stoker's personality without reading too much into his actions or words.

Best Book I ever read!.......1998-04-16

The main caracters in the story are Jonathan Harker, Mina Murry/Harker, and Lucy Westenras. There are several different settings, so I won,t list them specifically. Most of the book, they are in Europe in the 1800's. The plot of the books is Jonathan is a solicitor and meets the "Count". Sopposably the Count is friendly and turns evil. My opinion of the book is it is great it has some diffficult words so I recommend it to 8th grade and above. It is very interesting and fun. I liked the way that the author set up the book and the way he used everybodys point of view.

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