41% Off Discounts: Purchase Cheap Nineteen Eighty-Four Review

Are you looking to buy Nineteen Eighty-Four? here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on Nineteen Eighty-Four. check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Best Offers

Nineteen Eighty-Four Review

Eric Arthur Blair was an important English writer that you probably already know by the pseudonym of George Orwell. He wrote quite a few books, but many believe that his more influential ones were "Animal farm" (1944) and "1984" (1948).In those two books he conveyed, metaphorically and not always obviously, what Soviet Russia meant to him.
I would like to make some comments about the second book, "1984". That book was written near his death, when he was suffering from tuberculosis, what might have had a lot to do with the gloominess that is one of the essential characteristics of "1984". The story is set in London, in a nightmarish 1984 that for Orwell might well have been a possibility, writting as he was many years before that date. Or maybe, he was just trying to warn his contemporaries of the dangers of not opposing the Soviet threat, a threat that involved a new way of life that was in conflict with all that the English held dear.
Orwell tried to depict a totalitarian state, where the truth didn't exist as such, but was merely what the "Big Brother" said it was. Freedom was only total obedience to the Party, and love an alien concept, unless it was love for the Party. The story is told from the point of view of Winston Smith, a functionary of the Ministry of Truth whose work involved the "correction" of all records each time the "Big Brother" decided that the truth had changed. The Party slogan said that "Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past", and they applied it constantly by "bringing up to date" the past so as to make it coincide with whatever the Party wanted.
From Winston Smith's point of view, many things that scare us are normal. For example, the omnipresence of the "Big Brother", always watching you, and the "Thought Police" that punishes treacherous thoughts against the Party. The reader feels the inevitability of doom that pervades the book many times, in phrases like "Thoughtcrime was not a thing that could be concealed forever. You might dodge successfully for a while, even for years, but sooner or later they were bound to get you".
Little by little, Winston begins to realize that things are not right, and that they should change. We accompany him in his attempt at subversion, and are unwilling witnesses of what that attempt brings about. This book is marked by hopelessness, but at the same time it is the kind of distressing book we all NEED to read...
Why do we need to read "1984"?. In my opinion, basically for two reasons. To start with, Orwell made in this book many observations that are no more merely fiction, but already things that manage to reduce our freedom. Secondly, and closelly linked to my first reason, this is a book that only gets better with the passing of time, as you can read in it more and more implications. One of Orwell's main reasons for writting this "negative utopia" might have been to warn his readers against communism, but many years after his death and the fall of communism, we can also interpret it as a caution against the excessive power of mass media, or the immoderate power of any government (even those who don't defend communism).
Technological innovation should be at the service of men, and allow them to live better lives, but it can be used against them. I guess that is one of Orwell's lessons, probably the most important one. All in all, I think you can benefit from reading this book. Because of that, I highly recommend it to you :)
Belen Alcat

Nineteen Eighty-Four Overview

Want to learn more information about Nineteen Eighty-Four?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now

Read More...

21% Off Discounts: Purchase Cheap Realidades 3 (Spanish Edition) Review

Are you looking to buy Realidades 3 (Spanish Edition)? here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on Realidades 3 (Spanish Edition). check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Lowest Price Offers

Realidades 3 (Spanish Edition) Review

Purchase arrived in timely manner. No problems. No disappointments. Great way to save some cash.

Realidades 3 (Spanish Edition) Overview

Want to learn more information about Realidades 3 (Spanish Edition)?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now

Read More...

1% Off Discounts: Buy Cheap Realidades 3 (Spanish Edition) Review

Are you looking to buy Realidades 3 (Spanish Edition)? here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on Realidades 3 (Spanish Edition). check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Cheapest Deals

Realidades 3 (Spanish Edition) Review

The book is in excellent condition and we are very satisfied with the book and service.

Realidades 3 (Spanish Edition) Overview

Want to learn more information about Realidades 3 (Spanish Edition)?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now

Read More...

Best Buy for Avancemos: Level 2 (Spanish Edition) Review

Are you looking to buy Avancemos: Level 2 (Spanish Edition)? here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on Avancemos: Level 2 (Spanish Edition). check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Lowest Price Offers

Avancemos: Level 2 (Spanish Edition) Review

Textbook was received in the condition expected based on seller's comments. Shipping occured quickly and textbook was received well before estimated delivery date indicated. Thank you and good job.

Avancemos: Level 2 (Spanish Edition) Overview

Want to learn more information about Avancemos: Level 2 (Spanish Edition)?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now

Read More...

32% Off Discounts: Special Prices for To Kill a Mockingbird LP: 50th Anniversary Edition Review

Are you looking to buy To Kill a Mockingbird LP: 50th Anniversary Edition? here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on To Kill a Mockingbird LP: 50th Anniversary Edition. check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Great Deals

To Kill a Mockingbird LP: 50th Anniversary Edition Review

It hardly seems like 50 years since I picked up this book late one rainy night when it was first published, after my mom had been raving about the book for weeks, trying to get me to read it. Well, what the heck, the late movie was boring that evening and there was nothing else on the TV... next thing I knew, it was two o'clock in the morning and I had just turned the final page on what was the most magical reading experience of my entire life.
From the opening line, "When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow..." Lee hooks the reader with a deceptively simple story of a Southern family and a Southern town caught up in a cataclysmic moral crisis, and keeps us enthralled till the very last word. Lee's writing style is that of the storyteller who mesmerizes her audience telling a tale so simple, yet so compelling, that you never want it to end. Her narrator is Scout Finch, a delightfully devilish little tomboy who sees her world through the all-observant eyes of childhood. Scout is one of the most enchanting characters in modern American fiction. She's bright, funny, totally real; there's nothing contrived about her. She's someone we all knew in first or second grade, or wished we'd known. Scout lives with her brother Jem, four years her senior, her lawyer father Atticus, and their housekeeper Calpurnia, in a sleepy Alabama town where everybody knows or is related to everybody else. Lee spends the first half of the book drawing us into the life of the town and the Finch family, Scout's hilarious and problematic adjustment to first grade, and brings us into the mystery surrounding the notorious-yet-never-seen Boo Radley. The second half of the book is about the moral crisis that tears the town apart.
Lee has a way of saying a lot by saying very little, and her laconic statement that the people of Maycomb had recently been told they had nothing to fear but fear itself sets the time squarely in 1933, the depths of the Great Depression. Times were bad for most people in small Southern towns; they were especially bad for poor whites and all blacks. In 1933 the South was rigidly segregated down every possible line, and a white woman's false accusation of rape was enough to get a black man hanged. When Mayella Ewell accuses Tom Robinson of rape, in the eyes of most of the white populace, Tom has been tried, convicted and is awaiting execution. Judge Taylor disagrees, and asks Atticus to take Tom's case.
In Atticus Finch, Lee created what would eventually grow to be the best-loved character in all American fiction. Atticus is a loving but not a doting father, an able lawyer, and an individual of towering integrity. He takes Tom's case because he knows Mayella's accusation is full of holes, and he believes Tom is as deserving of good legal representation as anyone else. Atticus knows better than anyone else how his decision to take the case will affect his children, but as he explains to Scout, who wonders how Atticus can be right if everybody else thinks he's wrong, if he didn't take the case, he could never hold his head up in front of his children again.
Atticus knows he's fighting a losing battle, but deep inside himself he believes he may lose a battle but win a bigger war. The chapters describing Tom Robinson's trial and Atticus's defense are some of the most powerful in American fiction. On of the most moving passages in the book is at the end of the trial when the town's black minister tells Scout to "Stand up. Your father's passin'."
Along with Scout and Atticus Finch, Lee created a host of other memorable characters. Jem is the perfect big brother for Scout, sometimes protective, sometimes antagonistic, always encouraging. Lee only needs to pen a few details about Calpurnia to bring her vividly to life: "She was all angles and bones; she squinted; her hand was wide as a bed slat and twice as hard." Calpurnia isn't the stereotypical Mammy of Tara; she's a no-nonsense maid and housekeeper who dishes out ample amounts of love and old-fashioned discipline in equal doses. And Miss Maudie Atkinson is a delightful creation; funny, ditzy, and wise all at once. Anyone would want her for their next-door neighbor.
The two major villains, Bob Ewell and his daughter Mayella, are compelling characters in their own right. Bob Ewell is quintessential white trash, spending the family's relief money on moonshine while his children go hungry. But poor Mayella is as much victim as villain; we can't help but feel for her, ostracized and isolated, knowing only her father's physical violence and sexual abuse; her attempted seduction of Tom Robinson is a desperate cry for love and affection. But, as Lee reminds us, it's all for naught. Tom Robinson was dead the minute Mayella, caught in the act of attempted seduction by her father, opened her mouth and screamed.
After the highlight of the trial, the book might have slid into anticlimax, but it's Lee's genius that she keeps the tension heightened after the trial and its denouement, through Ewell's drunken, insane attack on Atticus through his children, and their rescue by Boo Radley. And after everything she, her family, and the town have been through, what has Scout learned from all this? Pretty much what Atticus set out to teach her all along: that you can't get to know a person until you put on his shoes and walk around in them.
I turned the final page of "To Kill A Mockingbird", unbelieving that it had come to an end. I opened the front cover and immediately started reading it over again from page one. At two o'clock in the morning. The book had that much of an effect on me. One doesn't just read this book; one experiences it. At best, one lives it. I did.
Judy Lind

To Kill a Mockingbird LP: 50th Anniversary Edition Overview

"Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird."

A lawyer's advice to his children as he defends the real mockingbird of Harper Lee's classic novel-a black man charged with the rape of a white girl. Through the young eyes of Scout and Jem Finch, Harper Lee explores with rich humor and unswerving honesty the irrationality of adult attitudes toward race and class in the Deep South of the 1930s. The conscience of a town steeped in prejudice, violence, and hypocrisy is pricked by the stamina and quiet heroism of one man's struggle for justice-but the weight of history will only tolerate so much.

One of the best-loved classics of all time, To Kill a Mockingbird has earned many dis-tinctions since its original publication in 1960. It has won the Pulitzer Prize, been translated into more than forty languages, sold more than forty million copies worldwide, and been made into an enormously popular movie. It was also named the best novel of the twentieth century by librarians across the country (Library Journal). HarperCollins is proud to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the book's publication with this special hardcover edition.


Want to learn more information about To Kill a Mockingbird LP: 50th Anniversary Edition?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now

Read More...

32% Off Discounts: Best Buy for The Picture of Dorian Gray Review

Are you looking to buy The Picture of Dorian Gray? here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on The Picture of Dorian Gray. check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Best Offers

The Picture of Dorian Gray Review

This sophisticated but crude novel is the story of man's eternal desire for perennial youth, of our vanity and frivolity, of the dangers of messing with the laws of life. Just like "Faust" and "The immortal" by Borges.
Dorian Gray is beautiful and irresistible. He is a socialité with a high ego and superficial thinking. When his friend Basil Hallward paints his portrait, Gray expresses his wish that he could stay forever as young and charming as the portrait. The wish comes true.
Allured by his depraved friend Henry Wotton, perhaps the best character of the book, Gray jumps into a life of utter pervertion and sin. But, every time he sins, the portrait gets older, while Gray stays young and healthy. His life turns into a maelstrom of sex, lies, murder and crime. Some day he will want to cancel the deal and be normal again. But Fate has other plans.
Wilde, a man of the world who vaguely resembles Gray, wrote this masterpiece with a great but dark sense of humor, saying every thing he has to say. It is an ironic view of vanity, of superflous desires. Gray is a man destroyed by his very beauty, to whom an unknown magical power gave the chance to contemplate in his own portrait all the vices that his looks and the world put in his hands. Love becomes carnal lust; passion becomes crime. The characters and the scenes are perfect. Wilde's wit and sarcasm come in full splendor to tell us that the world is dangerous for the soul, when its rules are not followed. But, and it's a big but, it is not a moralizing story. Wilde was not the man to do that. It is a fierce and unrepressed exposition of all the ugly side of us humans, when unchecked by nature. To be rich, beautiful and eternally young is a sure way to hell. And the writing makes it a classical novel. Come go with Wotton and Wilde to the theater, and then to an orgy. You'll wish you age peacefully.

The Picture of Dorian Gray Overview

Want to learn more information about The Picture of Dorian Gray?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now

Read More...

33% Off Discounts: Purchase Cheap Orlando (Annotated): A Biography Review

Are you looking to buy Orlando (Annotated): A Biography? here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on Orlando (Annotated): A Biography. check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Great Deals

Orlando (Annotated): A Biography Review

In her most playful and exuberant novel, Virginia Woolf writes the "historical biography" of Orlando, a young boy of nobility during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. A wild ride through four centuries, the novel shows Orlando aging, magically, only thirty-six years between 1588 and 1928. Even more magically, he also changes from a man to a woman. As she explores Orlando's life, Woolf also explores the differing roles of men and women in society during various periods, ultimately concluding that one's role as a man or woman is determined by society, rather than by birth.
From the Elizabethan period, during which Orlando works as a steward for the queen and also serves as her lover, he progresses to the reign of James I, experiencing a profound love for a Russian princess, Sasha, who is herself exploring the role of a man. When the relationship ends, he retreats, devastated, to his estate, with its 365 rooms and 52 staircases, which he redecorates over the next few years. An interlude in which he is wooed by the Archduchess Harriet/Archduke Harry leads to his ambassadorship to Constantinople, a period spent with the gypsies, and his eventual return to England--as a woman. New experiences and observations await her there.
Throughout the novel, Woolf matches her prose style to the literary style of the period in which Orlando lives, creating always-changing moods and sheer delight for the reader. Some constants continue throughout the four centuries of Orlando's life. Orlando is always a writer, always recording his thoughts, and always adding to a poem he has begun as a child entitled "The Oak Tree." He is always returning to his 365-room house whenever he needs to recuperate from his experiences, and some characters repeat through time. (Orlando is betrayed by Nick Greene during the reign of James I, but he is encouraged by Nicholas Greene in the Victorian period.)
Literary historians make much of the fact that Woolf modeled Orlando on Vita Sackville-West, Woolf's lover, and that this study of gender roles was an early exploration of lesbianism, bisexuality, cross-dressing, and transgender identities. The novel is pure fun to read, however, and though it raises serious and thoughtful questions about sexuality and the ways that it controls our lives, there is no sense that Woolf wrote the novel specifically to make a public statement or prove a point. Her themes of gender and its relation to social expectations, of imagination and its relation to reality, of the importance of history in our lives, and of the unlimited potential of all humans, regardless of their sex, transcend the specific circumstances under which Woolf may have written the book. A playful and delightful novel, which broke new ground with its publication. Mary Whipple
Mrs. Dalloway
To The Lighthouse
A Room of One's Own (Annotated)
Jacob's Room
Flush: A Biography

Orlando (Annotated): A Biography Overview

Want to learn more information about Orlando (Annotated): A Biography?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now

Read More...

29% Off Discounts: Lowest Price The Glass Menagerie Review

Are you looking to buy The Glass Menagerie? here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on The Glass Menagerie. check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Great Deals

The Glass Menagerie Review

Amanda Wingfield, the matriarch of "The Glass Menagerie," always tells her daughter, Laura, that she should look nice and pretty for gentleman callers, even though Laura has never had any callers at their St. Louis apartment. Laura, who limps because of a slight physical deformity, would rather spend her time playing with the animals in her glass menagerie and listening to old phonograph records instead of learning shorthand and typing so she can be employable. When she learns Laura has only been pretending to go to secretarial school, Amanda decides Laura must have a real gentleman caller and insists her son Tom, who works at a shoe factory, find one immediately. After a few days, Tom tells Amanda he has invited a young man named Jim O'Connor home for dinner and at long last Laura will have her first gentleman caller.
The night of the dinner Amanda does every thing she can to make sure Laura looks more attractive. However, when Laura realizes that the Jim O'Connor who is visiting is possibly the same Jim on whom she had a crush in high school, she does not want to go through with the dinner. Although she has to be excused from the dinner because she has made herself physically ill, Laura is able to impress Jim with her quiet charm when the two of them keep company in the living room and she finally loses some of her shyness. When Jim gives Laura her first kiss, it looks as if Amanda's plans for Laura's happiness might actually come true. But no one has ever accused Tennessee Williams of being a romantic.
"The Glass Menagerie" was the first big success in the long and storied career of playwright Tennessee Williams. Written in 1944, the drama consists of reworked material from one of Williams' short stories, "Portrait of a Girl in Glass," and his screenplay, "The Gentleman Caller." In many ways it is an atypical drama from Williams, with the character of Tom (a role I will confess to playing on stage) serving as a narrator who breaks the "fourth wall" and addresses the audience, which evinces Williams' affinity for Eugene O'Neill (e.g., "The Emperor Jones") at this point in his career. Tom tells the audience that this play offers truth dressed up as illusion, and in his stage directions (which are usually not taken full advantage of in the various performances I have seen because what was cutting edge in 1944 is overly quaint today) he uses not only monologues but also music and projections to enhance the memories on display. Williams also explicitly tells his audience that the gentleman call is the symbol of "the expects something that we live for."
This "memory play" tells of a family trapped in destructive patterns. After being abandoned by her husband, Amanda Wingfield, a woman of the Great Depression, has become trapped between worlds of illusion and reality. She says she wants what is best for her children, but seems incapable of acknowledging what that would be or actually providing it for them. Tom, tired of only watching adventure at the movies, is determined to break away from his dominating mother, but stays only for the sake of his sister. Laura may not be the glamorous belle of the ball her mothers wants, but she has her own inner charm and when confronted with Jim, a visitor from the normal world, there is the chance that she will finally claim her life as her own. This is a poignant drama on the importance of love and it represents a memory of not only family but also of loss.

The Glass Menagerie Overview

No play in the modern theatre has so captured the imagination and heart of the American public as Tennessee Williams's The Glass Menagerie.
Menagerie was Williams's first popular success and launched the brilliant, if somewhat controversial, career of our pre-eminent lyric playwright. Since its premiere in Chicago in 1944, with the legendary Laurette Taylor in the role of Amanda, the play has been the bravura piece for great actresses from Jessica Tandy to Joanne Woodward, and is studied and performed in classrooms and theatres around the world. The Glass Menagerie (in the reading text the author preferred) is now available only in its New Directions Paperbook edition. A new introduction by prominent Williams scholar Robert Bray, editor of The Tennessee Williams Annual Review, reappraises the play more than half a century after it won the New York Drama Critics Circle Award: "More than fifty years after telling his story of a family whose lives form a triangle of quiet desperation, Williams's mellifluous voice still resonates deeply and universally." This edition of The Glass Menagerie also includes Williams's essay on the impact of sudden fame on a struggling writer, "The Catastrophe of Success," as well as a short section of Williams's own "Production Notes." The cover features the classic line drawing by Alvin Lustig, originally done for the 1949 New Directions edition.

Want to learn more information about The Glass Menagerie?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now

Read More...

38% Off Discounts: Special Prices for Animal Farm: Centennial Edition Review

Are you looking to buy Animal Farm: Centennial Edition? here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on Animal Farm: Centennial Edition. check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Best Offers

Animal Farm: Centennial Edition Review

"Animal Farm" by George Orwell was never required reading for me when I was in school, so it took me some time to finally get around to reading it. I found it to be a complete and enjoyable read that had me hooked from the very first sentence. It is an excellent exercise in symbolism and creative imagination. While the book may be a very short read, it brings a whole lot to the table by giving you an interesting take on how history can be reenacted in the most imaginative ways.

The animals on Mr. Jones' farm have had enough of what they deem to be slavery. They're tired of being ordered around by humans while they see no benefits in their daily work. This is all sparked by a dream that the boar, Major, had about a unique place where animals called the shots and never had to be ordered around by humans ever again. He tells them a revolution is very much needed. When Major dies, the animals act quickly and are able to overthrow the alcoholic farmer and his thugs from his very own farm. The pigs are in charge now, as they claim that they are much smarter than the others and know how to lead. What seems to be paradise quickly transforms into another form of slavery altogether enforced by propaganda and threats from the pigs. And yet, the animals do not know any better, as they are deceived by the new system that gives them the illusion that they are better off than they were with Mr. Jones calling the shots.

The book is greatly inspired by real events that went down during the era of communism in Russia, using animals as the actual people. While it helps to know about that time period, the book is written so well that it is easily understood even if you only know a little about what happened during that time. The use of animals was a very creative way to tell this story, as it gives you a big incentive to actually care for these characters. Had this just been about real people, then it would've just sounded like anything you could find in your history books. Orwell finds a much more interesting way of tackling the topic. He gives life to every one of his characters and they all elicit some kind of a feeling from you. There are times when the book is funny, and then there are times when it is just downright chilling (the last chapter will stay in your head for more than a few hours).

George Orwell's "Animal Farm" is a genuine masterpiece that quickly hooks the reader from the very beginning. It's an extremely easy read as well as an enjoyable one--not enjoyable in the sense that this is a "happy tale," but enjoyable in the sense that you really feel like you're reading something great. If you haven't had the chance to check it out, make sure you add this to your reading list. It is something that should be read by everyone at least once in their life, even if they don't end up enjoying it as much as others. I loved every single word that was written in the extremely creative read. This is an important classic in literature that shouldn't be missed for any reason. -Michael Crane

Animal Farm: Centennial Edition Overview

Want to learn more information about Animal Farm: Centennial Edition?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now

Read More...

34% Off Discounts: Purchase Cheap To Kill a Mockingbird CD Review

Are you looking to buy To Kill a Mockingbird CD? here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on To Kill a Mockingbird CD. check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Cheapest Deals

To Kill a Mockingbird CD Review

I just finished this book a few moments ago, and I am completely awed by this story. Harper Lee has done an excellent job bringing this 1930s Alabama childhood to life. I can see why To Kill a Mockingbird has won the Pulitzer Prize, garnered an Academy Award for the movie version, and ultimately become a timely classic enjoyed by many generations.
To Kill a Mockingbird tells the story of two children, sister Scout and brother Jem, and their childhood during three years in the midst of the Great Depression. Scout and Jem spend most of their summers with their summer-neighbor, Dill, making up plays and spying on the town recluse, Boo Radley. During the school year (minus Dill, who goes back home to Mississippi), Scout finds herself in trouble one too many times and struggles with the concept of being a lady, especially when all she wants to do is wear overalls and beat up her classmates.
Then everything changes one fall.... Scout and Jem's father, Atticus Finch, a lawyer in their town of Maycomb, Alabama, is appointed to the defense of Tom Robinson, a black man accused of raping a white woman (although not of the highest caliber), Mayella Ewell. The fact of this case rocks the town of Maycomb, and with Scout and Jem feeling the brunt of their classmates ridicule when they realize Atticus is on Tom's side.
I was simply floored while reading this novel. I wasn't expecting a "classic" to be so readable. Now I know what I've been missing! To Kill a Mockingbird is a piece of our American history that depicts racism and prejudice, childhood innocence, and the perseverence of a man who risked it all to stand up for what he believed in. Wonderful portrayal and one I will read again.

To Kill a Mockingbird CD Overview

Want to learn more information about To Kill a Mockingbird CD?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now

Read More...

Best Buy for Classic American Literature: The Works of Mark Twain, 24 books in a single file, improved 6/1/2011 Review

Are you looking to buy Classic American Literature: The Works of Mark Twain, 24 books in a single file, improved 6/1/2011? here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on Classic American Literature: The Works of Mark Twain, 24 books in a single file, improved 6/1/2011. check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Lowest Price Offers

Classic American Literature: The Works of Mark Twain, 24 books in a single file, improved 6/1/2011 Review

[Edit March 27, 2011] I have updated my previous rating and have changed the title of this review. The publisher was attentive to the issues raised earlier (just below in this message). We corresponded about them, and they are now fixed. As I understand it the next update of the collection will appear shortly. Thanks to the publisher for his assistance.
========
I was pleased to be able to find this collection in a single file and at a low cost. But after looking through it for only a few minutes I realized I would have been willing to pay not $0.89, but $8.90, for a version without the serious typographic problems this one has.
There are a lot of er- rors with hy- phenation; they cre- ate quite a dis- traction (just like that). These aren't hyphenations at line breaks. Hyphens appear incor- rectly in the middle of sen- tences and the incorrectly placed hy- phens are always fol- lowed by spaces, as shown in this paragraph. (Though the problems don't appear as many times in a sentence as I'm showing here.)
In some Kindle books that kind of typographic problem is infrequent and can be overlooked. In this collection, the error occurs so many times that it's seriously distracting -- and on some pages it's completely maddening. As someone who once paginated books for a living, I know that a compositor who put together pages in such a way would have been let go, quick-like. And no book publisher would ever try putting a book in print, prepared that way, on the shelves.
I appreciate the efforts of the person who prepared the Twain collection, but in my opinion it is severely flawed, and these flaws should be fixed ASAP.

Classic American Literature: The Works of Mark Twain, 24 books in a single file, improved 6/1/2011 Overview

B&R Samizdat Express Edition, with active links from tables of contents to every book, chapter, story, and essay. This file includes 8 novels: The Gilded Are, Tom Sawyer, The Prince and the Pauper, Huckleberry finn, a Connecticut Yankee in King Arhtur's Court, The American Claimant, Pudd'nhead Wilson, and Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc; 5 book-length collections of stories: The $30,000 Bequest and Other Stories, Alonzo Fitz and Other Stories, The Curious Republic of gondour and other Whimsical Sketches, The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg and Other Stories, and A Mysterious Stranger; 11 individual stories: 1601, Extract from Captain Stormfield's Visit to Heave, The Recent Carnival of Crime in Connecticut, A Dog's Tale, A Double Barreled Detective, Extracts from Adam's Diary, Godsmith's Friend Abroad Again, A Horse's Tale, Those Extraordinary Twins, Tom Sawyer Abroad, and Tom Sawyer Detective; 6 travel books and memoirs: Innocents Abroad, Roughing It, Life on the Mississippi, A Tramp Abroad, Following the Equator, Chapters from My Autobiography; a book of Mark Twain's speeches, plus 3 book-length collections of essays: What is Man? Sketches New and Old, and Christian Science. It also includes the following short collections and individual essays: Editorial Wild Oats, Essays on Paul Bourget, Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offences, and In Defence of Harriet Shelley. According to Wikipedia: "Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 - April 21, 1910),[1] better known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an American humorist, satirist, lecturer and writer. Twain is most noted for his novels Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which has since been called the Great American Novel,[2] and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. He is also known for his quotations.[3][4] During his lifetime, Twain became a friend to presidents, artists, industrialists and European royalty. Twain enjoyed immense public popularity, and his keen wit and incisive satire earned him praise from both critics and peers. American author William Faulkner called Twain "the father of American literature."

Want to learn more information about Classic American Literature: The Works of Mark Twain, 24 books in a single file, improved 6/1/2011?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now

Read More...

77% Off Discounts: Special Prices for A Tale of Two Cities and Great Expectations: Two Novels (Oprah's Book Club) Review

Are you looking to buy A Tale of Two Cities and Great Expectations: Two Novels (Oprah's Book Club)? here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on A Tale of Two Cities and Great Expectations: Two Novels (Oprah's Book Club). check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Cheapest Deals

A Tale of Two Cities and Great Expectations: Two Novels (Oprah's Book Club) Review

As usual, Oprah has picked a great book for her book club, only this time around she's recommending two books for the price of one, literally. And great books they both are. Charles Dickens is one of the towering authors of English literature. If you haven't read Dickens -- and I mean read, not just seen a movie -- you have a gaping hole in your knowledge and your literary experience.
A Tale of Two Cities is generally considered the better of these two novels. Some have called it Dickens' greatest, which is saying something when one considers the entire body of work from this outstanding author. At heart, Dickens is a story teller and A Tale of Two Cities relates a gripping story set against the backdrop of the French Revolution and the sweeping intellectual, political and social changes of the Enlightenment period.
The basics of the plot are relayed elsewhere, but I caution you not to read too much about the story line before you have read the novel, as one of the best features of Dickens is his ability to surprise and delight with the twists and turns of his plots and the events that challenge his characters. Great characters they always are too. A Tale of Two Cities is full of interesting peoples, as well as events. Sydney Carton, for example, is on my list of the ten best fictional heros of all time. (See my list here on Amazon.)
While Great Expectations is not as highly regarded as A Tale of Two Cities, it remains an outstanding novel. Think of Great Expectations as the Cadillac to A Tale of Two Cities' Rolls Royce. There's nothing wrong with a Caddy and Great Expectations delivers on all of the fronts you'd expect. It features wonderful characters, particularly Miss Havisham, the rich eccentric who is arguably the basis for every kooky old lady character that came after her.
There was once a time when every school kid in the US was assigned to read Great Expectations in 7th grade English. If you are one of those, I encourage you to reread this novel, as I expect it will be surprisingly pleasant when not consumed under duress. It's a wonderful story with themes and lessons that remain resonant today, well over 100 years after Dickens wrote it.
So rush out and buy two copies of this double-barreled hit, one for yourself and one as a gift for your best friend.

A Tale of Two Cities and Great Expectations: Two Novels (Oprah's Book Club) Overview

Want to learn more information about A Tale of Two Cities and Great Expectations: Two Novels (Oprah's Book Club)?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now

Read More...

Buy Cheap A Passage to India Review

Are you looking to buy A Passage to India? here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on A Passage to India. check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Best Offers

A Passage to India Review

I've read and enjoyed several Forster books, but "A Passage to India" tops them all. The plot concerns the arrival in Chandrapore, India of Ms. Quested and her potential mother-in-law, Mrs. Moore. They come to visit Mrs. Moore's son, Ronny, who is engaged to Ms. Quested. Ms. Quested and Mrs. Moore are the typical new arrivals, and they desire to see more of the "real" India than they can see with their fellow Brits, who tend to gather in the state Club and socialize only with each other. They become involved with Dr. Aziz, a local Indian physician, who promises to show them the famous, nearby Marabar caves. Dr. Aziz is solicitous toward the Brits and craves their friendship, but he clearly has negative feelings toward them also.
At the Marabar caves, an incident occurs (or does not occur) to Ms. Quested that alters all of the characters and their town inextricably. There is a trial and a bit of a mystery, but the focus is always on the characters and their conflicts. In particular, the tension between the English and the people of India is beautifully portrayed. The characters are multi-dimensional, as are their motives, which makes for a fascinating read. I found the book to be quite moving and sad - a true classic.

A Passage to India Overview

Want to learn more information about A Passage to India?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now

Read More...

60% Off Discounts: Lowest Price Rebecca Review

Are you looking to buy Rebecca? here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on Rebecca. check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Best Offers

Rebecca Review

This book is one of the all-time greatest works of fiction, combining suspense, romance, and character development, all wrapped up in a mystery that is literally not resolved until the last page.
Modern readers should treat this story as a period piece of sorts; American readers in particular should bear in mind the differences between British and American cultures, and also the historical differences (Rebecca was published in 1938), otherwise they are apt to find the story 'slow' or 'dull.'
Like any great mystery writer, du Maurier throws out subtle clues in the first third of the story; about halfway through, she begins to resolve these clues, and from then on, the story races at full steam. *Don't let* the seemingly slow introduction stop you from finishing the book; patient readers will be well- rewarded when they see how brilliantly du Maurier sets up her surprises.
The story revolves around the unusual marriage of the young, unworldly narrator (whose first name is never revealed, one of the book's charming idiosyncrasies)to the brooding 'landed gentleman,' Maxim de Winter. When she arrives at his grand country manor, Manderly (the house is perhaps the book's most potent character), she is immediately confronted by the other characters' feelings about Rebecca, Maxim de Winter's flamboyant late wife.
Perhaps du Maurier's greatest accomplishment, character-wise, is the way she develops Rebecca, who is already dead when the main action of the story begins, and never really appears 'on-screen,' so to speak. Rebecca is very much alive in the memories of Maxim, the house servants, friends and family members, but most crucially, of her personal maid, Mrs. Danvers (and also of Rebecca's sleazy cousin, Jack Favel). It is Mrs. Danvers who becomes the greatest nemesis of the narrator, and who makes the frightened young woman feel utterly unwanted and unloved in her new home. If Rebecca truly does haunt Manderly, Mrs. Danvers is her conduit to the world of the living.
After a treacherous episode that almost brings the narrator to the breaking point, a string of coincidences alters everything; the narrator learns the truth about what turns out to be a lot of mistaken assumptions. In the process, she herself grows into a far more confident person. The last quarter of the story is an absolute masterpiece, as the action takes one turn, then another, then another. And even when it seems that all the clues have been resolved, du Maurier saves one last whammy for the final page.
I first read this book twenty years ago, and it made more of an impression on me than just about anything else I've read since. I re-read it from time to time, and gain a new insight with every perusal.
In short, Rebecca is a wonderful, wonderful novel, and not to be missed. I can't recommend it highly enough-- read it, linger over it, enjoy it, and read it again. It's a true literary achievement.

Rebecca Overview

Want to learn more information about Rebecca?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now

Read More...

Buy Cheap Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry (Puffin Modern Classics) Review

Are you looking to buy Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry (Puffin Modern Classics)? here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry (Puffin Modern Classics). check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Lowest Price Offers

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry (Puffin Modern Classics) Review

Teaching in a primarily white school district(which is just a fact, not a problem), I enjoy teaching novels that bring knowledge of various groups' struggles, beliefs, and similarities that lead to the fact that "we are not as different as some choose to think." In teaching Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird, I felt that my students felt sorry for Tom Robinson, but we needed to have a better understanding of where Tom was coming from. The two novels are very similar in settings, themes, point of view being that of a young girl, conflicts, and overall emotional impact they have on their readers. Kids love Little Man's strength that stretches beyond his size. They admire Stacey's confidence and loyalty to his family, friends, and people. Readers view T.J. with hatred, then confusion, and finally sympathy to this lost child...who can be compared with Harper Lee's Tom Robinson. Many of my students can relate to Jeremy Simms, who respects & enjoys the Logan family more than his own. And then there's Cassie, the narrator. Kids find Cassie to be the most complex of the Logans. Taylor presents Cassie as someone who is naive to discrimination(for lack of a better term). Often my students would write that they wished they could jump into the pages of the text and explain to Cassie what was going on so they could save her from further problems, as we see Big Ma do. My kids also wanted to just "give her a big hug." This book is a great read aloud & the sequels to follow are good as well. Let the Circle be Unbroken is #2 and also goes well with Harper's Tom Robinson's fate. The Road to Memphis is #3 and good as well, although I found the first two the best!

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry (Puffin Modern Classics) Overview

Want to learn more information about Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry (Puffin Modern Classics)?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now

Read More...

Buy Cheap Othello (Folger Shakespeare Library) Review

Are you looking to buy Othello (Folger Shakespeare Library)? here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on Othello (Folger Shakespeare Library). check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Great Deals

Othello (Folger Shakespeare Library) Review

Is there any other character in all of literature who is as calculatingly evil as Shakespeare's Iago? His jealousy over being passed over in favor of Cassio engenders a revengeful scheme that turns jealousy into a weapon used to destroy the noble Othello. Here innocence and trust is contrasted with pure manipulation and evil in what is one of Shakespeare's most revealing tragedies. The characters act exactly as they would be expected to based on the overriding quality that they represent. Othello is wonderful Shakespearean drama that ranks among his greatest works.
The Folger Library editions are my favorite. Each page has a facing page that explains obscure terms and helps as a handy reference to make reading the plays pleasurable and educational. These paperback editions of Shakespeare's works are a great value and fit in your pocket.

Othello (Folger Shakespeare Library) Overview

Each edition includes: • Freshly edited text based on the best early printed version of the play • Full explanatory notes conveniently placed on pages facing the text of the play • Scene-by-scene plot summaries • A key to famous lines and phrases • An introduction to reading Shakespeare's language • An essay by an outstanding scholar providing a modern perspective on the play • Illustrations from the Folger Shakespeare Library's vast holdings of rare books Essay by Susan Snyder The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., is home to the world's largest collection of Shakespeare's printed works, and a magnet for Shakespeare scholars from around the globe. In addition to exhibitions open to the public throughout the year, the Folger offers a full calendar of performances and programs. For more information, visit www.folger.edu.

Want to learn more information about Othello (Folger Shakespeare Library)?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now

Read More...

Buy Cheap Heart of Darkness Review

Are you looking to buy Heart of Darkness? here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on Heart of Darkness. check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Lowest Price Offers

Heart of Darkness Review

I'm sure many readers will find this a difficult read, the prose almost as dense and impenetrable as the jungle that Marlowe travels down in order to find his truth. Still, having only read it through once, I did get enough out of it to believe that further study will reveal some profound light in the heart of darkness. At only 100 odd pages, it does seem to have been designed by the author to be returned to again and again, small enough to swallow, but needing longer to fully digest.
Some passages are genuinely quite unnerving, with a sense successfully conveyed of a man who has cut away the veneer of civilisation, looked into the soul of humanity, and seen something truly disturbing. In short, this book is about nihilism, about the flimsy and shifting world of language that alone seperates humanity from the other animals (but only in a delusory sense). As the previous reviewer noted, Kurtz's power is almost wholly cast by his words, a potency maintained even whilst barely existing as a decaying, dying body. The story juxtaposes the power of language, through the dense tale spun by Marlowe of the mythical but ultimately physically insubstantial Kurtz, with the raw natural savagery of the African jungle and its muscular and visceral inhabitants. Language is what seperates the human from the animal, but in the heart of darkness, language, and through it civilisation, is revealed to be a false god created ultimately to serve animal passions.
Moreover, the novel contains the message that when man tries to shed his 'civilising' light on those judged to be savages, he merely succeeds in laying bare the moral emptiness of his own soul. Something to think about and to fruitfully connect with the war in Iraq, just as others did with Vietnam.

Heart of Darkness Overview

This significant piece of literature by Joseph Conrad is a moody, symbolic narrative that follows Charles Marlow as he retells his early days as a steamboat captain on the Congo River.

Want to learn more information about Heart of Darkness?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now

Read More...

Best Price Siddhartha Review

Are you looking to buy Siddhartha? here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on Siddhartha. check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Best Offers

Siddhartha Review

I'm a German teacher, and this is one of the most-loved books ever, but the translation in this particular edition is outdated and full of errors. (For example, the "sallow wood" in the first sentence is an outright mistake on the translator's part, it's really supposed to be a "forest of sal trees" - that's a kind of tree that's common in India.) There are a few more recent translations out there that are better. I like the one by Susan Bernofsky best, but there are others to pick from as well.

Siddhartha Overview

This new edition tells the story of Siddhartha, a Brahmin on a quest for self-discovery through suffering trials of temptation of luxury, wealth and sensuality, and adventures. It also combines Hesse's biography with the writing and meaning of Siddhartha.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Want to learn more information about Siddhartha?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now

Read More...

Lowest Price Macbeth (Folger Shakespeare Library) Review

Are you looking to buy Macbeth (Folger Shakespeare Library)? here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on Macbeth (Folger Shakespeare Library). check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Cheapest Deals

Macbeth (Folger Shakespeare Library) Review

Virtually all editions of Macbeth will have at least some annotations. Rummaging through five different editions, I preferred the Yale University Press version, edited by Burton Raffel, as having the most comprehensive and comprehensible notes, as well as an excellent introduction to Shakespeare's play. Raffel not only explains the meanings of obscure words, but also gives brief notes pertaining to relevant history, geography, stage directions, etc, that are rarely addressed as fully by other editors. In addition, Raffel frequently gives the proper way to stress the syllables in a line when reading it aloud, which can be extremely helpful. (However, in most places these stresses need to be very subtle, so that you don't sound like "taDUM taDUM taDUM".) And Yale's page layout is among the clearest that I've seen.
(To find this edition: at Avanced Search, enter ISBN 0300106548; or, enter Macbeth as title, and either Raffel as author or Yale as publisher.)
As a bonus, this edition includes at the back a long essay on the play by Harold Bloom. This is not an uninteresting commentary, but Bloom desperately needs a good editor. His essay is not only at least three times longer than it should be, but is startlingly repetitious. Yale would have been wise to have asked Bloom for a rewrite.

Macbeth (Folger Shakespeare Library) Overview

Each edition includes: • Freshly edited text based on the best early printed version of the play • Full explanatory notes conveniently placed on pages facing the text of the play • Scene-by-scene plot summaries • A key to famous lines and phrases • An introduction to reading Shakespeare's language • An essay by an outstanding scholar providing a modern perspective on the play • Illustrations from the Folger Shakespeare Library's vast holdings of rare books Essay by Susan Snyder The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., is home to the world's largest collection of Shakespeare's printed works, and a magnet for Shakespeare scholars from around the globe. In addition to exhibitions open to the public throughout the year, the Folger offers a full calendar of performances and programs. For more information, visit www.folger.edu.

Want to learn more information about Macbeth (Folger Shakespeare Library)?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now

Read More...

Best Buy for Hamlet (The New Folger Library Shakespeare) Review

Are you looking to buy Hamlet (The New Folger Library Shakespeare)? here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on Hamlet (The New Folger Library Shakespeare). check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Lowest Price Offers

Hamlet (The New Folger Library Shakespeare) Review

The book has an interesting layout, with definitions of words on the left, with the text of the story on the right. The book layout is the best layout I've seen of any Shakespeare book, and the size is right (you can take it with you!).
The story is legend - even speaking literally - apparently the story of Hamlet hearkens back to even older legends that predate Shakespeare's Hamlet.
Shakespeare is so quotable, and Hamlet is no different - you often find yourself saying "Oh, that's where that comes from!" and its like finding an old friend in a new story. "To be or not to be, that is the question" is one; so is "Neither a borrower nor a lender be" and so is "To thine own self be true". The book even comes with an appendix listing commonly quoted portions of the story and their source.
However, my favorite quote (but not well-known) from the play comes from Hamlet himself, and sums the character up well:
"O, from this time forth,
My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth!"
Get this book, and have a good read! Then get more Shakespeare from the same series: you won't be sorry.

Hamlet (The New Folger Library Shakespeare) Overview

Want to learn more information about Hamlet (The New Folger Library Shakespeare)?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now

Read More...