History & Criticism

Pollyanna: (Illustrated)
Pollyanna: (Illustrated)

Review:I saw the Disney movie many u years ago when I was young. I have shared it with my children. Now, my 9-year-old daughter are delighted to be discovering together the novel on which the movie was based. It is a gripping story replete with wisdom sorely needed today. Read more

The Princess And The Goblin: (Illustrated)
The Princess And The Goblin: (Illustrated)

Review:The writing style of which I was not used to, challenged my reading comprehension and I believe I am better because of it. The story was tender and sweet, full of metaphors depicting God and positive values and life lessons. Read more

The Princess And Curdie: (Illustrated)
The Princess And Curdie: (Illustrated)

Review:The writing style of which I was not used to, challenged my reading comprehension and I believe I am better because of it. The story was tender and sweet, full of metaphors depicting God and positive values and life lessons. Read more

The Dharma Bums
The Dharma Bums

Review:Jugs of red wine, the first ever poetry reading for Ginsberg's epic "Howl", Zen Buddhism and mountain climbing...
What more could ANY Dharma Bum EVER dream of?!
I first read this in my early teens and found it a much relaxed less stressed read juxtaposed to "On the road" which Kerouac wrote in a flourish of cracked vicks inhalers rolled up into little balls and tossed into coffee in three weeks.
Gary Snyder is also a "centered" character in the novel (Japhy Ryder). I have ALWAYS suggest... Read more

Lord Jim (Oxford World's Classics)
Lord Jim (Oxford World's Classics)

Review:Conrad describes a scene, a feeling, a circumstance like no other. The story is a tale of internal struggle that might have been considered mediocre but for the unique style of Conrad's English. He is to be studied by any student of English literature. Read more

Nostromo (Oxford World's Classics)
Nostromo (Oxford World's Classics)

Review:Nostromo is one of the greatest novels of the early modernist period of the twentieth century. It is a landmark in English fiction. Joseph Conrad(1857-1924 considered it as his masterpiece in a oeuvre comprising such classics as "Lord Jim"; "The Secret Agent"; "Almayer's Folly"; "Victory" and such novellas as the immortal "The Heart of Darkness." Conrad's world is characterized by:
a. Materialism and greed
b. The isolation of individuals in an uncaring universe
c. A comsos devoid of God... Read more

The Sun and Her Flowers
The Sun and Her Flowers

Review:it's raw with so much emotion (said from a emotional person perspective). I found myself just as in milk and honey marking page after page. However some of it does sound like it was repeating mostly in the first chaper which was hard and rather boring for me to get through. Some pages are one sentence which saddens me as though she was just trying to make the book bigger or needed to fill a page. Read more

Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art
Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art

Review:How better to discuss comics than through the use of comics? And who better to discuss this art form than artist/writer, Scott McCloud who is the creator of Zot!

It is obvious that Mr. McCloud spent a considerable amount of time thinking about the evolution and the mechanics of comics (check out the statistics in Chapter 3, "Blood in the Gutter"). In his discussion of the development of comics, Mr. McCloud takes us through a timeline beginning with ancient civilizations and ending in the ... Read more

Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader
Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader

Review:I was reading Ex Libris as my 9-year-old daughter Sarah was reading a Marguerite Henry book. I laughed out loud, and Sarah wanted to know why, so I read her a passage from Ms. Fadiman's essay on taking care of books. There are two camps of booklovers: the "words are everything" group, into which the entire Fadiman family, as voracious a bunch of readers as you could imagine, belongs. They write in margins, dog-ear pages, break spines. To them, a book is merely a container for the thoughts i... Read more

Secret Garden: 12 Notecards
Secret Garden: 12 Notecards

Review:These postcards are the perfect size for use with fine tip pens (I prefer pens to pencils because they produce more vibrant colors). I can finish a full postcard in a couple of coloring sessions and I love that I can send the finished products to friends and family so that I don't have a stack of colored pages sitting around the house.

I find coloring a relaxing, yet engaging activity, and working through this book has been a great way to wind down after some stressful periods at work.Read more

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