5 comments about West With the Night.

1. Much more than a memoir, Beryl Markham's work is a means of transport, not dissimilar to her beloved plane. It took me back to the Africa I lived in as a young bride, to its stark beauty, its dignified and desparate people, the language of its silences. Her tale of matter-of-fact mercies, and of cruelty equally unremarkable, is the stuff of life, as full of hope as of despair, for its millions of people. Her sensitivity instructs us in things as disparate as a young zebra's personal quirks, or the way the setting sun reflects off a downed plane creating an illusory lake in the dry Serenghettti. We learn of the hunger of a dying man for news from the city, and of the joy of friendship restored, but mostly, we learn of the heart and mind of a brave, independent woman for whom Africa is, eternally, home.



2. As a child growing up with her father in Africa, Beryl Markham faced down lions and wild boar. As an adult she trained race horses before learning to fly airplanes and becoming a bush pilot. Eventually she became the first pilot, female or male, to fly west with the night and cross the Atlantic ocean solo from Europe to North America. Markham brings the African bush to life with stories of boar hunts and elephant hunts. Of horse races and airplane flights over desert terrain. She lived a courageous life in a time when girls were only supposed to wear dresses and play with dolls and flying airplanes was a man's job. Highly inspirational to read!
   
   There's so much to talk about in mother-daughter book clubs or any book club. How was Markham's life different from so many of the girls in her time? How would her life have been different if her mother was also in Africa raising her?
   
   This book is beautifully written; I've read it three times and each reading I glean more and more from it. I highly recommend it for anyone in high school or older.



3. Absolutely captivating personal account of times and places long gone. As a fan of "Heat of the Sun," this book was a treasure.



4. I agree with Hemingway that this is a piece of high literature that reads like fiction and spreads itself before the reader like a well-produced film. It drove me to learn more about the author and her life.



5. I read this book because someone suggested my family might have been related to Beryl Markham, which is not the case, but...
   What a woman - this is a true account of one of the first bush pilots in Africa, Beryl Markham, who was the first pilot to fly westward across the Atlantic from England. Although there is some dispute whether she actually wrote this autobiographical account (some say that her paramour, who edited the book, actually wrote it - she never confirmed or denied it), the stories are true and fascinating, encouraging the reader to learn more about her. The writing style is wonderful and interesting - no wonder Hemingway loved it. You wouldn't know this book was first published so many years ago.

5 comments about Wilbur and Orville: A Biography of the Wright Brothers.

1. This volume surpasses another similar effort by Tom D. Crouch that came out at roughly the same time. Both books can be read profitably but Howard is better informed technically and a good deal wittier than Crouch. Howard's description of Samuel Langley's attempt to get his contraption into the air shortly before the Wrights' is laugh-out-loud funny. Crouch also suffers from his association with the Smithsonian Institution, whose scandalous treatment of the Wrights shocks even at this distance.



2. There are thousands of books produced each year on history and biography that are written by people with a preeminant knowledge of their subject but whose intellect suppresses their passion or perhaps simply masks the truth that they just don't know how to write -- how to let their passion soar upon the page.

   In that respect Donald Howard has done with "Wilbur and Orville" what only the greatest of biographers can do. He opens the roof on a cloistered and inscrutable family and allows you to share with two of its members the adventure of a lifetime. You bear witness to the achievement of manpowered flight, not as an Archimedean moment of "Eureka!" but as a result of a dogged pursuit of knowledge through trial and failure.

   The great genius of Wilbur Wright and his brother is one of unstinting determination. Failure is not defeat but only the next small problem to solve. They knew that experimentation without failure yields only a partial truth -- that failure and success are irrevocably intertwined. Only those with the persistence not to be discouraged by the false thread will find what they seek.

   As a former aeronautics librarian for the Library of Congress, Donald Howard does a tremendous job in defining precisely the nature of the Wright brothers' achievement and in defending them from later detractors who crawled from the woodwork to lay their own partial claims to invention. In truth, the Wrights leaned heavily on the experimentations of others, letting the failures of others serve as a practical classroom. What they invented was not the first machine to rise from the earth under its own power, but the first that could sustain itself and be navigated across the skies.

   As we near the one hundredth anniversary of their first flight, it is an opportunity to reflect and remember those two young men whose vision opened the skies and made our world a smaller, less alien place to live.

   This is THE definitive biography! If you read only one book on their lives (although there are other recent good ones), let this be it. This is the great tale of discovery -- Jack Kerouac's "On the Road" but with a spiritual quest infused with the miracle of invention. It is not just their quest, their discovery. It is mine. It is yours. Just as Kerouac lies awake thinking and dreaming of Dean Moriarty, I think and dream of Wilbur Wright.




3. This is a fine account of the Wright Brothers' lives and achievements. It reads easily, and sets correct some of the myths that have grown around Wilbur and Orville (such as the vignette about building the little sled).

   And I really liked the line in the Preface (...) stating that this particular biography wasn't going to delve into an extensive exploration of the Wright Brothers' ancestry, that some brief information about their family history was going to be presented in the first few paragraphs, and could easily be skipped by the reader. That's definitely my kind of biographer.




4. The first 100 or so pages or so pages are an extraordinary account of the Wright brothers development of the first airplane and controled flight. It was interesting to learn why Kitty Hawk NC was selected as a test area; plenty of wind, no trees and sand to land on. Also that development of first plane could be done on the profit from summer earnings from a bicycle shop. Overall this is an excellent and detailed documentary of the Wright brothers achievment and also the impact of the business considerations which followed.

   Ken Kraetzer
   White Plains, NY




5. This is a very detailed chronology of the Wright Brothers massive achievement to create a flying machine. It details each stage of development and incorporates the other individuals that were both helpful and damaging to the development and eventual recognition world wide of their accomplishments. It is a slow read but very satisfying since you appreciate the enormous difficulties they endured to achieve what we take for granted now - safe, frequent, air travel.
   
   I read this at same time that I read the biography of Alex G Bell by Charlotte Gray which serves as a great contrast in life styles and creative follow through. While both the telephone and airplane define modern life, the achievement of the airplane is orders of magnitude more complex than the telephone.

5 comments about I'll Always Have Paris.

1. I first read this book last year after a trip to Europe which included a brief and wonderful trip to Paris. Buckwald has captured the essense of life in Paris. For those not in love with the city, this might lead to the thought that this would be a dull book. However, this book is a witty scream which left me at times reading with my mouth hanging open in amazement and at other times laughing out loud as I read turned the page. I wish I could have met him - or better yet, been able to attend one of the parties mentioned in the book. I would recommend this book to anyone. It is fascinating, irreverent and jovial. A great read.



2. Heard the taped version of I'LL ALWAYS HAVE PARIS: A
   MEMOIR, written and read by Art Buchwald . . . Buchwald has
   always been one of my favorite humorists/columnist, though I
   regret that he doesn't appear in my local paper.

   This book is a follow-up to his earlier LEAVING HOME . . . it is a witty tribute to 1948 Paris, a city he fell in love with as he began his quest to become a great writer . . . there are a lot of cute stories, plus much name-dropping (Hemingway, Bacall, etc.).

   I also liked hearing about how he met and fell in love with
   his wife . . . his trials and tribulations as a father also had me laughing . . . as he notes, "..."

   Overall, I enjoyed it . . . though this is one time where
   a professional reader would have helped . . . Buchwald's voice
   is not the easiest to understand--or at least not on these tapes.




3. I picked up this book at the used bookstore not knowing anything about Art Buchwald; I was more interested in reading about a person living in Paris than I was about Mr. Buchwald himself.

   I thought the book was delightful and I came away liking Art. His stories are funny, touching and sad, but always mixed up enough to keep the book lively and fun. I consider it light reading; a great escape from the office at lunchtime.




4. Art Buchwald deserves a place alongside Mark Twain, Will Rogers, Robert Benchley and Erma Bombeck as the creme de la creme of American humorists.
   
   Speaking of creme de la creme and other things French, Buchwald's career began in the City of Light, where he went in 1948 on the G.I. Bill, hoping to become a great writer in the style of his hero, Ernest Hemingway. Instead, he became a great writer in his own style and has long been a hero to other humorists (including yours truly) who wish they had even a fraction of Buchwald's talent.
   
   "I'll Always Have Paris!" is not a collection of newspaper columns, as most of The Master's 33 books have been. It is the second part of his classic memoirs, the first being the wonderful "Leaving Home."
   
   In "I'll Always Have Paris!," Buchwald wittily recounts talking his way into a dream job as a columnist for the European edition of the New York Herald Tribune, despite having had almost no professional experience.
   
   He then recalls his exploits as a bon vivant and a humorist nonpareil. Best of all, he tells a magical love story -- his wooing of and marriage to Ann McGarry, a redhead from Pennsylvania who made the most romantic city on earth even more heavenly for the kid from Queens.
   
   Whether the tears are from laughing or crying, you'll shed them. I've never been to Paris, but I hope to get there one day. Until then, thanks to Art Buchwald, I'll always have "I'll Always Have Paris!"



5. This is the third book by Buchwald that I have recently read.
   The books were the ones identified in his last column in the Washington Post a month or so ago.
   Leaving Home reminded me of my "up bringing" though I had it much better that Buckwald in most respects and I was too scared to join the Marines in June 1950 though I now regret that decision!
   Buckwald's books are humorous, heartwarming and most enjoyable, even "Too Soon to Say Goodbye" which I sent to my 86 year old sister who has lived alone since her husband died 25 years ago. Recommended reading for those who need a break from novels and non-fiction "stuff".
   George

5 comments about Victor Hugo: A Biography.

1. Graham Robb is one of that rare breed of scholars, who write what they want to, unfettered by institutional constraints, and write to an intelligent, literate audience that genuinely wants to learn. Much of Victor's Hugo's work is inaccessable to the English language audience. Robb's presentation and interpretation of many different aspects of his literary career show how much he enjoyed the Hugo's work, and his enthusiasm excited this reader. He did a masterful job of integrating history, the stange personal life of Hugo, and his massive literary output. This will become a classic source of information about Victor Hugo.



2. I spent a week in Paris last year, and returned home wanting to know more about this Victor Hugo whom Parisians still revere as a God. And Robb's book did the trick! Since reading it I've tried to find an American to equate him with, but fall short: I must make do with a composite of Thomas Jefferson (for statesmanship in opposition to the crown), Henry David Thoreau (for drawing strength from nature for his writing) and William Jeferson Clinton (for his sexual appetite).



3. This is the most enjoyable biography I've ever read, portraying someone who truly was larger than life. It's as complex, entertaining, and riveting as the man himself. Bravo! Now, how can we get Hugo's complete works translated into English?



4. Graham Robb's magnificent bio of Victor Hugo has won numerous awards, and deservedly so; Robb has steeped himself in Hugo's works and life. It's all there - Hugo's greatness, his megalomania, his politics, his poetics, his personal life - stripped of the many false accretions of previous biographies. Robb sees Hugo clear, and he sees him whole. My only reservation - and I think it is a fairly significant one - is that Robb assumes that his readers are already familiar with Hugo's immense literary output (not just Notre-Dame de Paris and Les Miserables, but dozens and dozens of other books of poetry, novels, biography, politics, etc.). And Robb also assumes that his readers know something about the tortuous and very complicated course of 19th century French politics, from the Revolution to the Third Republic. This is a lot of background to assume of the general reader, and so - by all means get the book, it's the best existing biography of Victor Hugo, but be prepared to do some additional reading if necessary, to fill in the background that Robb takes for granted.



5. Well-researched biography, maybe; however, I found Robb's patronizing tone towards his subject to be distasteful, offensive. A more objective account--without a lurking sneer behind it--is in order.

5 comments about Marilyn Monroe.

1. Film star, singer, model, oh, the life! Born on June 1, 1926, to Gladys Baker, a star was born. But it wasn't as easy as it sounds. Growing up in orphanages and foster homes isn't exactly the perfect childhood. Norma Jeane's mom was admitted to a mental institution at age nine, when she was sent to an orphanage. She later moved in with a family friend until she was sixteen. They couldn't afford to take care of her any longer so she had to make a decision: go back to an orphanage or get married. That's when she chose to marry Jimmy Dougherty (age 21) on June 19, 1942. He was sent off to the South Pacific after joining the Merchant Marines, so Norma Jeane had to find a job. She began to work in an assembly line at the Radio Plane Munitions factory in Burbank, CA. Yank Magazine photographer, David Conover, was the one who "discovered" Norma Jeane as a model. He began giving her modeling jobs as her new career. Norma Jeane divorced Jimmy Dougherty in 1946 because he made her choose between a career and their marriage. She chose career. On August 26, 1946, she signed her first studio contract with Twentieth Century Fox. Not too long after, she died her hair blonde and was told to change her name. Norma Jeane was soon to be known as Marilyn Monroe. And now, her movie career started! Her very first movie role was in The Shocking Miss Pilgrim, in 1947. She began starring in many other movies until she starred in Niagara, where is said to have jumped her career ahead. On January 14, 1954, Marilyn married a famous baseball star, Joe DiMaggio. They soon divorced on October 27, 1954 due to "conflict of careers." Marilyn owned her own motion picture company named, Marilyn Monroe Productions. On June 29, 1956, she married Arthur Miller. He wrote part of the movie, The Misfits for her. Starring Marilyn and her favorite actor, Clark Gable. That was to be their last completed film. On January 20, 1961, Marilyn divorced Arthur. Not soon after winning the Golden Globes award for female- World Film Favorite, she was found dead at age 36 in her bed on August 5, 1962. There is no real proof as to how she died, but all we know is that there was an empty bottle of pills found lying next to her along with a telephone in her hand. This book is one of the best books I've ever read. Biographies are normally boring, but this one is not. Barbara Leaming used her very vivid detailed vocabulary to describe the wonderful life of the newest sex symbol, Marilyn Monroe.
   This book is so wonderful because it actually shows and describes real life troubles of one of the most famous people of her time. Marilyn Monroe had a very hard childhood. Her mom was sent to a mental institution so she had to go to an orphanage and later to a foster home where they brought her up very strictly and religiously. Marilyn never had a stable place to live until she was pretty much forced to marry at the age of sixteen! It seemed that every time that Marilyn would find love, they would run away because her career didn't exactly fit the role of a "house wife." Marilyn wasn't accepted by anyone but her fans. And they just didn't understand the real her. Her whole life, Marilyn tried so hard to be someone that she wasn't. All she wanted was to be loved and no one accepted her for who she really was.
   Marilyn Monroe is a very good book because it shows how hard you have to work to accomplish what you want to be in life. Marilyn wanted to be a movie star all her life. Stardom was everyone's dream. But, it's not as easy to accomplish as you may think. Marilyn Monroe was turned down by many of people. Not everyone wanted to have someone who represented sex in their movies. Not everyone was looking for that kind of girl, most producers were looking for the homey kind of girl and Marilyn just didn't fit that role. Marilyn was suspended from her career without an income for a while because she just simply refused to accept the job without looking at the script first. People in the show business like to take advantage of everyone. Marilyn Monroe had searched every where for someone to help her with her acting. No one wanted to work with her. Until Lee Strasberg noticed her talent and helped her when she moved to New York City. Becoming a star isn't easy and this book shows you just exactly why it isn't.
   This book is also good not only because it shows you the troubles of being an actress, but it also shows you how wonderful being a star can be and all the benefits from it. In Marilyn Monroe's career she completed a total of 30 films and left one unfinished. She won many awards such as: 2 Golden Globe awards for being a Female World Film Favorite, she was titled Playboy "sweetheart" of the month, she was titled one of the 100 sexiest women, she was titled Best Foreign Actress numerous times, and many others. She was even so famous that she started her own motion picture company: Marilyn Monroe Productions. Marilyn Monroe was featured on a 32 cent stamp, she married many famous people, and she even got to star in a movie with her all time favorite actor, Clark Gable! What a dream come true. So, being a star isn't always about all the hard times. I would say that all the good things that came out of her stardom make up for all of Marilyn's misfortunes.
   All together, this book is one of the best books I've ever read. Part of that being that I'm a true fan of Marilyn's and part of that being that author, Barbara Leaming, has wonderful talent and made this book so worth reading. Just her vocabulary and wording helps you actually feel like you were there with Marilyn when she went through her whole life. I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in reading. This book is worth your time. Read it.



2. i am a huge fan of barbara leaming, she is the one the best writers and she has managaed to humanize marilyn as no one has before, the book was fluid and wasn't over-whelming as most marilyn books are, hurrah! barbara! if there is a chance that you are reading this, i would love if you wrote about dorothy dandridge, i think she'd make a great subject for you!



3. This book is a very well written highly readable retread of everything you already know about Monroe.
   
   However, it does have a particularly strong emphasis on financial issues, contract negotiations and Monroe's money battles with the studios. This book contains far more detail about Monroe's financial dealings with Hollywood than you will probably find anywhere else. Not sure why though
   
   Besides giving the reader all they've ever wanted to know about Monroe's finances (it is unbeleivable by today's standards that Monroe was living in rinky dink apartments and using a party line after becoming a major star) the reader is given reams of detail on her early relationship with Aurthur Miller and Miller's homo erotic professional, personal and political rivalry with Elia Kazan. Miller and Kazan are given almost as much ink as Monroe in this book.
   
   Ms. Leamer tows the party line on Monroe. No one will argue that Monroe was not a tragic figure but it's old. There's more to Monroe's story than her tragic insecurity and her fragility and vulnerability (she wasn't so vulnerable when it came to negotiating her later contracts though nor was she so over wrought with sensitivity that she couldn't turn Milton Greene out afte all he'd done for her). Why was the most beautiful woman in the world alone so much? Could it be because she was tedious, draining, overwrought, consuming and manipulative? Maybe. But we can't look to writers like Ms. Leaming to explain.
   
   This book is well suited to a first time reader of material on Monroe. It is a good read that does a good job of weaving together the chain of events that led to Monroe's stardom. It fails, however, to put Monroe into perspective. It fails to veer from the well worn and explain to the reader why Monroe was living in a cluttered three bedroom bungelow when she was the biggest star on the face of the Earth. Has the myth of Monroe been woven since her death by people like Ms. Leamer? There must be some explanation in Monroe's behavior and relationships that explains why she died alone, in a middle class home, on a Saturday night with only her house keeper for company and why this is so incongruous with the surreal stature Monroe is viewed with today.
   
   We surely won't find out from books like this.



4. I am a Marilyn Monroe bio junkie, and this bio was good; however, I was disappointed in the ending.
   
   I felt the author tied up Marilyn's death too quickly, simply stating that the actress committed suicide. The reason this bothered me as a reader is because there are questions as to whether Marilyn really did commit suicide.
   
   This is a good book to learn about Marilyn's youth and her start in Hollywood, as well as her marriages; however, if you want to investigate the death of Marilyn, I recommend Goddess: The Secret Lives of Marilyn Monroe by Anthony Summer OR Marilyn Monroe: The Last Days by Donald H. Wolfe. Both books are thoroughly researched, and the authors inform their readers of how they obtained information.



5. When I think of Marilyn Monroe, I think of her troubling death. If you believet that she committed suicide, then this book is detailed enough for you about her poor life. One cannot help but feel sorry for her despite her unstable upbringing, her mentally ill mom and relatives. She was looking for a father figure in her husbands like playwright Arthur Miller and Joe DiMaggio. She spent part of her childhood in an orphanage because she was shuffled around from home to home. We know her first marriage was probably better than her marriages to high profile icons like DiMaggio who loved her as Marilyn and not as Norma Jean Baker and Miller who was in love with her as his muse. Marilyn wanted more than to be a movie star. She wanted to be loved. She loved kids who returned their love back because she never talked down to them. When she was Norma Jean is when I believed that she was the happiest. She has the vulnerability in her smiles and face. She desperately wanted unconditional love. A friend of hers, Jeanne Carmen stated that she was the loneliest girl in the world despite all her superficial friends, relatives, and acquaintances. Her fans to this day love Marilyn as the icon that she was created but we do not know the fragility of Norma Jean Baker who lived as Marilyn Monroe, the ultimate character. She wanted to act desperately to escape the misery of her life. The book glosses over her relations to the Las Vegas Mafia and the possible foul play of her death. Whether Marilyn was murdered or committed suicide, this book does not answer those questions at all. It's glossed over much like the cover of the book. I think it's still worth a read for any Monroe fan. I appreciated the author's research into the theatrical background of films, television, and theater in New York City where I think she loved to be and London where she filmed a film with Lord Laurence Olivier. Despite her difficulties on set and problems, was she worth it? You damn right she was worth every moment.

4 comments about Queen Victoria.

1. I was expecting a bigger book, so I was surprised when this whimpy little paperback arrived. It reads more like a textbook, but is full of great information. Highly recommend if you are looking for a fact filled biography.



2. I enjoyed reading this book. It gave a good overview of Queen Victoria's life. The information was complete and pertinent.
   
   I also found it to be a very quick read.



3. Actually, I probably shouldn't review this book as I am more familiar with the approximately 600 page biography of Queen Victoria that the Countess of Longford published in 1965. It is excellent. I only mention this as one reviewer was disappointed by the length of this version. Those seeking a far more in-depth account by the same author should search for QUEEN VICTORIA-BORN TO SUCCEED.



4. this book is a good little read with a overview of the life of queen victoria.

2 comments about Requiem for a German Past: A Boyhood among the Nazis.

1. I took courses in the History of Education under Dr. Herbst (1967-69)and found him to be a very engaging teacher--one of the best I had in graduate school. I knew nothing about his past, except that he was German-born, until I heard of this book. This man has a way with words! In this brief but very compact and vivid memoir, he deals with some of the great dilemmas of life--in any period--,although of course he focuses on the period 1928-1948, his first twenty years. Herbst's memoir reminds me of another memoir of a childhood that can teach us all many valuable lessons (Irving Louis Horowitz, DAYDREAMS AND NIGHTMARES). REQUIEM is profoundly gripping. A must-read (and probably re-read) to help us understand our own times . . .and our own selves.



2. Primarily a memoir for his first twenty years of life, Jurgen Herbst goes into great detail about his coming-of-age experiences in the Third Reich. He was raised in the Prussian military tradition emphasizing a strong sense of family, country, and church, and thus spends his adolescence trying to reconcile these notions with the propaganda and events of Hitler's Reich. He joins the Jungvolk (as all youths in Germany were required) and sees it primarily as a means to advance into the military career he has always dreamed of. Along the way, through his experiences, he sees that the Third Reich is not all it claims to be.
   
   Herbst's book, which reads very much like a novel, is one-of-a-kind; not many books describe the life and experiences of boys in the Jungvolk or the Hitler Jugend. Even if you only have a cursory interest in Nazi Germany, I highly recommend reading this book.

3 comments about Here At The New Yorker.

1. Having just read the new "About Town The New Yorker and the World it Made" I felt compelled to go back and reread Brendan Gill's memoirs of his days working for Harold Ross and William Shawn.

   Some critic called "Here at the New Yorker" "wonderful entertainment". That is wrong--this book does not entertain it probes. Granted there are some funny anecdotes and glances of writers like Scott Fitzgerald. But the book has a darker more serious side as well.

   I imagine that Brendan Gill has made many enemies with his book. He talked about Editor Harold Ross's racism and William Shawn's phobias. Of many he writers he either praises them or he says they did not produce much legible writing at all.

   But these dark character portraits are wonderfully written and penetrate deep. After reading Gill I think I can more carefully size up my peers. This one is a drunk never-do-well. That one works all day to keep away from his wife. Brendan Gill has the novelist's eye for detail.




2. It was interesting to read about the writers and editors who helped make The New Yorker a magazine of such distinction. I bought this book during that whole rage of last year when "Gone: The Last Days of The New Yorker" was all over the place. In the time since I read this book, I resubscribed to the magazine. Periodically, I read glimpses of the magazine's former glory in its pages. I don't think I could read "Gone," though. Even though I know The New Yorker is not as good as it once was, that doesn't mean I have to take a broom handle to it. That's why I found "Here at The New Yorker" great, pricisely because of its balance.



3. The New Yorker magazine is an acquired taste. It does have plenty of advertisements but the founding and the development of this timeless magazine over the first 50 years since it's inception in February 1921 is an historical and amazing accomplishment. To know the New Yorker, you must learn to love the New Yorker. We look forward to those Letters from Paris, London, Rome, Warsaw, Cologne, Cracow, Naples, Milan whenever we can since many of us don't get to go there often enough. Contributors have become literary phenomenon's like J.D. Salinger, Charles Addams, Janet "Genet" Flanner, E.B. White, James Thurber, William Shawn, John Updike, Harold W. Ross, Robert Benchley, Truman Capote, Dorothy Parker, Brendan Gill, and many more to mention. Brenda Gill's book is a testament to his devotion and adoration of the New Yorker when magazines were major reading source of enlightenment, entertainment, and information all rolled into one.

5 comments about Dante: The Poet, the Political Thinker, the Man.

1. I fell in love with Dante when I first read 'The Divine Comedy' and 'La Vita Nuova' when I was 24 years old, and reading this wonderful biography made me love and respect him even more. Ms. Reynolds is dealing with a subject that many people would probably consider rather scholarly and academic, yet the writing is never boring. She manages to make it all interesting and relevant instead of the stuff of a stuffy academic treatise that doesn't engage the reader. And since she's one of the world's most renowned Dante scholars, she really knows her stuff. This book has everything one ever wanted to know, and then some, about Dante, his writings, and his times.
   
   Given the era in which Dante lived, this can't be as detailed and in-depth as the biography of a more modern figure on a subject such as his day-to-day personal life or even some more basic subjects such as his relationship with his wife and children, but the information we do have on Dante's life is fascinating. Ms. Reynolds is able to cover in depth such subjects as the political and religious situation in Italy and the Holy Roman Empire (in an era long before separation and church of state, these two things were deeply intertwined), his bitterness and sadness over his exile from Florence, his relationship with Beatrice, his various benefactors, his early education, and, of course, his writing. Among the works covered are 'Il Convivio' ('The Banquet'), 'La Vita Nuova,' 'Monarchia,' and 'De Vulgari Eloquentia' ('On the Art of Writing in the Vernacular'). The major focus of the book, however, is on his masterpiece 'The Divine Comedy,' all three parts of it. As someone who read the work on my own, without a teacher or some sort of commentary, it gave me a whole new understanding of so many things in it. One can't really fully understand the work, even if one likes it, without an in-depth understanding of Dante as a person, the times he lived in, the public figures he knew and knew of, the understanding of theology at the time, the works of literature he was familiar with, and all of the stories from mythology, history, and religion which would have needed no explanations in his era but which often don't ring a bell with the average modern reader.
   
   Overall, this is a thorough tome on the man who arguably is considered the next-greatest writer of all time, after Shakespeare, and his writings. Ms. Reynolds really makes both Dante and his writing come alive and transcend their long-ago era, becoming relevant to all time.



2. One wonders if Ms. Reynolds was enjoying an afternoon on the grass herself when she came upon her theory. Or was it simply an effort to get some publicity for a book that in no way measures up to the competition. Perhaps there was consideration of calling it "Dante's Trip: What a Comedy" to broaden readership.
   
   In any case, with all the great works about the Divine Comedy, including Joseph Gallagher's "Modern Reader's Guide" and Eric Auerbach's "Dante, Poet of the Secular World," and biographies such as Paget Toynbee's "Dante Aligieri: His Life and Works," I recommend that you avoid Ms. Reynolds attempt at originality.
   
   I understand that Academics live under the rule "Publish or Perish" but one encounters sufficient sensationalism in our modern inferno, must we project our own shallowness into the past?
   
   It is sad that many of us are unable to imagine a time when gifted people could experience a spiritual journey and exercise their imagination without chemical support.



3. We read Dante to feed our souls. Barbara Reynolds biography completely missed this point.
   
   Her conclusions are weird and unsupported. It causes me to wonder at her affiliation with Dorothy Sayers: Sadly, it appears that nothing of Dorothy's passionate intellect rubbed off on her.
   
   Much better works on Dante include the Dante Papers Trilogy: Introductory Papers on Dante (vol. 1), Further Papers on Dante (vol. 2), The Poetry of Search and the Poetry of Statement (vol. 3). Also worthy of mention is The Figure of Beatrice by Charles Williams.



4. i recommend this highly for readers familiar with dante as well as those who are interested in him & his work & are looking for a good introduction. if you haven't read the divine comedy, most of this book consists of a canto-by-canto exposition/paraphrase of the entire poem. you could actually read this book before ever trying to read a stand-alone translation of the work & you would probably get a lot more out of the poem that way.
   
   reynolds gave me an enhanced appreciation of dante the man as well as the magnitude of his pioneering artistic achievement. he was an amazing guy--small, delicate & hypersensitive, but also a courageous cavalry warrior who fought fearlessly in battle. this is no academic hit job, she truly knows how great dante was, while also showing his humanity & even his pettiness. her only drawback seems to be that she doesn't know much about the bible, definitely a disadvantage in dealing with a man like this, but at least she doesn't bring the kind of prejudices to the task that most academics would. what is as remarkable as what she does in this book is what she doesn't do: inject her own opinions & judgments in the way academic biographers commonly judge the great by their own political standards (pinsky's "david" is an expecially noxious example).
   
   i am amazed at how some people hate this book for one reason: that reynolds suggests that dante might have smoked pot or even ingested psychedelics. she merely raises the possibility & shows that such substances were known & used by people associated with dante. you can take it or leave it, so i don't get the extreme hostility to the point of ignoring everything else in the book. the divine comedy is revolutionary because it is so visionary, it is a heroic act of imagination charged with spiritual light. it hardly seems likely that dante was not familiar with visionary spiritual experience, however he may have come about such experience.



5. Reading Peter Hawkins' "Dante: a Brief History" helps to clarify the problem with this book. The author tries both a) to write an intellectual biography of Dante and b)to offer a detailed precis of the Commedy. But she deals with these subjects concurrently, so that if you bought the book to read about the Comedy you end up slogging through endless(not literally, but it feels so) pages of biography, and story of the intellectual genesis of Vita Nuova and the two great, unfinished Latin essays Dante abandoned to write the Comedy. I felt great guilt fast-forwarding through this part, but that did not ultimately deter me. And once she gets going with the Comedy, she feels the need to stop between cantica and update us as to the events in Dante's life. Hawkins is much more sparing on biographical detail (which he restricts to a single chapter) and his comments on the Comedy (which appear in a separate chapter) and he from there offers two more essays and that's that. Dr. Reynolds' is presentation is more sprawling, detailed and less well-organized. But it is a good book. I even like her theory about the identity of the "Greyhound" in the first canto of the Inferno. While I admit that there are better books available on the subject, I can not fathom giving it only one star, nor can I give it five.

5 comments about The Little Princesses: The Story of the Queen's Childhood by her Nanny, Marion Crawford.

1. A lovely portrait of royalty as it used to be, painted in the words of a woman who devoted years of her life to royalty's service. "Crawfie," as a very young Princess Elizabeth nicknamed her new governess, had no idea when she accepted the post that she would be staying for more than a short time. She'd come to help the Duke and Duchess of York begin their little girls' education, after which Miss Crawford fully intended to take up the classroom teaching career of which she had always dreamed. She wasn't planning on growing to love Elizabeth and Margaret as she did. Nor had she any clue that one of her charges would someday sit on England's throne.
   
   The interlude Miss Crawford planned to spend with the Yorks lasted until after Princess Elizabeth's marriage. As a member of their household, she experienced history first hand when the abdication of King Edward VIII - otherwise known as "Uncle David" - forced her employers to give up their private, comfortable, family-centered life. She kept their daughters out of harm's way during the frightening war years that soon followed; and after the war's end, helped the family that by now considered her indispensible in guiding its "little princesses" from adolescence into womanhood.
   
   Charming, but in no way saccharine, this recently re-released book provides invaluable insight into the character of the woman who has reigned for more than half a century as Queen Elizabeth II. Not by any means just for "royal watchers"!



2. absolutely fascinating story of Nanny Crawford which brings to life how the Royal Family live. I cannot understand why the Royals thought it was disrespectful to write this and cut Nanny Crawford off for the rest of her life. I wonder what the real reason was?



3. Truly, this book is a national treasure and even the Queen should cherish it (apprently, she does not). After reading it, I have new-found respect for Elizabeth II and her family. No where else would you find such wonderful detail of the lovely lives these little girls led. Its also very revealing to see another side of the abdication of her uncle, King Edward VIII. I couldn't put it down and was left wanting more!



4. For fans of the British royal family, this book is a must-read. While it may be a trifle dated and decidedly unsensational, the book holds a unique place in the now vast array of books about the royals because it was the first to break the rules and reveal details of life behind the gilded doors of Buckingham Palace. "Crawfie," who cared for Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret for 17 years, was completely cut off by the royal family after the book was published, but the book itself lives on as a kind of time capsule of royal life before the press declared open season on the royal family.



5. I enjoyed reading this book. Crawfie (as she is nicknamed by the princesses) uses a chronological framework to look inside the royal family. She shares about their daily routines and relationships within the extened family. It starts around the time Elizabeth is 8 or so and goes through her teen years. It gave me a better understanding of Queen Elizabeth than I had from only seeing Helen Mirren in The Queen (2006). It's not the kind of book you'd read to a child who loves princesses. It is written from one adult to another, but a young teen on up would probably enjoy it.