5 comments about Diary of a Provincial Lady.

1. This was a simply written and quite charming novel. Whilst it did give an insight into the lives of a moderately wealthy English family in 1931, it lacked plot and real structure and for this reason I am unlikely to read more by this author at this stage - especially when there are simply too many other great books out there to read. A gentle, easy read but a little disappointing.



2. I reread this every year or two, and love it each time. Admittedly,a product of its time and place, capturing life among the genteely-poor gentry in an English village between the wars(WW's I & II). The diary format makes the provincial lady's narration of and commentary on the events around her doubly funny, as she struggles to run her household and not be driven crazy by nice but dull husband, snobbish wife of husband's boss,disputes among servants,quandaries about children, etc.--and to find time to keep a sense of herself as a professional writer. Not deep, but funny and often touching.



3. Am determined to write impressions from this book in the style of "the Provincial Lady" herself. Am doubtful however as to the outcomes of this effort as my highest labors would not reach the dry frank witticism she displays.
   Provincial Lady does her best to satisfy the wishes of silent husband (... "Robert, this morning, complains of insufficient breakfast. Cannot feel that porridge, scrambled eggs, toast, marmalade, scones, brown bread and coffee give adequate grounds for this, but admit that porridge is slightly burnt...."), intimidating cook, beloved children (... "Robin - whom I refer to in a detached way as "the boy" so that she shan't think I am foolish about him..., "Vicky,.... Enquires abruptly whether, if she died, I should cry?"), Mademoiselle (the nanny), Gardner and all kinds of friends and neighbors including the tiring Lady Birkenshop, "our vicar's wife" and the hated Mrs. B. ("query: Is not a common hate one of the strongest links in human nature?... answer, most regrettably, in the affirmative.")
   This is the same women world. Husband is as usual quiet and does not give any consolation and the Lady struggles to please everyone and not forget herself and her own wishes (and health) on the way. How very sad to discover it was the same (woman) world even 70 years ago ... Book is so very candid and manages to capture the ever lasting nuances of human behavior ("Mem: Candid and intelligent self examination as to motive, etc., often leads to very distressing revelations...."), little lies, social pretenses and the day to day struggles. Funny and entertaining yet can be tiring at times - since the day to day life is indeed tiring . Very very British and thus charming.



4. This charming book was written in the period between the wars, and tells of the daily trials and tribulations of the Provincial Lady - dealing with the servants, nosy neighbours, the horribly snobbish local 'upper class', the husband who hides behind the paper. Always told with style and wit, we observe life for the lady in question as she tries to balance the accounts (never a success - where does it all go?), help out at the local Women's Institute, keep her wardrobe up to date and deal with such important issues as modern parenting, keeping one's brain active when living outside of London, and the delicate balance of letting the husband know not too much or too little.

   The stand-out thing about this book is the character descriptions and her take on everyday life. If anyone ever tells you people were much nicer/politer in the good old days, just refer them to this book, which shows that there was just as many selfish, impolite, venal, self-centred and downright rude people in the 'good old days' as there are today. We just need to hope that we can deal with them with as much style and aplomb as the Provincial Lady would.




5. According to her, this is a single volume that contains "The Diary of a Provincial Lady" ONLY. The editorial review from Amazon states that this edition also includes several sequels. Apparently it does not. Still worth the price, according to Mom; she found it absolutely delightful.

3 comments about London Rising: The Men Who Made Modern London.

1. Anyone with an ounce of curiosity about the monumental doings in 17th century London should buy and read this book.
   
   Leo Harris is a wonderful storyteller, with a true gift for historical synthesis. Having read his book, I now have a much better understanding of the background to the Glorious Revolution of 1688 and of the astounding advances in scientific, economic and political theory arising out of the handful of brilliant men who dominated this transitional age.
   
   Those with interests ranging from religious theory, to banking, to urban planning and development, to architecture will enjoy this book, which will inspire many to go beyond it; to seek out more information on the time's many major events and still famous personalities, e.g., Isaac Newton, John Locke and Christopher Wren.
   
   This book will win prizes.



2. This interesting book is a set of mini-biographies of five men who helped shape the future of London with their influence and abilities. The five men, philosopher John Locke, scientist and architect Robert Hooke, city developer Nicholas Barbon, politician and diarist John Evelyn and one of history's greatest architects, Christopher Wren. The author goes through each of these men, how they influence the development and creation of modern London as we know it today. Of course, much of this phoenix like rising of new London was owed to the Great Fire of London of 1666 that leveled most of the old city and thus, giving these men a chance to make their own imprint to history.
   
   I think of all the five men discussed here in this book, Christopher Wren definitely stand head and shoulder above all others. Even in the book, Wren's life appears to be more dominate and his works on St. Paul's Cathedral appears to be the central anchor of the narrative. And Wren's work is what we see more often visibility around London then any of the other four men in the book.
   
   I think the only minor weakness of this book comes in that the subject matter is spread out bit thin since its impossible to do justice to each men. However, this book definitely encourage me to read a biography of Christopher Wren which I will do in the near future.
   
   Overall, this proves to be a pretty good reading material for anyone interested in the historical development of London during the second half of the 17th century when the foundation of modern London was being laid out.



3. The great fire of 1666 presented King Charles II, and those diverse individuals that served him, with the opportunity to create the first modern city of Europe.
   
   This wonderful book tracks the lives of five individuals (Nicholas Barbon, John Locke, Robert Hooke, John Evelyn and Christopher Wren) from the Civil War (in the 1640's) through the early 18th century. These individuals contribute to the "modernity" of London after the great fire in different ways (including contributions to science, religion, modern government, horticulture and, or course, architecture), with the center piece being Wren's St. Paul's Cathedral. Learn how these extraordinary individuals used their unique talents to make the City what it is today.
   
   Anyone who loves London will love this book.

5 comments about Setting the Desert on Fire: T. E. Lawrence and Britain's Secret War in Arabia, 1916-1918.

1. Setting the desert on fire is a historical account of British Army missions in the Middle East during the First World War. However, its impact is a great deal more wide ranging than that sounds. Given the current delicate situation in this part of the world, this book takes the reader on a fascinating journey to the heart of the region, and certainly helped me to place some of our current follies in context.
   
   At the heart of this book is T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia), and his extraordinarily daring, brave and probably short sighted actions. There seems to be tendency these days to dismiss the Legend of Lawrence (partly created by his own writings), but Mr. Barr's assessment of his involvements take an intelligently balanced point of view. His involvement in the story does provide a dynamic end engaging drive, but there are many other equally important characters in the narrative. The author gives particularly welcome insight into the significant parts that Sharif Husein and Sharif Feisel play in the encouragement of Arab revolt against the Turks.
   
   As a whole this book takes us through the events in detail, carefully mapping out the positions of the Turks, British, French and Arabs along the way, whilst placing the whole vital but small-scale actions in the context of the mass slaughter going on in France at the time. However, what really brings this book alive, and completes its important accessibility are the contemporary insights of the author. A trip by Mr. Barr to the site of the Hijaz railway and the various towns in the area provides numerous connections to the present day. This creates a freshness and energy that helps the reader to visualize the place and time with clarity and texture.



2. This is a very useful layman's history of the Arab Revolt. Contrary to most accounts, it does not see Lawrence as the central figure; rather, it details the motivations of, and the conflicts between, all the soldiers, politicians, and countries that were involved in the affair. This book puts Lawrence's role in context, making him a less important player in the entire scheme of things, but carefully demonstrating the critical contributions that resulted from his unique ability and personality.
   
   The writing is, particularly in the beginning, slightly sloppy, cliche-ridden, and self-indulgent, but the narrative demonstrates careful and exhaustive research. However, the final page's attempt to make this story relevant to the current Middle East struggle, by claiming that Britain's failed pledges to the Arabs in 1918 are what created Osama bin Laden, is nonsense.



3. There's a great old song from 70 years ago called "Perfidia", and the title and lyrics seem quite appropriate to this fine new historical work. The war in Arabia conjurs up all kind of heroic and romantic visions, almost all centering on T.E. Lawrence. WW I was, for the most part, a hell of trench warfare and attrition. The individual counted for little here, and the death toll was huge. There was a longing for heroic figures during the war, and between the wars, and there were basically only two kinds of such figures. Both kinds were men who could act on their own (as opposed to the slog of trench warfare) and who could achieve visibly important deeds. One kind was the fighter pilots (two-seater recon pilots didn't count, even though on the English side this was about 2/3 of the pilots), and the other kind was Lawrence. Lawrence became a legend during the war: very few other English officers in WW I could roam about pretty much at will. Oxford-educated, independent-minded, ambitious, fluent in Arabic and sympathetic to Arab causes, charismatic, and, most importantly, a fine soldier with a good strategic and tactical mind, Lawrence was a natural hero, a natural legend.
   
   Lawrence's story--Seven Pillars of Wisdom (abridged as Revolt in the Desert) helped keep the legend alive after WW I. But being a legend, creating a legend, and narrating legendary deeds (in a sometimes self-serving way) isn't always as enjoyable as you might think. Lawrence had to become Private Shaw to achieve anonimity. For a long time, the legend was the history: Seven Pillars of Wisom was the historical reference. Then there were books from the Arab point of view, often belittling many of Lawrence's claims. And, of course, we have Peter O'Toole on camelback. What is needed is a sorting-out. What actually happened? What was the larger picture? Barr's book does an exemplary job here.
   
   Barr puts everything in perspective: how Lawrence got involved (he nearly didn't get involved at all in the conflict), the incessant tribal conflicts and loyalties, the clashing personalities on both the Arab and British sides, and, most of all, the politics. Arabia was a sideshow to the Western Front, but it had vital strategic importance. The Suez Canal was gravely threatened, and immense turmoil could have been caused among the Moslems in British India. So the British wanted a strategic victory, or at least a strategic stalemate in the area. They also wanted to maintain control after the war ended. The French had an interest in Syria, and felt that they would have to control Syria after the war. So the British were happy to make lots of promises which they figured they could renegotiate or break after the war, and were willing to supply money and a few supplies and an advisor or two--such as Lawrence. They also made agreements with the French, often diametrically opposite of what they had promised the Arabs.
   
   So what you get here is a well-written tale of deeds, setting mines under railroad tracks, politics, promises, personalities. Barr visited many of the sites to get a firsthand feel of the area, and there are plenty of photos showing remains of trains blown up by Lawrence during the war. You get the overall picture, and you get a balanced perspective. Barr will tell you when he thinks Lawrence is exaggerating or dissembling. Lawrence remains a magnificent figure in the book--it's not anti-Lawrence. We need to put the legend in context, and we've needed this book for a long time!



4. James Barr should have left T.E. Lawrence's name out of the title of this book, although I assume that the "Lawrence of Arabia" name sells more books than "The Hijaz Revolt." As someone who views the American Revolution and World War I as the defining post-Enlightenment events of world history, the repercussions of both are still being felt 225 and 90 years, respectively, after these wars ended, I was immediately drawn to this book. With the current conflicts in the middle east drawing so much time and energy, I saw the title of this book and thought it would be a must read when I picked it up. Barr shoots for the Goldilocks approach here in terms of detail (not too much detail, not too little detail, just in the middle), but I think upon reading this book, I wanted more detail.
   
   While T.E. Lawrence is a prominent figure in the Arab revolt of WWI, he shares the spotlight with several other people that most non-historians would not know. The legend of "Lawrence of Arabia" is so strong in the Western world. Barr does an admirable job at summarizing the context of Britain's stoking of an Arab uprising against the Ottoman Empire, but I became lost amid all of the names, places, and events. It would have been helpful to include more maps of the areas where Lawrence and his colleagues travelled and sabotaged Ottoman outposts. I also found Barr's interspersing of his own travels to this part of the world to give a modern day account of the places in the book a bit awkward. These modern accounts fall randomly in chapters and are seldom more than a paragraph in length. Again, Barr seems to shoot for the Goldilocks approach even with these firsthand accounts.
   
   What I will say for this book is that it sparked my interests in the Arab revolts of WWI, and I intend to read more on this subject. In this sense, this book is sort of like a Cliff Notes version of a longer book. That could have been Barr's intent.



5. For anyone who doubts the adage "that those who ignore the lessons of history are condemned to repeat them" then this is the book for them. Barr not only looks at Lawrence's role in the desert revolt of 1917 to 1918 but also the convoluted dealings of Britain and France in the Sykes-Picot accord and its consequences for the Middle East today.
   The book is well researched with copious notes and references and extensive bibliography. There are also photographs of many of the people and places mentioned in the text. The book examines the reason for Britain's involvement in the region, the tensions between the India Office and its support for the ibn Saud family and the Egypt Office and its support for the ibn Husain family and the tensions between the Arab tribes themselves and the lack of a clear aim for the revolt. It also examines in some detail how the British government wanted to distance itself from the Sykes-Picot accord as the war progressed and the French insistence that it be honoured.
   The only criticism I have is that the author has a tendency to interpose his own observations of the sites of events in the middle of the text about those events without the benefit of separate paragraph. Apart from this the book is an excellent read and well worth its purchase for anyone interested in the region, the desert revolt or T. E. Lawrence.

5 comments about Mr. Capone: The Real - and complete - story of Al Capone.

1. Building and expanding upon the solid foundation previously laid by Pasley and Kobler and correcting old errors, and guided by the likes of top-notch Capone experts Mark Levell and Bill Balsamo, Schoenberg has crafted one of the best Capone biographies to date, far superior to Bergreen's ludicrous fluff. The author puts perhaps too much faith in the questionable testimony of "Born Again" hoodlum George Meyer but that is abbreviated and an almost a minor aside in this comprehensive, well-researched bio of America's all-time greatest gangster.



2. Before I say much else, let me congratulate the author, Robert Schoenberg, on this work. This study of Al Capone is an elevation of the standards of biographical presentation, and I found it as enjoyable as it was informative. The word "fearless" also comes to mind, and by that I refer to Schoenberg's capacity to advocate his own carefully-formulated views on the real Al Capone, behind the enduring legend, the misunderstandings, and the deliberate misinformation long spread as character assassination.
   
   Exhaustively-researched, Mr. Capone---the book---does everything but bring Mr. Capone---the man---from his time into ours. Capone was comparatively no monster, nor was he a saint. He was no more ruthless than circumstances in his business ever required him to be, and was by degrees shrewd, wise, cautious, generous, fun-loving, tough, pious, forgiving, sadistic, kind, and patriotic. Capone's philanthropy has never received the coverage it deserves, and his philandering has been too focused upon. Capone, let's not forget to mention here, made his name and rose to power on the strength of his talents as a peacemaker among the warring ethnic gangs of the east coast. A deft negotiator who could be trusted to deal fairly with all sides and to keep his word when given, Capone had far more friends than enemies in the underworld, and it was the strength of these alliances that he drew upon in the 1920's when he made his move to become the top power-broker in the city of Chicago: not the most powerful underworld figure, THEE most powerful person in America's second-city.
   
   Capone was a larger than life figure, and a man with as many weaknesses as talents. Foremost among his weak points was his all-possessing vanity. This vanity drove him to revel in the publicity and fame he both intentionally created and magnified via his extensive influence on the Chicago press. (It's said by 1930 there wasn't a Chicago newsman worth his salt who hadn't had dinner with Al Capone.) This desire for the spotlight put Capone into international headlines, and made him the focus of seemingly every legitimate law enforcement agent with any ambition. Schoenberg's emphasis on the role played by members of the Treasury Department, men unknown today in comparison to the self-promoting Elliot Ness, a being every bit as obsessed with his own celebrity as was his foe Al Capone, is especially refreshing.
   
   Schoenberg portrays Capone's pragmatism and realistic attitude about the conviction for tax evasion that eventually sent him to prison, first in Georgia, later in Alcatraz. Beneath his bravado ("I plan to spend a third of my sentence asleep.") Capone made the best of the bitter hand he was dealt. We come in the last chapters to meet the most surprising incarnation of "Scarface Al" Capone, that of Capone the model inmate, a man too learned in hard wisdom to make trouble for himself among either the prison population, or those who governed it. Finally we see the sad final years of the one-time boss of Chicago, as he wastes away on a modest Florida estate, a victim of cardiac troubles and neurosyphilis. One final myth, that Capone's phobic reaction to needles prevented his receiving treatment for syphilis, is exploded, and the truth revealed at last: this being that because of America's involvement in the Second World War the penicillin used in the treatment of syphilis was virtually impossible to attain on the homefront, even for the dying, and even for a legend like Al Capone.
   
   Mr. Capone is among the best examples of biography I've ever read, and should be studied for what it brings to the field of research, as well as for its presentation of an oft-mythologized man. Easily a five-star book that I'd recommend without question. It's not only great, it's good.



3. this book gives an interesting aspect to the Capone story particularly in regard to Capone's Florida excursion. It seems Al went to Florida to escape the "heat" of Chicago but found the heat and humidity of Florida eventually put him in jail. The IRS investigated his holdings and possesions in Miami and Big Al found that all the rackets were already covered by business developers from Ohio. These snowbirds once they got a handle on Florida's vice industries weren't about to tolerate Capone and the attention he could bring to some of their more dubious business enterprises.In alot of works on Capone the writers make the point solely that there was moral outrage and this was enough for the state of Florida to want Capone out.However from the Schoenberg book read there is alot more involved in the reasons for the riddance of Capone. It seems his high profile was not welcome because it brought to much attention to the fishbowl and no respectable fish wants to be seen devouring the smaller ones.



4. This book is fantastically written. I picked it up in the book store and could not put it down. From Italy to his death, this book tells the entire story in fantastic detail. Without restating what other reviewers have already stated, I just wanted to say that this is one of the best biographies I have ever read. Meticulously researched and written, the details bring the book to life, making you feel like you are living in the 1920's, viewing everything. The book also does a good job of telling the story of the rival gangs and gangleaders in Chicago, like Bugs Moran and the Irish, as well as the contemporary politicians of the day. From the shootouts to the drug running, the bootlegging to the day-to-day of Al Capone, this book nearly reads like an action novel!
   
   Also, having lived in Chicago for two years, I really enjoyed the references to the neighborhoods and streets.
   
   Highly recommended.



5. This is a very well-written and interesting book. It's not a page turner but is very entertaining. If you like mafia books or movies...you will love this book.

5 comments about Shakespeare the Thinker.

1. In this delightful book, Shakespeare the Thinker, A. D. Nuttall seeks to defend the great playwright against those who view him as just a product of his time (a view that is a strong form of Historicism). I'm a huge fan of Stephen Greenblatt, who wrote the terrific biography Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare, so I was glad that Nuttall did not disagree with the nuanced New Historicism of Greenblatt and Pierre Bourdieu. Rather he agrees with them that Shakespeare interacted or "negotiated" with his milieu in a complex way, and that the "causation [was] a two-way street." Nuttall goes even further, asserting that "although knowledge of the historical genesis can on occasion illuminate a given work, the greater part of the artistic achievement of our best playwright is _internally_ generated" and that "[i]t is the product, not of his time, but of his own, unresting, creative intelligence."
   
   Shakespeare the Thinker takes the form of a well-integrated commentary on the plays--almost too well integrated, as it is hard to find discussion of a particular play just by thumbing through the book. Several plays are discussed in each chapter, which the skimpy table of contents doesn't mention (my only real gripe with the book). In a way, this is good, because much is gained by reading the book, or at least a chapter, straight through. For instance, Romeo and Juliet is followed by A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Nuttall examines some common themes and how interpretation depends on which play one believes was written first.
   
   Nuttall's new book probably won't replace Marjorie Garber's Shakespeare After All, but will complement it. His synthesis provides a nice counterpoint to her fine-grained analysis; and his (sometimes elliptical) engagement with other critical works, to her careful culling of observations from such works.
   
   Nuttall's writing is enjoyable, sprinkled with insightful references to modern pop culture--for example, Ian McEwan's Atonement, Wife Swap, Goodfellas, and Star Trek! He takes delight in language (and not just Shakespeare's), like when he's describing Katherina's response to Petruchio in the sun-moon exchange: "Turning his non-committal `say' into `know' exposes the lunacy of all this moonshine with solar clarity."
   
   What shines through, most of all, is Nuttall's admiration of Shakespeare's intellect, encapsulated in his "law": "Whatever you think of, Shakespeare will have thought of first." Fellow admirers and students of the playwright will enjoy this excellent book.
   
   Here is an expanded table of contents:
   Ch. 1. To the Death of Marlowe
   p. 25: Henry VI, parts 1-3
   45: Richard III
   56: The Comedy of Errors
   63: Two Gentlemen of Verona
   70: The Taming of the Shrew
   Comparison of Shakespeare and Marlowe.
   
   2. Learning Not to Run
   87: Love's Labour's Lost (preceded by brief discussion of Titus Andronicus)
   99: Romeo and Juliet
   119: A Midsummer Night's Dream
   
   3. The Major Histories
   133: Richard II
   150: Henry IV, parts 1 and 2; Henry V
   
   4. Stoics and Sceptics
   171: Julius Caesar
   192: Hamlet
   205: Troilus and Cressida
   
   5. Strong Women, Weaker Men
   221: Much Ado about Nothing
   226: As You Like It
   239: Twelfth Night
   247: All's Well That Ends Well
   
   6. The Moralist
   255: The Merchant of Venice
   262: Measure for Measure
   
   7. How Character May Be Formed
   277: Othello
   284: Macbeth
   290: Coriolanus
   
   8. Shrinking and Growing
   300: King Lear
   312: Timon of Athens
   321: Antony and Cleopatra
   
   9. The Last Plays
   333: Pericles and Cymbeline
   345: The Winter's Tale
   360: The Tempest



2. Nuttall who recently passed away was considered by his colleagues one of the great Shakespeare scholars of our time. I have read at least two reviews praising this book in the highest terms possible.
   Thus to my own surprise and slight disappointment I did not find myself enjoying the book as much as I had hoped.
   There are a couple of reasons for this. The title suggests that we are going to understand far more deeply, and in something like a systematic way that which Shakespeare thought on the major issues of life.
   This is not exactly what happens. Nuttall continually stresses Shakespeare's extraordinary intelligence but he never really develops lines of thought in a rich and complicated way. What he does is 'read the plays' often by seeing how they grow out of each other. He also in doing this includes a lot of extraneous information often supplying short - summaries of concepts which in many cases it might be assumed the reader of his book would have a knowledge of.
   The writing itself somehow does not flow, and feels to me ' broken up' shifting attention needlessly in a less than coherent way.
   But the writing does contain an enormous knowledge about Shakespeare. It too reveals an encylopediac knowledge of scholarly disputes which often to the general reader seem less than interesting.
   Nuttall does make a strong case for his own conception of Shakespeare as an enormously intelligent thinker, who uses a variety of literary techniques to hide himself and his own position on the question at hand. Shakespeare's long- noted multi- sidedeness, his ability to think sympathetically into and out of the positions of diverse and contradictory characters is also amply illustrated. Nuttall has a wonderful feeling for the most remarkable passages in Shakespeare, and in fact for me the most enjoyable part of the work was confronting and reading again, for instance , what Nuttall considers the greatest speech in all Literature, Antony's funeral oration for Ceasar in 'Julius Caaesar' or Gaunt's sad lament on the decline of the England he has known.
   I believe that there is much to learn for all lovers of Shakespeare in this work.
   But the kind of new depth in understanding which came with reading the great critics like Coleridge and A.C. Bradley I , perhaps mistakenly, did not find in this work.



3. That Harold Bloom sees A.D. Nuttall as his hero should be a tip-off to potential buyers of this book: it is not one for the average reader (like me).
   
   There is no doubt that the author is a scholar of the first rank. However, this book is written for his fellow scholars and those intense amateurs who have a good existing command over the full breadth of William Shakespeare's many plays.
   
   I was disappointed since the title seems to indicate there would be a more overt and accessible discussion of the thought patterns of the great playwright. Instead I entered a great forest, which as Professor Nuttall notes, "is a place to get lost in."



4. What makes this book especially valuable to me is that A.D. Nuttall brought not only a lifetime of reading and discussion of the plays, but a lifetime of seeing them performed.
   
   This book has already proven to be an excellent companion when considering a specific play (using the Index helped), especially before and after seeing a new production. The contexts and meanings of the histories so remote in time and place are especially useful.
   
   Nuttall writes with fearless precision that honors the best academic standards, yet in an almost conversational style. He writes about nearly all the plays, and his approach is variously appropriate to that particular play as well as its relationship to the others, to its "type," to Shakespeare's times and what we know about him. He does not shrink from the issues which certain plays raise for 21st century audiences: the role of women within marriage in "The Taming of the Shrew", for example. Other commentators may suggest that Kate's submission is meant ironically, but Nuttall does not take that easy escape.
   
   I'm not a Shakespeare scholar, and I don't agree with all of Nuttall's interpretations, but that's the joy of Shakespeare--the dialogue with the plays can be endless. For reference and for reading, I will be returning to "Shakespeare the Thinker."



5. After reading this excellent book, my first thought was one of admiration for Shakespeare that he can provide so much interesting material for so many. Nuttall by no means exhausted the thematic possibilities of any of the plays but found very interesting questions in all of them. But actually not everyone who writes about Shakespeare writes interesting or memorable stuff, it takes what actually is a rare combination of good education, common sense and an open, alive mind. So even though there is an astounding amount of insight in the plays, not every commentator derives and gives us something of value.
   
   I didn't agree with all his points but they are all honest questions: not self-serving and very little arguing with his colleagues. The question of The Tempest and nihilism is quite provocative. I suppose in the way that Buddhism is nihilistic, nihilism leading to transcendent joy, yes, he's right. Well, you'll read it and decide for yourself.
   
   He writes in the Coda: "The universe is indefinitely recessive to the understanding. It will not provide the thing that philosophers cannot help pursuing: the Answer." This is a very good formulation of our situation: we can't help wanting to have the conclusive view - and in fact we can't help assuming at any particular moment that we've got it already. It's natural to try to establish equilibrium. Still, for us, the truth of things comes as gnawing doubt, as a question. It's not truth but it's the accepting to entertain an opposing view, sensation, fact or feeling.
   
   These are essays provoked by long acquaintance with Shakespeare, Plato and Western thought in general. It's not an introduction to Shakespeare. It's really only for people who love these plays.

3 comments about Eudora Welty : Stories, Essays & Memoir (Library of America, 102).

1. At the time of her death, Eudora Welty was widely regarded as America's single greatest living author. Although she produced several critically acclaimed novels, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning THE OPTIMIST'S DAUGHTER, Welty achieved her greatest fame through mastery of that most difficult of all literary forms, the short story.

   Welty's skill with short stories is amazing, for she possessed a talent that combined a remarkable ear for the spoken word, meticulous observation of physical world, and the truly mysterious ability to slip almost effortlessly into the very marrow of the characters she depicts. Her comic stories are perhaps best known to the public in general, but she is equally at home with provocative and unsettling material, and although her tales are most often firmly rooted in America's deep south they have a sense of humanity that transcends the limitations of purely regional literature.

   In addition to stories previously collected under the titles A CURTAIN OF GREEN, THE WIDE NET, THE GOLDEN APPLES, and THE BRIDE OF THE INNISFALLEN, this Library of America publication also includes the independently published stories "Where Is the Voice Coming From?" and "The Demonstrators," nine selected essays, and Welty's memoir ONE WRITER'S BEGINNINGS. A chronology of Welty's life up to 1996, textual notes, and general notes (including Katherine Anne Porter's introduction for A CURTAIN OF GREEN) are also included. This book (and its Library of America) companion, EUDORA WELTY: COMPLETE NOVELS) are essentials for any one who admires Welty's work and wishes to possess it in handy, collected form; those who have had limited exposure to Welty's work, however, might be better served by smaller collections.




2. "Listening," "Learning to See" and "Finding a Voice," Eudora Welty entitled the three chapters of her autobiography "One Writer's Beginnings," the concluding entry in this collection, one of the two Library of America compilations dedicated to her work. And while these may be steps that most writers will undergo at some point, Welty's compact autobiography is notable both because it allows a rare glimpse into the celebrated writer's otherwise fiercely protected private life and it illustrates the roots from which sprang such extraordinary protagonists as "The Ponder Heart"'s Edna Earle and Daniel Ponder, Miss Eckhart and the Morgana families in "The Golden Apples" and, of course, the anti-heroes of her Pulitzer Prize winning novel "The Optimist's Daughter," Judge McKelva, his second wife Fay and (most importantly) his daughter Laurel.
   
   A native and - with minimal exceptions - lifelong resident of Jackson, Mississippi, Welty received her first introduction to storytelling as a listener; and early on, learned to sharpen her ears not only to a story's contents but also to its narrator and its protagonists' individual nature: "[T]here [never was] a line read that I didn't hear," and "any room ... at any time of day, was there to read in, or to be read to," she notes in "One Writer's Beginnings," adding that the discovery that all those stories had been written by someone, not come into existence of their own, not only surprised but also severely disappointed her. Equally importantly, family visits to relatives brought out the born observer in her; each trip providing its own lessons and revelations, each a story onto itself - the seed from which later grew the literary creations collected in this compilation and its companion volume. At the same time, her father's interest in technology introduced her to photography as a means of capturing visual impressions, one moment at a time; and when traveling around Mississippi as an agent for a state agency (her first job) she learned to use that camera as "a hand-held auxiliary of wanting-to-know" and discovered that "to be able to capture transience, by being ready to click the shutter at the crucial moment, was [then] the greatest need I had" ("One Writer's Beginnings:" Not surprisingly, her photography was published in several collections which have found much acclaim of their own.)
   
   Thus, from early childhood on, Eudora Welty not only had a keen sense of the world around her but also, of words as such: of their existence as much as the interrelation between their sound, physical appearance and the things they stand for. Encouraged by her mother, a teacher, and over her father's worries (he considered fiction writing an occupation of dubitable financial promise and, worse, inferior to fact because it was "not true") Welty embarked on a writer's path which would lead her to award-winning heights and to a reputation as one of the South's finest writers, with as abounding as obvious comparisons to fellow Mississippian William Faulkner in particular; a literary debt she acknowledged when she wrote that "his work, though it can't increase in itself, increases us" and "[w]hat is written in the South from now on is going to be taken into account by Faulkner's work" ("Must the Novelist Crusade?", 1965). The Library of America dedicated two volumes to her work; one containing her novels, the other - this one - her short stories, essays (some, like her autobiography, based on a series of lectures) and her autobiography.
   
   An approach that Welty developed early on was to consider the publication of her stories in periodicals merely a step towards each story's final shape, and she generally revised her stories before including them in collections. This compilation brings together all her short stories in the versions intended to be final by Welty herself: the 1941 edition of "A Curtain of Green and Other Stories" (her first short story collection), the 1943 edition of "The Wide Net and Other Stories" and the 1949 edition of "The Golden Apples" - each collection suffered substantial editorial revisions in subsequent publications. Included are also two stand-alone short stories ("Where is This Voice Coming From?" and "The Demonstrators"), the first one inspired by the 1963 murder of Mississippi NAACP leader Medgar Evers and revised by Welty over the telephone after having been accepted by "The New Yorker," to avoid a potentially prejudicial effect of its original ending on the then-impending trial.
   
   A keen observer, Welty was also a writer endowed with a sharp sense of humor and satire, and with the gift to brilliantly use location, localisms, accents, patterns of speech and customs to make a point. Not a single word is wasted: "Marrying must have been some of his showing off - like man never married at all till *he* flung in," we're told about King MacLain in the opening story of "The Golden Apples," "Shower of Gold." And you don't have to learn anything more about the man, do you? Equally as instructive on Welty's writing are the eight essays included in this collection, all taken from the 1978 compilation "The Eye of the Story" and dealing with particular aspects of her own fiction as much as, more generally, with "Place in Fiction" (1954) and the fiction writer's role ("Writing and Analyzing a Story," originally published in 1955 under the title "How I Write" and substantially revised for its inclusion in "The Eye of the Story" and "Must the Novelist Crusade?").
   
   "There is no explanation outside fiction for what its writer is learning to do," Eudora Welty maintained in "Writing and Analyzing a Story;" explaining that each story references only the writer's vision at the moment of the creation of that story, and the creative process itself: nothing that can be "mapped and plotted" but a product taking shape in the process of creation itself, giving each story a unique identity of its own. And while her fiction, alas, can no longer grow any more than Faulkner's, she has left us enough of those unique creations to cherish for a long time to come.
   
   Also recommended:
   Eudora Welty : Complete Novels: The Robber Bridegroom, Delta Wedding, The Ponder Heart, Losing Battles, The Optimist's Daughter (Library of America)
   Flannery O'Connor : Collected Works : Wise Blood / A Good Man Is Hard to Find / The Violent Bear It Away / Everything that Rises Must Converge / Essays & Letters (Library of America)
   The Heart is a Lonely Hunter/Reflections in a Golden Eye/The Ballad of the Sad Cafe/The Member of the Wedding/The Clock Without Hands (Library of America)
   To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Perennial Modern Classics)
   To Kill a Mockingbird (Universal Legacy Series)



3. Each new volume from The Library of America, the non-profit publisher that has become the de facto literary hall of fame, is a cause for celebration. Its goal of preserving in an enduring format the best fiction and non-fiction is a significant bulwark against the encroaching tides of cultural relativism that attempts to render any value judgments meaningless, as well as a consumer society that insists that if it ain't new, it ain't good.
   
   In the case of Eudora Welty, we're given two volumes: a collection of five novels ("The Robber Bridegroom," "Delta Wedding," "The Ponder Heart," "Losing Battles" and the Pulitzer-winning "The Optimist's Daughter"), and another of her essays, her memoir "One Writer's Beginnings" and her short stories. From her first published short stories, "Lily Daw and the Three Ladies" in 1937, to her last novel in 1972, Welty captures with her highly readable style and sharp eye and ear the varieties and eccentricities of Southern life.
   
   But while the South claims Welty as one of its own, she may not necessarily return the favor. Teh cause is both geographic and a matter of choice. Although she was born in Jackson, Miss., in 1909 and lived there all her life, her father was from Ohio and her mother from West Virginia, a state created by the Civil War that went for the Union. This isn't Margaret Mitchell we're talking about here.
   
   Then, in her essay "Place in Fiction," she stresses that while it is important for a writer to capture the feeling of an area, it is not the paramount goal in fiction:
   
   "It is through place that we put out roots ... but where those roots reach toward ... is the deep and running vein, eternal and consistent and everywhere purely itself, that feeds and is fed by the human understanding."
   
   But what pedigree does not provide, her environment probably did, for her work contains those elements poularly associated with Southern fiction. "Delta Wedding" celebrates the Southern family through the sprawling Fairchild clan and its passel of sons, daughters, cousins, aunts, great-aunts, nieces and nephews, all involved in each others' lives to a degree rarely seen today.
   
   Many of her stories revolve around characters marginalized by society, struggling to exist and reach out to others: the simple Lily Daw who tries to evade the determination of the town's ladies to either marry her off or send her to the asylum; the generous, slightly retarded Daniel Ponder who would give away everything he has at the drop of a hat; the demented Clytie in "A Curtain of Green," who rushes about looking in people's faces until, seeing her reflection in a barrel of rainwater, dives in and drowns.
   
   Eudora Welty was a sharp, perceptive writer, and her enshrinement by the Library of America is most welcome.

2 comments about Mandela: The Authorized Portrait.

1. Nelson Mandela stands as a Beacon in South Africa, Africa, and the rest of the world as an example of what a political leader should be. Not only was he largely responsible for the 'one person one vote' changes in South Africa, but then after he was elected president he served one term and retired. This is very un-politician like. Especially in the third world politicians seem to stay in office until they die. Then again, there was FDR in this country.
   
   This is a splendid book. It is profusely illustrated, and not quite a biography so much as a tribute. There are dozens of comments, interviews, documents from the time, historical reports and so on that record his struggle.
   
   Mandela did marvelous things, great things. I wonder though what will be the story of South Africa after he and his legacy are gone. There are political movements afoot there who preach that the whites should all be kicked out, that their property should be confiscated, and that South Africa will be like the rest of Africa in poverty and misery.



2. I hate leaving a book less than 5 stars, I really do. The book has lots of information and important facts about Mandela, but the problem I have is "ease of readability." There were so many things I just couldn't understand due to the author's extremely large vocabulary and phrasing. I suppose maybe that's my fault on some level, but the phrasing was so difficult I only grasped a small percentage of the book. Yes, there are lots of photos. Yes, there are handwritten pages Mandela wrote from his cell (none of which I could legibly read), as well as tons of dates and credits to acknowledgements. Unfortunately, I've decided to leave this book on the shelf.

5 comments about Secret Lives of the First Ladies: What Your Teachers Never Told You About the Women of the White House.

1. A very good read! Interesting facts about all the first ladies. It is sure to make you laugh. You will find out things you did not know. Entertaining.



2. If you like trivia, you'll enjoy this book. If you have only enough time to read short chapters or a few pages at a time, again, you'll like this book. Each chapter, which is about one first lady, is only a few pages in length -- perfect for bedtime reading for tired moms like me. There was enough information about each first lady to pique my interest, and make me want to find more in-depth biographies about many of the women.



3. Recently a foreign journalist interviewing George W. Bush asked the President of the United States to turn out his pockets. What an interesting, humanizing thing to ask of the most powerful man on Earth. And exactly the kind of thing that never occurs in the burlesque of today's 24 hour electronic news cycle. The contents of our pockets, those little handy nooks that serve as contingency storage for our day-to-day indispensables, speak wonderful, accessible volumes about us as people. Show me what you have in your pockets and, whether or not I know WHO you are, I get a glimpse what KIND of person you are. In Secret Lives of the First Ladies, Cormac O'Brien has politely turned out the pockets of the spouses of each of our presidents, and it's a neat-o treasure trove he uncovers. His style is neither lewd nor exploitative, though, to be sure, there's plenty of juicy stuff here. His project is a sort of cameo portraiture of some forty seven intriguing and often remarkable women. The only flattery in these portraits is a consistent, entertaining, and often astounding disclosure of each woman's individual humanity. It is tempting to read the book in little chunks (as I did at first) owing to its concise chaptering. However, it's a real pleasure go back and review long stretches, watching how the public appearance of the First Lady has evolved over time while her private role has remained remarkably consistent: she is the president's wife. Which is to say, sometimes she is a loving yet diminutive spousal anchor and sometimes she is a headstrong engine of scandal and outrage. Sometimes she is a fully enfranchised partner in even the weightiest decision-making at the executive mansion, including public policy. That there were first ladies fitting all these descriptions in every era since the founding of the republic, to me, was quite amazing. If you know any married couples, you will find the First Ladies, good and bad, tragic and heroic, satisfyingly and entertainingly familiar. Predictably, a frustrating aspect of The Secret Lives of the First Ladies is the rigid brevity of its entries, particularly in chapters describing women whom one would like to examine more closely. The challenge is to keep track of those First Ladies whose full biographies you now want to find and read. Alas, one has the nagging fear that those biographies won't be as frank and entertaining as these admittedly brief introductions. But, such is the nature of this omnibus beast. O'Brien's prose is a yummy balance of richness and skim-ability with very few false notes. The design and illustration are a constant reassurance that this is a social visit and not a college text. You're here to make friends and there is no requirement to pass a final exam. A pleasure to read cover-to-cover or simply to table hop as you meet these one-of-a-kind ladies. Of its genre, this is an A+.



4. the book arrived in good condition and in a timely matter. I am a very satisfied customer!!



5. I love how this book and the Secret Lives of the Presidents give us a real look at the personalities of the First Families and what was going on culturally and personally for these folks that have impacted our world. It helps to remind all of us that there never were the "good ol' days". Politics have always been a little messy. These book also help reveal the true brilliance of some of the First Ladies and their husbands. This is what should be taught in our schools. It makes history much more memorable!

1 comments about Lives of the Ancient Egyptians: Pharaohs, Queens, Courtiers and Commoners.

1. Toby Wilkinson's "Lives of the Ancient Egyptians" is published by Thames & Hudson. That in itself, as lovers of books on art and archaeology will attest, means superb physical quality with thick, glossy pages, and crisp printing, and well-reproduced illustrations. But the illustrations here illuminate rather than overwhelm Wilkinson's text.
   
   The author states that he set out, through the presentation of short biographies, to tell the story of three thousand years of Ancient Egyptian history, cutting across chronological, geographical, and social boundaries. And he has largely succeeded. As Wilkinson himself states in his foreword, the limits of available evidence of course did constrain him from achieving a uniformity of coverage. A full tenth of the included biographies deal with the last half of the 14th century BCE, the time of Akhenaten and Nefertiti and their successors (a fascinating period, to be sure, and deserving of this closer focus). The majority of the biographies are those of kings and queens, but a good number of relatively low-level commoners are included as well, evidence permitting.
   
   All in all, "The Lives of the Ancient Egyptians" is a vivid presentation of a wonderful stretch of history, from Narmer, the first pharaoh of the First Dynasty to Cleopatra VII and the fall of Egypt under Roman domination, looking at day-to-day life as well as great events. The organization of the book, mostly biographies a few pages long, makes it ideal for browsing, dipping in for a quick read and then coming back to it days or weeks later (which is not to say that it cannot or should not be read as a continuous kaleidoscope of Ancient Egyptian history). This volume immediately won a permanent spot on my over-crowded bookshelves.

5 comments about Life Stories: Profiles from The New Yorker (Modern Library Paperbacks).

1. Hemingway, Baryishnikov, and Henry Luce are the subjects of some of my favorite celebrity profiles in this wonderful book. But topping my list is "Man Goes to See a Doctor", the awesome Adam Gopnik's sweet and funny rendering of his shrink. Here's a snippet: "Your problems remind me of" - and here he named one of the heroes of the New York School. "Fortunately, you suffer from neither impotence nor alcoholism. This is in your favor." Highly recommended!



2. This is a collection of prime examples of the long gone "profile" piece in The New Yorker magazine. They just don't write 'em like this anymore!
   
   Choose Truman Capote's profile of Marlon Brando, or Lillian Ross' profile of Ernest Hemingway, or any of the 20-some other profiles in this book. You will read some of the best writing about some of the most exciting people in 20th Century history.
   
   Is there a second volume in the works? I hope so!



3. The writing is beautiful. The story telling is beautiful. The stories are amazing. Five Stars.



4. If you are a fan of biographies but are intimidated by 1,000-page tomes, Life Stories is a great choice. Some say the New Yorker invented the "profile," and though it does seem the magazine was the first to call its biographical pieces by that name (amazing, considering how ubiquitous the term is today), editor David Remnick is quick to assert that they hardly invented the style. What they have done for decades is find the most interesting people and have the best writers provide illumination. Nearly every profile here is profound and nearly every one of them is short enough to read in a single (long) sitting. And while it's a treat to learn intimate details of some of the most famous people of the 20th century, it's the profiles of the lesser-known people that shine: from Joseph Mitchell's encounter with an aging churchman with a penchant for baking to the story of the Chudnovsky brothers, Russian emigres who built a supercomputer in their apartment from salvaged parts. Fantastic reading from start to finish.



5. 
   I very much enjoy profiles of interesting people and had high hopes for this book, but it's awful. In fact, I gave up on about the fourth tape.
   
   I managed (with great difficulty) to get through part of the article on Richard Pryor but the vulgar language made me stop. Granted, that might be appropriate for a piece about Pryor, but I think it would be possible to write an interesting biographical sketch without it.
   
   The article on Ernest Hemingway was the most boring and meaningless piece of tripe I've ever read. How could ANYONE make Hemingway seem deadly dull? By recounting an almost minute by minute, blow by blow, excursion in New York to buy a coat. What was the author thinking????
   
   The short article on Katharine White was okay, but nothing special and actually more about the writer than her subject.
   
   The article on Mr. Hunter's Grave, which was a 'non celebrity' piece, was overly long and exceedingly dull, with very poor narration.
   
   That's when I decided life is too short to spend listening to books like this. If this is the best The New Yorker can do, it's no wonder I don't subscribe!