Underhill does not recognize or understand the difference between the realism of the mystical theology of Paul and the Hellenistic mythical religions,although the difference is fundamental. The stoic idea of a natural and unmediated being in God are but folly and presumption,there is no homogenious humanity,but only various catagories of men predestinated,elected to enter into a relationship with God,in(through)Christ.Her book is a metaphoric attempt to merge Christianity to Hellenistic Myth religions.I recommend,the Mysticism of Paul the apostle,by Albert Schweitzer for he clearly explains the difference between Hellenism and Christian Mystical Theology.

Underhill is an exceptional writer on mysticism. She provides a wealth of insight into Christian mysticism in this work. While her writing does challenge some traditional views, she is by no means heretical, and only those who cling to tightly too dogma need be offended.

I actually had this woman as a teacher while earning a master's in creative writing. She made my class read her book, and after that moment I lost all respect for her not only as a professor, but also as a writer. Her writing is stiff, unintelligible, and monotonous. Her metaphors are feeble and floppy. Her slight attempts at being humorous are dull are forced. It is, quite frankly, an embarrassment as a writer, that works like this are even published. Don't waste your time.

This book is about a woman with Down's syndrome, which is a difficult subject to write about. However, EWMayerson does an excellent job of weaving the medical issues of such a complex person into an entertaining novel. The use of humor through out this book gives it a measured pace, when reading about the grim reality of "Sanjo," the main character. The ending is very satisfying, and over all, for a debut novel, this is one hell of a successful attempt.

To Tame A Texan contains four short love stories set in, you guessed it, Texas. This anthology contains stories by Evelyn Crowe, Lorraine Heath, Vivian Vaughn and Eileen Wilks -- some fine writers indeed. Unfortunately, the stories are all average (or below) and center around the heroine's attempt to "tame" their cowboy. That's all fine and dandy and truly I have nothing against a sexy cowboy being tamed by the love of a strong woman. BUT because of the length of each story none of these heroines succeeded in making me believe that all had ended happily ever after. I could even picture two of these couples spending a lot of hours in divorce court a few years down the road.

This is certainly not a bad book, the authors create some witty repartee and fun situations and even tug on the heartstrings a little, but it isn't a book I'd call satisfying. The plots and characters were not fleshed out enough and this greedy reader wanted more (especially of the Lorraine Heath story which introduced two wonderful characters)!

Lorraine Heath's story gets my vote as the best of the bunch, although it is rather short to be memorable. The others are forgettable. If not for Heath, this book will get two stars.

In his introduction to this book, Waugh confesses that the four travel books he wrote between 1929 and 1935 "were pedestrian, day-to-day accounts of things seen and people met". "When the Going Was Good" comprises of excerpts from those books, and I wouldn't quibble with Waugh's analysis.

The accounts should be interesting, as they cover Waugh's travels in the Mediterranean, Africa, South America and include descriptions of Ethiopia at the time of Haile Selassie's coronation and, later on, of his downfall. But, I found Waugh's writing very patchy, only rarely rising above the mundane. For example, he pays little attention to the topography of the places he visits - as a result I found it difficult to appreciate how the locations might have looked.

Waugh's observations, it might be argued, are "typical of the era" - his views of the "natives" he encountered seem outmoded to modern eyes. Nothing one can do about this of course, and it would be unrealistic to demand anything radically different given the time in which Waugh was living, but it can make for some discomfort when reading bits of his writing now.

Waugh's travels appeared to me to be mostly an aimless drift, fuelled by alcohol ("... we sat down to a breakfast of tinned partridge and Chianti"). In all, not an enthralling volume.

This book is a 'Must Read' for the following lot of people:
1) Those who have an appreciation for Waugh's fiction.
2) Those who have an interest in colonial Great Britain just before the fall of the British Empire when, arguably, it was at its height.
3) Those who have traveled well beyond the "It is Tuesday, this must be Bangkok" scheme of things.
4) Those who enjoy social satire mixed with dry wit, and enlivened by a wonderful sense of the absurd.
5) Connoisseurs of the English language in its written form.

'When the Going was Good' is five travel episodes written in a period from 1929 to 1935, as abridged by the author for inclusion in this book. These episodes range from a casual, meandering cruise of the Mediterranean Sea in 1929 to reportage on the invasion of Ethiopia by Italy in 1935 presaging the Second World War. In between are the coronation of Emperor Haille Salasie Ras Tafare(the first Rastafarian), some random "Globe-trotting" beginning in Aden running through the Zanzibar coast and then down to the Congo, and finally an attempted trip from British Guyana down through Brazil.
Obviously, the really beautiful thing about any book by Evelyn Waugh is the concise, incisive, succint and often surgically precise use of the Queen's English. What makes these gems particularly precious is that they are set in conditions that were considered laughably backward and dangerously primitive even for the standards of the early part of the 20th century. Any such journey into the Dark Continent, and into the New World promises to be fraught with dangers and difficulties almost beyond description. Fortunately for the world of literature these were met by an author who was up to the task of describing these incidents in a way that makes them interesting, funny, and illuminating. Waugh has an uncanny ablity to use the slings and arrows that life sends one's way as weapons of satire and delight. Perhaps the most delightful vignette in this book filled with delightful vignettes is his description of his adventures with the well-meaning but misinformed American theological professor who is the leading authority on the Ethiopian form of Christiantiy, and who meanwhile is totally confused by its religous rites. Their time together takes them from the midst of the royal coronation to a field trip trek through wilderness to that church's holiest shrine in the company of a multi-talented fly by the seat of the pants Armenian chauffeur and an Ethipioan urchin whom they pick up along the way. Suffice it to say that the material Waugh got in that one trip was of the sort that one could write an entire short book from, and indeed this is just what he did in the novella titled 'Black Mischief.' Yes, that's correct, Waugh fans, the stuff of some of his books was captured right here on these pages during these travels and herein lies a treasure trove of details that one finds later played out in the novella mentioned above, in 'A Handful of Dust' and even 'Brideshead Revisited.' Thus, reading these accounts of his travels really helps to bring alive those other stories which you have probably read and wondered about where he got his inspiration. Finally, for history buffs, one gets to literally live the life of the colonial gentleman in the midst of these pages because Waugh, afterall belonged to the smart set and the smart set made up a significant portion, however small, of the colonial population that ran the British Empire. So, when Evelyn goes travelling, he doesn't necessarily do it with a backback upon his back trudging to and fro. No, he has a set of trunks and helpers, and old school ties that lead to introductions which in turn lead to social sitauations that develop into adventures and eventually become fodder for his travelogues. The point being that because this was the author's life, we get to witness firsthand the life of Imperial Britain as it existed in the African colonies and British spheres of influence. This is heady stuff and really a wonderful kind of social history that anyone from the avid social voyeur-ethnographic tourist to the fan of the British colonial empire should appreciate.
'When the Going was Good" is a book that I can heartily recommend, and one that I took much pleasure from reading.

i am so glad that someone did write the teacher addtion because it the book is heard to unnderstand. the way i used was to teach a college class how to undertdand the book and do it buy chapter to chapter not by person to person. the book over all helped me understand how to teach the book so i and the students could understand a lot better. it helped greatly for my students. i have let othere teachers look at it. they enjoyed it very much too. i am getting copy for my brother who has to read the book too. it has helped a great deal because the french grammer was heard to hunderstand in the book it self. this way it takes step by step it takes you threw it too.

Although written with the unmistakable Waugh polished style, this book is mostly composed of previously published material in the various author's correspondence compilations (The Letters of E. W., The Diaries of E. W., etc).

The reason behind the set of letters compiled for this book contributes for the prevailing gloomy mood: by the end of his life Waugh, a fervent Catholic and declared conservative, was struggling to his last breath to prevent the implementation of the modifications proposed to the rites of the Catholic Church after the 2nd Vatican Counsel. It is manifest throughout the book that Waugh was aware that his was destined to be a lost battle but that hasn't deterred him to keep on fighting to defend what he considered to be of the best interest for the Catholic community.

Nevertheless, as in all of his writings, the reader will always be met by pearls of wit whose refreshing effect is much enhanced by the unexpectedness of their appearance amidst the melancholic spirit of the book. By that alone, the book is worth reading.

Compulsory volume for Waugh fans.

I've never read anything by Evelyn Anthony before. I found Bloodstones to be enjoyable, though not necessarily great or compelling. I did appreciate her talent in creating interesting characters and in telling her story in such a way that it was not obvious how it would end. At times I found it difficult to keep track of the numerous characters in this story. Overall I would say Bloodstones was a good but not a great read.

This quiet little book of 20 short chapters is based on the diary of a young, teenage girl named Virginia, written presumably by her granddaughter. It stresses the importance of family ties and the sacred trust of honoring one's promises to a dying parent. Over the years we watch Virgie--the baby of a large family--undergo the transformation to Virginia, who comes of age in several ways.

We see her inner struggles to overcome shyness and the social stigma of poverty on the Nebraska plains. We witness the Dunkers' church and their value on outward Conformity. Virginia learns that when the Lord opens a door, one should trust Him enough to go through it; something different and perhaps better may be waiting for us on the other side. He knows His plan for each of his children. With the emphasis on a simple, black bonnet as evidence of church membership, I am reminded of THEE HANNAH, whose young, vain heroine learns the importance of the plain, Quaker bonnet.

This was a very well-written book for entertainment reading...full of intrigue, emotion, lightly romantic, and mysterious. The setting in England during the 18th or 19th century gives a glimpse of the class structure in society that existed at that time. The character of Serena Miles Camberleigh was extremely well-developed and was skillfully brought alive by the author.

It's well written with many illuminating insights but is a scholarly work aimed, I suppose, at people who have read, or thought they had read, all of Waugh. Actually,for those who wept that there were no more Waughs to conquer,he uncovers some obscure writings and some differences between editions that are more radical and more interesting than such textual variants usually are.
Only the first section and the bits about the early novels live up to the promise of the title by relating Waugh to contemporary writers of his time. I had always been puzzled by the way that in "Decline and Fall" a taut, ironic, detached, witty style emerged suddenly in 1928 from the unreadable tomes of the early century when humor was arch and ponderous, description long-winded, and plots melodramatic. Genius is the primary explanation of course but Davis puts it into context and I shall be scouring the used book areas for some of the avatars and exemplars he mentions.
Later on he loses track of this theme of relating Waugh to his contemporaries. Just every now and then he reminds us that that is what he is supposed to be doing. There is a discussion of "Brideshead Revisited" in relation to "All the King's Men." Warren did not read Waugh and Waugh did not read Warren. At the outset Davis says "any thread of external evidence linking them is rather tenuous" Well - yes.