no hype. i couldn't stop laughing as i was reading this. and i mean laughing out loud. in a cafe. with everyone staring at me. but i didn't care. and i couldn't help it if i did. it's just too hilarious.

There is at least one author who may remind you of Stephen Leacock, namely Garrison Keillor of Lake Wobegon fame, but Leacock should be recognized as the ultimate master of quaint, bucolic humor. Leacock, who died in 1944, became arguably the most prominent Canadian humorist of his day (and probably of all time). What is ironic about that claim is that Leacock worked for most of his life as a professor of economics. We do not usually equate economics with humor, preferring to think of that profession as one of bow ties and supply and demand charts. Throw that presumption out the window and pick up a copy of "Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town," Leacock's best known work available through the New Canadian Library series.

For me, one of the funniest sections of the book was the introduction written by Leacock, where he gives you some background about himself and his profession. This short piece of writing quickly gives you an idea of the type of humor you will find in the actual sketches: a very sly, very quiet and clever type of humor that often takes a while to sink in. Leacock does not rely on rim shot jokes or manic posturing in his writings. Instead, he creates the fictional Canadian town of Mariposa and populates it with small town archetypes that are wonders to behold.

All of the characters are hilarious in their own way: Mr. Smith, the proprietor of the local hotel and bar, full of schemes to earn money while trying to get his liquor license back. Then there is Jefferson Thorpe, the barber involved in financial schemes that may put him on the level of the Morgans and the Rockefellers. The Reverend Mr. Drone presides over the local Church of England in Mariposa, a man who reads Greek as easy as can be but laments his lack of knowledge about logarithms and balancing the financial books of the church. Peter Pupkin, the teller at the local bank, has a secret he wants no one to know about, but which eventually comes out while he is courting the daughter of the town judge. All of these characters, and several others, interact throughout the sketches.

Leacock has the ability to turn a story, to make it take a crazy, unexpected twist even when you are looking for such a maneuver. That he accomplishes this in stories that rarely run longer than twenty pages is certainly a sign of great talent. By the time you reach the end of the book, you know these people as though you lived in the town yourself, and you know what makes them tick.

Despite all of the crazy antics in Mariposa, Leacock never lets the reader lose sight of the fact that these are basically good people living good lives. There seems to be a lot of feeling for the citizens of Mariposa on the part of Leacock, which comes to a head in the final sketch in the collection, "L'Envoi. The Train to Mariposa," where he recounts traveling back to the town after being away for years, with all of the attendant emotions that brings as recognizable landmarks come into view and the traveler realizes that his little town is the same as when he left it years before.

I suspect there is a historical importance to "Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town." These writings first appeared in 1912, a time when many people living in the bigger Canadian cities still remembered life in a small town. In addition to the humorous aspects of the book, the author includes many descriptive passages concerning the atmosphere and layout of Mariposa, something instantly recognizable to anyone who grew up in such a place. Nostalgia for the simpler life of the small town probably played a significant role in the book's success.

I look forward to reading more Stephen Leacock. While much of the humor in the book is not belly laugh funny, it does provide one with a deep satisfaction of reading clever humor from an author who knows how to tickle the funny bone. You do not need to be Canadian to enjoy this wonderful book.

Perhaps the finest comment about Stephen Leacock in the last half century is that "he is a
Will Rogers for the 90's."

Rogers, of course, is one of the most beloved of American humorists -- he was killed in
1935 when his plane crashed near Point Barrow, Alaska. Leacock died on March 28, 1944.
Like Rogers, he had been Canada's favorite humorist for decades.

Sunshine Sketches is about Orillia, Ontario, Canada, where Leacock had his summer home
on Brewery Bay (he once wrote, "I have known that name, the old Brewery Bay, to make
people feel thirsty by correspondence as far away as Nevada.") His home is now maintained
as a historic site by the town of Orillia. I lived there for almost 30 years, and the people of Orillia are still much the same as Leacock portrayed them in 1912.

These stories about various personalities in town were printed in the local newspaper in the
1910 - 1912 era, before being compiled into this book which established Leacock's literary
fame. The people portrayed really lived, though some are composites; the events are of a
kindly humorist looking at the foibles of small town life. Once they came out in book form
and soared to national popularity, everyone in town figured the rest of the country was
laughing at them because of Leacock's book and he was royally hated in Orillia to the end
of his life.

Gradually, and this took decades, Orillians came to recognize that genius had walked
amongst them for several decades. (It's hard to recognize genius when your own ego is so
inflated.) Orillia now awards the annual "Leacock Medal for Humor" -- Canada's top literary
prize for the best book of humour for the preceding year.

Leacock died when I was six, but I did know his son, who still lived in town. I delivered
papers to the editor of the "Newspacket," Leacock's name for the Orillia Packet and Times
(where I worked) and the rival Newsletter. The Packet had the same editor in the 1940's as
when Leacock wrote about him in 1910.

But the book is more than Orillia; it is a wonderfully kind and humorous description of life in
many small towns. The American artist Norman Rockwell painted the same kinds of scenes;
it is the type of idyllic urban life so many of us keep longing to find again in our hectic
urban world.

Leacock realized the book was universal in its description of small towns, and in the preface
he wrote "Mariposa is not a real town. On the contrary, it is about seventy or eighty of
them. You may find them all the way from Lake Superior to the sea, with the same square
streets and the same maple trees and the same churches and hotels, and everywhere the
sunshine of the land of hope."

True enough, which gives this book continuing appeal nearly a century after it was written.
All great writing is about topics you know, and as a longtime resident Leacock knew Orillia
well. As for Leacock himself, he wrote, "I was born at Swanmoor, Hants., England, on Dec.
30, 1869. I am not aware that there was any particular conjunction of the planets at the
time, but should think it extremely likely."

He says of his education, "I survived until I took the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in
1903. The meaning of this degree is that the recipient of instruction is examined for the last
time in his life, and is pronounced completely full. After this, no new ideas can be imparted
to him."

In reviewing Charles Dickens' works in 1934, Leacock wrote what could well be his own
epitaph: "Transitory popularity is not proof of genius. But permanent popularity is." The fact
his writings are still current illustrates the nature of his writing.

In contrast to the sometimes sardonic humor of modern times, Sunshine Sketches reflects
Leacock's idea that "the essence of humor is human kindness." Or, in the same vein, "Humor
may be defined as the kindly contemplation of the incongruities of life, and the artistic
expression thereof."

Granted, this book is not what he recognized to have widespread appeal to modern readers.
In his own words, "There are only two subjects that appeal nowadays to the general public,
murder and sex; and, for people of culture, sex-murder." Yet, anyone reading this will
remember scenes from it for much longer than anything from a murder mystery.

In today's world, where newspapers almost daily track Prime Minister Tony Blair's dash to
the political right, Leacock wrote, "Socialism won't work except in Heaven where they don't
need it and in Hell where they already have it."

He described his own home as follows, "I have a large country house -- a sort of farm
which I carry on as a hobby . . . . Ten years ago the deficit on my farm was about a
hundred dollars; but by well-designed capital expenditure and by greater attention to
details, I have got it into the thousands." Sounds familiar to today's farm policies ?

It's what I mean by this being a timeless work.

Leacock himself noted, when talking about good literature, "Personally, I would sooner have
written 'Alice in Wonderland' than the whole of the 'Encyclopedia Britannica'." This is his
'Alice' and it well deserves to be favorably compared to Lewis Carroll's work.

By all measures, it is still the finest Canadian book ever written.

A great book which changed the way we look at poetry produced by an oral tradition. Based on fieldwork by Milman Parry Lord shows the structure behind the improvisation and applies the theory to Serbo Croation epic tradition, Homer and French medieval poetry.

A groundbreaking book which redefined the way we look at oral tradition. Oral-formulaic theory developed on Milman Parry's fieldwork applied to Serbo-Croatian singing, Homeric poetry and medieval French epic. I used the book during research on scottish ballads. Now finally a second edition with a wonderful cd.

Like many graduate students in Classical Studies, I had to read _The Singer of Tales_ in a course on Homeric poetry. What I found in it completely altered my understanding of Homer and of epic, and even today it's almost impossible for me to read the _Iliad_ and _Odyssey_ as anything other than oral poems. I did a research paper on another book edited by Albert Lord (_The Wedding of Smailagic Meho_), an epic sung by a Yugoslav Muslim and recorded by Parry in the 1930s. The similarities, both in plot and in formulaic style, between this epic and Homer's are unmistakable. I highly recommend this book; it's much more accessible than Parry's collected papers.

Stephen Bates must have invested three or four lives of time interviewing the original participants and digging up the actual letters and documents of this highly complex series of interconnected events. No, it is not out of date. The flaming issues of that date are merely the warning flickering of huge blasts of fire still to come. Scopes I was had nothing on this.

At the same time his balance and meticulous fairness to all sides is one of the most impressive things about this book. Few people can treat religiously motivated people as rational, or religion as as relevant a topic as any other free speech.

All in all it is as griping as any mystery novel yet it portrays an issue of political correctness versus individual liberty which is both a local and a national matter even more important than the future of our entire educational tradition.

A brilliant look at some of the more intractable intersections between the legal and the moral, here in the context of schools and the education of our kids. Bates wrestles with the issues, to be sure, but without preaching -- he leaves it to us, the parents, to draw our own lessons. Read this if you care about your child.

This is one of the best books available for introducing young children to flying -- and it is the only one I've found that includes passport control/customs. It was perfect for both my children when we went to Europe. They knew what to expect at the airport, in the plane, etc. We followed along with the book at each step of the process -- ticketing, security, the plane ride, arrival, baggage claim and customs. Plus, the kids love locating the hidden duck on each page.

One of the best books about media and its evolving role in tapping into our emotions about political candidates. Genuinely funny and sophisticated examinations here. But, Ed Diamond is a saint. Is Steven Bates, Satan Starr's author the handmaid of the Devil?

The book is well written for younger children and very nicely illustrated. However, much of the book didn't apply to our family. The Bunn Family has two small children. Granny & Grandpa come to visit and stay to care for the two children while Mom is in the hospital. Mom paints the crib (while Dad sits in the rocking chair and drinks a cup of coffee -- very bad message here, although to be fair Dad does give the baby her bath). After Mom has the baby, she's in a room with two other mothers. Our toddler likes the book, but since it doesn't parallel our situation very well, it spends a lot of time on the shelf.

I really like this book only a few comment's about it. I would have liked for mum and dad to have to ring grandad and grandma or the neighbours in the middle of the night when baby arrives as in most set ups where a new sibling is due to arrive there is not "in house" baby sitting service available, and this is a point that is very important to get across. The book is great it makes a lovely read and has some great drawings that you can spend a lot of time talking about and I loved the fact that mummy is breastfeeding baby rather than bottle feeding. I would reccommend it to anyone with a young toddler and expecting again..

My son loves to read this book again and again. My family has home births, so the book isn't very close to our own experiences, but the book works great as a starting point for further discussions. I like the fact that the book presents a realistic view of what it's like to have a baby in the house. I was four when my own sister was born, and I expected her to come home from the hospital and be ready to play games with me. If I'd had this book I'd have known better what to expect. In this book, when Mom and the new baby come home from the hospital, they are tired and need the help of the other family members.

The book does a very good job of telling a child what to expect, in terms easy for a child to grasp, such as "Mom wakes up in the middle of the night. She feels the baby will be born soon."

I very much like the fact that the book shows the baby breastfeeding.

But the very best thing about this book is that my son loves it. He asks us to read it to him again and again.

To start off, I must say one thing: Wow. Simply put, Desperation is one of the best books that Stephen King has ever graced his readers with. A lot of people, even people that like Stephen King more than just a little, might be discouraged by the size of the book, but they really shouldn't be. I finished the book in three days. King grabs you in the very beginning, dragging you through until he's done. It's great that he doesn't come out and reveal anything about the history of the small mining town of Desperation until he absolutely has to, and when he does, he simply slaps you in the face with it. Readers should be aware (especially those not familiar with King's writing style) that the bad situation he begins the book with continues to decline. It's not a happily ever after story, and I really don't think that anyone below sixteen should read it. Aside from the custom blood, guts, gore, and sex thing, King also drags a good bit of...questionable theology into the plot. Nevertheless, a great book, well worth reading.

King does it again in this bone chilling-keep you awake at night book! With its great words, and horrifying imagination, Desperation will truely show you the meaning of the word that many of us don't stop to think about. Stephen King is a wonderful writer who knows how to bring the charaters to life; he is the kind of person that knows what it's like to be slaughtered, and how it feels to be demon possed, or to be in some kind of life threatining-heart out of chest-fears, and situations. The story is about good and evil facing one another in an all out brawl that will leave you stranded at every brake, crimping up at every mention of the word, evil, and terrifyed to even look in a mirror, because who knows what is standing behind you. The two forces fight it out between a link, a boy; who's name is David, along with a writer, a father, a mother, a normal woman, a little girl, and a man named Peter; along with the other possed dead people. Early in the book, the suspense starts, and leaves your stomach tightning in awe, and in total fear. The suvivors are chosen quickly, and not many people live. A quick description: While traveling down the road, Peter, and Mary see a cat nailed to a road sign, and are pulled over by a policeman, to investigate why there license plate is somehow missing. The cop-not really human-finds a bag of pot under a tire, and takes them off to a town called Desperation. In another part of Highway 51, a family is stopped by a cop, and are taken to the same town, after their tires are busted on road spikes. And on the same road a writer stops to take a leak, and is captured by the cop, and beaten senseless, he manages to call his assistant, and get him down to Desperation as fast as possible. In the meantime they are all taken to the town of Desperation to be locked up. At the door of the police building, Peter is shot, and killed, and the little Girl of the family in the van is thrown down the steps. The night that cop left the boy of the family escaped, and freed the others. The writers assistant is on his way to the other side of the country when he gets a phone call on his cell. With a passenger in his side-a rocked out hippy girl-he takes the call, it's his boss; the writer. He heads to Desperation, with no direction, for when the Writer called, the range was bad, and only few words got through, they pass the town just as the escapies are leaving the building, but with the high wind-and since they are in the desert-a storm prevents them from seeing them, and all is lost in the middle of the book. But the boy-possed by the power of God-calls then on the cell, making it work within well clarity, and calls the assistant and the girl back. They join up the best most suspenful ride of your life. 690 pages of pure terror, and non-stop action, this book will grab you from the beginning, and leave you sweating even when your done.

I used to have the luxury of reading Stephen King's books in order, as they were released. He got faster, I got slower, who knows--stuff happens. This is all in explanation of why I just read Desperation. As usual for me, I liked the story, but loved the characters. I guess I'm not truly a horror fan. I read King for the realistic people and how they react in his "what would happen if..." situations. Typical of King's sharp timing, Desperation had excellent tension and suspense. It also had my all-time favorite King character--Johnny Marinville. This has-been author (Marinville, not King) with not much more than his sense of humor intact, takes us on the ultimate redemption trip. I don't mind that these stories usually wind up as a classic tale of good vs. evil, I just don't want the ending too simple or predictable. Desperation kept me guessing until the last 50 pages or so. It made me wish Johnny Marinville's travels could continue on--into other books.

Like most people, I own a stack of Stephen King books, and for some reason I've never gotten around to review the ones I liked best, which makes me sort of ashamed of myself, since I keep saying that the quality of King's writing is often underrated. This is not the usual Stephen King book, this one is actually pretty mellow, compared to Carrie, for example, (that was the first of his books I read, and I hadn't read anything that gory before), but it still has its share of scary stuff, like The Ten O' Clock people, and The Moving Finger (after I read that one I really felt kind of nervous about the bathroom sink for a few days). I only could't get through the essay at the end, Head Down, because I don't understand absolutely anything about baseball. My favorites were Dedication, The End of the Whole Mess, The Ten O'Clock people, The House on Maple Street, and Popsy (oddly funny if you think about it). I suppose hardcore fans of King's horror will be sort of confused by this book, but I think any lover of short stories, like me, is bound to enjoy it.

i like SK particularly as a short story writer. if he has a good story he never fails then. considering his other collections, this was not as inventive as the two previous. not as matheson-like as the first. this was a great collection. a bit mixed. the end of the whole mess and umney's last case seemed to be the most inventive ones. but his other horror stories were good too. there are even some crime stories here, they are actually pretty good. although SK delivers, his collection is all in all very readworthy, his writing style good, this collection marks the sad decline of SK. some of the stories are great, true. some of the stories, however, are only good in the hands of a master. and some of the stories are completely uninteresting. it's very enjoyable, but don't expect too much.

As an enormous fan of King, this book was warmly welcolmed in my arms. I wasn't dissapointed. As always, when it comes to King, I was sold. There's also a particular reason why I welcomed this book so much: In various books about King, I learned about many of those early and hard to find King stories, all the uncollected ones, and the rare ones. I was a bit sad about realizing that maybe I would never ever own these oddities. Then, finally, a new collection of King-stories showed up, mostly containing some of those old and hard to find stories. I was happy! And the book also featured a few new ones. Again, with Night Shift and Skeleton Crew, I liked all the stories, even the teleplay Sorry, Right Number (I haven't seen the adaptation yet), the Brooklyn August-poem and the Head Down-essay. I loved The Night Flier, The Moving Finger, Chattery Teeth, You Know They Got a Hell of a Band, Home Delivery, Crouch End, Rainy Season. My Pretty Pony really touched me. I don't know a hang about baseball (I am Danish, sorry!), but King makes it interesting. All I can say is that any true King fans must read this book. There's also a Sherlock Holmes-mystery involved. I only wished that King had included stories like The Cat from Hell, Man With a Belly, Pinfall, and some others of those hard to find. What about this story "The King Family and the Farting Cookie" that he wrote for his children some years ago? That could have been major fun to own that gem!

This book is about a boy who goes into the hospital for a one night stay after an ear operation. The pictures and words are bright, cheery and comforting to young readers. My daughter liked to read this book even after her hospital stay. It was written in England so it shows hospital scenes (like children in group wards) which didn't apply to my daughters stay. I pointed out differences between what would and did happen to her. A good book to show a very young child what going to the hospital will be like and that it isn't as scary as it might seem.