Cowley was the ultimate in a thinking,toughly idealistic American living a literary dream in an epoch which permitted the indulgence. Jaggedly incisive as a writer, Cowley decided instead that editing was his prowess and observation his art. So he proceeded. Much romantic lore has been made of the many great American authors inhabiting the Left Bank scene in Paris in the 1920s. Exile's Return makes sense of the historical, literary and personal sequence of events leading to this decade-long picnic, and transforms the legend and nostalgia into the movingly profound minutiae of everyday life and thought amongst the loose collection of free spirits who changed modern conceptions of Western literary art forever. Artistic and intellectual achievements notwithstanding, "une generation perdue" comprised some very desperate and talented people trying to make sense of a world gone mad and define themselves within the insanity. A lot like now. Imagine an author being able to account for the global, tragic complexity emblematic in 9/11 and explain its implications for humanity and civilization's expressions. Flash back eight decades and you have Cowley's subject matter and his accomplishment. Let's hope someday somebody equals Malcolm Cowley's formidable ability to observe and explicate, and make us love, in retrospect, a loveless and temporarily hopeless age as it finds its way into our favorite novels and poems.

I had expected EXILE'S return to be more of a straightforward history of the Lost Generation, and was somewhat surprised to find instead a profoundly insightful, exceedingly well-written reflection on Malcolm Cowley's literary generation. As a result, many writers that we associate with that decade, e.g., Ernst Hemingway, receive almost no mention, whereas others, e.g., Hart Crane, get a considerable amount. The highest praise that I can bestow on this book is that in looking now at the poetry and literature of that period, I feel much more at home in their world than I did before reading Cowley. A marvelous book in man, many ways.

i strongly recommend this book to anyone who needs more insight into the idea of a lost Generation

I first became acquainted and fell in love with the work of F.Scott Fitzgerald when I read a hardback copy of The Great Gatsby in my early 20s. Since then, I have read Tender Is The Night and This Side of Paradise, so when I discovered this collection of stories by my literary hero, I floated up to the cieling. My favorites include The Diamond As Big As The Ritz and Bernice Bobs Her Hair, and anyone who has not already been introduced to Fitzgerald, either in English class at school or while browsing in a local bookstore, it's not too late to change your mind, and it is my sincere hope that you will love this man's work as much as I do!

I was delighted to find out that not only were F. Scott Fitzgerald's short stories being narrated on audio cassette, but that one of the performers was none other than Robert Sean Leonard. Scottie is by far one of my favorite American authors. It takes an incredible talent to condemn the life you live in your literature, and when I think how he strived for excellence but fell victim to society, I can't help but pity him. His writing is so delicious to read as well. He has such wonderful similies and metaphors, and is so descriptive I can taste the wine, feel the rain and see the stars. The Jazz Age is one of my favorite time periods and F. Scott Fitzgerald captures it perfectly. You see the glittering side but then the glitter gets tarnished as it must. What is even better about this audio is that one of the narrators is none other than my favorite actor, Robert Sean Leonard (better known as Neal in Dead Poets Society and Claudio in Much Ado About Nothing among other films). His voice is wonderful to listen to, even if you're not a fan of his acting. It's perfectly clear and flowing and it reminds you of listening to your parents reading you a bedtime story. The tape itself leaves you feeling as if you've been on an emotional rollercoaster. There's a nice beginning, then it peaks with conflict, the resolution, and then the end finishes as calmly as it started. Yet you've gained something from it. Fitzgerald has some incredibly phenomenal themes in his work. The odd part is that I usually don't like getting audio books, but I certainly reccomend this audio of The Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald" It's worth every penny.

Surely an icon in the annals of American literature, F. Scott Fitzgerald produced a body of work which epitomized the Roaring Twenties. It has been said that his dominant influences were "aspiration, literature, Princeton, Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald, and alcohol." Nonetheless, his writing possesses an urgency, a bite, unrivaled by his peers.

Collected in this superb audio are nine of his early stories performed by accomplished actors. Broadway/film actress Blythe Danner reads "Bernice Bobs Her Hair," a narrative inspired by a lengthy letter Fitzgerald wrote to his younger sister, Annabel, in which he offered advice on how she could become popular with boys.

"The Jelly-Bean," read by Dylan Baker, takes place in Georgia. Fitzgerald credits his wife for her expertise in helping him write a portion of this tale involving crap shooting, saying "as a Southern girl" she was an expert at this endeavor.

The talented Peter Gallagher reads "Head and Shoulders," the first of Fitzgerald's story to appear in The Saturday Evening Post.

Also found in the collection are "The Diamond As Big As The Ritz," "Dalyrimple Goes Wrong," "The Ice Palace," "Benediction," "The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button," and "May Day."

This is an exemplary combination of memorable prose and oral presentation, a remarkable listening experience.

Rich Gallagher is an expert practitioner who really understands customer service from the trenches all the way to the executive suite. This book is easy to read and, better yet, easy to apply to your company situation right away. Good stuff!

Yes, it is a classic. Yes it is a masterpiece, and true, it is an unbelievably big novel.

I had to read Anna Karenina for a 19th century writers course, and I must admit I was intimidated by the size of the book - bearing in mind the length of the semester and the other books one ought to read.

Tolstoy starts his masterpiece with a Biblical quote: "Vengeance is mine, I will repay"
The relevance of those words will be evident to the reader as the novel progresses; the novel is simply about life, passion. There are no perfect beings in this book, there is no right or wrong, but simple, even mundane day to day details - no matter what people say about Anna Karenina, you have to read it for yourself. You will feel the urge to judge, but you will not be able to do so. Tolstoy is a genius, he will make you understand, and that's the correct word. You might sympathise, or feel that the characters are justified, and you might not, and it's all irrelevent in the light of understanding.

The novel is a feast of pathos and linguistic genius; in fact I did not want the book to end. Don't be discouraged by the book's length, reap the rewards at your own pace.

'You frightened me, 'she said. 'I am alone and was expecting Serezha. He went for a walk; they will return this way.'
But though she tried to be calm her lips trembled.
'Frogive me for coming, but I could not let the day pass without seeing you, 'he continued in French. In Russian the word You sounded cold and it was dangerous to say Thou, so he always spoke French to her."

Tolstoy took care of the finest details and whims that go in the characters' heads about the smallest details in life, and you will love him for it! You will be surprised by the things you will learn in this book, like for example the names of the silliest things around the house in Russian! :)

This Edition, Pevear and Volokhonsky (Viking 2001), supposedly renders Tolstoy's Russian more faithfully than earlier ones, which attempted to "soften" him a bit for Western sensibilities. I actually bought this for a class, and my teacher, who reads it in the Russian, simply couldn't praise the translation enough, so if you're determined to read Anna Karenina already, you should probably get this edition.

As for the story, I found that the 800 pages just melted away. Long doesn't mean hard, after all, and I was sorry to see it end, to tell the truth.

The story revolves around seven different people in 1870s Russia. Superficially, it tells how Anna Karenina left her husband for another man, destroying her family, how Stiva Oblonsky ruined his family without leaving it, and how Konstantin Levin courted Kitty Shcherbatsky and they built a new family together.

Although it's enjoyable even on the superficial level, Anna Karenina rewards careful study, revealing intricate structure and interlocking symbolism throughout. Tolstoy thought it was his best work; critics have called it one of the best novels ever written; don't miss it.

I read Anna Karenina for the hype - so many people talk of it being one of the best books ever written. I was also interested in Tolstoy, who is a fascinating character.

At time of reading, I found the novel okay. The characters came alive on the page, and many of the scenes in the novel were beautifully delineated. But I found the pace too slow, and was bored by all Levin's socio-political musings on Russia at that time.

Months later, and I find that the book still resonantes in my mind. I find myself still thinking about Anna and her fate; about that excruciating moment where Karenin approaches total forgiveness and then veers away; about Dolly, Kitty and Oblonsky. About how different the world of Anna Karenina is from my own, in some ways, but still so relevant. And the differences are illuminating.

In this novel, Tolstoy manages to weave together a whole world of stories and people and events. I can't really describe it other than saying that it is a very very human story. Greater than the sum of its parts.

Don't read this book if you think you might become impatient 'getting through' it. It deserves better that that. But if you're reading these reviews wondering whether it's worth taking all that time to read one of the world's reputed classics, then my anonymous 25-year-old word, for what it's worth, is that yes, it definitely is.

I love Emerson. For my money, he's one of the most insightful thinkers and beautiful stylists this country has produced. He deserves better than he's received from "professional" philosophers who tend to dismiss him as "just" a person of letters (as if that were a shameful thing to be!).

But this collection of Emersonia is seriously flawed. It prints the essays in Emerson's first collection, but only two from his second. It omits some of his best poems (including "The Sphinx," which Emerson himself so valued that he always had it printed at the very beginning of all the books of poems he published during his lifetime), as well as all of the later essays. In their place, the editors choose to print Emerson's "English Traits," a pleasant enough travel book but rather fluffy compared to the rest of his works. As the editors admit in their Introduction (itself a rather disappointing effort), they tend to feel uncomfortable with Emerson's work on mysticism, and so they decided to leave out of their anthology huge chunks of it. But since Emerson is first and foremost a mystical writer, this is to seriously misrepresent him.

In short, read Emerson--but find a better one-volume collection of his work than this one.

Every Emerson volume is 'a good read'. Unlike some other readers, I love English Traits, maybe because I am English. Emerson is a joy, everyone should read him, at least once.

Emerson's writings are eaily and clearly displayed in this wonderful publication. My thirst for poetry was easily quenched with his powerful and meaningful words. I would recommend this book to anyone who wishes to read thoughtful and discriptive literature.

Even 80 years later, it's a wonderful story, romantic, serious, improbable, true to the heart. Well written (or translated). I ran across it accidently and had a wonderful afternoon immersed in it.