So you like a good mystery, but McGees long gone and Spenser sounds more like a bad cliche with every passing title. Take a look at Thomas Black - Seattle's number one detective. In this, the third installment in a trilogy beginning with Yellow Dog Party and The Portland Laugher, our intrepid hero is attempting to deal with the loss of the love of his life - Kathy Birchfield. It seems Thomas killed her fiance and that put a damper on Thomas and Kathy's relationship. Imagine that. A mutual client sets up a meeting - between Thomas and Kathy unbeknownst to them and the story is off and running. Thomas is thrown into an investigation that leads him on several dangerous twists and turns as he encounters assorted unsavory characters. Emerson's gift for dialogue reminds the mystery buff of the best of Robert Parker in the early Spenser stories. The characters are well developed, and the tale zips along to an unexpected conclusion. If you haven't read any of Emerson's Thomas Black books, this may not be the best place to start. The dynamic between Thomas and Kathy has been cultivated slowly over the series. Yellow Dog Party makes more sense as a staarting point for new Black fans, but The Vanishing Smile is an excellent addition to the series. It appears Emerson has found a publisher who appreciates him and recognizes his talent. He has even been all the way to Texas for book signings, and was well received. Black is a true man of his time, and Emerson's social commentary right on. Political correctness is not Thomas's strong suit, much to the delight of the reader.

Kleinberg has managed to capture the essence of the impact of World War II on Florida and its peoples. From the invasion of German saboteurs in 1942 to the inadvertent bombing of civilians by the American air force, he invokes the fears, triumphs, and frustrations of Florida and a nation at war. His treatment of German POWs is outstanding. Highly recommended for those who are interested in the history of the world's greatest conflict.

I do not have much to say to recommend such classic poems. A person may choose to find out which works are considered "indispensable" and may or may not avail themselves of the pleasure of reading them. What I like most about Eliot is the symbiotic relationship he had with Pound as his editor on "The Wasteland." A long time ago Horizon magazine printed the first draft of that poem with Pound's notes and sometimes "brutal" excisions. I must say that the final product IMO is much better than the unedited version. If only more Modern and Postmodern writers had editors like that! Or even ANY editors, in some cases! The art of editing is like diamond-cutting. This judgment does not negate the adamantine brilliance of the author.

Professor Gish's book provides a clear, section-by-section analysis and explanation of the symbols, sources, techniques, and themes of "The Waste Land". In contrast to many Waste Land books that seem intent on expounding incomprehensible literary theory, this book brings the poem to life as Eliot's great work of "memory and desire".

Ms. Gish does a superb job of challenging unsupportable (but often repeated) notions of the use of myth in the poem. She explores how the final version of the poem was composed out of a series of poetic fragments, written over a long period of time. By showing that the Grail and Fisher King myths apply to only a small part of the poem (mostly in the final section), the reader is forced to re-think the themes and structure that bind the sections together. While never forcing a particular interpretation on the reader, with the help of Ms. Gish's insights, specific examples, and well-written commentary, a "mystifying" poem gradually begins to reveal itself.

For students trying to come to grips with the meaning of "The Waste Land", I can think of no better place to start than this book. For people who have already struggled with Eliot's masterpiece and have been frustrated with the cryptic essays written by many so-called literature experts, this book will be a wonderfully refreshing, extremely helpful, and thoroughly elucidating work, a "Rosetta Stone" that will unlock many of The Waste Land's mysteries.

As someone who has personally struggled with "The Waste Land" for many years, let me express my heartfelt thanks to Professor Gish for producing her 'must-read' book, "The Waste Land: A Poem of Memory and Desire".

Knight's theories have become commonplaces. The idea that Hamlet is a bad guy? The theories the Duke of Measure for Measure and Timon of Athens are Christ figures? All those are propounded for (as far as I know) the first time in this eloquent book. Aside from having famous theories, Knight supports his claims, which at first can seem absurd, with mountains of evidence gathered from a fine-toothed reading of the text. He never makes obvious points or fallacious arguments; he starts out by noticing fine details in the text and then draws these into a coherent, convincing whole. I don't agree with every word he's ever written, but all his words are brilliant. Knight is the best literary critic I have ever read, by a wide margin, and this may be his best book.

This book was great! I read it over an over again! I love when she wins the prize money! And her dad's face when he finds out Lucky had a pony! It was funny! Read it!

Eliot Weinberger is hands-down the finest American essayist around. Read this book as a primer.

another book of essays from a relatively unknown thinker, offering fearless perspectives on politics, poetry and culture.
Weinberger is one of the few living writers I turn to when I want to learn about certain aspects of the contemporary world.

It's a pity this book is out of print. Zen Edge is meditation in prose. Eliot paints in words the living spirit of zen with the deft simplicity of a calligrapher. Linking disparate episodes of his life in New York .Corfu & Kyoto he conveys. as a practitioner of zazen , what it must be like to experience 'satori' - that state beyond the tension of duality. From rock to diamond Eliot traces the dissolution of illusion, the quiet pain of paring down to the knowledge of the heart - the difficult , ultimately necessary ( for him) path of letting go the arrogance of the ego. The reader follows as the wrtiter 'unclenches his fist'. It's poetry to read. It's poetry to live by. All I can say is, let's get it back on the shelf so my Christmas shopping is easy. END

It's easy to see why Middlemarch is a classic. The theme of reality not living up to one's ideals is a thread that runs through the lives of most of the major characters, and is instantly recognizable and relevant nearly a century and a half after the book was written.

Idealism is most evident in Dorothea Brooke. She wants to lead a learned life of service to others, but Casaubon is not interested in teaching her much, and the great work she initially believes he is writing is an irrelevant, disorganized bunch of notes. Tertius Lydate is also an idealist whose ambition is to make contributions to the medical field. Before he marries Rosamund Vincy, he sees her as the feminine ideal, a woman who will provide unquestioning support and an emotional haven. Instead, she turns out to be a self-centered spendthrift who ennervates him. He ends up with no money or energy for his research, and must concentrate on making enough money to support his wife's extravagance. Interestingly, the characters who end up the happiest, Mary Garth and Fred Vincy, lack such lofty ideals.

One of Eliot's strengths is her sympathy and compassion for her characters, despite their faults. However, she is no stylist, and I found her prose to be awkward and stilted. The reader needs to be patient with this book, because Eliot's style makes it somewhat difficult to get through.

I am in awe of George Eliot. She has constructed a narrative that is uncommonly perceptive and literate about both the subtle and quirky level of individual motivation and the larger forces of society which form the arena in which human lives play themselves out. Middlemarch is a provincial English town during Victorian times and Eliot selects a broad range of characters from every level of society to illustrate her themes. Prominent among these themes are the way in which the ambitions of potentially extraordinary achievers can be constrained by a poor choice of affiliation, most notably bad marraiges. She also addresses the role of women, the way that wealthy landowners determine the quality of life for the poor, and presents insightful portraits of a number of personality types. It is often a very funny book as well, as she exposes the foibles of the pompous and self-deluded which subtle and unerring accuracy.

This is not a light read. This is a long, dense novel, but I found something fascinating on nearly every page.

I was extremely hesitant about reviewing George Eliot'sMiddlemarch, as it's been ten years or so since I've read it, but inthe end I couldn't resist adding my comments to those of others. Quite simply, it is the greatest novel yet written by an English author: Middlemarch is the fullest realisation of George Eliot's ideas on social philosophy combined with her utterly convincing characterisation and remarkable moral insight.

The novel's 'heroine' is Dorothea Brooke, a young woman of excellent virtue who is passionately idealistic about the good that can be achieved in life. The provincial setting of Middlemarch is the environment in which Dorothea's struggle to fulfil her ideals takes place, and the novel's central theme is how the petty politics of provincial 19th century England are largely accountable for her failure. In parallel with Dorothea's story is the story of Lydgate, an intelligent and ambitious doctor who also runs up against the obstructive forces of provincial life and finds them severely restrictive of his goals.

Eliot is supremely compassionate, yet never blind to the faults of her characters. Dorothea's ideas of social reform are naive, while her high opinion of Casaubon's work proves to be a major mistake. But Eliot is never cynical when the motives of her characters are pure, and does not censure them for failure. What she is critical of is the narrow minded self-seeking attitude which forces Dorothea and Lydgate to come to terms with the fact that often good does not win out over circumstance. The subtext to this is the fact that the high ideals and sense of responsibility intrinsic in both Dorothea and Lydgate means that there is no question of them ever finding love together. In essence, Middlemarch is simply about life and how things don't always work out, despite our best intentions, but are often the product of negative forces. In other novels Eliot's didacticism can sometimes jar, but it is impossible to ignore the depth of her wisdom in Middlemarch.

Middlemarch is the best novel of our greatest novelist - of the major Victorian writers only Tolstoy can really compare with her - and I cannot recommend it highly enough.