I was on my way to pick up my parents at the train station when I turned on National Public Radio and caught this reading of "Masque of the Red Death." I was instantly mesmerized (remarkable for a station surfer such as myself). In fact, I immediately called my husband on the cell phone and made him turn it on at home. And, when my parents finally made it to the car, I shushed them and we all listened to it, with rapt attention, on the way back to my house. I can't remember the last time radio has caught my attention in such a fashion. I am going to buy several of these to play for my daughter when she gets older.

the book was awesome! I have a question to anyone out there who will answer it. In the story certain words are capitalized that really shouldn't be. Such as Time and Beauty. WHY? If anyone knows, drop me a line. NIKKICELLO@excite.com

I love Edgar Allan Poe's work, but this would have to be the best because of all the symbols he uses in his style of writing. Most of his work deals with the dark-side of reality and fiction, and I love it.

Red Chief, the red haired, freckle faced, 7 year old, is really a good kid. So he sets cats on fire and shoots arrows through the postman's hat. So he through Becky in the lake, he just wanted to get her clean. But why does everyone in Summit, Alambama (the flattest little town in the south)run when he comes out to play? And what happens when he is kidnapped by the two slick, charming, and unusually kind con-men Sam and Bill Driscoll? Red Chief (or Johnny Dorset by true name) adores them both, which is more than is to be said about their feelings toward him. Bill gets hit by Hurricane Red Chief the hardest. But what happens when they try to collect the ransom leaves them both on the short side of
"The Ransom of Red Chief"!!!!

I had to read this last year for my English class, and thought that it was going to be just another lame story like all the other "classics" the public schools make us read. But when I got into it I was pleasently surprized. I couldn't stop laughing. The story is about two men who kidnap the local millionare's heir. But get more than they bargoned for. Instead of a well behaved rich kid they get a wild, red-haired hellion, that insists on playing Indians, and sacres one of his kidnappers so much that they finnally take him back to his father, thinking that they'll just get rid of him then and there. Well, instead of a reward the kid's father says that if they pay him a hundred or so dollars he'll keep his son back for a while and he won't tell the neighbors that they brought him back until nightfall. What happens next will surprize you and make you laugh. It was so much fun to read, I would suggest it to anyone that wants to read something really funny, it'll just make your day.

this is a classic that can be read over and over. well worth finding a copy for your library. it illustrates perseverence, will to live, and above all...compassion of spirit

A bookfull of simple tests that don't require any special training or expensive equipment,but can tell you when your body systems are functioning normally and when you should consult a doctor. And when you do go to a doctor for a checkup, you can give him or her an intelligent and informed appraisal of what's going on. Tells you things your doctor wants you to tell him.

I thought this short story was very good! It is about a man(with an unknown name) that is sent to the spanish inquisistion and is stuck there for many nights. One night he later awakes and is awoken by a swinging pendulum coming down to slice him. The only way out is through a never ending pit or to be killed by a spiked pendulum...which way will he choose...read it and you will find out!

I really enjoy very much Poe's short stories, mainly those where he gives us only a glimpse in some part of his main character's life.

"The pit and the pendulum" has almost no begginig and no end. It's the story of a man condemned to death by the Inquisiton. This death is not a simple one, since he is thrown in a dungeon with no light and lots of dangers.

This short story is full of anguish and told in an almost hysterical way. The reader discovers the horrors of the dungeon together with the main character. We don't know his name, we don't know what he did to be condemned, we don't know where he came from, we don't know nothing at all about him. And yet we keep turning the pages to see whet's going to happen next.

Poe had a dark style of writing; he could toy with his reader's minds as well as with his character's minds, and that's what makes him a master of romantic-gothic storytelling.

Read with the lights on.

Grade 9.6/10

I think that this was a very exciting book. It's one of those books where you need to keep reading to find out what happns next and it's like you can't stop. The narrator is stuck in the Spanish inquisition and he discovers a pit--no one knows whats down there, but you can guess by context clues. Then he awakens to a pendulum swinging over him, that comes down so slow. Will he be cunning enough to escape? Read and find out!

Poe is rightly acknowledged as the granddaddy of detective fiction and collected here is the proof. In these stories he gave us the basic devices of an entire genre: the genius detective and his sidekick, the locked room mystery, cyphers, royal spies, and the rigorous logic of arm-chair detection. However, the problem with pioneering a genre is that, forever after, your pioneering work is going to look rather amateurish. And this, unfortunately, is the case with Poe: his Auguste Dupin stories may well have given birth to modern detective fiction, but alongside the works they inspired they are little more than historically interesting artifacts - and ultimately rather dull ('The Murders in the Rue Morgue' excepted). It is simply not possible for us to experience these stories today with anything like the freshness they would have had for their original readers. So if you're looking for really great stories, look elsewhere. But if, on the other hand, you're seeking the historical origins of detective fiction, then your mystery has just been solved.

"The murders in the Rue Morgue" is the first of three Poe's stories featuring his famous detective, C. Auguste Dupin. The setting is Paris, and the story goes on mainly at night and in Dupin's apartments. This leaves the reader with a sense of darkness and a little claustrophobia, adding to Poe's great style.

Dupin is able to solve the murders of two women by just visiting the crime scene once and thinking a lot. After reading lots of books by Conan Doyle, Maurice Leblanc, Agatha Christie and P.D. James the fact of the murders itself and the kind of solution given to them may seem a little simple, but we have to remember that this may be considered one of the first "detective stories" of all times. Conan Doyle was obviously inspired in some parts of Dupin's character and reasoning to create Sherlock Holmes.

And the noir atmosphere is, as always, great. This is, appearently, not a story to be seen as "horror", but proves that Poe is one of the great authors of all time.

Grade 8.6/10

The best book in the world

I had never even heard of Bret Harte before I read this story, and I really enjoyed it. I loved the way that he used language and imagery to vividly portray the people of Poker Flat. The way that John Oakhurst's (the gambler) thoughts are described, as everything relating to a game of cards, was interesting. It really made me feel like I could see all these people- they seem like very real, everyday characters that could be encountered in anyone's life. Harte obviously knows people, and knows how to tell a good story. I would love to read other stories that he's written.

tnIn my opinion Uncle billy truly steals the scene. It was true inspiration to me. I couldnt wait tot see how it ended . I recommend it to anyone

This book had a very creative storyline, and was exciting and a little humoruos at times, but did not provide a very interesting novel. I wouldn't recommend this unless you're a big fan of Robert Louis Stevenson.

Stevenson wrote this tale of the islands in 1891 and it appeared in Samoan before being published in English.

The story is one of want and envy. Although it ends happily, the narrator comes perilously close to living eternally with the devil--all for his envy. There is poetry in this prose, love, and of course magic.

The tale opens as Keawe the Great--a poor, brave, mariner, a reader and writer, shipped on a vessel to San Francisco where he saw a house "smaller than some others, but all finished and beautified like a toy." Its steps shone like silver, the borders of its gardens bloomed like garlands and the windows shone like diamonds. Keawe could see the man who lived there "like a fish in a pool upon the reef."

Of course the owner's life was perfect in every respect, except that he owned a magic bottle which must be sold for less than he bought it, or else in death he would be condemned to hell. He was ill, and therefore desperate to sell the bottle. Keawe bought it.

Small children may not appreciate this story, which seems best suited for independent or sophisticated readers of 11 and up.

But the tale (beautifully illustrated) is as much a treasure as Stevenson's most famous classic, Treasure Island. Alyssa A. Lappen

The starfighting scenes were great. The different planets were very interesting. A great book to read if your looking for a fast paced story.

The Tell Tale of Heart by Edgar Allen Poe wrote about a mad man who killed someone, Eventually tells on himself. This man is known to be crazy. Every night he goes in a room and watches the man with the evil eye. Until one night he decides to kill him. The mad man thinks the evil eye is after him. This book would be of interest to middle school level to adults. I loved his vivid details and use of vocabulary. This story is one of many stories I loved of Edgar Allen Poe. His twisted mind makes many of his works enjoyable. I recommend this book to many people.

Within The Tale-Tale Heart, a disfigured old man becomes the object of the narrator's wrath. With precision the narrator sneaks into the old man's home and kills him because of a grotesque eye that has obsessed the narrator. Through the narrator's actions, Poe destroys "the external universe as usually perceived and eradicates the barriers erected by time, space and self. With the destruction of the reasoned world, the world of the imagination can take over [allowing] Poe to confuse sight and sound, sight and smell, fire and water, life and death, and the various other elements which man's reason keeps apart or regars as polarities" (Ketterer 28). Through the narrator's slow creeping motion into the old man's room (which lasts hours), Poe is able to not only alter reality, but also our concept of time.

As in The Black Cat, the narrator in this story also leads the police to the body. However, it is not an outside force that leads to his capture, it is his own mental state. "In the conclusion of the story, the ringing in the madman's ears first is fancied, then later becomes distinct, then is discovered to be so definite that it is erroneously accorded external actuality, and finally grows to such obsessive proportions that it drives the criminal into an emotional and physical frenzy" (Howarth 97). The beating of the old man's heart that the narrator hears in his mind is an distortion of his reality. The man's heart is not actually beating, but the narrator is convinced that he hears the sound because Poe has created a sound illusion. Reality and illusion in this story merge to create a new world where anything is possible, even the beating of a dead man's heart.

Edgar Allan Poe knows how bring the reader completly into the story. In the Tell Tale Heart the narrator, a mad man, kills a old man because of he hates the old man's eyes. But it's not only the story of a murder, it's a story of the man's madness. We see the scenes through his eyes. We realize how he is mad and we sink with him in his mistakes. It's his madness which makes him hear the old man's heart. But this noise wouldn't be the reflection of his conscience? Edgar Allan Poe explores the depth and the incomprehensibility of the human mind in a strange story of murder and madness.