This is a wonderfully funny audio version of the famous characters created by P. G. Wodehouse. Martin Jarvis has a very good grasp of all the characters and gives each its proper inflexion. If you've never read any of the stories of Wodehouse, this is a great place to start. There are a lot of narrated versions of Wodehouse on the market, and you will be quite happy with this one, though I think the version recorded by Charlton Griffin is so far my favorite. (His voice for Bertie is somehow exactly right.) But I quibble. Jarvis is charming and has just the proper touch of the blasé Englishman. The selection of bubbly stories is quite good.

What can I say about P.G. Wodehouse's stories that hasn't already been said? They're brilliant! Delightful! Charming! Pleasant as a post-prandial brandy! It has, however, been said that for full effect these stories must be read aloud. Well, really, I say. Who's got time? What? Martin Jarvis! That's who! The finest audio book reader to ever grace my hi fi! Nobody brings Bertie Wooster and Jeeves to life with the elegance and charm of Mr. Jarvis. His range of voices is surperb! His delivery is spot on, and his love of the material is evident.

You may wonder how I can say his readings surpass even those of Mssrs. Fry and Laurie. The answer is simple. The televised version (which is excellent) cannot contain every syllable, every illiteration Wodehouse penned. The audio version can!

The stories here include two from CARRY ON JEEVES, finishing out that selection, as well as three others. My only complaint, if that can be said, is that the three other stories do not involve The Jeeves/Wooster duo. But who cares? They are wonderful anyway.

This collection is a delight and truly worth adding to your collection- even if you own the books. However, I don't recommend listening to them while driving. You may lose control during a fit of laughter. Vive le Jeeves! Vive le Jarvis! Vive le Wodehouse!

Frayn paints a hilarious and riotous dreamscape featuring a loveable hero who gets to realise his every potential and more, from being a witty dinner-party conversationalist to finding out that he can fly...

Delightful and whimsical, I've yet to come across anyone who has not enjoyed this book.

Sweet Dreams has long been one of my favorite books, one of the few I've ever cared to reread. The opening section, in which the protagonist seamlessly glides into what we come to understand is heaven, and then discovers its many delights (being able to fly if you want to...or not, 5-star restaurants) is without equal in anything else I've read: elegant, light, perfectly executed, completely delightful. Then, as the story develops, the protagonist goes through apprenticeship, love, early success and fame, midlife crisis, and resolution. It's always done with a light and comic touch, yet deals with profound questions. How Frayn was able to conceive of the story and carry it off is remarkable. It's a crime that this book is not in print, particularly when writers like Anthony Burgess and Margaret Drabble have praised it as one of the best British novels of the late 20th century. Hunt for a used copy--your search will be well repaid!

This is a story of hero(ine) worship, a disastrous relationship, and the destructive power of envy, told in the form of letters from an English academic who becomes romantically involved with the famous author who is the subject of his studies. As in "Headlong", Frayn gives us a flawed protagonist we both like and despise. We can see the value of what he wants and wish him well in his quest, but then can only look on in agonized impotence as he goes about securing his object by entirely inappropriate means. The comedy of the scenario would be enough, but Frayn has more on his mind. This is a novel about novels, about writing. It's a kind of metafiction which explores "the trick" of fiction. What is it that writers do? How do they create their stories? Do they invent? Or do they plunder their own lives and the lives of those around them? In the manner of most good metafiction, this one raises more questions than it answers. In the end, the origin and status of what we have just read is never quite resolved. Is this simply a collection of the protagonist's letters? Or is it the 'factual novel' he has lately been writing in competition with his wife? Or is it in fact a novel written by his wife, based on their shared experiences? Or one written by his Australian academic friend to whom these 'letters' were addressed? Or even one by the biographer who was urgently trying to locate them for his own dire ends? We never really know - which is part of the trick of it.

Written in a form of protagonist's letters to his Australian friend, the novel is an subtle and psychologically exact depiction of moral degradation of an ordinary man (not a bad or evil one in his essence but somewhat bilious and self-absorbed) afflicted with envy. He has received a windfall of love, goodness and generosity, but being unable to surmount personal jealosity he loses respect of his colleagues and even his job itself and turns a sting of his malice against his wife and only friend until this destruction becomes his self-destruction.

An excellent reading: exquisite form, rich language and characters that remain in memory.

I would say this is "David Copperfield"'s B-side. It is a typical Dickensian book: the life of the Nickleby family from the death of the father until they are rich and happy. One of the most important parts of the book is the study of the horrible boarding schools of Yorkshire, where Nicholas is sent. We can read the dirty intrigues of Uncle Ralph, the adventures of Nicholas and Smikes as travelling actors (a world Dickens came to know very well), the kindness of the brethren Cheeryble.

Definitely, this is not one of Dickens's best novels, but nevertheless it is fun to read. The characters are good to sanctity or bad to abjection. The managing of the plot is masterful and the dramatic effects wonderful. It includes, as usual with Dickens, an acute criticism of social vices of his time (and ours): greed, corruption, the bad state of education. In spite of everything, this is a novel very much worth reading, since it leaves the reader a good aftertaste: to humanism, to goodness.

Nicholas Nickleby is a marvelous novel. It is the young Dickens at his best. I almost feel guilty for giving it four stars, but giving it five would be unfair, I think, because his later works, such as Great Expectations, are bettter. The novel is written enthusiastically and contains some of Dickens' best humor. I especially found funny the character Mr.Lillyvick, the revered and dignified water clerk. And I will never forget Ralph Nickleby. Mr.Squeers and Arthur Gride were detestable and colorful villains, but they pale before Ralph Nickleby. He is such a cold and heartless character that he steals nearly every scene he is in. He has a certain magnetism that most of Dickens' good characters lack. And his suicide at the novel's end is so perfectly written that I read over it several times before I finished the novel. My only problem with the book was Nicholas's lack of psychology, but let us remember that this was written by a young man, not the mature artist of Great Expectations and Our Mutual Friend. The novel's strengths easily make up for its weaknesses. Nicholas Nickleby will be enjoyed by fans of Dickens and all other readers for centuries to come.

I read criticisms of this book that it is not one of Dickens' best. For me, it is up there with Great Expectations and David Copperfield as one of his most enjoyable novels (A Christmas Carol is a short story).

The social axe that Dickens had to grind in this story is man's injustice to children. Modern readers my feel that his depiction of Dotheboys Academy is too melodramatic. Alas, unfortunately, it was all too real. Charles Dickens helped create a world where we can't believe that such things happen. Dickens even tell us in an introduction that several Yorkshire schoolmasters were sure that Wackford Squeers was based on them and threatened legal action.

The plot of Nicholas Nickleby is a miracle of invention. It is nothing more than a series of adventures, in which Nicholas tries to make his way in the world, separate himself from his evil uncle, and try to provide for his mother and sister.

There are no unintersting characters in Dickens. Each one is almost a charicature. This book contains some of his funniest characters.

To say this is a melodrama is not an insult. This is melodrama at its best. Its a long book, but a fast read.

this book suffers from the lack of a central character to carry the story. young martin chuzzlewit, the book's namesake, only appears in about a quarter of the book. old martin chuzzlewit appears in even less. seth pecksniff and sairey gamp are both amusing, but their characters are not central to the story. jonas chuzzlewit is central to the story, but he doesn't show up until halfway through. without a character to draw the reader's interest, a character the reader can follow the fortunes of, the book wanders. it's not a surprise that the installments of this novel didn't sell well.

the prose is gorgeous, as usual, but the story drags. worth a read, but not if you're new to dickens. best to start off with nicholas nickleby which doesn't suffer from the same defect.

This is Dickens' tale (and some would say lecture) about selfishness. Dickens' presents characters that embody different aspects of this vice, from the hypocrisy of Pecksniff and Mrs Gamp, to the thoughtlessness of young Martin Chuzzlewit and Mercy Pecksniff, the suspiciousness of old Martin Chuzzlewit, to the vengefulness of Charity Pecksniff, from the villainy of Jonas Chuzzlewit, to the duplicity of Tigg Montague. But Dickens doesn't stop here: the book also explores this theme on the larger institutional and national scales, as well. The American detour can be seen as a condemnation of the hypocrisy of the U-nited States of the early 1800's. And the Life Assurance Co scam is clearly an indictment of selfishness when its ambitions grow to encompass those beyond one's immediate circle. To his credit, Dickens doesn't lay these latter evils at the abstract feet of 'countries' and 'companies', but shows that even in these suprapersonal entities, the original sin lies with individuals.

Martin Chuzzlewit gets its start much like any other Dickens novel--we are introduced to the rather blase main characters and the amusing minor characters, and Dickens slowly--and I mean slooowly--weaves the web of his drama. We meet the Chuzzlewit brothers, Mr Pecksniff and his daughters, and (among others) the lovable Tom Pinch, who is utterly devoted to Mr Pecksniff. "Another middle-period Victorian comedy of manners," we presume, and read a few pages at a time, until BAM! the novel kicks into high gear. I won't spoil the unforgettable final half of the novel for you, but suffice it to say that I read it ALL in one day, spellbound. Any would-be author of pageturners could learn a lot from the story of Jonas Chuzzlewit, masterfully spun by the greatest novelist in the Englsih language. Enjoy it, one and all!

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." Perhaps no first line of a book describes the book better than A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. This novel really is a mix of good and bad. It all starts with Dr. Manette, who, after being 18 years in jail, is retrived from France by his daughter Lucie and an old friend named Mr. Lorry. The Manettes live safely in England, where Lucie meets Charles Darnay, a man who herself, her father and Mr. Lorry were testifying against at his trial of treason. Lucie and Charles fall in love, devasting Carton, who loves Lucie and was Charles' lawyer, and get married unaware that Charles' family put Lucie's father in jail. One of Darnay's old servants is thrown in jail back in France, so Charles goes there, during the revolution and gets himself thrown in jail. The Defarges, wineshop owners in France who were taking care of Dr. Manette, are after Charles and his new family because of a deep dark secret that Madame Defarge holds against the family. This book holds much info, many names, dates and places, but the reader catches on quickly. The characters seem to constantly move back and forth from France to England, and the story junps back and forth from the Manettes and the Defarges. Dickens makes the transitions from person to person, and place to place easy for the reader to understand by adding tags to the characters and introducing the setting in the beginning of the chapters. One problem is the length. The book seems to drag on. The chapter entitled "Hundreds of People" repeats the same phrase or idea over and over again wearing out its initial symbolism. Granted A Tale of Two Cities could not be condensed into 20 pages, but Dickens pushes the reader's attention span and the use of details to the extreme. There is such a thing as too many details. One character that seems too "lady-like" is Lucie Manette. Her constant fainting and crying make her an unlikeable character, and Madame Defarge, the tyrant, is more likeable. Overall, A Tale of Two Cities is a masterpiece. It is a reflection of Dicken's genius and a period of time lost to us, but remembered through the pages of this novel.

Having read Les Miserables and the Scarlet Pimpernel, I thought I must read this one. Although by far I enjoyed Les Mis much more, this book gives an objective view. Dickens describes both the sufferings of the poor before the revolution and the injustice done to the nobility under the Republic. Dickens' writing style is fascinating, I loved it. Yes, it's difficult and tedious; I'm a bit slow myself but enjoyed it far too much to give it up. The descriptions of the misery of the peasants, the attack on the Bastille, the murder of the nobles, the thirst for revenge, are all painfully expressive. Dickens often uses dark humour and irony, it makes it all funny and painfull at once: "who kissed La Guillotine, looked through the little window and sneezed into the sack." What a picture!

But it is mainly a story of love, revenge and self-sacrifice rather than a commentary on the revolution. Dr. Mannette is released after being unjustly imprisoned for 18 years, and he finds he has a perfect angelic little daughter, Lucie. Charles Darnay is a young, dashing, but good French aristocrat who reliquished his title in France, and is exiled in England. Sydney Carton, the "idlest and most unpromising of men," has become one of my favorites in literature. He's an unhappy alchoholic, who appears incapable of achieving anything good. I liked him from the first, because he didn't like Darnay much and, neither did I! Carton is in love with Lucie, unrequitedly. Lucie marries Darnay. Darnay's antipathy towards Carton becomes of major significance at the end. As the French Revolution erupts in France, duty calls Darnay back to Paris, where he is captured and tried. The ending is the grandest I have ever read; poignant, tearful, prophetic, bittersweet. It takes days to recover! It ends in perhaps the most unselfish, heroic of sacrifices in fiction. With Dickens' beautiful use of prose this becomes truly unforgettable. I recommend it for everyone, young and old, as long as you can handle the language. I can't believe I waited this long to read it!

I started reading this book because of a suggestion from my Language Arts teacher. I was immediately taken in by the descriptive words used by Charles Dickens. You first meet Mr. Jarvis Lorry, whose "credentials, entries, and memoranda are all comprehended in the one line, 'Recalled to Life'", who is sent to France to retrieve a man who has been held a prisoner for 18 years. As you go on, you are shifted back and forth from England to France, and back again. You see many of the aspects of the French Revolution in the late 18th century. Now you may not listen to my advice, because of my age, but I can tell you that I am at least at a 10th grade reading level, and I can read and understand this book with great ease. This book is probably a great book for anyone in high school or over, and I wish I could rate it 6 stars!

The Crystal Prison is a far more enhanced versoin of the Redwall Saga with it's talking maice and animals. Even though it lack's Redwall's stunning fantasies, the Debtford Mice Trilogy sets a pretty fine point for a new author.It's simply wonderful with its great details and great plotline. I'd give it five stars if it wasn't for its confusing characters.
I started reading The Crystal Prison just like any other person would start: I would handpick it from the library or buy it. Usually, I'd check the cover art, as the phrase " never judge a book by it's cover" felt like the words of a dull critic. Nevertheless, I read this book and found it was pretty interesting, given its bizarre lines of characters.
The beginning is fairly simple, it starts off with the ending of Robin Jarvis' (the author) first novel. The Debtford mice have escaped the chamber of Jupiter and the rat infested sewers of the city. Forced by an evil witch named Starwife, they must move to the countryside. But despite an owl who hunts in the night, the countrymice that live in the plains have nought to do but to point their fingers at a young, outspoken female mouse named Audrey. What's left is a wilder conclusion you'd never believe!

A novel of this size can be daunting for the reader. "If I start this book, I'm going to have to spend the next month finishing it". That's what I thought anyway. But in Oliver Twist I sailed through the pages. It's rare that a classic, and I have read many of them, becomes a page-turner but this one did. Maybe I was lucky in not having seen the film versions prior to the reading of the book because I desperately wanted to find out what happened to Oliver and the multitude of other brilliantly written characters who inhabit the pages of Dickens' classic.

The plot is simple. A boy escapes his orphan home to live in London with a group of thieves and pickpockets. He's saved from this depraved life by a kindly, lonely old gentleman. But the villains, Bill Sykes and especially Fagin, fear that the boy may rat them out and so they kidnap him back. Can Oliver make it back to the life he deserves?

Oliver's story is not a very originally one, but it is enlivened by some of the greatest characters I've ever seen written. My personal favourites and there are many, are Noah Claypole who becomes a principle player and a very funny one at that, near the book's conclusion; and Mr. Brownlow, who's catchphrase "I'll eat my own head" had me bursting into laughter.

The book is diminished by its excessive sentimentality at the conclusion. Its female characters, apart from the courageous Nancy, are written in a golden light so as to become fantasies rather than the gloriously dirty reality of their male counterparts. A sub-plot between Mary and her boyfriend is ridiculously excessive.

Against these weaknesses, the book is a triumph of character. Often memorably played on screen, the two villains have become more famous than the title character, who is slightly simpering. Fagin is deliciously smarmy and Sykes is evil incarnate. They get their comuppance in justifiably brutal fashion. Dickens like most of us was a sucker for a happy ending.

The creative novel Oliver Twist, written by Charles Dickens in 1838, defines a classic of all times. This intense story reflects a young boy's life in London with no family or place to go. Oliver's mother dies while giving birth to her son in the beginning of the book. Oliver's father remains unknown. Throughout the book the reader sees constant struggles. Oliver is befriended by Fagin and his company. Fagin, along with the Artful Dodger, invite Oliver to stay with them and become a thief. During one of Oliver's pick pocketing adventures; he is caught by Mr. Brownlow. Instead of reprimanding the young lad, Mr. Brownlow decides to raise him. Oliver desperately searches for the answer to his past while trying to stay alive on the streets of London. Ironically, Mr. Brownlow is Oliver's grandfather. A dominate theme of Oliver Twist examines the importance of family. Oliver's early years taught him to fend for himself and he suffers from never experiencing a loving and nurturing childhood. The setting of the book plays a powerful role as the story unfolds. Dickens describes the setting of London and all the places that Oliver stays very descriptively. "The street was very narrow and muddy, and the air was impregnated with filthy odor. The walls and ceiling of the room were perfectly black with age and dirt..." (page. 56). Dickens explains the facilities that were available to poor Oliver and makes them sound unbearable. He does an excellent job making the setting come alive and allows the reader to plight. I would recommend all readers at some point in life to delve into this classic. I found Oliver Twist very moving and towards the end hoping only the best for poor Oliver.

This book surprised me, not by the quality of its writing, which one can expect from Charles Dickens, but by the violent, lusty primal quality of the story. This is no dry musty tome, but a vital novel that arouses both passion and intellect. A literal page turner, I found myself having more than one sleepless night when I just couldn't put it down.

Inside are some of the major characters in the realm of fiction; Fagin and his gang of child thieves, including the Artful Dodger. Nancy, the proverbial hooker with a heart of gold. Master Charles Bates (was this a pun even then?) Bad Bill Sikes, who shows the darker edge to all of this dangerous fun, and the innocent, pure Oliver Twist, who is the very definition of nature over nurture.

A great book, and one that I am glad to have finally read.

Goodbye Mr.Chips was an interesting book. Mr. Chips lives in a house with Mrs. Wicket and he teaches at Brookfield. He loves being a teacher and he touches many students lives.
He meets his wife at a vacation resort. She changes his view on life and this makes Mr. Chips well loved at school.Mrs. Chips becomes pregant yet she dies in childbirth. This makes Mr. Chips horribly sad and he is very drpressed. Although when the school Head of School comes in, Mr. Chips job faces danger. The new Head of school tells Mr. CHips that he will have to retire. So Mr. Chips tries to but he just cannot leave. A new Head Master comes in and Mr. Chips begins work again. He goes through many dangers during his teaching. He faces sad students, World War I, air raids and many other things. He dies a happy man at Mrs. Wicket's.

I enjoyed reading this book because it was easy to follow. Although the story could have had a alot more plot to it, I enjoyed it. I also liked getting deeper into the book by looking at the themes prevalant in the book.

I would encourage you to read Goodbye Mr. Chips if you are looking for a short story. If you want to havea good read, read GOODBYE MR. CHIPS.

The novel Goodbye Mr. Chips is a sweet and poignant tale about the life of a gentle, humorous teacher who loyally dedicated his lifetime and heart to the school that he loved, as well as the thousands of boys whose lives he influenced. It is a novel that speaks tenderly of old age without any mockery. This book causes one to stop and ponder all the good things in their own life.

The last page of this book made up for any feelings of boredom I experienced before. Mr. Chips has enjoyed a 63-year history at Brookfield School for Boys in England. He was married briefly for a year to a young woman who died, and no one remembers her. It's like he has always been a confirmed old bachelor.

Mr. Chips is easily the prototype for Robin Williams in Dead Poets Society. You can see a much-loved teacher with his own complexities shining through this character. The last page made me cry, it was just so touching. Read this book -- it is a classic and worth much more than the few hours it takes to read it.

Charles Dickens was one of the most popular writers of all time, creating some of the best-known characters in English literature. In the book "Great Expectations", the protagonist and narrator, Pip begins the story as a young orphan boy being grown up by his sister. I like this book, because Charles Dickens takes you right inside the Pip's mind and you live through the events and discoveries of his life with him. Pip is passionate, romantic and somewhat unrealistic at heart. That makes the novel interesting. Of course, you cannot forget the great love story (Pip and Estella). The other characters Magwitch, Miss Havisham, Joe Gargery, Miss Joe, Estella, Mr Jaggers and Mr Wemmick are all unique and special in their way and they add to the novel's richness. Another thing I really liked was how all of the characters are interrelated to each other in ways that you may not discover until you get to the end of the novel. This novel will make you sometimes laugh and sometimes make you feel sad, but it is always entertaining. Latif Dose simplifies the texts. The language is very clear. There are not old English words and this gives the reader much pleasure while reading the novel. I think most young people would like this novel because it's not as hard to read as an other classic books. I recommend Great Expectations to anyone who wants to read a good, classic book because Great Expectations has a little bit of everything in it, mystery, romance and suspense. You cannot easily find all of these properties in other novels, which makes "Great Expectations" a special and a classic one.
. That makes this novel very different. It is probably one of the top ten English novels of the 19th century. Some of the passages are beautiful. I cannot forget Pip's response to Estella when she says "You will get me out of thoughts in a week."

Great Expectations, a book that Dickens ironically considered as one of his "little pieces." Though it is small compared to other works by Dickens, what this novel lacks in size it makes up for in quality. Great Expectations succeeds beyond almost all novels of its time in exploring the roots of character and moral behaviour. Charles Dickens makes the case for there being the potential for good and evil within everyone. Evil and sin follow from a combination of being self-absorbed and selfish. What is remarkable about the way these themes are handled is that they are clearly based on an assessment of human psychology, long before that field was established. The book is also remarkable for its many indelibly memorable and complex characters. Miss Havisham, Pip, Magwitch, Mr. Jaggers, and Estella are certainly some of the most complex characters ever created by Dickens.
Though a novel founded on philosophic concepts, the story is full of action to keep the plot moving. An escaped convict, an attempted murder, and a mysterious benefactor all add to the sense of mystery that exists throughout most of the novel and forces the reader to continue. Murder, deceit, jealously, and revenge also help to hold the attention of the reader while Dickens explores the depths of human nature.
As you read Great Expectations, raise your expectations (sorry, I couldn't help myself) to assume that you will receive answers to any dangling thread. Every detail is important, if not to solve the mysteries of the characters then only to enhance the "sense of place." Although the England described here is long gone, it becomes as immediate as a nightmare or a dream that you have just awakened from.
This story by Dickens is a must-read and deserves five-stars.

I must admit, this review is slightly prejudiced. I am a high school student, and I read this book for fun. I had tried to read Dickens before, but found myself having a hard time ploughing through the complex vocabulary and intricate parlor dialogue of Hard Times. But I decided to take another stab at Dickens, perhaps with something a little more palatable. All of Dickens' novels, I realized at the end of Book I!!, are VERY, VERY SLOW -- AT FIRST. Then Dickens decides to play on his own soporific introductions!!!!! There is a crucial turn in events for Pip, and the book takes off. Every few paragraphs, there's another handhold so to speak, to keep the reader's suspense and to keep the plot building. Both the language and the many interwoven plots are delectable and unavoidably magnetic -- your hands just can't seem to put down the book, no matter what you do. This book has it all. It also helped me understand why I hated reading the Odyssey for English. (Translations always lose some of the vivacity and fullness that the author has pumped his or her very original work full of, and it is this fullness that made the work so great in the first place.) It is a long read, and you have to be willing to be patient with the beginning. But it's definitely worth it. And the more you read, the easier it gets. After reading this book, I feel inspired to read all of Dickens' works!