Written at the request of his daughter Leonora, this is the best and most popular book by the prolific P.G. Wodehouse. Psmith was his greatest creation, and if you've read the other three Psmith books first (and you should), it's very touching and funny to see him fall in love and make the ultimate sacrifice: masquerading as a sensitive poet and a jewel thief all at once. Highly recommended.

PSMITH! The darker side of Wodehouse which is, if anything, even more hilarious than the sunny side of the street. Psmith (said to be modeled after Rupert D'Oly Carte who was known to Wodehouse in their earliest years) has a ginger beer wire monocle, a silent "P" in his name, an optimistic and energetic approach to life, including practical socialism (what's yours is mine) and big broad flexible outlook as well as ears that stick out like windmills. One of the great Wodehouse lines that comes to mind often is from this book. Psmith explains to the long-suffering narrator friend that the most recent creditor seeking vengeance after yet another great Psmithian disaster will be unlikely to find him, since Psmith gave him a false name. When the narrator, aghast, asks why, Psmith insouciantly explains, "Ordinary business precaution". If you've loved Bertie and Jeeves, meet Psmith! I wish Mr. Wodehouse had steered him in the direction of the Wooster household just so we could see just how elaborate a scrape he could draw Bertie into, and how Jeeves would have prestidigitated his way out of it

It's real hard to actually say whether a particular Wodehousian novel is better than any other, but this one really takes the cake (and eats it too!) A marvellous story of the mayhem, chaos and utter confusion wreaked by the suave, amiable Psmith, this book leaves you gasping for more (even if you don't smoke a gasper). For Wodehousian fans, if you haven't read this one, well, what on earth have you been doing all these years!?! And for people who have no idea who or what or when a Wodehouse is, there's no better place to start than this bundle of craziness.

Anne Bronte, the most underappreciated of the Bronte sisters, is a brilliantly talented author and storyteller. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is a masterpiece of romance, suspense and simply a darned good read! Helen Huntingdon and Gilbert Markham are multi-dimensional characters. Bronte descriptions of the setting are moving as well. I can't say enough about this book, yet mere words don't do it justice. If you loved Jane Eyre (which I did), than the Tenant will be a novel you hold in high esteem. Read it, and then read it again. Enjoy!!

'Sick of mankind and its disgusting ways' Anne Bronte once scribbled on the back of her prayer book. Her evident harsh view of life, coupled with her moral strength as a woman, are beautifully interwoven to produce this novel; her masterpiece. Although never enjoying the popularity and success of 'Jane Eyre' and 'Wuthering Heights' - her sisters' books - 'Wildfell Hall' is quite fit to join any bookshelf of classic English literature. The themes include utter despair and the tragic consequences of a young woman's naivety; Helen felt that, although she could see Arthur's faults, she would be able to somehow change him once they were married. In reality, her marital experience was a disaster.

Anne Bronte creates a world in which the drunken, immoral behaviour of men becomes the norm and this may have been startling to contemporary readers - perhaps a reason for the book's panning at the critics. The narrative is built up delicately; first Gilbert; and then the racier, more gripping diary of Helen as she guides us through her married life; before returning again to Gilbert, whose tale by this time has become far more exciting as we know of Helen's past. Helen's realisation of the awful truth and her desperate attempts to escape her husband, are forever imprinted in the mind of the reader as passages of perfect prose.

One of the earliest feminist novels, the underrated Anne Bronte writes in this a classic, and - defying the views of her early (male) critics - a claim to the position of one of England's finest ever female writers.

I read "The Tenant Of Wildfell Hall" by Anne Bronte for my review of personal reading in English last year and I thought it was really gripping. I thoroughly enjoyed it and would definitely recommend it.

It tells the story of a young woman's struggle for independence, against law and a society which defined a married woman as her husband's property. The novel, which uses extracts from her diary and narration from her neighbour, is very interesting and quite realistic.

It seems to me that the most interesting thing about the novel, is the build up of tension Bronte uses to sustain the reader's attention. It is stimulating and creates a little excitement in the book.

Helen Graham moves into Wildfell Hall with her son. She is a single mother and earns her living as a painter. Her neighbour, Gilbert Markham, takes a sudden interest in her and wants to find out everything about her. Although she is quite content being friends with him, she wants nothing more. As soon as he becomes too personal, she reminds him that friendship is the principal of their relationship. As they spend more time together, though, she learns to trust him and reveals the truth about her past. She is living at Wildfell Hall under a false surname, hiding from her husband who is an adulterer. The only other person who knows of this is her landlord, who Gilbert learns late in the novel, is in fact, her brother.

One thing which I found gripping about this story, was the build up of tension Bronte used. She took her time, revealing one thing, building up the tension again, then revealing another. She continued to do this throughout the story, and this is what kept me interested. It is a story, in which two people who love one another, are prevented from being together by society and their own natural reticence. We know romance often has this, but Bronte creates a strong desire in the reader for them to be together. She puts real obstacles in the way of their love for each other, such as the fact that Helen is already married and has a child to her husband. This therefore, causes the reader to understand the story more.

This is the first book I've read in E.F. Benson's "Lucia" series, and it is fun-filled ride indeed. For Benson novices, Lucia Lucas is a middle aged, recently widowed (in this novel), perfectly nice upper middle class woman who just happens to have the mind of Machavelli. Missing her obvious calling for World Domination, she is instead content to rule the social life of her small English village with an iron fist. As "Mapp and Lucia" begins however, Lucia has long since deposed any serious threat to her social dominance in her immediate vicinity, and decides fresher pastures are in order. She packs up her things (including , of course, best friend and right-hand-man Georgie) and moves to Tilling, where she expects she will be made society Queen in no time flat. Unfortunately for Lucia, Tilling already has a Queen, one Elizabeth Mapp, and she has no intention of relinquishing her crown.

The scene is thus set for a true Battle Royal, only in Tilling the battelfields are luncheons and dinner parties, and the weapons fruit gardens and lobster recipes. The results are very very funny, as the genteel of Tilling spend a breathless year thoroughly enjoying each swipe, snub and put down. The hilarious climax has our heroines floating out to sea on an overturned kitchen table, with Lucia's last audible words promising delicious gossip just as soon as she gets out of her current mess.

Benson draws his characters exquisitely well, I found myself flat out liking her. She is an Englishwomen of the 1930's, past her prime but still youthful, who just happens to be blessed (cursed?) with the personality of an Alpha Male. The resulting battle of wits with the formidable Mapp is fascinating; Mapp is clearly not her intellectual equal but through a mixture of deviousness and and cunning manages to pull the carpet from underneath Lucia's carefully laid plans time and again. The supporting characters are equally well written, with best friend Georgie and Mapp's crony Diva especially amusing.

All in all, a funny, entertaining and biting satire that is well worth reading whether you are already a Lucia fan or are picking up a Benson novel for the first time. Highly recommended!

This popular tale is a delight even 70 years later. The reader gets to know very well the primary characters in this social comedy. Benson does a superb job of describing the genteel battles between the two ladies in Tilling,concerning Lucia's much coveted lobster recipe, and invitations to dine. The men are, of course, secondary to the plot.They hover around the ladies like courtiers. I think that Georgie, Lucia's devoted and platonic friend, is my favorite character-perhaps the most genuinely nice person in the book. I sometimes even feel sorry for Miss Mapp when Lucia takes over social affairs so thoroughly! I wonder what would happen if Lucia and Miss Mapp were both interested in Major Benjy!

This is the highlight of the series, pitting Lucia against her less able, but equally ruthless counterpart, Elizabeth Mapp - two ladies who both consider themselves social queens of the village of Tilling. The ensuing war includes Fete's garden parties dinner parties and climaxes with the crafty Miss Mapp attempting to steal the recipe for Lobster ala Reisholme and being caught by Lucia, they are then caught in a flood and whisked out to sea on a kitchen table. Oh my!

Having been diagnosed with Bipolar II four years ago, I searched and researched the Internet and bookstores for anything I could find on Manic-Depressive illness. It was by pure chance that I stumbled on this book.

Some years ago, I was a nursing student and psychiatric nursing seemed to be my speciality, since I had some innate ability to understand the mind. And, ever the nursing student, I continued long after nursing school to learning more about psychiatric illness, especially once I was diagnosed with it.

The book is technical in content, but easy for the layperson to understand, providing they have a good dictionary. Being a nursing student, much of the language comes easy for me, but the layperson can grasp a good understanding of the illness. Their references to Kraepelin were especially important since he was the first to recognized the two poles of the illness.

I would recommend this book to any person diagnosed with Bipolar and their families, to help understand their illness and to know they are not alone.

This is an invaluable resource for anyone with Bipolar Disorder (Manic-Depressive Illness) or anyone who loves them. Though targeted at medical professionals, most of the information presented is well within the grasp of an intelligent and motivated layperson. I'm not a doctor of any sort, but I *do* have Bipolar Disorder, and take an active interest and role in my own health-care... this is a terrific book, and it summarizes what is known about the causes, treatment, and management of this disorder as of about 1990. (Hopefully, there will be an update soon!)

This is THE classic text about manic-depressive illness. However, I would not recommend buying it, as it is 10 years old and much has happened in our understanding of the illness in the past decade. Save money; borrow it from the library.

Instead, I recommend Dr. Francis Mondimore's "Bipolar Disorder: A Guide for Patients and Families", which is up-to-date, thorough, full of practical advice, and written for laypeople; and any of Kay Redfield Jamison's books, especially "An Unquiet Mind."

I have bipolar II and both family members and I have found Dr. Mondimore's book to be VERY helpful.

This wonderful children's novel tells the story of eight year old Princess Irene. Cared for by her nurse Lootie, she lives in a mountain farmhouse while her father rules over the region from a mountain top castle. The local folk work as miners but are beset by the Goblins who inhabit the underground. Irene is saved from the Goblins by Curdie, a thirteen year old miner, and she in turn saves him. The whole thing is told in a pleasant conversational style and is filled with humor, word games, magic, derring-do, and pure wonderment.

George MacDonald, a Congregational minister turned novelist, who seems nearly forgotten now, was one of the seminal figures in the development of Fantasy. His influence on other Fantasy authors is obvious, he was a childhood favorite of JRR Tolkein, who especially liked this book, and C.S. Lewis named him one of his favorite authors. His own stories draw on many of the themes and characters of classical European fairy tales. But where they were often merely horrific and meaningless, MacDonald adds a layer of Christian allegory. Thus, Irene and Curdie are eventually saved by a thread so slender that you can't even see it, but which leads them back to safety, teaching Curdie that you sometimes have to believe in things that you can't see.

The book would be interesting simply as a touchstone of modern fiction, but it stands up well on its own and will delight adults and children alike.

GRADE: A

whenever I find a used copy of this or MacDonald's "The Princess and Curdie" I buy it and give it away. Both books are full of religious symbolism if you think about it, and old other-worldness if you don't. "The Princess and the Goblin" can be enjoyed by early elementary school children, while the language of "The Princess and Curdie" is more challenging and suited for 5th grade and up, though anything is possible with a bit of extra effort. Worth trying. George MacDonald (deceased) has a loyal following as do, of course, Tolkien and C.S.Lewis who were his friends. These are lovely books to read aloud.

I cant believe I haven't read this untill now, its such a great book! A princess lives in a castle all her life, never knowing of the great dangers that go on in the mountain. One day(being about 7 years old) she finds a stairway in her house that she has never seen and it leads her to her great, great grandmother. After she meets her grandmother she is shown the dangers of the goblins and meets a boy named Curdie who mines in the mountain with his father. Throughout the book Curdie and the princess have many encounters with the goblins. This is a great book I highly recommend it for readers of all ages.

It's almost impossible to write funny about humor, and anyone who writes seriously about it is doomed to come off as a fuddy duddy. E.B. White, a funny writer himself, once said that analyzing humor is like dissecting a frog, in that the thing tends to die in the process and the results will be interesting only to the purely scientific mind. -Andrew Ferguson, Divine Comedy : P.G. Wodehouse's perfect pitch

Two things the critics generally agree on are that : (1) P. G. Wodehouse is one of the funniest writers in the English language; and, (2) it's almost impossible to explain why. Among the various authorities cited for the difficulty in analyzing humor are Evelyn Waugh and Sigmund Freud, themselves authors of hilarious fictions. Suffice it to say, and I mean this in the very best sense, the enjoyments of the Jeeves and Wooster stories are much the same as those of the great TV sitcoms. Wodehouse created these two great comic characters, surrounded them in each story with oddballs, plunked them all down in trying situations, and then had the inimitable Jeeves extract Bertie and his upper-class nitwit friends from their difficulties through various stratagems and diversions. Though Andrew Ferguson and others deny that there is any deeper meaning or political content to the stories, it is at least notable that the finest young gentlemen in all of England are hopelessly overmatched by life unless Jeeves steps in to save them. The resulting stories have a certain sameness to them--of course, just try watching ten episodes of Cheers in a row and see if it's still fresh and amusing in hour five--but read in moderation they are immensely enjoyable and their very familiarity becomes quite comforting.

GRADE : A+

This was a refreshing book to read. Funny and well-written, not only was it an introduction to English vernacular, but it seems Mr. Wodehouse was a huge influence on comedy writers today. Each chapter could have been an episode of any number of sit-coms. But, I don't want to downplay the value of this novel. I can't help but imagine what it was like to look at this as a new genre.

But, these "episodes" still aren't as stale as some of those viewable today in primetime. Most are unpredictable, and the situations are unique (somewhat due in part to the time period, but also because they are realistically presented.) All the characters are likeable, even though they each have a teeny bit of deviousness, but that makes them more human. Their funny and they aren't plastic. They aren't completely real, but they aren't completely paper-made either. They're just plain entertaining.

The last chapter of this book is the tip-topper of the whole novel. Just like a good show, it brings everything together. You wonder throughout just what Jeeves' angle really is, and in the end you find out. I can't wait to read another installment!

Martin Jarvis' reading of Carry On, Jeeves runs circles around Jonathan Cecil's reading of anything (for more on Cecil, see Psmith: Journalist). He simply embodies the characters of Bertie Wooster, Jeeves, Biffy, Corky, and all the cast (albeit with the same typical attempt at an American accent).

Carry On, Jeeves contains eight of the ten stories available in the print version (the remaining two stories appear on My Man Jeeves), so completists will want that, but for pure enjoyment, you can't go wrong with this. Even the titles Wodehouse writes are funny, my favorite being "The Rummy Affair of Old Biffy." They simply roll off the tongue.

The stories here include "Jeeves Takes Charge" (chronologically the first as it tells the story of Jeeves' entry into Bertie's life). The others, namely "The Artistic Career of Corky," "Clustering Round Young Bingo," "Jeeves and the Unbidden Guest" (about a young cousin of Bertie's who goes wild under his wing), and "Jeeves and the Hard-Boiled Egg" are all classics of the Wodehousian genre and show Jeeves at his problem-solving best.

This would easily appeal to the casual Wodehouse fan, and is perfect for long road trips or any other situation where a laugh is needed. Wodehouse exceeds all others in humor and, one assumes, will remain that way for centuries to come.

This book is simply perfect. Each chapter corresponds to a specific technique and concludes with complete "tricks" that employ that technique. The chapters generally build on each other, but you can jump around to some extent. The book's many illustrations make the difficult aspects of the tricks transparent.

This book, plus the willingness to practice card conjuring in private and then actually perform the tricks for friends and families will get you there! I ran one trick 4 or 5 times for one of my colleagues the other day; her only response: "Oh, I get it, it's a trick deck right? They're all the same card, right?" Nope. When I turned over all the cards (revealing a genuine deck) her jaw simply dropped.....

If you're overwhelmed with magic book titles, and don't know which book to buy to start your experience with magic, BUY THIS BOOK.

Keep in mind it was written before TV, so you must be a enthusiastic reader and a magic lover. It requiers a lot careful and minucious reading and re-reading, but only because of its very precise explanations.

The next step after studying from this book, is watching a good magician perform the sleights so you can have an idea of speed and timing.

Buy it only if you are truly commited to learning non self working card tricks and sleights.

If I had to throw away all my magic books except one, this would be it.

This is the book that got me seriously started with card magic, and I still learn something every time I pick it up.
It teaches the basics of card magic: shuffles, palming, the pass, glimpses, etc. But more importantly, it covers the real secret of magic: how to entertain and amaze. There is more to a card trick than meets the eye, and this book covers those things.
Each chapter teaches a sleight (or sleights) or a principle of magic, and then a trick (or tricks) utilizing that sleight.
I still use some of the tricks from this book in my performances. The tricks taught are all excellent and absolute stunners in the right hands.
Besides the general chapters, there are two chapters on flourishes, one on routining an act, and one on platform tricks.
I highly recommend this book to all students of magic. It is a classic, and an excellent choice for the beginner. Even if you are an expert, you should own this book, as it will enrich you as a magician.
The Royal Road to Card Magic is one of my favorite books in my magic library.

I finally picked up "Sharpe's Rifles" months after having the series recommended to me by a friend. I wish I hadn't waited. Although I read a lot of military fiction, I have never read anything about the Napoleonic wars. Cornwell actually brings the battles to life, from the cries of the dying and wounded to the smell of the smoke of the battlefield. All of the cahracters come to life, and are exemplary of the kind of lives lived by the soldiers and officers of the era. It is obvious that Cornwell did his homework here.

Richard Sharpe is a well developed character, an everyman that developed not only into a super warrior, but also into a superb leader of warriors.

In this novel the author gets right down to the story, and wastes no time getting to the heart of the story. The writing is straightforward and clean.

Highly recommended

I am a history teacher and I am very serious about historical details. The characters in this book may not be real, but that makes no difference. The book is well written, the characters are complex, and the story line is steeped with historical detail. Cornwall is a fantastic writer who seems to capture the feeling of the Napoleonic Wars as if he were there himself. This book introduces the reader to Richard Sharpe and Patrick Harper, two of the best written characters in modern fiction. The action starts almost immediately as Sharpe takes over the 95th Rifles. Your heart won't stop racing until the final page. Sharpe and Harper have grabbed my imagination as does the back drop of 19th century Spain. This is a must read for any student of the Napoleonic Wars.

'Sharpe's Rifles' is the first of Bernard Cornwell's orginal Richard Sharpe series and is a wonderful start. Here we meet for the first time the maverick British officer Richard Sharpe and his tough-as-nails companion Sergeant Harper. The story takes place during the British retreat from Spain in 1809. French victory seems certain. Lieutnant Sharpe is seperated from his unit and forced to command a rag tag company of riflemen, who have little love for thier new leader, though enemy territory back to the British lines. On top of these worries, Spanish partisans insist that the British escort them to a remote village where they believe victory over the French is possible. This is a novel that takes you back in time to the desperate days in the struggle against Napoleon. Even if historical novels aren't your thing the adventure alone is worth the read.

When catasthrophe hit the grain harvest of the Soviet Union, the Politburo must decide whether to negotiate with the West for grains, or go to war, or suffer mass uprising. No one in the Kremlin wants the last possibility to happen, so two factions emerged, with the bare majority, including the Secretary-General, advocating negotiation. Through a Kremlin informant for British agent Adam Munro, the British PM and the US President learned just how desperate the situation in the USSR was.

Meanwhile, the survivor of a shipwreck in the Mediterranean aroused the interest of a British Andrew Drake. Drake descended from a Ukrainian nationlist, whose mission in life was to strike a humiliating blow against the USSR, and the shipwreck survivor provided him with an opportunity to do just that.

Somehow, the different threads spun by the author in the book came together, climaxing with the world being held hostage to an all-out war between the Eastern Bloc and the Western Bloc, or the greatest environmental catasthrophy yet.

The author did not stint on fleshing out his characters, providing them with ample description, motivations and attributes that the reader can just imagine the kind of actors and actresses that would be cast if this was a movie.

Plot development were fast and furious sometimes, yet deliberately slow and detailed at others, paced out well like the different variations of a symphony, but never a dull moment.

In the end, it will be up to our hero Adam Munro to save the world from the various catasthrophies, and the numerous twists in the end came round a blind corner, hitting the readers where they least expect (unless of course, they've been reading way too much thrillers like me who managed to guess a couple of them).

The Devil's Alternative is one of the finest thrillers ever written. In my opinion it ranks with The Negotiator as the best novels by Forsyth. What makes this book great is the realism. Forsyth knows his stuff, and has done a perfect job of researching the Halls of Power on both sides of the ocean. His depiction of the Soviet Politburo in action is one of the best representations in all of fiction. His use of technology (the tanker, etc.) is well done, with no inaccuracies. [Although it should be noted that the largest oil tanker in the world is the Jahre Viking, which is half the size of the Freya in the book] The characters, unlike most other thrillers, are not your everyday stock characters. Forsyth gives them a personality. The ending of this multi-layered thriller is also a gem, and no other author could have written such a perfect book.

It's the early eighties and group of radical Ukranian nationalists have a debt to settle as The Soviet Union is facing a possible famine. After a Ukranian nationalist is found barely alive floating in the black sea, the stage is set for a plot which involves numerous european countries as well as the US and Israel.

The character development in this novel is excellent. Frederick Forsyth has a way of bringing out the personalities of the main characters very well. His knowledge of geography really shows that he does his research before he writes. I like the way the book goes from one country to another carefully discribing what is going on but not always telling the reader how it's related to the plot until later. There are quite a few surprising moments which keep your attention. There are points were you may think the story is going nowhere and then there is an abrupt change of pace with no warning.

It is books like this that can turn one into an avid reader of espionage novels.

The Space Merchants is an interesting little science fiction novel which describes the world in the 23rd century. By then global capitalism, especially the top advertisers, almost literally rule the plant. Excessive population and pollution have driven the masses underground. People are nourished by the flesh of weird genetically modified beasts. Considering this book was written fifty years ago I found the subject matter surprisingly fresh and relevant.

The story involves a top ad man who finds his task of developing a campaign for the colonisation of Venus dramatically undermined by dark forces. In this complex stew of industrial espionage are competing ad companies and the underground conservationist guerillas. The mystery moves along at a good clip although it sputters a bit towards the end.

Overall this book touches some deep issues along the lines of Aldous ('Brave New World') Huxley, and has a satiric (and weird) feel like the works of Philip K. ('Ubik') Dick. Certainly a minor classic in its own right.

Written 50 years ago, you might expect this book, set in "the future", to be hopelessly trite and dated, but it holds up remarkably well. If anything, many of the issues in the book resonate more today than they may have when it was first published. The characters are believable and well constructed, and Pohl gives them a story to tell that moves quickly. He avoids the pitfalls of some authors who write future-based morality plays -- there's no preaching or sidebar pontificating here, just a very good read. My only complaint is that I wish it had been longer!

It's a shame that a book this good is available only in a crummy paperbound edition with cheesy, generic cover art. The Space Merchants deserves to be read by all aficionados of the genre, being one of the true classics. The authors collaborated on several other works, but this one is the first and most well known. Since Kornblouth in particular was a great admirer of George Orwell, its no coincidence that links can be drawn between this dystopian novel and 1984. Both are anti-establishment, both intense and well written, and both have their share of knockout lines and phrases. In this future world capitalism acts as an enslaver of the underclass, and the driving force in our protagonist's life is his job selling his firm's products to the masses. His personality and his job have put him on bad terms with his wife, but that is the least of his problems after his identity is stolen and he becomes a slave of the system he helped build, forced to be, part migrant worker and part indentured servant.

Although the political aspects of the novel are important, don't forget that really, the Space Merchants is a humorous book in addition to being a work of science fiction. It's just brisling with irony, and because of this, it is a fun read as Mitch takes a darkly comedic ride from the very top to the very bottom and tries to get back on top again. In conclusion, buy this novel, even in this lousy edition, and then repurchase it in hardcover. It's worth the effort.