As a fan of Victorian gothic fiction, this anthology delivers all that it promises. M.R. James is the king of creating a world of unexplainable situations. However, his endings leave the reader with many questions. Thus, when the reader puts the book down, she is left with the pleasant, tingling feeling of fear. If you like understatement and are a Radcliffe or Monk Lewis fan, then give M.R. James a chance.

They are like good poems in being very re-readable. When you've lived with these stories for a while, you may find yourself picking the book up just to savor once again James's description of a Queen Anne house, or his splendid pastiche of a Victorian traveler's notes on a Scandinavian country, or his word-painting of a lonely stretch of sand on the English east coast. Quite a few readers of James have found they "have to" attempt imitations! James doesn't hustle the reader off to the horrors. At the same time his stories are not too refined for their own good.

For several years my daughter and I have made a habit of from time to time gathering all the candles we can muster, lighting them, turn off the electrical lights and reading one of the stories in this collection.

What Conan Doyle is to the detective story, James is to the ghost story. These are not horror stories. No gore is to be found, no monsters, no savagery. One can find a subtle horror, a persistent sense that there are things in this world that we have either forgotten or never discovered.

If one has ever engaged in any historical research on the occult (which I have undertaken as an extreme nonbeliever), one will come across several ancient books and manuscripts in the field that were edited by M. R. James. He was not merely the writer of perfect ghost stories; he was an authority in the field of occult beliefs and practices. This concrete grounding accounts for much of the realistic feel to the researches of many of the characters in his stories.

Another fellow managed to cover all the eloquent intellectualities, but the simple truth is that this here book is a good look at a great man. Abbey is legendary, indeed, and that's a good thing, for the stuff he defended deserves a hero and the folks he poked mercilessly with his sharp stick wit (just about about all of us, but especially money-grubbing land-rapers and the lackadaisical dogs who can't bother to oppose them) deserved the poking. Buy this book, then let it collect dust until you've read through Abbey's words to discover him for yourself.

Wonderful collection of essays on the general theme of who Edward Abbey was. Some of the writers include Wendell Berry, Ed's friend Jack Loeffler, Gary "Jafey Rider" Snyder, Dave Petersen and Terry Tempest Williams. From this partial list of contributors, it's obvious that this is a book full of personal observances about one of the west's most hated and best loved figures. Since his death in 1989, the legend of Ed Abbey has perhaps grown beyond manageability. The essays collected here simultaneously feed that legend, while speaking of the actual person behind the lore. This juxtaposition creates an interesting tension throughout the book, as those who knew the man grapple with the public vs. the private Abbey. Abbey himself is also called to task to reveal a bit of himself through a couple of interviews. In hopes that the issue may never be solved and that the world will continue to discuss Abbey, here is what Ed had to say about himself, taken from the Poetry Center Interview: "The real Edward Abbey -- whoever the hell that is -- is a real shy, timid fellow, but the character I create in my journalism is perhaps a person I would like to be: bold, brash, daring...I guess some people mistake the creation for the author, but that's their problem." Resist Much, Obey Little is essential reading for those who knew Ed, as well as for those who are just discovering him.

The daughter of a Hungarian-born father and Milwaukee-native mother, Edna Ferber spent much of her childhood years in small midwestern towns. Her family, while not observant, always closed their store for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, never missing a Passover seder. Ferber felt that being Jewish was to be subjected to anti-Semitism. In 1917 she wrote Fanny Herself, based largely on the experiences she had while growing up in Appleton, Wisconsin and later in Chicago, Illinois. Her's is a tale of a young Jewish girl trying to become a successful businesswoman in early twentieth century America without denying her Jewish roots or subverting her social conscience. This newly abridged, four cassette, six hour audiobook edition (wonderfully narrated by Suzanne Toren) will introduce a whole new generation of listeners to a remarkable literary talent and an engaging, personal, affirming biography.

I read the story 'Campfire' it really made me think, that was a really sad story, and the basis for plot was good. I also read the story 'Computer Glitch' That was wierd, I thought it was pretty cool anyway. I read this book because I had to read a short story and summarize it, but the book in gereral was great.

TEACHERS CHECK THIS OUT! This book is excellent! I am a teacher of at-risk high school students and finding curriculum that is both educational and interesting to these students is difficult, to say the least. I started off by reading a very long story called, "Perfect Angels" (a story about babysitting). It not only held their attention for the 20 minutes it took to read the story aloud but you should have heard the discussion group questions at the end! This is the first time I have seen at-risk students say they actually liked a story I read them. Poe's short stories and the works of other adults who write for kids do not do these kids justice. What they like to read is stories about kids just like them. This book is just that: stories written by high school students all over the country. It is a high-school teacher's dream come true. These books are not only great for high-school kids, but Merlyn's Pen also publishes books for many ages from 8th grade on up.

LeFanu's Irish provenance and his superfluous stylistic skills - not to mention his safe dead distance - make him the a prime candidate for Gothic master celebre. But add to that the fact that Bram 'TombRaider' Stoker pinched his plotlines, and the fact that Monty R James 'approved' of the maestro, and you have utterly impeccable credentials.

But I didn't know this as a young man. All I knew was that my father had told me terrifying banshee tales - that his grandfather had told him in Ireland during the forties - and that by chance I discovered 'Madam Crowl's Ghost' in a wet school library one dismal dark afternoon. I read 'Sherry' (if the James afficiandos can refer to MRJ as 'Monty' then .... you get the picture) that afternoon and my life imploded ...... overnight, or rather, over afternoon, I became a devout depressive, marked by a strangely aloof and artistic air. I quoted Wilde, went to Cure concerts before they left London, and wore black eyeliner to compliment my drear Gothic clothing.

Enough about me. The tales of LeFanu are stunning. Everyone loves something because of a basically selfish reason, steeped in sentiment or posture. LeFanu was sublime. He deliberately plotted where Stoker stumbled. Only Aickmann and Machen took up the mantle of provacateur ambiguer as competently as he did. (Joyce doesn't count, though 'The Dead' from 'The Dubliners' comes close.)

I write, and if I could pen a story half as brilliant as 'Carmilla', then I would die ..... now.

Read LeFanu. Trust M.R.James. Ghost stories are not Stephen King gross horror hell raiser tasteless gore fests, they are dream haunted poems, visions of ambigious insight. Close your eyes. Picture a moonlit garden with an avenue of silver trees. At the end, a blue grey statue, a stretching saint reaching for the glitter above. You walk down the avenue, soft grey grass underfoot, running cool fingers through the mossy leaves. Somewhere a stream is gurgling. The moon washes your tired face. Then you look up, and to your horror, the statue has changed! It is facing you. The saint has shifted from his stance, and is slowly clambering down. You look up to his face .... no, you cannot! It is too horrible! His grey lifeless eyes are now emblazoned with volcano hate, boring their way into your very soul ......

And there the story should stop.

Which is why, dear reader, you should always read books by dead people.

As a language Arts teacher, I am constantly searching for examples of student writing. Merlyn's Pen contains excellent examples of fiction, poetry, and personal essays. The stories are reproducible and I have used them in my classroom. My students enjoy the stories, and have been inspired to write and submit their own stories.

First, I should admit a bias: I wrote one of the stories in this book. But it's not as an author that I want to recommend it (though I do think, seven years after writing it, that the story is pretty good). I am now a high school English teacher and have seen what a great effect these stories can have on other teenagers.

These stories -- honest, funny, moving, exciting -- show the world from a teenager's point of view, and no adult author would be able to get it exactly right the way these stories get it exactly right. I've also found that these stories can be wonderful models and inspiration for other teen writers. These are great works of fiction, but they aren't intimidating, they aren't Great Works of Art that have to be read in a quiet, reverent tone.

I can't imagine anything that would more inspire teens to be writers and readers than excellent stories written by people in the midst of adolescence themselves. This book, and all the books of the American Teen Writer series, belong in every school and home library.

"Barchester Towers" has proven to be the most popular novel Anthony Trollope ever wrote-despite the fact that most critics would rank higher his later work such as "The Last Chronicle of Barset","He Knew He Was Right" and "The Way We Live Now".While containing much satire those great novels are very powerful and disturbing, and have little of the genial good humor that pervades "Barchester Towers".Indeed after "Barchester Towers",Trollope would never write anything so funny again-as if comedy was something to be eschewed.That is too bad,because the book along with its predecessor "The Warden" are the closest a Victorian novelist ever came to approximating Jane Austen."Barchester Towers" presents many unforgettable characters caught in a storm of religious controversy,political and social power struggles and romantic and sexual imbroglios.All of this done with a light but deft hand that blends realism,idealism and some irresistible comedy.It has one of the greatest endings in all of literature-a long,elaborate party at a country manor(which transpires for about a hundred pages)where all of the plot's threads are inwoven and all of the character's intrigues come to fruition."Barchester Towers" has none of the faults common to Trollope's later works -(such as repetiveness)it is enjoyable from beginning to end.Henry James(one of our best novelists,but not one of our best critics) believed that Trollope peaked with "The Warden"and that the subsequent work showed a falling off as well as proof that Trollope was no more than a second rate Thackeray.For the last fifty years critics have been trying to undo the damage that was done to Trollope's critical reputation."Barchester Towers"proves not only to be a first rate novel but probably the most humorous Victorian novel ever written.

I rushed home every day after work to read a little more of this Trollope comedy. The book starts out with the death of a bishop during a change in political power. The new bishop is a puppet to his wife Mrs. Proudie and her protégé Mr. Slope. Along the way we meet outrageous clergymen, a seductive invalid from Italy, and a whole host of delightfully ridiculous characters. Trollope has designed most of these characters to be "over the top". I kept wondering what a film version starring the Monty Python characters would look like. He wrote an equivalent of a soap opera, only it doesn't take place at the "hospital", it takes place with the bishops. Some of the characters you love, some of the characters you hate, and then there are those you love to hate. Trollope speaks to the reader throughout the novel using the mimetic voice, so we feel like we are at a cocktail party and these 19th century characters are our friends (or at least the people we're avoiding at the party!). The themes and characters are timeless. The book deals with power, especially power struggles between the sexes. We encounter greed, love, desperation, seductive sirens, and generosity. Like many books of this time period however, the modern reader has to give it a chance. No one is murdered on the first page, and it takes quite a few chapters for the action to pick up. But pick up it does by page 70, and accelerates into a raucously funny novel from there. Although I didn't read the Warden, I didn't feel lost and I'm curious to read the rest of this series after finishing this book. Enjoy!

This is the second of the six Barsetshire novels, and the first great novel in that series. THE WARDEN, while pleasant, primarily serves as a prequel to this novel. To be honest, if Trollope had not gone on to write BARCHESTER TOWERS, there would not be any real reason to read THE WARDEN. But because it introduces us to characters and situations that are crucial to BARCHESTER TOWERS, one really ought to have read THE WARDEN before reading this novel.

Trollope presents a dilemma for most readers. On the one hand, he wrote an enormous number of very good novels. On the other hand, he wrote no masterpieces. None of Trollope's books can stand comparison with the best work of Jane Austen, Flaubert, Dickens, George Eliot, Tolstoy, or Dostoevsky. On the other hand, none of those writers wrote anywhere near as many excellent as Trollope did. He may not have been a very great writer, but he was a very good one, and perhaps the most prolific good novelist who ever lived. Conservatively assessing his output, Trollope wrote at least 20 good novels. Trollope may not have been a genius, but he did possess a genius for consistency.

So, what to read? Trollope's wrote two very good series, two other novels that could be considered minor classics, and several other first rate novels. I recommend to friends that they try the Barsetshire novels, and then, if they find themselves hooked, to go on to read the Political series of novels (sometimes called the Palliser novels, which I feel uncomfortable with, since it exaggerates the role of that family in most of the novels). The two "minor classics" are THE WAY WE LIVE NOW and HE KNEW HE WAS RIGHT. The former is a marvelous portrait of Victorian social life, and the latter is perhaps the finest study of human jealousy since Shakespeare's OTHELLO. BARSETSHIRE TOWERS is, therefore, coupled with THE WARDEN, a magnificent place, and perhaps the best place to enter Trollope's world.

There are many, many reasons to read Trollope. He probably is the great spokesperson for the Victorian Mind. Like most Victorians, he is a bit parochial, with no interest in Europe, and very little interest in the rest of the world. Despite THE AMERICAN SENATOR, he has few American's or colonials in his novels, and close to no foreigners of any type. He is politically liberal in a conservative way, and is focussed almost exclusively on the upper middle class and gentry. He writes a good deal about young men and women needing and hoping to marry, but with a far more complex approach than we find in Jane Austen. His characters are often compelling, with very human problems, subject to morally complex situations that we would not find unfamiliar. Trollope is especially good with female characters, and in his sympathy for and liking of very independent, strong females he is somewhat an exception of the Victorian stereotype.

Anyone wanting to read Trollope, and I heartily believe that anyone who loves Dickens, Austen, Eliot, Hardy, and Thackery will want to, could find no better place to start than with reading the first two books in the Barsetshire Chronicles, beginning first with the rather short THE WARDEN and then progressing to this very, very fun and enjoyable novel.

When I first read this book by James, I was preparing to write an essay on Melville and his "isolatoes." James gives ample evidence for establishing the reasons why some of the protagonists appear elusive, enigmatic, and, of course, reclusive. I found this text quite helpful in its explanations of why Melville portrayed his male characters the way he chose; perhaps James own exile for passport violations sets up the framework for presenting his theories on the characters he analyzes. The work is a fine read, although the socialist commentary remains controversial.

C.L.R. James's analysis of Moby Dick brings the book to life and makes it understandable for a 21st century audience. You'll read "Mariners, Renegades, and Castaways, and want to immediately run out and read Moby Dick and Melville's other classics. James argues that Melville used the novel to explore dramatic changes in the fabric of American culture including the rise of industrial capitalism, the international working class, and the increasingly savage character of political and industrial life and leadership.

C.L.R. James wrote this book while he was interned with the newest generation of "Mariners, Renegades, and Castaways" on Ellis Island awaiting deportation. James's fate--that of a foreigner who offers the finest existing interpretation of one of America's greatest books and is still deported--serves as a cautionary tale for our own times. James concludes, "What the writing of this book has taught the writer is the inseparability of great literature and of social life."

This book is more than a little bit of early Postcolonial writing. The intoduction by Donald Pease is new, and the last chapter - an autobiographical sketch and personal appeal by James - was omitted from a previous edition. In terms of literary criticism, this is what Pease has to say about James and his writing: "He was one of the few critics who emerged from the Third World in the 1950's and traveled throughout Britain and the United States generating what are now called post-colonial readings." The real value of this book however is in its brilliant reinterpretation of MOBY DICK.

Rather than see Ahab and Ishmael as representing respectively "totalitarian" and "American" cultural themes as critics in the 1950's saw it, James offers a vison focused on the Pequod and its crew. A view in which the MARINERS, RENEGADES & CASTAWAYS of the ship were at the mercy of their Captain. In James' interpretaion the Pequod is a factory ship and the crew are the workers. Ahab is no longer a mere sailor but is now illustrative of a "Captain of industry."

I agree with the reviewer from New Haven regarding the peculiar situation James found himself in. The established interpretation of a Cold War allegory was in keeping with the times in the 1950's. If James or Melville himself were writing today, the interpretation on offer here - rather than something to be persecuted for - would be considered far more plausible than the narrow and blinkered view of the 1950's mainstream critics.