I read The Master of Ballantrae quite recently and I think it is an awesome book. James Durie (the Master) is such a wicked man, but seems to charm (most) everybody. He is such a round character. He torments his poor brother Henry Durie and Henry suffers in silence. Only Mr. Mackellar knows of Henry's sufferings. The Master makes the book so colorful. It's full of adventure, romance, sorrow, and revenge. I highly recommend this book, because it was so interesting and kept you wondering what would happen next. I am sure it will capture your attention as it did mine.

I saw the Errol Flynn movie,which I found rather disappointing. I was assuming, however, that the book was a faithful adaptation of the movie. Be forewarned: it is most definitely not! This is not the kind of superficial swashbuckler you might assume. It is a dark and compelling book about the nature of evil and its manifestation in the person of James Durie, the Master of Ballantrae. The Master sets out to destroy everyone and everything he cannot control or manipulate, including (and especially)his own family. Without summarizing the book, I would offer this to anyone interested in a compelling plot, complex characters and just plain good writing. Stevenson is overlooked, and it's a shame, because he is an excellent writer, a writer in the best sense of the word. Read it and enjoy it!

Wild Grows the Heather in Devon is thought provoking, eloquant and superbly written. I have highlighted most of the book. Many of the prayers written, I have taken as my own. Excellent intelligent reading!

I was skeptical that he'd like this book when he found it,
believing my 2 year old was a bit young for poetry beyond
Dr. Seuss. But he loves the sound and rhythm of the words
as well as the pictures in my old Golden Book edition,
and asks for it nearly every day now. For myself it's a
nice change from the usual kids books.

There is beauty in RLS's poetry, and the Provensons' illustrations are simply delightful. There are other versions of this book (or very similar), but no other combines the aforementioned elements so well.

Robert Lewis Stevenson has a way of making children smile, and adults follow right behind. The words so eloquently put together bring to life the thoughts of young children.

Monique Felix's inviting mouse illustrations in Robert Lewis Stevenson's My Shadow provides an inviting mix of rollicking rhyme and whimsical mouse illustrations. Kids will learn a new appreciation of the poetic style will enjoying the mouse's lively adventures.

This classic poem by Robert Louis Stevenson displayed by wonderful illustrations! Penny Dale's talent shines in the clear pictures, that re a joy to look at over and over again. It only made the poem better for me, and my entire classroom of 5 year olds!

MY SHADOW (illustrated by Ted Rand) is on our short list for best picture book. Our four kids all loved the pictures and, of course, the poem. I would recommend the book as a toddler picture book rather than a beginning reader--the pictures are beautiful and engaging and the poem is suitable for little children.

This small selection of some of the delightful children's poems by Robert Louis Stevenson is a real treasure. What will capture the fascination of all children (as well as adults like me!) are the illustrations by Lucy Corvino. This artist's beautiful illustrations are perfect for the magic that all children love in these classic poems. You keep returning to each picture, and always discover more fascinating detail. A lovely job - a lovely gift book for any small child, and for "grown-ups" like me who can't resist such perfect art work.

When I showed this beautiful book to a friend, she wanted one for both her children (so they can keep it when they grow up) and also one for her mother. The poetry is timeless--it takes you back instantly into your childhood imagination--and the illustrations are superb. These pictures are funny, mysterious, comforting, poignant, all at the same time, and filled with gorgeous soft color and intriguing details. As a child, I would have spent hours looking at them.

As an elementary school teacher, I found "Poetry for Young People" by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Lucy Corvino, a wonderful book. It's a great way to introduce poetry to children because the poems are short and easy to understand. The illustrations have magnificently detailed illustrations without being overly complex or confusing. The children are drawn to the pictures, which heightens what is being read to them. They unanimously respond with great enthusiasm, and they eagerly ask for more. I highly recommend this book to parents, teachers and anyone who regularly spends time with children.

Prayers Written At Vailima is a gem. These simple, yet beautifully expressed thoughts was over you like a refreshing shower. They calm the soul and put you in a quiet place of reflection. True spirituality glows in these lovely invocations. In addition this volume is elegantly produced and adds visual and tactile pleasure to the pleasure of the reading.

This edition of Stevenson's Prayers Written at Vailima is simple, elegant and beautiful. Although Stevenson wrote these Prayers in another place and another time, his words are still relevant to us today. He prays for many of the same things we wish and hope for: friends, family, success and strength. I recommend this book to people of all religions (and even those who are not religious at all). Stevenson expresses his emotions and desires with such clarity and spirit that any reader might identify with and enjoy this remarkable book.

Prayers Written At Vailima is a collection of the daily prayers written by the famous English novelist Robert Louis Stevenson for his family and their Samoan neighbors during his time in the south seas. Also included is an introduction by his wife about their life on the island of Samoa and twenty-one original linoleum-cut illustrations designed with a Polynesian feel buy Catherine Kanner. For Friends: For our absent loved ones we implore thy/loving-kindness. Keep them in life, keep them/in growing honour; and for us, grant that we/remain worthy of their love. For Christ's sake, let/not our beloved blush for us, nor we for them./Grant us but that, and grant us courage to/endure lesser ills unshaken, and to accept death,/loss, and disappointment as it were straws upon/the tide of life.

My review title sums up the overall flavor of the book, that being a "black comedy," but the humor is the result of Stevenson's uncanny ability to weave ever changing plot twists into the overall story itself without ever losing a sense of continuity.

Joseph Finsbury is a character whose heart may be in the right place but his head never is. Constantly preoccupied with trivial intellectual pursuits, he allows his leather business to go heavily into debt to the brink of ruin. Having raised his two nephews, John and Morris, since the death of their father, the news of the loss of their fortune to Joseph Finsbury's malfeasance lays the ground work for all that is to come.

Morris, who is shrewd and extremely self-centered, is given the ailing leather business as consolation. But Morris counts on Joseph winning the tontine to make him whole. A tontine is a scheme where participants pay an equal amount of money into a kitty and the last one living gets it all.

The three are involved in a train wreck and the assumed body of Joseph Fisbury is found by Morris and John who hatch a plan to first hide the body and then ship it back to their home in Bloomsbury, London, where they will pretend Joseph is still alive; which he needs to be to keep their claim to the tontine intact. It is during shipment that its' destination is changed as a sort of practical joke and mayhem ensues shortly thereafter.

The bulk of the story essentially has people coming home and finding a dead man in their house whom they've never seen before, dead or alive, and who definitely wasn't there when they left. The problem then is obvious; What to do with the body? It is here that Stevenson is ulra-creative with the solutions these poor unfortunate souls come up with long before Bernie ever had two losers over for the weekend.

I found myself laughing several times throughout the book, which is only about 150 pages of text, and always eager to pick it up again to see where poor "Joseph" would end up next and who would get him. This is one of Stevenson's less familiar works but also one of his best. Buy it, read it, tell a friend. You'll be glad you did and so will they.

We don't usually think of RLS as a comic writer, but a story-teller ofswashbuckling romances like Kidnapped and Treasure Island. ButThe Wrong Box is comedy in the grand manner: eccentric characters,a wonderfully convoluted plot, settings that range from railway trainwrecks through moldering houseboats, barrels, boxes, and a grand pianothat have bodies in them (actually, the same body), plus a charming romance. It also contains some of Stevenson's finest descriptive writing -- vivid,dramatic, and funny. Miss Haseltine's description of how she will firethe revolver she bought as self-protection is worth the price of the book.Who can forget a novel in which the young solictor Gideon Forsyth is trying to write an opera in the key of seven sharps called "Orange Pekoe-- Orange Pekoe" while hiding on a houseboat?But no more spoilers, if that was a spoiler. If you read or saw "ColdComfort Farm" by Stella Gibbons -- or even if not -- you'll love "The Wrong Box."Very highly recommended.

[submitted on behalf of G. Franco Mattioli, Milan]

If you have some heart problems, it is better to avoid this book. You might have the same reactions that Rudyard Kipling had on this reading: laugh and fast heart-beating.

Practically it is impossible to touch this subject without been absorbed through the mirror as Alice and in the same time to be happy to be different. Morris Finsbury, the "great Vance", uncle Joseph, Miss Hazeltine, Gideon, the uncle "Wooden Spoon", William Dent, Bloomsbury, Victoria Station, are surely coincidental with your world, parents, neighbors, your TV characters and other people you know. Never a virtual Country (this 18th Century England) was so similar to the Country in which you are leaving now.

But this vivid Victorian picture is penetrating in your mind as ever before.

The other problem you will encounter is that of ever putting this very addicting book down. You will read and read it again to search the hidden treasure left in this Island on which only few elected spirits are claimed to wreck being happy of doing it.

If you read only one "South Seas" book from the 1920s back, this should be the one. This Penguin issue corrects a number of inaccuracies from previous editions, including Stevenson's own error in their departure date (!) It is the classic travel and observation book of the Pacific. The early descriptions of the Marquesas are unmatched, as are the accounts of the several islands they visited in Kiribati (Gilbert Islands). The account of Tem Binoka will give you a real eye opening into an absolute ruler and his ways in the late 19th century. Reading this could start a life long interest in Pacific literature.

In his book, In the South Seas, Stevenson gives an accurate and in depth look into the people and culture of the islands of the South Pacific. The book describes Stevenson's two year journey from the Marqueses Islands, to Tahiti, then Honolulu ,and finally Somoa. Stevenson uses the great adventures he experienced and his masterfully writing skills to paint a breath taking view of the islands and thier many beauties.

if you are moody, cause winter is around, then you have to read this book, you will feel the sun, ocean breez, friendly people, more than your expactation. even I only have chance to read in Chinese version, but I can feel so touching and travel with the writter at same time, such as flying through storm and leave my heart on those beautiful south pacific Island. so, please sit tight, relax, and go......

Thanks for Gavin Bell for introducing me to Robert L. Stevenson. This book is so fasinacting. Everytime I read this book, I feel like I am surrounding by the ocean, palm trees, moonlight, friendly people...How much I wish I could be there. I don't have money to go there but Mr. Bell satisfies my dream. Now I start to get into Robert L. Stevenson. I have recently read a book about Fanny Stevenson, she is such an incredible woman. Now I am reading In Search of Tusitala in Chinese, I have been looking the English version and I have not found it yet. I hope it will be reprinted soon. If you have not read this book, you are missing a lot.

I stumbled upon the short stories of Stevenson kind of by accident, and what a happy accident that was! I can now say that Stevenson wrote both some of my favorite novels and some of my favorite short stories. I haven't gotten around to reading all of his stories yet, but I have loved those that I have read. I can't possibly describe how much I enjoyed Markheim, which is without a doubt my favorite short story of all time. Despite my rather limited reading of Stevenson's short stories, I would not hesitate to recommend them to anyone.

There is nothing so exciting as a Stevenson novel--Kidnapped, Master of Ballantrae, Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde--who can forget them once you've read them? These short stories have the same ability draw you in. The reading is effortless, and Stevenson's backgrounds don't labor with a conscious attempt at reality. They exist for the story and are as true as need be, and not more. From the South Sea to a Medieval City, the variety is pleasing and keeps you reading. Some of the best stories are "The Bottle Imp" (I doubt if a better twist on King Midas has ever been written), "Sire De Maltroit's Door" (A surprisingly good romance than manages, somehow, to skip all the usual elements) and "The Suicide Club" (not half as grim as it sounds, and showing RLS's ability to penetrate human thought).

These stories are highly recommended and aren't something to be read when you are all out of the "good" standard Stevenson--they stand as some of his best works and should be read just for the pure fun of it.

This is the kind of book at which Holmes, in my view, excels. I'm not that particularly fond of his painstaking mammoth biographies of Shelley and Coleridge because, well, they're too run-of-the-mill and not all that much fun to read.-In other words, just the opposite of books like this one. This type of book, where the relationship between Holmes and the author he is writing about is constantly in play add a mystery and a haunted quality inherent in the time elapsed between Holmes' time and the author's that keeps the readers attention constantly transfixed (or, at least, this reader's). As Holmes himself puts it, "The material surfaces of life are continually breaking down, sloughing off, changing, almost as fast as human skin." Examples: The passage on Shelley's view of the double, the "ghost of the living person" the view of which signified the shadow world invading this one; Shelley's view that this is what was happening to him just before he drowned himself is the most affecting passage I've read on Shelley's end, and together with the photograph of the Casa Magni, which I'd never actually seen, and whose setting Mary Shelley said caused them to be in touch with the unreal sent shivers up my spine. It's not to be missed.-The section on Nerval was also interesting, as were the others. Curiously, the same sort of thing seems to have affected Nerval "...Here began for me what I shall call the overflowing of dreams into real life." Both sections are excellent and Holmes' speculation that "Nerval's whole work was a form of suicide note" seems right on the mark. The other sections are intriguing as well, but these two haunted me the most. In a moment of brave self-exposure where Holmes is following Shelley's footsteps in Rome, he recounts a dinner where they toasted Shelley as a fellow-exile and his name "rang to the roof." Holmes writes, "I sat there looking at my plate dangerously close to tears. I...determined to write a book for people like them too, who would never read it, people who have lost most things except hope."-You've succeeded Mr Holmes.

Beginning with a journey tracing Stevenson's walking tour in France, Holmes shows himself to be both a remarkable adventurer and writer. The thing that comes out clearly when he discovers the ruins of a bridge crossed by Stevenson is that the past is the past. And while it has an impact on the world today, it is gone. If you only read it for the first essay, it is well worth the money. The other essays explore other themes that affect biographers. A superb book that should be read by anyone interested in the mysrerious relationship between biographer and subject.

I read this the spring it came out, the spring I learned that once again there would be no summer vacation, no breaking free of the time zone. As much as a book can stand in for actual experience, this did, and I got a rollicking review of Romantic figures in the bargain. Holmes obviously conducts meticulous research, but he writes it up in a style that has the sweep of a fine novel. He is a master at marrying study and action.