Mr. Swift has painted a brilliant picture with this magnificent novel. It is an absolute indulgence of all the pleasures I didn't know words on a page could bring! It truly is a biography of the imagination. Don't be surprised if you find a bit of yourself in Miss Clarissa Spellbinder.

An imagination like no other I have ever read.

Edward Swift has written a fabulous book.
He involves the reader and makes us believe each word.
Glorious reading!!

I loved this book. It was about where my mother as born a raised. We readed it aloud to each other. We laughed all weekend. I could just see all the people he wrote about. My mother knew some of them. I readed it a couple of times. Laugh every time.

Mr. Swift has written a humorous, pathos filled and somewhat haunting view of a young man growing up in a very remote cultural part of Texas called 'The Big Thicket'. The stories of his family members, characters within the community and his journey with all these people in becoming the individual author that he is today are compelling and touching. The photos by Lynn Lennon are reminiscent of Eudora Welty's during the depression. This is a must read for lovers of Southern literature. Ed Swift presents a riveting study of this uniquely classic portion of Texas.

This is a poignant memoir but not at all in the sappy, cliched way. Mr. Swift eloquently brings a sense of place and culture for this area of the South. His portrayals of his characters are entertaining and are real tributes to their individualities. Even if you don't know eccentrics like these, you will finish reading this story deeply appreciating unique traits of those who are influential to you.

A PLACE WITH PROMISE is filled with the characters that Edward Swift loves. In this book, Edward Swift weaves memory with wonder and satirical jabs that will be appreciated long after he is gone from this earth. Mr. Swift loves the people who populate his mind and his memory. In A PLACE WITH PROMISE, Mr. Swift causes us to join him in caring deeply about the people whom he translates well from his mind to the pages of his books. Mr. Swift first did this with the people in the East Texas town, which was the setting of his first book, SPLENDORA. He also caused us to care deeply for the people in CAMP RUBY, CHRISTOPHER PARK REGULARS and MY GRANDFATHER'S FINGER, which is actually a memoir of his early years with his mother who created his magical world for him and taught him to appreciate the humor in the eccentricities of those around him. Mr. Swift's books cause us to want to read them again and again and to share them with all our friends. We truly feel that his books grow more meaningful with time and we also feel that Mr. Swift is now entering the time in which he was born to live.

A PLACE WITH PROMISE will zing you with humor and zap you with the pathos of the inner lives of the characters. You'll find yourself and all your friends within these pages and you'll love your world and your friends more after you have read it.

Way back in 1988, I obtained a publisher's copy of htis book in hardcover and it promptly made the circuit of my book-reading friends. Dog-eared as it was, it always made its way back to me numerous times after a high praise review from that pal. Many compared it to Marquez's Hundred Years in Solitude. I loved this story so much. It is funny, heartbreaking and so deserving of an audience. Edward Swift's books have always flown beneath the radar but certainly enjoy a cult status. This is one of my alltime favorites though. I would love to see this book added to the Oprah Book Club shelf at my local bookseller. And with Oprah in mind, I can see it as a film with the eye Spielberg used in his Color Purple.

Edward Swift is one of my favorite authors. This book made me laugh out loud and then weep for joy in knowing that a great author like him is writing and living in our midst. Has Oprah heard about this guy? His book, "My Grandfather's Finger" captured my heart and imagination a few years ago and since then I have read all of his books that I can find in print. Such a gift he has for capturing the souls of human beings on paper. Thank you Edward Swift for touching me in a way that no other author has been able to.

Anyone with any interest in Jonathan Swift will find this lucid, amusing, insightful and appreciative work hard to put down. Professor Rosenheim illuminates the nature and role of satire in an urbane and exceptionally interesting manner.

You want a fascinating adventure? This is it. What makes it even better is that it's a true story. Read the book about ten years back yet lots of books later, it still stands as one of my very favorites.

The version of this classic I read was a translation into modern English by Nevill Coghill. As you can see above, I awarded Chaucer (and the translation) five stars; but I do have a criticism. This translation (and many other publications of Chaucer) do not contain the two prose tales ("The Tale of Melibee" and "The Parson's Tale"). These are rarely read and I understand the publisher's and the translator's desire to keep the book to a managable size. Still, that should be the readers decision and no one else's. I had to go to the University library and get a complete copy in order to read those sections. As I mentioned, this copy is a translation into modern English. However, I do recommend that readers take a look at the Middle English version, at least of the Prologue. Many years ago, when I was in high school, my teacher had the entire class memorize the first part of the Prologue in the original Middle English. Almost forty years later, I still know it. I am always stunned at how beautiful, fluid, and melodic the poetry is, even if you don't understand the words. Twenty-nine pilgrims meet in the Tabard Inn in Southwark on their way to Canterbury. The host suggests that the pilgrims tell four stories each in order to shorten the trip (the work is incomplete in that only twenty-four stories are told). The tales are linked by narrative exchanges and each tale is presented in the manner and style of the character providing the story. This book was a major influence on literature. In fact, the development of the "short story" format owes much to these tales. All of the elements needed in a successful short story are present: flow of diction and freedom from artifice, faultless technical details and lightness of touch, and a graphic style which propels the story. In poetry, Chaucer introduced into English what will become known as rime royal (seven-line stanza riming ababbcc), the eight-line stanza (riming ababbcbc), and the heroic couplet. His poetry is noted for being melodious and fluid and has influenced a great many later poets. He has a remarkable talent for imagery and description. With respect to humor, which often receives the most negative responses from a certain group of readers (as witnessed by some of the comments below), there are at least three types: good humor which produces a laugh and is unexpected and unpredictable (for example, the description of the Prioress in the Prologue), satire (for example, the Wife of Bath's confession in the Prologue to her tale), and course humor, which is always meant to keep with the salty character of the teller of the tale or with the gross character of the tale itself. I am really stunned at the comments of the reviewer from London (of June 21, 1999). He/she clearly has no idea of the influence of the work nor on the reasons why Chaucer chose to present the humor the way he has. T. Keene of May 17 gave the work only three stars, presumably because it was once banned in Lake City, Florida. (Does that mean it would get fewer stars if it hadn't been banned?) Perhaps our London reviewer will be more comfortable moving to Lake City! Another reviewer suggested that "The Canterbury Tales" was only a classic because it had been around a long time. No! Chaucer's own contemporaries (for example, Gower, Lydgate, and Hoccleve) acknowledged his genius. My goodness, even science fiction books acknowledge the Tales (for example, Dan Simmons' "Hyperion," which won the 1990 Hugo Award for best science fiction novel of the year, is based on the Tales). These brief entries are too short to review all of the tales. Let me just descibe the first two. Other readers might consider reviewing the other tales in later responses. In "The Knight's Tale," the Theban cousins Palamon and Arcite, while prisoners of the King of Athens (Theseus), fall in love with Emelyn, sister of Hippolyta and sister-in-law to Theseus. Their rivalry for Emelyn destroys their friendship. They compete for her in a tournament with different Greek gods supporting the two combatants. Arcite, supported by Mars, wins but soon dies from a fall from his horse (due to the intervention of Venus and Saturn). Both Palamon and Emelyn mourn Arcite, after which they are united. It is the basis of "The Two Noble Kinsmen" by Fletcher and Shakespeare. "The Miller's Tale" is a ribald tale about a husband, the carpenter John, who is deceived by the scholar Nicholas and the carpenter's wife Alison that a second flood is due. In this tale, a prospective lover is deceived into kissing a lady in an unusual location. And, recalling the response from our reviewer from London, apparently this Tale should not be read by people from London (or Lake City)!

The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer is one of the first great works of literature in the English language and are good reading for a number of reasons. They are written in "old English", however, and read like a foreign language for most of us. Barbara Cohen's adapted translation gives us four of the tales in contemporary English and therefore provides an excellent introduction to Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. Cohen's tales retain Chaucer's colorful insight into fourteenth century England including life as a knight, the horror of the plague, and the religous hypocrisy of the age. The illustrations by Trina Schart Hyman are vivid and tell a story all by themselves. I use Cohen's book as a supplement to teaching medieval history and literature to 7th and 8th graders.

In addition to its literary importance, Chaucer's Canterbury Tales are an enchanting reading experience. The Bantam Classic edition presents the tales in Modern English translation alongside the Middle English so that one can fully appreciate the tales as Chaucer composed them, or if you're just in the mood for a fun romp you can speedily read the translation. The tales themselves move at a quick pace, so beginners will probably enjoy the modern version much more.

The Canterbury Tales revolve around a group of 29 on a pilgrimage to Canterbury Cathedral to pay homage to the martyred St. Thomas a'Becket. The members of the pilgrimage come from all walks of life, including a Knight, Prioress, Merchant, Miller, the ever-entertaining Wife of Bath, and many others. The Canterbury Tales are the pilgrims' stories and each one reflects the individual character's personality beautifully. One can't help but feel a part of this lively group.

Whether you like a bawdy, raucous tale or a morally sound fable you will definitely find something entertaining in this book. I laughed out loud several times and found Chaucer's use of symbolism, wit, wisdom, and the glimpse into 14th Century life absolutely fascinating.