Trying to describe this one long joke of a novel is a bit like retelling someone else's disjointed dream with Chinese sign language. Aach, why bother. Suffice to say, the wee man of many monikers made his reputation with this book, getting lumped in with those other tricksters of narrative form, some of them his countrymen in self-imposed exile. With multiple openings, this madcap book discards quare old conventions like consistent point of view and plot. A Dublin student goes mouldy in his bedroom while characters rebel against their slumbering creator and the barmy Sweeney hops from tree to tree. Horseman, if you're looking for linear progression, pass by. All clever parody of Irish literature and mythology aside, the novel has a reassuring warmth. The student, branded a dozey ne'er-do-well by his blockhead uncle, has a small but delightful triumph near the end that makes his part in O'Brien's tangled web particularly satisfying. A novel to be read when whimsical, when life has lost its vim and bubble.

Is Swift's A Tale of a Tub a great novel? Is Carlysle's Sartor Resartus a great novel? Is Tristram Shandy a great novel? Each of these works takes as its basis another form, whether the controversialist pamphlet, the philosophical treatise, or the biography, and comes out the other side with a new type of work, as well as a new work. These books occupy an originary and terminal position: they are the first and the last of their kind. For readers, these works are stones -- either the stones that become the foundations for understanding or the stones that drag them down. At Swim-Two-Birds takes as its foil the popular novel and the Irish renaissance myth discovery and the personal narrative. Why should a novel have only one beginning, O'Brien (aka Brian O'Nolan, aka Brian Nolan -- a man who got into university with a forged interview with John Joyce) asks? Why one ending? If, as some reviewers have suggested, you try to find the "structure," you're missing the point. Trying to mash this book into a novel's mold is misguided, and O'Brien will eventually make that clear. In fact, it is the story of a college student (fictional), who is writing a novel about a man (fictional) who is writing an Irish western (which cannot be). Additionally, the student's translation homework -- tales from the Dun Cow Book -- emerge in a full Lady Gregory parody and begin to interact with the other fictions, and the characters of the Irish Western themselves begin to resent their lots in life. The book plays games on so many levels that reading it the way one reads a novel is useless. This is not about information and straight lines, but about play -- sometimes rough and tumble and sometimes gentle. All of the narrators lie, by the way, and there is always one more frame of fiction beyond the one in action at the moment. Do not buy this book if you're intolerant of play. Do not buy this book if you look at books for "what happens." If, however, you're one of those who enjoys, instead of resents, reading milestones like Sartor Resartus or think that Italo Calvino is extremely sophisticated, this book (not novel) will be the greatest delight the 20th century can offer you.

Published in 1939, the same year that James Joyce published Finnegan's Wake, this novel was lauded in its day by Joyce himself, Samuel Beckett, and Graham Greene. A wild concoction involving a completely disjointed narrative, multiple points of view, farce, satire, and parody, this "novel" offers any student of Irish literature unlimited subject matter--and equally unlimited laughs. In this unique experiment with point of view, author Brian O'Nolan has used a pseudonym, Flann O'Brien, to tell the story of the novelist/student N, who tells his own story at the same time that he is writing a book about an invented novelist (Trellis), who is himself developing another story, while Tracy, still another author, tells a cowboy story and appears in the previous narratives.

Believing that characters should be born fully adult, one of the writers tries to keep them all together--in this case, at the Red Swan Hotel--so that he can keep track of them and keep them sober while he plans the narrative and writes and rewrites the beginning and ending of the novel. But even when the primary writer stops writing to go out with his friends, the characters of the other (invented) fictional writers continue to live on in the narrative and comment on writing. Before long, the reader is treated to essays on the nature of books vs. plays, polemics about the evils of drink, parodies of folk tales and ballads, a breathless wild west tale starring an Irish cowboy, the legends of Ireland, catalogues of sins, tales of magic and the supernatural, almanacs of folk wisdom and the cures for physical ills, and even the account of a trial--and that's just for starters.

Totally unique, O'Brien's creation defies the conventions, both of its day and of the present, and even the most jaded reader will be astonished at the unexpected twists the narrative takes. Steeped in the traditions of the Irish story-teller, O'Brien keeps those traditions alive by creating multiple narrators to tell multiple stories simultaneously, while also skewering the very traditions of which he--and they--are a part. Mary Whipple

This is a beautiful and romantic novel not to be missed by any fan of classic literature. The thick volume (795 pages) may be an instant put-off for some readers and the story does take a little while to develop, but TRUST ME, once you get past the first 50 pages, you'll be HOOKED and finding it difficult to put down the book.

I love George Eliot's style of writing - beautifully and distinctively eloquent and expressive, and with such observance and skills in depicting the depths and complexities of human relations and the demands and passions of the heart. The book also explores the issues of "class" (e.g. in the courtship between gentleman Fred Vincy and working class Mary Garth), "money" (e.g. questions raised over Featherstone's will after the old miser's death), "politics" (on elections and the cause promoted by the 'liberal' Middlemarchers), "scandals" (especially concerning the dark secrets of the respected banker, Mr Bulstrode) and even "murder" - all portrayed brilliantly in high drama and with engrossing suspense.

My favourite character is the heroine, the virtuous Dorothea Brooke whose life is made miserable by her marriage to the old, dull, selfish academician, Casaubon. Her later acquaintance with young Will Ladislaw who is Casaubon's cousin ("cousin, not nephew", as the vain Casaubon always makes a point to clarify, due to the apparent age gap between them) provides Dorothea with the companionship of someone who listens to and respects her views and who brings a ray of sunshine and cheer into her otherwise lonely life. Love soon blossoms between Dorothea and Will but they're forbidden to court/marry even after Casaubon's death due to a nasty clause put in by Casaubon in his will. It was pure heartache to read of the feelings that these two have for each other but aren't able to express due to societal constraints. Will knows rather early on that he loves her; it takes Dorothea longer to realize her true feelings. I got all teary-eyed when I read the part where Dorothea, alone in her room and in a state of inescapable anguish, moans out "Oh, I did love him!" [And to quote]: "... But she lost energy at last even for her loud-whispered cries and moans: she subsided into helpless sobs, and on the cold floor she sobbed herself to sleep".

The other main characters are no less interesting and will easily capture the reader's heart and compassion. There's Dr Lydgate, an ambitious man whose marriage to the vain, beautiful but spoilt Rosamund Vincy turns out to be a most exasperating and expensive affair (you have to read the book to find out just how SO). There's also a love triangle involving Fred Vincy, Mary Garth and Farebrother (the vicar). The other smaller characters such as Bulstrode, his wife, Mr Garth (Mary's father), a blackmailer (Raffles) and others are all well-painted and believable, each with their own story to tell.

Unlike some classics, this one provides a most satisfying ending because it discloses in the 'Finale' what happens later to the main characters after the "main story" has ended - e.g. up to what age they live to, if the (new) marriages are successful, how many children each couple has, etc.

"Middlemarch" is a truly remarkable classic and a wonderful, wonderful read.

Yes, that is a strong statement, but I believe Middlemarch to be the best novel written in English. And English is a rich language, overflowing with worthy works from both sides of the Atlantic, India and beyond. The only novel as a close contender on my list is Jane Eyre, with its fearsome symmetry and romantic passion.
George Eliot has been the bane of students everywhere who suffer reading Silas Marner in high school. But later on, you, like me, may develop a taste for the classics and this book will reward you richly.
The story is about Dorothea, a young, idealist woman, born to a good family with a modest fortune of her own. She is a prime catch on the wife market--money, family name, good looks. Her parents are deceased and her friends and uncle seek to pair her up with a local baron as the ideal mate. But Dorothea, bookish, religious and dreamy, has other ideas. She chooses, instead, a superannuated cleric who finally decides to marry as he feels mortality and ill health upon him. Casaubon, the vicar of a nearby rural church is a good match except....he's old, ugly and what the heck is he doing marrying such a young beauty. But Dorothea, who's imagining a sort of superior father figure who could "teach you even Hebrew, if you wished it" wakes up to far less than a reality of marital bliss. And there's an added complication created by her unworthy husband that has dire consequences for the young Dorothea.
The subsequent examination of marriage as a partnership in hell is written with stunning modernity. Eliot not only creates the disastrous marriage of Dorothea to Casaubon, but also pairs, as a comparison, Lydgate, a doctor and his frivolous, vain, uncaring wife. The relationship of marriage to society is never more well drawn, but the internal suffering of people trapped in loveless marriage is written with sympathy and cunning insight. Eliot herself had a live-in relationship with Henry Lewes, who could not divorce his wife. She undoubtedly wrote from personal experience. The insight into human nature, such as jealousy, disappointment, recrimination, loss of trust and a feeling of desperation are themes that anyone who has ever been in a relationship will recognize as truth. If you find classic literature hard going, watch the mini-series created based on the book. Then, knowing the general plot, you might enjoy the structure and language of the novel more.

George Eliot's colossal novel "Middlemarch" is a literary White Pages of a rural town in pre-Victorian England, portraying several of its citizens in all the glories and disgraces (mostly disgraces) regarding their lives, marriages, and personal and professional ambitions, while using the historical and political events of the time as a backdrop. This is one of the finest examples of a character-driven novel, where the plot is customized to the characters, rather than the other way around.

A major theme in this novel is marrying wrong. Dorothea Brooke, a girl with ideas of social reform -- one of her occupations is designing cottages for poor villagers -- marries the scholarly but stodgy Edward Casaubon, who is old enough to be her father, because she is attracted to his disciplined, erudite mind. However, Casaubon employs her as a sort of secretary and assistant and becomes increasingly demanding of her. Then there is the seemingly fairy-tale marriage of Tertius Lydgate, a brilliant and promising young physician, to Rosamond Vincy, spoiled daughter of the mayor of Middlemarch, a wealthy manufacturer. Rosamond's expensive tastes endanger their marriage financially and romantically. On the other hand, the marriage of Dorothea's younger sister Celia to the dapper Sir James Chettam is nothing but bubble-headed bliss because they both are too superficial to care for anything deeper than peerage and pulchritude.

The novel ties its characters together with a few interrelated plot threads, the most important of which concerns Casaubon's young second cousin, Will Ladislaw. Will and Casaubon have little respect for each other, and when Casaubon suspects that Will and Dorothea are attracted to each other, he places a stipulation in his will denying Dorothea his fortune upon his death if she marries Will. Moreover, Will has been cheated out of his own fortune by Middlemarch banker Nicholas Bulstrode, who finances the hospital that employs Lydgate. Lydgate's association with the dishonest Bulstrode threatens to cause him further disgrace and ostracize him from the town.

Meanwhile, Rosamond's brother Fred typifies the irresponsible young man with money problems who manages to reform himself and win the respect of the girl he loves. The irony is that Fred expected a great inheritance from a rich uncle who instead, on his deathbed, offered the money to his servant Mary Garth, who happens to be Fred's beloved. Now, Fred's only options are to join the clergy, which Mary would not approve of, or get a job -- with Mary's father.

More serious and intellectual than the works of her immediate forebear Dickens, Eliot's novel seems to strike out bold new territory for British fiction of the time, especially considering the progressive mindsets of characters like Dorothea and Lydgate who act in contrast to tradition-bound grunts like Casaubon and the other town doctors. Her sophisticated prose style of intricately structured sentences and deep psychological penetration appears to have been a huge influence on Henry James. Much more than the sum of its parts, though, "Middlemarch" leaves its reader with a distinct impression of a time and place and, on reflection, the rewarding feeling of having accepted the challenge of reading it.

Post Captain is the second in the Aubrey/Maturin series and perhaps the first written with the knowledge that it was part of a series. O'Brian's first novel in the series was published shortly after C.S. Forester's death and the publication of Pope's and Kent's first novels in their series of wooden ships and iron men. O'Brian found a different niche within the genre and one that ultimately led to his recognition as a serious author of historical novels. If one has read Pope or Kent and even Forester, then the reader might have some difficulty getting into O'Brian's novels. If one accepts that O'Brian is a longer read and that the emphasis is more on character and historicity than violent action then one can enjoy this novel thoroughly.

I read the first book in the series, Master and Commander, and was disappointed. I enjoyed Post Captain more. Perhaps that was due to knowing what to expect and perhaps it is because Post Captain is better than its predecessor. However, it is not your typical naval action adventure. In fact, the first few chapters sounded a bit like Pride and Prejudice from Mr. Darcy's perspective. The fact is that O'Brian writes well enough to pull it off. Post Captain does pick up when war is declared and Aubrey goes back to sea.

One area of conflict that I found strangely missing in Master and Commander was that between Aubrey and Maturin. I had expected that Maturin would be critical of Aubrey taking the ship into actions that caused wounds Maturin would have to treat. There is a serious conflict between the two in Post Captain although it's not over Aubrey's naval actions. Since the series has 18 more novels one knows that the conflict will be resolved.

The main problem that Aubrey faces in the novel is not the French navy but his own indebtedness and the inability to obtain a suitable command. Paradoxically, Aubrey is safe from creditors while at sea. The problems that a person faced while in debt in 1800 are explained well and the reader has great empathy with Aubrey.

The naval activities in Post Captain seem similar to those in Hornblower and the Hotspur to the point that the climactic action appears to correspond to the same point in history. While O'Brian did not appear to value the Hornblower novels greatly it is obvious that he owes Forester a debt of gratitude for creating the genre. Without Forester it is doubtful that O'Brian would have been able to develop his own unique niche and this excellent novel would not have been published.

Patrick O'Brian's works have been compared to those of both Jane Austen and Homer. To those who haven't read the series, this might seem like a strange juxtoposition. But anyone who has read Post Captain understands this. O'Brian's novels are a marvel, mixing the story of life at sea with the goings on in 1800 Britain. Throughout the series, we see most of the world and experience the life of many characters. And all the while O'Brian develops two of the most vivid and well done characters in fiction: Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin.

Although the series itself starts out in Master and Commander, it really takes off in Post Captain. I've talked to several readers who's reaction to the first book was that it was good but they weren't ready to rush out that night and buy the next half dozen. After Post Captain, they're hooked, and procede to devour the entire series.

This second book in the Aubrey-Maturin series is, like all of the others, an absolute delight. O'Brian does his usual astonishing job of transporting us to an imagined early-19th century world, interesting in large part because it is in some basic ways quite unlike ours, yet peopled by richly-drawn characters who experience emotions intensely familiar.

For the fanatic O'Brian fan (I am one) this book is especially interesting to re-read, since several of the dimensions of the characters, especially Maturin, are slightly at odds with later versions. For example, in one diary passage, Maturin waxes eloquent (and accurate) about the specific arrangement of sails as a convoy weighs anchor -- something he would never do in the later books, when he has become hopelessly ignorant about all things nautical.

These books are in the rare category of those classics that are a page-turning excitement to read when first encountered, and remain similarly exciting if read again and again, constantly revealing new subtleties of character and incident.

One of the great things about the books is O'Brian's periodic indirect explanation of certain expressions that have passed into the vernacular, and are used in contexts far removed from their nautical roots -- for example, "the devil to pay" or "we were at loggerheads", or...I've forgotten the rest. I guess I'll have to read the books again, and so should you.

Got this book from Santa and he sure knows how to pick'em. I love it. I sat down with it Christmas Eve at midnight and next thing I knew, it was 2 am Christmas morning. Everyone has been looking at it since it sits out in our den...at least when I am not looking at it. Judy Garland - my all-time favorite. What an artist, what a tragedy that she is gone from us. But this book makes you live Judy again. The focus is on her younger, beautiful days. The photos are just fantastic and the text is detailed, but easy to follow. The author doesn't wrap her or anyone else's thoughts around a hundred extra words just to prove they have a vocabulary. The author is intent on shattering manyof the myths associated with Judy and presents many facts and quotes in doing so. Very upbeat. A pleasant journey through Judy's life that she doesn't often get!

This is very much a tribute to a great lady. Unlike nearly every other book done on Judy, this book lets the woman come through. The pictures are astounding, the writing fresh and the whole tone, positive and uplifting. There is a good amount of new information, lots of quotes, including the first family history I have ever seen on Judy's family. This book does not have a whole lot on Judy's career, so if you are looking for facts on Judy's career this will not be it. The emphasis is on Judy during her younger years and there is just one chapter on Judy's whole life after the year 1950. There is an appendix that has all her movies and lists of recordings, radio shows, internet sites, etc, but no career analysis or anything like that. A really enjoyable read. You come away with a new view on the Great Garland. Did I say lots of photos.

You cannot deny that this author has done a great and original job with her subject and her intention. This is simply a new look at Judy, with many new and just incredible photos that all will enjoy. I say that the negative remarks are more illustrative of the reader's take on Judy than this author's. The author clearly makes it known that the book was never meant to be a comprehensive look at Judy's life, it only wanted to cover the years up to 1950. As for Judy's taped recordings of her comments about herself, they have been widely dismmised by Garland historians. I loved this book and know many others who have agreed. Basically it is a case of if you like the tragedy and gossip and scandal of Judy, then you will be disappointed in that you will not find it here. The author presents many, many facts that serve to discredit previous ideas about Judy - and backs them up, so you can't be mad at her for that.

Timothy is sick and moving day is about to come. Timothy cannot get out of bed or he might die. Mrs. Frisby doesn't know what to do for her son so she goes to the rats of NIMH. They say they will move her house so that Timothy won't die. She wnats to hlp them so she goes in the farmers house and poisons the cat's food so the rats can move her house without the worry of being eaten. When Mrs. Frisby is in the house she overhears the conversation of the family. They talk about the people from NIMH coming to poison the rats. She tells the rats and they make a plan to save themselves and not look like they were from NIMH.

This was the BEST book I have ever read. I would give it a 10 out of 10. The way the author describes the scene and the characters is oustanding.

Mrs Frisby is the mother of four children and trying to save her son who is suffering of Pneumonia. They have to move before the farmer ploughs the garden where they live. She takes her problems to the rats who are super intelligent and live under the rosebush. They solve her problems and she finds out how they know her deceased husband. In return she saves them. To find out what happens read the book for yourself.

This book is about a young mouse widow named Mrs Frisby and how she tries to save her son and family from the farmer, Mr Fitzgibbon and his plough. While returning from the doctor Mr Ages she saves a young crow named Jeremy who offers his help in return. He flies her to a wise old owl who tells her to go to the secretly superintelligent rats who move her house to the safety of the lee of a stone.She saves them by telling them an overheard conversation about a person coming to kill them.

I felt that Boss of Bosses was a great Mafia book. If you enjoy The Godfather then you'll love Boss of Bosses. I think my favorite part of the book was when the FBI had to plant a bug in Castallano's house. The tricky part was that Paul never left his house. One thing that was nice knowing, was that the authors were the actual detectives assinged to the case. This means it's true to life, no embelishing! One slow part in the book was the hours of tapes that were meaningless to the story that the FBI explianed. This is what kept me from giving the book five stars. I love hearing about mafia and this book was great for that. I knew I wasn't getting rumors I was getting the real scoop on things. I think everyone should read Boss of Bosses by Andris Kurins and Joseph O'Brien.

I have read alot of mob related books over the years but Boss of BOSSES is one of the best.It is written so well you are drawn into the story and can feel like you are there.I was so drawn into it i read it in one night and i am ready for more.Joseph O`Brien is truly a sensational writer.Keep them coming please.

Thanx to these two FBI agents, I have a pretty good idea now on how this agency works. I approve of the tactics used when it comes to bring to justice this organizations of crime. Joe and Kurins sure knows how to get your attention. Their book, based on a real story is addictive. What in the world were they doing chasing people instead of writing. If they worked like they write, they gotta be the best the FBI had to offer. They must keep writing. Not only was their book an encyclopedia on how the FBI does their work, but also on the sacrifice an agent has to put and go through to get their work done. Thanks to these 2 pro-writters, for sharing with the world what it takes to be the best in your class. KEEP WRITING GUYS, PLEASE...

Perfection is the best way to describe this classic story collection by the legendary James Joyce. Dubliners follows the lives of ordinary folks in early twentieth century Ireland. Instead of using dramatic events such as many conventional short stories do, Joyce centered his tales on what seemed to be inconsequential. This groundbreaking literary formula succeeded and Dubliners went on to become one of the most greatly praised and athologized works of all time. By focusing on the magnitude of simple things, Joyce provided writing that truly connects the reader with the character through empathy. Examples of such include Araby in which an adolescent boy seeks romance and idealizes a beautiful girl who pays him no mind, and A Painful Case that portrays a lonely man who is haunted by a relationship he had with a married woman after he hears of her untimely death.

Each story in Dubliners contains gorgeously descriptive passages and words that dance across the pages. Though the themes may be dismal and the people Joyce writes of often come up empty-handed, the reader will likely find an underlying optimism that hardship builds strength and hope will prevail.

Interestingly, Dubliners barely came to print. Years of controversy hindered the 1914 release of the book, as many publishers regarded the stories as immoral and risque. Fortunately the public embraced it, and today we should all be required to read this enduring work by one of Ireland's finest, Mr. James Joyce.

The Dubliners is a collection of short stories which open the windows into the lives of the citizens of Dublin in the beginning of the twentieth century. The stories are depressing as well as uplifting. It just depends on the conclusions the reader draws from the open endings of the stories. The opportunity to finish the stories myself was actually one of the features I liked most about the entire book, but especially about the last and longest story-the Dead. The Dead sums up all the concerns and issues raised time and time again throughout the Dubliners - religion, alcohol addiction, immorality, and political instability of Ireland. In my opinion, The Dead is the key to the entire book. For me, the last sentence of The Dead as well as of the entire book, " His soul swooned slowly as he heard the snow was falling faintly through the universe and faintly falling, like the descent of their last end, upon all the living and the dead," was as much of a mystery as of a hint. It really got me thinking, because there so many ways to take it. First, did Gabriel die or not? Was just Joyce describing the last moments of Gabriel's life or was he describing the first moments of Gabriel's new life? I have always been an optimist, so many might consider my opinion biased, but I personally think that the sentence marks new beginning and new life for Gabriel. Of course, I have to admit that Gabriel had a good reason to commit suicide after realizing that his beloved wife had been in love with her dead lover for all this time, but, honestly, I do not see Gabriel as a hopeless man who would simply give up his life and future. I see him more as a man who was taught a hard lesson and learned it well. I see him more as a man whose eyes were open. I see new Gabriel as man who wants to do and not only talk about doing. Then there is the description of snow falling which is another important clue/mystery the Dead gives the reader to help him to figure out for himself if the book is truly uplifting or depressing. I personally the snow is a pointer that the ending is truly an optimistic one and that somewhere there is brighter future for everybody . Why do I think that? It is the gentle way the snow is described. It covers the world and all its problem like a white blanket. It makes everything seem so pure and clean. I cannot help thinking that Joyce used snow on purpose to help the reader draw such conclusion. But, I am sure that many other readers came to just an opposite conclusion that the snow represents a deep and abiding human truth: the essential loneliness of the soul. But that is just right because the diversity of the conclusions is the beauty of the book.

Though now more famous for his later, immense, incredibly ambitious novels, James Joyce's early collection of short stories remains a classic - and for good reason. Joyce, as someone once pointed out, was and remains almost unique among writers in that he published only masterpieces. Granted, he took years (eventually decades) to write each book - yes, even this slim volume of 15 short stories. It paid off. Just as Joyce was immensely influential with his stream-of-consciousness (or interior monologue) style used in Portrait of The Artist As A Young Man and Ulysses (#3 and #1 on Modern Libary's Top 100 Books of the 20th century, respectively), and the... let us say, indescribable, style of Finnegan's Wake (which people are STILL trying to figure out), his style in writing these short stories became almost the archetype for short fiction in this century. Instead of focusing on action-oriented events in the story (or, as Edgar Allen Poe suggested, by trying to create a particular mood), Joyce instead centered on the simple, everyday mundane events of regular life. This not only made the stories seem realistic and believable, but also made them universally applicable. This is the reason why this is considered one of the greatest short story collections of all-time, and has been one of the most widely anthologized. A true classic of the 20th century.

A century ago a book such as this would have been a call to the barricades. Today with the state as powerful as it is, this book simply makes you want to leave the United States and let it rot.

For those who haven't read the book, O'Brien's story is one of a survivor of a CIA-sponsored program called MK Ultra, which aimed to explore the limits of human "suggestibility." The program began following World War II, when numerous top Nazi scientists resettled in the United States, at the invitation of the CIA, to continue their research into mind control. The project was based upon the research finding that if a person is severely traumatized, he or she will "split" off a "multiple personality" as a defense mechanism. It was those "multiples" that CIA scientists sought (successfully) to "program." Today thousand of people exist as mind-controlled slaves whose "programs" for various activities, such as performance in pornography films, prostitution, message carrying, and drug "muling," can be "accessed" by their "controllers" by cryptic keywords.

A reader curious about O'Brien's book should be forewarned of the exceptionally bizarre nature of its revelations. In fact, at least in my view, the revelations are so bizarre, it would probably be a bad move to read this book without first reading something that "builds" up to it. A good primer on the subject would be John Decamp's _The Franklin Cover-Up_.

Those who do read the book and are of sufficient independent thought to see through the haze of disinformation put forward every day by the state-influenced newspapers and magazines and see the truth in O'Brien's book are placed in a difficult position. They're in possession of extremely rare knowledge, and, futhermore, extremely bleak knowledge. For the picture painted by O'Brien, unfortunately, is nearly without hope.

I am not a religious person, and I have always been both mildly amused and mildly offended by the stories of organized religion. But this is, I must admit, a book that can change such a person as me, for after reading _Tranceformation of America_, I'm left asking an unanswerable question.

Where did all this wickedness come from?

I first heard of Cathy O'Brien through David Icke's books which was traumatic in their own right. Then I read Cathy's "Transformation" and I had to keep putting it down as to absorb her shocking testimony. This material WILL shock you and yet having been an entertainer in country music many years ago, I do not find such testimony unbelievable. The truly thought-provoking part is the role our so-called 'leaders' partake in these hideous events ESPECIALLY those of child abuse.

After giving this book to a close family member, his reaction was "This cannot be true" (especially for being a member of the Republican party for over 50 years). My reaction was 'Why would Cathy O'Brien risk her life and her daughter's to publish this book if it were not true?" Makes you think. Cathy e-mailed me once with the one hope that her book will spread the 'news' that mind control does exist in America and that those of us who read her book will disseminate this information.

Read this book. THE WORLD IS NOT WHAT YOU THINK IT IS.

I was moved to tears many times reading this detailed and horrendous account of Satanic Ritual Abuse and CIA Mind Kontrol (MK Ultra) perpetrated on Cathy O'Brien as a baby and upwards. The men and women that did this are in the highest positions of government and the Roman Catholic church today. (Dick Cheney, current U.S. VICE-President, is named as a key abuser and controller.) If you have a weak stomach, do not read this book. If you have a heart and are ready to be moved to give your life for those in need, as did Mark Phillips, then definitely read this book. Many facts contained in this expose of the filthy and powerful are corroborated in "The Franklin Cover-Up", by John W. DeCamp (Laywer and ex-State Senator of Nebraska).

I agree with the reviewer below who points out that this collection, especially the title essay, is a great companion for reading The Stranger. My AP English students loved The Stranger, but they got a much clearer idea of what Camus' brand of existentialism was after reading this essay. It sounds like a bizarre concept, but Camus regarded Sisyphus as a hero because every single time he toiled to push the rock up the mountain, there is one brief moment when he reaches the top that he is CONSCIOUS of his task, and in this brief glance downwards, Camus feels that Sisyphus experiences a small degree of something close to hope. This realization defeats the gods who sentenced him because he finds consolation in his struggle. For Camus, it is the struggle that must occupy us. The difference between Sisyphus and a factory worker is that Sisyphus experiences the freedom to think and process what he doing. For Camus, this level of consciousness can free any of us from our everyday lives.

This collection is a must to get a better understanding of The Stranger and other Camus novels and ideas.

I have read this essay several times and I have to say that the ideas here can be dangerous.

If the ideas that have been written in this book i.e. the meaningless state of existence, its absurdity in the light of atheism and the point of it all have not been raised independently by the reader, then the reader is likely to get caught in a dangerous maze.

The essay is beautifully written, the ideas are wonderfully interwoven and there is a sense that Camus is facing those important questions dead in the face. But aside from all that the greatest thing about Camus' essay is his directness. Every sentence in this book has some depth in it, there is not one superficial idea. The quotations leave the reader deep in thought and stay carved in the mind.

But as I mentioned and perhaps because of these reasons the book is dangerous. From the point of view of Camus, a man that looks at the world logically, he cannot help but come to the conclusion that it is absurd. Hence despair reigns, and then there is the necessary existential choice that the individual is faced with.

To me these questions are far more important than any others. When man knows that at the end of this great struggle he is faced with the nothingness, he wonders what is the point of it all. But is there? Camus answers positively that there is a point in living. By keeping the struggle alive and being absorbed in the finite condition that existence brings forth, in the mutation of consciousness an alternative set of values is introduced and everything is seen in a new light.

I know that many of the ideas here have already been covered by other thinkers in the past. Camus admits this and further mentions them in their struggle and ethics.

Camus has done a wonderful job, and this is a great introduction to his other novels, which illuminate the absurd and mans struggle.

In this series of essays Camus, the giant of literature, confronts the most vexing question of our times. In a world stripped away from the illusions of religion, where man must face life as it is without the obscuring veil of fantasies, is life worth living? Camus combining a poetic literary style and exceptional philosophic genius shows that in fact life has no meaning. But far from a reason for despair, this realization "restores the majesty to life". For Camus one evades life when one hides behinds religious dogma or in the midst of some untenable philosophical system, for reason can bring us no closer to the truth than blind faith. We must, for Camus, accept that we can find no truth, and live life as it is; a life without answers, without meaning, without purpose. Other books I liked were Paul Omeziri's Descent into Illusions and Heiddeger's Being and Time.