While wondering around the library one day, I saw this book and figured I might as well read it because it was a "classic." I am sooo glad I did. This book was wonderful. The plot was complex up until the last. The characters were very well developed. I couldn't put this one down. Just a warning though, this book has a quite a bit of bad language in it, but the story is still absolutly magnificent. A "must read"

this is an amazing anti-depressant. on the one hand it is the story of this really sad and depressed guy with a warped attitude in life, yet it is his innocence masked by his arrogance that is so touching. it is about this simple man with simple dreams and simple frustrations...someone like any of us! it is this simplicity that is so beautifully extraordinary. well the most emotional scene is when he breaks phoebe's cassette...i almost cried. the author is so powerful when it comes to playing with words and situations that a simple cassette breaking can bring tears to one's eyes. hats off.

It seems that most authors on the finer spirits tend to take an antiseptic view of their work. They may simply chronicle the historical background of some of the largest distilleries and review the high-end labels. But Mr. Murray writes with a distinctive passion about his favorite of all spirits (his admission on a radio talk show in Scotland). If you enjoy bourbon but have been afraid to plunk down the cash for a high-priced bottle, check out this book and then go for it! You won't be disappointed.

Mr. Rye has produced an excellent, easy-to-read guide for both students and their parents on how to apply for college financial aid. The book is well organized and allows its readers to identify and focus in on financial aid programs that are most suitable for them. The comprehensive directory in the back of the book provides information on every aspect of apply for and getting financial aid. This outstanding book gets 5 stars!

There has never been a dryer or wiser wit committed to print in the history of the English language. Ms. Spark is a master of the sly and slippery slope that devious human beings find themselves on---often with tragic results. Her characters are vividly and superbly drawn.

But it is her wit that causes Ms. Spark to rise above her contemporaries. She renders the worlds she creates with such slyness, one wishes he could have cocktails with the author every single night of the week. Or at least on weekends.

A Pocketful of Rye tells the story of Lawrence Carroll, whose childhood A Song of Sixpence so brilliantly described. Carroll is now in the early years of his career as a doctor - something Cronin in the tradition of Conan Doyle and Raubelais knows well.

Lazy, opportunist, yet with a redeeming sense of humour, he obtains the perfect sinecure as medical director of a clinic for sick children in Maybelle, Switzerland.

But he has forgotten how swiftly the fabric of comfort, from his cheery Swedish lover to his nightly touch with Kirsch, can be worn away. Carroll's Puritan blood and Catholic conscience, for he is a product of Levenford's distinct societies, tug at him from his roots in urban Clydeside.

Most dangerous of all is the clinging affection of a remarkable small boy called Daniel. His arrival, with his mother Cathy Davigan from Caroll's past, disrupts the young doctor's Swiss idyll and threatens the easy future he has so cleverly contrived for himself.

Cronin writes best about fictional Levenford, based on the small west coast town of Dumbarton; with its descriptions of Carroll's earlier life the book fairly comes alive. His vision and touch for a European life almost extinct is also sound, and excuses his rather epiphanous conclusion. Fine work from a master.

If you're reading this review, you're probably a STUDENT looking for a hint of insight into "The Catcher in the Rye" for school.

You've found it -- I (15 yrs. old @ the time of this writing) enjoyed "CATCHER" on my own, and, interested, bought this essay collection. I wasn't bored by it, either, so you're most likely to have an easy time getting through this.

The title of the book is pretty self-explanatory, so I'll give you some of the HIGHLIGHTS (best essays):

"Catcher" is Weak and Fails to Explore its Themes; Parts of J.D. Salinger's life that can be found in "Catcher"; Holden's Language [this essay is pretty much a PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE on Holden]; and: An ATTACK on "Catcher in the Rye."

So the book is pretty goddam good and all, I mean it really is. I got a real bang out of it and all. I nearly broke my goddam neck, if you want to know the truth.

Even though 'Ham on Rye' is listed as a novel it is also well understood to be a thinly disguised autobiography of the author's early life (until his early 20s). This worried me since I don't like autobiographical material because its singular focus on the author. Having said all this, 'Ham on Rye' is such a detailed horror story that, like looking at an auto accident, you can't help but be drawn in.

Our main character is raised during the depression by an absolutely horrific father and doormat of a mother. The guy is also plagued with a complexion from hell, and seems to be in a bad need of a hug (yet no one wants to get near him). Besides he completely fights off anything that resembles affection or friendship. Not surprisingly this dysfunctional young man grows into a dysfunctional adult.

What makes this book distinctive is the author's rather decent writing skills and his complete lack of self-pity. The story is heartbreaking but the main character carries on, like a stray mongrel wandering the streets. Depressing, terribly depressing. But it is a story that should be read, especially by fathers who never spare the rod lest he spoil the child.

Bottom line: sometimes depressing books should be considered as mandatory reading material. This is one of them.

I guess it all stands to this with Bukowski, can you find humor associated with drinking? And do you mind something funny mixed with something tragic? If you can, then this author will please you.
He never battled with drinking, he loved it. He wrote some beautiful poetry and entertaining autobiographical novels. The novels based on his life go from birth to end as follows, HAM ON RYE, FACTOTUM, POST OFFICE, WOMEN, HOLLYWOOD. This book is from his birth until the age around 21.
I would not recommend this book to my mother, because she finds alcoholism a disease and very tragic. I also do sometimes find it tragic, but at times find it funny to follow the exploites of a gifted drunken bum. I have read most of his books many times.

Bukowski's greatest achievement... of a great many excellent works. If you read this book you have all the information you need to know to understand what made Charles Bukowski Charles Bukowski. From the opening pages, Bukowski sets the tone of loneliness, apathy and sadness that prevailed through most of his work. Sprinkled throughout is that old Bukowski humor, the flair for the surreal that's made Bukowski and his alter ego, Henry Chinaski, a hero to millions.

I love his poems, but this bittersweet story of a young man coming to age is a classic. Highly recommended for Bukowski fans and any who are curious just what the hell the fuss is all about.

Hank Lebowski

I find the character of Holden Caulfield so compelling, probably because I can identify with a lot about the character. He is obviously older than his years in many respects, but something of a Peter Pan type character. He strikes me as a person who doesn't really want to grow up, but also feels uncomfortable with being a child. His observations on people and their behaviour are just as valid today as they were when the book was first published. I'm sure we all know people who are very like the personalities in the book.

I couldn't put The Catcher in the Rye down, I was gripped. Mr. Salinger has done an excellent job of exposing the psyche of the adolescent.

To the person who said Holden "talked too much" duder .. that was the point! I'm a female in love with that book and it's like, sometimes all you do is sit some where and ramble on and on about nothing of any importance. I think THAT was what made Holden so real. He over-analyzed quite a bit, which I think a lot of self concious teens do. I don't think this book so much describes all adolescents, just like Siddhartha doesn't speak the view of every Middle Easterner. You can't write a book and say "This here story is one that every (-fill-in-space-) can identify with." I personally DO agree with a lot of things he has to say but some of my friends think he is full of s***. Anyway ... thats my review :P

This is one book which is close to reality, a book which relates to you ,as if i would have written this book if i ever had the guts to run away , to stay alone depressed and all . its hard to forget what your past was all the kids you meet may be good may be bad may be some you hated but its like you remember certain moments of certain days not that somthing special happened that day may be nothing happened but still you can picture it . Holden's character is one to which all the youths can identify with . I did not get the meaning of the title till Holden tells Phobey about what he wants to be , "THE CATCHER IN THE RYE".I probably want to be ,i don't know what but somebody different somebody good , a person who has certain amount of "HUMAN TOUCH". It is just that i seem to lose my way like holden. Holden was a dreamer , a child depressed by the circumstances . Its the best book i ever read or probably will ever read , definately no.1 book of all times.

When an unpleasant businessman is taken ill at his London office and subsequently dies of taxine poisoning, authorities discover a house full of likely suspects: a young, sexy wife having an affair; a money grubbing son worried about his father's management of the family business; an angry daughter frustrated in love by her father's control. But no sooner do police suspicions begin to form around one of the three than murder strikes again--and then again--in such a way as to leave them baffled. Enter, of course, Miss Marple, who sets about uncovering a killer who may be a psychotic that is killing victims in accordance with the old "Sing a Song of Sixpence" nursey rhyme.

Most of Christie's great novels were written in the 1930s and 1940s. Although she could still create a stunner when she wished, with A MURDER IS ANNOUNCED a case in point, by the 1950s Christie favored a less complicated approach, preferring to write novels that might be described as creamy confections for a very civilized high tea. A POCKET FULL OF RYE is perhaps the perfect example. Like most Christie novels, the plot is extremely contrived--but in this instance she makes no effort to conceal the contrivance; it is a shell game, pure and simple and without pretension, a game undertaken for the pleasure of it. And when Christie sets out to write a novel for the pure fun of it, there is always a great deal of fun to be had. This will never rank among her greatest works, but fans will devour it in a single sitting and feel as satisified as if they had just enjoyed a blow-out of cream buns. Thoroughly enjoyable.

Almost every formula, idea, and trick that Agatha Christie used in her detective fiction works proved to be entirely successful and won her an enormous reading public. Making use of nursery rhymes was one such formula. Nursery rhymes can reawaken the sense of wonder, mystery and enchantment in any reader. They also can carry symbolic levels of meaning, and some are allegories.

In this her 1953 offering she makes use of the nursery rhyme "Sing A Song Of Sixpence". Appropriately it is one of her Miss Marple books. Although her elderly spinster sleuth has little to do here, and is late making her appearance, it is she who perceives and urges the significance of the nursery rhyme. "Don't you see, it makes a pattern to all this."

The murders occur in the disfunctional family of Rex Fortescue, a financier, and the action occurs in his London office and in the family home, Yew Tree Lodge. The opening chapters are wonderfully engaging. Agatha Christie, when she took the trouble, could sketch characters vividly. Amongst all of them in this book, there are not more than a handful of suspects. To compensate, Mrs Christie throws in buckets full of red herrings.

You'll enjoy the puzzle, and having innumerable theories suggested and dismissed. The solution, when it comes, however, is no more plausible than is the likelihood of a blackbird pecking off a maid's nose.

If you can obtain the unabridged reading of the book by Rosemary Leach, your enjoyment will be enhanced. Rosemary Leach is unusually skilled at "doing" the voices of a large cast of characters, male and female.

Agatha Christie gives us an excellent addition to her "nursery rhyme" mysteries with this one. The king in the counting house counting out his money is Rex Fortescue, financial giant who dies at his London office in the course of a normal working day. For reasons unknown, his coat contains a pocket full of rye. The queen in the parlour who was eating bread and honey is his young second wife, rumored to have married him for his money. Although she is the first suspect, her murder the following afternoon after a tea of scones and honey, shifts suspicion. That same afternoon, the housemaid Glady Martin is also found dead. While unpegging clothes from the clothesline, someone strangled her with a stocking and left a clothespin attached to her nose to complete the rhyme's final line "When there came a little bird and nipped off her nose."

It is the death of the maid that brings Miss Jane Marple into the case. Gladys had been one of the village girls Miss Marple had trained for domestic service. Miss Marple considers it her duty to find the person who killed Gladys, and with Inspector Neele, the investigator in charge of the case, she does just that.

The book is filled with possible suspects: Percival, the eldest son along with his wife and daughter; a younger son Lancelot and his wife; Miss Effie Ramsbottom, an elderly aunt; and several suspicious servants.

Once again, it is Miss Marple's life-long experience with wickedness and her understanding of a young girl's mind that leads her to the solution of this outstanding mystery.