Othello is by without a doubt my favorite of the plethora of Shakespeare's tragedies. Although Othello himself is quite an intricate character, it was funny and almost ironic how the character that grabbed my observance the most was the villain Iago. Iago, being perhaps Shakespeare's most consummate villain, directly or indirectly seemed to control the minds and hearts of almost everyone he interacted with. Bravery, loyalty, ambition, honesty, and chivalry are all issues addressed within the play, and when combined with a great deal of power struggles, they can create an intense whirlwind of emotions and confusion running high. Othello, even being a powerful and bold general, is easily deceived by Iago as well as are many of the other characters who soon come to find out what it means to be struck by Iago's wrath. All of these things considered, one can easily find themselves engulfed with all sorts of emotions, and be filled with empathy and rage toward the diverse array of characters, maybe even find a little piece of themselves in each one of them. The play can be compared to many of Shakespeare's plays, both comedy and tragedy, in different ways. If you enjoyed the plot of Much Ado About Nothing, or Romeo and Juliet, then you can not go wrong by reading this play. Also, if you like strong women roles and always find yourself identifying easily with those characters in Shakespeare's plays, one of the female characters in Othello, Emelia will be quite a delight. For me, by the last page and last quote of this play, I was literally holding back the tears, and that impact is no exaggeration. If you have yet to read Othello, don't wait another second. Go right now to the nearest bookshelf, dust it off and I promise the pages will just seem to simply turn themselves. Enjoy!

Despite his Machiavellian and snakelike nature, Iago strangely and inexplicably endears himself as the most likeable villain in all of Shakespeare. It can be argued that Iago was unduly wronged in that the noble & educated, yet untested Cassio achieved the promotion of lieutenant over the common & uneducated, yet more battle-proven Iago. Iago also asserts that his blunt and disrespectful wife Emilia has slept around and made a cuckold of him with Othello. Although there is no proof as to the latter charge, Iago is nothing short of the embodiment of a veritable myriad of rage, fury, jealousy, and a relentless and all-encompassing passion for vengeance on The Moor.

Upon reading Othello the first time, I found myself empathizing with the honorable, yet naive General Othello, and even moreso with the innocent and untainted Desdemona, whom Othello "loved not wisely, but too well." After reading Othello the 3rd time, I've come to a greater appreciation for the convoluted and diablolical genius that is Iago - and how masterfully Shakespeare constructed this great character and the storyline of Othello with so fewer characters than is typical of his other great plays. It is with fewer characters that the ingenuity of Shakespeare is allowed to shine. With the likes of Iago, The Bard is able to achieve as great and superior characterization in Othello as in any of his other masterpieces. While he may be the last guy on the block you might invite to dinner, you would be a knave to deny the incomparable surreptitious cunning and genius of Iago nonetheless. As far as the many Othello movies go, I must state that Kenneth Branagh is absolutely masterful and convincing as the sinister Iago. I wholeheartedly recommend Othello to any and all readers who have a flair for both wisdom and entertainment achieved as one.

As a play, "Othello" encompasses many things but more than anything else it is a study of pure evil. Although Othello is an accomplished professional soldier and a hero of sorts, he is also a minority and an outcast in many ways. As a Black man and a Moor (which means he's a Moslem), Othello has at least two qualities, which make him stand out in the Elizabethan world. He is also married to a Caucasian woman named Desdemona, which creates an undercurrent of hostility as evidenced by the derogatory remark "the ram hath topped the ewe".

Othello's problems begin when he promotes one of his soldiers, Michael Cassio as his lieutenant. This arouses the jealousy and hatred of one of his other soldiers, Iago who hatches a plot to destroy Othello and Michael Cassio. When Cassio injures an opponent in a fight he is rebuked, punished, and subsequently ignored by Othello who must discipline him and teach him a lesson. Iago convinces Desdemona to intervene on Cassio's behalf and then begins to convince Othello that Desdemona is in love with Cassio.

This is actually one of the most difficult Shakespeare plays to watch because the audience sees the plot begin to unfold and is tormented by Othello's gradual decent into Iago's trap. As with other Shakespeare plays, the critical components of this one are revealed by language. When Othello is eventually convinced of Cassio's treachery, he condemns him and promotes Iago in his place. When Othello tells Iago that he has made him his lieutenant, Iago responds with the chilling line, "I am thine forever". To Othello this is a simple affirmation of loyalty, but to the audience, this phrase contains a double meaning. With these words, Iago indicates that the promotion does not provide him with sufficient satisfaction and that he will continue to torment and destroy Othello. It is his murderous intentions, not his loyal service that will be with Othello forever.

Iago's promotion provides him with closer proximity to Othello and provides him with more of his victim's trust. From here Iago is easily able to persuade Othello of Desdemona's purported infidelity. Soon Othello begins to confront Desdemona who naturally protests her innocence. In another revealing statement, Othello demands that Desdemona give him "the ocular proof". Like Iago's earlier statement, this one contains a double meaning that is not apparent to the recipient but that is very clear to the audience who understands the true origin of Othello's jealousy. Othello's jealousy is an invisible enemy and it is also based on events that never took place. How can Desdemona give Othello visual evidence of her innocence if her guilt is predicated on accusations that have no true shape or form? She can't. Othello is asking Desdemona to do the impossible, which means that her subsequent murder is only a matter of course.

I know that to a lot of young people this play must seem dreadfully boring and meaningless. One thing you can keep in mind is that the audience in Shakespeare's time did not have the benefit of cool things such as movies, and videos. The downside of this is that Shakespeare's plays are not visually stimulating to an audience accustomed to today's entertainment media. But the upside is that since Shakespeare had to tell a complex story with simple tools, he relied heavily on an imaginative use of language and symbols. Think of what it meant to an all White audience in a very prejudiced time to have a Black man at the center of a play. That character really stood out-almost like an island. He was vulnerable and exposed to attitudes that he could not perceive directly but which he must have sensed in some way.

Shakespeare set this play in two locations, Italy and Cypress. To an Elizabethan audience, Italy represented an exotic place that was the crossroads of many different civilizations. It was the one place where a Black man could conceivably hold a position of authority. Remember that Othello is a mercenary leader. He doesn't command a standing army and doesn't belong to any country. He is referred to as "the Moor" which means he could be from any part of the Arab world from Southern Spain to Indonesia. He has no institutional or national identity but is almost referred to as a phenomenon. (For all the criticism he has received in this department, Shakespeare was extrordinarlily attuned to racism and in this sense he was well ahead of his time.) Othello's subsequent commission as the Military Governor of Cypress dispatches him to an even more remote and isolated location. The man who stands out like an island is sent to an island. His exposure and vulnerability are doubled just as a jealous and murderous psychopath decides to destroy him.

Iago is probably the only one of Shakespeare's villains who is evil in a clinical sense rather than a human one. In Kind Lear, Edmund the bastard hatches a murderous plot out of jealousy that is similar to Iago's. But unlike Iago, he expresses remorse and attempts some form of restitution at the end of the play. In the Histories, characters like Richard III behave in a murderous fashion, but within the extreme, political environment in which they operate, we can understand their motives even if we don't agree with them. Iago, however, is a different animal. His motives are understandable up to the point in which he destroys Michael Cassio but then they spin off into an inexplicable orbit of their own. Some have suggested that Iago is sexually attracted to Othello, which (if its true) adds another meaning to the phrase "I am thine forever". But even if we buy the argument that Iago is a murderous homosexual, this still doesn't explain why he must destroy Othello. Oscar Wilde once wrote very beautifully of the destructive impact a person can willfully or unwittingly have on a lover ("for each man kills the things he loves") but this is not born out in the play. Instead, Shakespeare introduces us to a new literary character-a person motivated by inexplicable evil that is an entity in itself. One of the great ironies of this play is that Othello is a character of tragically visible proportions while Iago is one with lethally invisible ones.

Being a fan of Watership Down I thought I would continue reading the rest of Richard Adams' books, and I find this one to be just as good as the rest. The basic plot of the story is two dogs escape from an animal experimentation lab in England and roam about the countryside, struggling to live and literally dying to find a new master to live with. They encounter one obstacle after another, whether it be hunger, the weather, or other humans, who believe the dogs are carrying bubonic plague after a young news reporter tries to stir up all of England. The story is full of Adams' views on animal experimentation, politics, and human behavior, yet it does not preach.
Readers new to Richard Adams should probably start out with Watership Down before reading this book; this way you get a better sense of his style and prose. The dialect can be extremely tough at times, and because of some of the descriptions and themes involved should probably only be read by a mature reader. I will also say that there isn't a whole lot of action to it; however, you get attached to these dogs as if they were your own pets. The author develops solid, intriguing characters and a great setting. It is definetley worth the time to read, and you'll jump to your feet at the end.

I just recently finished this book and can say with much sincerety that Adams has created a wonderful piece of work in "The Plague Dogs." It's true that some of the dialogue is especially tough to get through especially being an American reader, but after a while I found myself going through it with a fair amount of ease once I was finally used to it. The best part of this book by far has to be the characters of Rowf and Snitter whom I found tremendously more interesting than any of the human characters. Their struggles and perception of the reality around them is quite remarkable. As far as how the message was presented I thought it was done quite fairly on both sides of the issue of animal experimentation. Finally, there's the ending which made the entire book worth the read.

I read "The Plague Dogs" after I'd read "Watership Down," which is also written by Richard Adams. And while perhaps "The Plague Dogs" is a bit more difficult of a read than "Watership Down," and may lack the narrative flow of his first book, it is a tremendous novel, nonetheless. His central characters, two fugitive dogs from a testing laboratory named Rowf and Snitter, are distinctly drawn and reminiscent of some of the great tragic characters in English Literature. Their flight from captivity will draw you in from the moment they escape the laboratory, and will continue to hold you breathless as they ellude their captors and seek a new master. The novel works on two levels: both as a commentary on the mistreatment and abuse of animals in laboratories, as well as a look at humans from an animal's point of view. Be warned, however, you may not like what you see. On a negative note, the author often slips into a confusing slang, common to the area in which the novel takes place, when creating dialogue for certain characters like the lab workers and the Tod. At times, the lingo can become tedious and the reader may be tempted to skim over it. Also, the background information leading up to the introduction of Digby Driver midway through the novel can seem unnecessary; however, skipping over these aforementioned parts only denies the reader essential information and dilutes the novel from the author's translucent vision. With that said, Mr. Adams is at his lyrical best when the story focuses on the dogs and away from their human counterparts. Mr. Adams's ability to write from an animal's perspective remains unchallenged in fiction today. Not only is Mr. Adams a gifted storty-teller, but his mastery of the English language is hypnotic. "The Plague Dogs" and "Watership Down" are two masterpieces of modern literature that will haunt the reader long after the final page has been read. On my best day I aspire to be as human as a character in a Richard Adams novel.

This is perhaps the most atmospheric novel in the English language, but it is about so much more than dark nights and windswept meadows. Any one who does not see the heath as a symbol for those unchanging features of human life and society should spend a little less time watching "Friends" and the WCW and become acquainted with that wonderful old artistic medium THE BOOK....or may be all of you restless 15 year olds should just pay a little more attention in English class . Return of the Native is a book about pain, disappointment, loss, and relations between the classes.....about societal conventions and the frustrated longings they produce. The story would work just as well in a modern and/or American setting. Diggory could be a taxi driver, Eustacia a prostitute, and Clem an attorney....it would be splendid.

I don't know how many times I've given up on Hardy novels - I pick them up with the best of intentions, but his language is just too ponderous for my taste. His works are undeniably masterpieces, but one must work agonizingly hard to pry the story out of the book. However, under Mr. Rickman's masterful interpretation, Egdon heath and its tragic inhabitants leapt from the book (or, as it were, the car speakers) and into my imagination, and I found myself eagerly anticipating my next road trip. I'll leave it to the other reviewers to describe the book itself, and say only that Mr. Rickman's rich voice makes Hardy's words not only tolerable but a mesmerizing (no pun intended, Rickmaniacs) sensual feast. If you're a Hardy fan or a Rickmaniac, this collection of tapes is not to be missed.

Warning: This audio book is highly addictive!!!
Maybe you have to like Thomas Hardy before making your mind up to settling down to listen your way through all the 12 tapes. But you will learn to yearn for just another chapter of this, after the first tape. Another word to the yet undecided: the Return is not half as dismal as Jude the Obscure or Tess of the Durberville.
On top of the drama between six persons and the heath, which figures as another dramatis personae, there comes Mr. Rickman's superb reading. He gives every person not only his or her own characteristic voice. But his descriptions of the landscape make you see the scenery (apart from the introduction, the description of Mrs. Yeobright's garden on the day of her fatal excursion is compelling. He makes you feel the sweltering heat of that day). Just two highlights certainly are the dicing-game on the midnight heath (tape 6) as well as Clyms and Eustacias final dispute (tape 10). But the whole recording in itself is a highlight.
Just one technical afterthought: It would be sensible to edit it on CD. Tapes do not keep so well in the long run and I tremble that one day the tapes may give up.

Granted I had very high expectations for this book written by Lorna Landvik considering how much I adored her first book Patty Jane's House of Curl. And granted it's hard to always measure up with two books in a row. But I never expected to be as disappointed as I was with this second offering by Lorna Landvik. As charming as her characters were in her first book and however compelling events were in Patty Jane's House of Curl, they unfortunately fell very flat in this her second title.

Essentially the book delves into the lives of two families brought together by friends who are now wives and mothers. The women, now in their 40's, have been friends since their high school cheerleading and prom queen days. Devara is a bit pudgier now still married to her high school sweetheart and the mother of two daughters. Her friend, Bidi, on the other hand has maintained her girlish figure, is married for the second time and the mother of a daughter who is the star hockey player on the once all male hockey team. And then there are the husbands, which include Sergio who adores his wife's daughter, but secretly yearns for one of his own and Dick who wants to open a nightclub in the basement of his home.

Your Oasis on Flame Lake offered little for me in the way of entertainment. Even the description of a harrowing experience and its consequences failed to move me emotionally. And unlike the characters from Patty Jane's House of Curl who still remain with me years later, these characters were almost wooden and less than memorable.

It may be regrettable now that I enjoyed Patty Jane's House of Curl as I much as I did. Not only didn't I like Your Oasis on Flame Lake but I also closed the book on Landvik's third title, The Tall Pine Polka Tree after almost 100 pages when the plot was going nowhere. I still have her fourth published book to read so there is some hope. But if that proves not to my liking I can always go back and reread Patty Jane's House of Curl and once again visit with old and dear friends.

I liked Lorna Landvik's first book, "Patty Jane's House of Curl," but "Your Oasis on Flame Lake" is even better. BiDi and Dev have been friends since high school; now they are married, with kids, and still living in their small Minnesota hometown. "Your Oasis" tells of the crises each faces within the short frame of a year or so: infidelity, a violent attack on BiDi's daughter, an addiction to pills, and more (I don't want to spoil the plot). There's a lot packed into the book, but Landvik skillfully shows the emotional impact of these events on both families. Landvik states in the reader's guide (at the back of the book) that she considers this a more thoughtful and less emotion-driven book than "Patty Jane"; but I think "Your Oasis" also benefits from its contemporary setting and the more compressed time period ("Patty Jane" takes place over a much longer period of years). The characters are believable and very real, like people you know. The dialogue is particularly well-done and rings true. Once you get a few pages in, it's a hard book to put down: smart, funny, touching "chick lit" that is a refreshing change from the urban professional scene of the post-Bridget-Jones genre.

A startling look into the lives of two couples and their children, and the "me me me" that infects most of our lives. Beautifully set on Flame Lake in Minnesota, with the four adults and one child alternating narration, this is a peek into how very different things look to each person involved. The reader is introduced to the incredible ego of BiDi; 12 year old Darcy, who "plans on being a world traveler someday, mostly for the experience but partly for the hats" (can you tell she was my favorite character?); the philandering but deeply committed family man Sergio (the "Ricky Ricardo of Minnesota); the lovable/irritating car salesman/wannabe lounge lizard Dick; and his wife Devera, who is going through plenty of internal crises - the narration really makes the story of the repercussions of a terrible attack in the small town of Flame Lake. Ms. Landvik gently unveils the characters, creates a believable story line, and treats us to a lovely and ultimately hopeful visit to the North Woods.

More stories of the stoic Norwegian Lutherans of Lake Wobegon from America's favorite humorist. I was amazed that a book with such a straight-man low key sense of humor was able to make me laugh out loud so many times.

Some of the things (living in New York City, life in academia) I could relate with; in these areas I found his views funny and at times even insightful. More interesting, however, was the fact that I was so compelled by those things with which I have nothing in common (Scandinavian immigrant culture, Minnesota in general). Keillor is a great communicator who reaches across cultures.

Although I'm familiar with Keilor from NPR, this is the first novel of his that I've read. One is forced to like the flawed protagonist John Tollefson; and I found myself appreciating the low-key dry humor of Minnesota Lutherans as well.

An easy, entertaining read. Funny. Occasionally insightful. Recommended.

A trivia note: in discussing Norwegian National Day Keillor gets the date wrong!

Like I suspect with other readers, my enjoyment with this book had a lot to do with identification to its places and characters. Born and raised in small town - leave to live in big city - come home again - yada. Being my first Wobegon book, I don't know the extent that Keillor reuses characters, but such continuity would also add to reader interest.

The main character's family relationships were thoughtful, funny and at one point made me cry (a rarity). His new romance was sometimes confusing but satisfying. His wit and sarcasm about everything else was on target, especially from a guy's perspective. Gave me many chuckles

I recommend this book to those aged from mid-life crises on, who have lived at least some of their life in a town where you can count on one hand the number cafés, bars, gas stations or traffic lights. For everyone else, if your only view of small town life is that of quirky, untapped artistic, unsophisticated-by-choice residents like those depicted in the old CBS series Northern Exposure, this book will give you a truer perspective. I probably won't go back and read Keillor's previous books in the series, but I would consider a sequel to this one.

I've been a Garrison Keillor fan for nearly 20 years and I've read all of his books. I thoroughly enjoyed Wobegon Boy. I found myself reading long passages to my wife as we lay on the beach. She didn't mind the interruptions in her reading either. I guess, then we really both read Wobegon Boy. It probably helps to be a PHC listener since many of the book's characters are familiar to us through the radio show. Even those unfamilair with Keillor's show, however, should enjoy the clever writing and gentle barbs at college culture, public radio and small town Minnesota life that Keillor dishes out.

I first read this book in 6th grade. I have read it several times in the intervening years, the most recent time being within the past one year.

Helen Keller, blind and deaf since the age of 1 1/2 has offered, in her own words an accounting of her life experience. It is incredible to imagine how this woman, unable to see or hear can give such a strong voice to descriptions of nature. The book is replete with beautiful, articulate metaphors that draw the reader into the world as Helen knew it. One wonders how a person with no language can "think," and Helen provides some clues. During these "dark days," prior to the arrival of her "Teacher," Annie Sullivan, Helen's life was a series of desires and impressions. She could commnicate by a series of crude signs she and her parents had created. She demonstrated early on that she could learn.

I like the way Helen herself takes her readers past that water pump when she learned that "all things have a name." Instead of getting stuck there, Helen takes her readers on the journey of her life to that point.

In addition to having a good linguistic base, Helen also demonstrates having a phenomenal memory. When she was twelve, she wrote a story she believed to be her own. Entitled "The Frost King," it bore a strong resemblance to one written by a Ms. Canby called "The Frost Fairies." Many of the sentences are identical and a good number of the descriptions are paraphrased. In relating this devasting incident, Helen and Annie recall that Annie had exposed Helen to the story some three years earlier and Helen had somehow retained that information. This plainly shows intelligence.

Both the "Frost" stories are reprinted in full, thus giving the reader a chance to see just how amazing being able to remember such a work really was.

Helen describes her work raising money for other deaf-blind children to attend the Perkins School for the Blind in Boston and in so doing, embarks upon her lifelong mission as a crusader for multiply challenged individuals.

The Story of My Life by Helen Keller is an autobiography illustrating her insistent desire in learning how to write and read and defeating her deafness and blindness at the same time. This book records her life back from when she was as young as 4. Due to the loss of sight and hearing at the age of 19 months, Helen lived her life in frustration and pain in her early life. She couldn't understand her family because she didn't yet learn how to communicate. To solve that, her parents hired Ms. Anne Sullivan who influenced her the most. Even througt special education with Ms. Sullivan, Helen coulsn't communicate with her family without Ms. Sullivan's translations. Yet, Helen didn't give up. Her passion for learning how to read and write overcame the obstacles. Her improvements on reading, writing, and arithmetic amazed her teachers and family. She has succeeded in many many areas which helped her to get in college. On her way, there were events that made her learn that deafness can be conquered, such as the blind institution, etc. The students in blind institution were one of Helen's inspiration in learning. Since they lived states away, Helen must contact her friends by mail. That motivated Helen's will to write more. The attached letters in the book shows how much she's improved since she first started to write. This book has taught us lessons that we would never learn in everyday life. Helen Keller defeated her disabilities and lived went to college as a result of her hardworks. Her courage and insistence should be admired. Teenagers nowadays worry much more on appearance or etc rather than their future. This book shows the lesson of working hard, and anything would be possible.

Helen Keller (1880-1968) is a revered figure in American popular culture. Struck deaf and blind by illness at the age of 19 months, she still managed to get an education and become a writer and activist. Her story was further popularized by William Gibson's play "The Miracle Worker," which was also adapted for both film and television.

Keller's autobiography, "The Story of My Life," first appeared in installments in "Ladies' Home Journal" in 1902. This book is truly one of the great American autobiographies: an inspiring story of a courageous individual who overcame tremendous odds.

Keller writes about many things: her childhood in Alabama; her relationship with her beloved teacher, Anne Sullivan; her attendance at the Wright-Humason School for the Deaf in New York City; and meeting such eminent figures as Mark Twain. She especially stresses her love of literature, which she describes as "my Utopia."

Along the way are some fascinating details and profoundly moving passages. Her tribute to the Homer, the blind poet of ancient Greece, is particularly powerful. I also loved her interpretation of the biblical Book of Ruth: a story of "love which can rise above conflicting creeds and deep-seated racial prejudices."

I think that many will regard Keller's autobiography as a mere historical or sociological document. But I think the book deserves a place as a great work of literature, and moreover as a work of literature in the great American tradition. Keller's poetic, often sensuous words about the natural world are comparable to the work of Emily Dickinson. And her stirring account of her revelatory awareness of language reminds me of Frederick Douglass' account of his first awareness of the power of literacy. The book as a whole is enhanced by Keller's charming, likeable literary style.

"The Story of My Life" is a wonderful book by an amazing individual. Helen Keller still has, I believe, much to say to contemporary audiences.

Literary forgeries are a fascinating topic. The Mark Hofmann case has all the characteristics of a CSI episode with the additional fascinating exploration of the unique subculture of document collectors. Worrall has chosen the forgery of an Emily Dickinson poem by Mark Hofmann as his starting point.

Unfortunately, his material runs out by about the second chapter, and he reverts instead to a summary of Mormon culture and Mormon history. Obstensibly, this is to give a background to the forger, Hofmann, but I have the feeling it was simply a way of adding another 10,000 words.

I was unhappily forced to this conclusion because the summary is so incredibly inaccurate. As a comparison, check out Lindsey's The Gathering of Saints, which is critical of the Mormon church and of the Utah Mormon culture but is also sympathetic to the bind in which the Mormon leaders found themselves. Lindsey, an intelligent reporter, is sensitive to the conflicts within a religious community and within human beings, and he perceptively illustrates how the Mormon values of both obedience and education will inevitably clash.

Additionally, he never makes the mistake--as does Worrall--of thinking that Mark Hofmann's forgeries and his brutal murders gain legitimacy simply because they hurt the Mormon church. One gets the impression from The Poet and the Murderer that Worrall admires Hoffmann, whatever he might say to the contrary.

In conclusion, the book was a disappointment. I was looking forward to an in-depth examination of Hofmann's Americana forgeries and instead found myself reading a mishmash of anti-Mormon literature. It isn't simply that such religion-bashing lacks class, it also makes the rest of Worrall's research suspect.

Recommendation: If you are really into Hofmann or literary forgeries, pick up the book at the library and check out the first couple of chapters about the Emily Dickinson forgery. Remember, the facts are suspect, and I wouldn't trust anything Worrall has written about Emily Dickinson herself, but the provenance of the poem is pretty interesting.

Having read the book I highly recommend it to everyone, if I could give it 7 stars out of 5 I would. The way the two stories are interwoven is highly impressive and makes for fascinating reading. The research that has gone into the book is very substantial and ensures the book is gripping from start to finish.
As somebody who knew very little about the worlds of literature and forgery, I found it extremely enlightening and enjoyable to read about them. However I feel it transcends them and is quite simply a brilliant, well written book.
Due to the quality of the writing and the way in which the charcters were brought to life, I could empathise with the characters involved, (although it is an all too frequently used cliche), once I started the book I couldn't put it down.
This book shocks and surprises the reader as only a true story can, it almost seems like a creation from Hollywood, perhaps we will see it adapted to the big screen soon, I for one hope so.
Anyway, I will conclude by saying I recommend this book to everyone and anyone and look forward to more releases from this writer of undoubted quality.

Simon Worrall deftly takes a small crime, the forgery of a newly discovered Emily Dickinson poem, and spins out a delicious tale of a master forger, and his all too often deserving victims. Lovers of literature will be fascinated by the painstaking descriptions of the art of forgery. Worrall takes us behind the curtain of the quirky world of rare manuscripts and books. He helps us see and feel how an artists' soul is reflected in the singular stamp of her handwriting, and how a master criminal strives to imitate the act of creation. You'll never look at a signature the same way again.

I loved Worrall's blistering indictment of the blustering and deluded Mormon church, a favorite target of the brilliant forgerer, Mark Hoffman. One of the joys of this book is its colorful villains, the twisted forger, the double dealing auctioner, and, of course, the Morman Church. The church's bumbling efforts to bury its ridiculous past make for entertaining reading - especially after NBC's snow job in the Olympics.

I would doubtlessly recommend Ivanhoe to read. History may be often dull but Sir Walter Scott makes history extremely exciting by romanticizing his novel. It directly deals with hatred between the Normans and the Saxons, the discrimination of the Jews, chivalry, and politics--but it is a unforgettable tale of heroism, honor, and love. I felt that the characters were so fascinating and fun to read about. I was enjoying and cheering on the good characters like Ivanhoe, King Richard, and Robin Hood to beat the hated and evil villains. I liked the idea of love added in the story, like how Rowena and Rebecca were both in love with Ivanhoe. I even felt a little sorry for Brian de Bois-Guilbert who would do anything for Rebecca's love but is constantly rejected. I thought how it was appealing how the author questions Ivanhoe and Rebecca's feelings for each other. Suspenseful and action sequences also added entertainment to the story. This book may be a little too detailed for some readers, but I didn't mind. I felt that the details were brilliantly used to decorate the story in an outstanding fashion. The old English wording made me feel like I was actually in the medieval England. I have to admit that it took a great deal of persistence for me to finish this book and it was a challenge for me to read. However, I found Ivanhoe to be a wonderful pleasure. It is no wonder that Ivanhoe is such a well-loved tale!

I enjoyed this adventure yarn on many levels.

I was glad to learn about the Knights of Templer and that they were crusaders. I always wondered how Sam Spade in the Maltese Falcon knew that and it is because of this classic.

I was surprised that it talked so much about Robin of Lockesley. The story of Ivanhoe seemed to be the same only told by Ivanhoe's friends and not Robin's.

I thought that the DeBracyn and the Knight of Templer Brian de Bois Guilbert were pretty evil guys which made the story interesting. They were weasels when they had their backs to the wall but did preform with honor when required like when Richard gets DeBracy.

I guess I did not understand the prejudice of the time because they treated the Jews like dirt and they were so sterotypical. I really thought that the Jewish girl Rebecca was going to end up with Ivanhoe instead of that Saxon Lady Roweana. I guess you have to appreciate the times that they lived in.

It was a different look the Richard/Prince John history.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but this book, by Sir Walter Scott, was the progenitor of what was to become a venerable tradition in English letters (and in other European literatures as well): the historical romance. There have been many after IVANHOE, and frequently with a finer eye to the period in which the tale is set (for IVANHOE contains quite a number of anachronisms -- even Scott acknowledged it), but few have done it quite as well as Scott. He uses an archaic English to give voice to his characters, but one which is readily absorbed because of the speed & quality of the tale. So, though these people certainly wouldn't really have spoken as he has them speaking, they yet sound as though they should have. Peopled by many 'stock' characters and situations, this tale was fresh in its time & still reads well today -- a testament to Scott's skills as a teller of tales and a sketcher of marvelously wrought characters. In this tale of the 'disinherited knight' returning home to find the world he left turned upside down, young Ivanhoe, after a stint with King Richard in the Holy Land, must fight the enemies of his king and kinsmen anew. Yet the hero is oddly sidelined for much of the tale as events swirl around him and the brilliantly evoked villain, Sir Brian de Bois Gilbert, in the pay of Prince John, struggles to win treasure and the beautiful Rebeccah, who yet has eyes only for Ivanhoe, a knight she can never hope to win herself. There's lots of action and coincidences galore here and Robin Hood makes more than a cameo appearance, as does the noble Richard. In sum, this one's great fun, a great tale, and the progenitor of a whole genre. All those which came after owe their form to it. Worth the price and the read.

This is the central question explored by Conrad in Lord Jim. Jim is ultimately a character who inspires our sympathy due to his inability to find reconcilliation for his one tragic moment of weakness. In him we find a person of tremendous potential that remains unrealized as the tragic circumstances of his abandoning his post aboard the Patna continually haunt him and the associated guilt drives him to isolation.
Conrad successfully explores the concepts of bravery, cowardice,guilt and the alternative destinies that an individual may be driven to by these qualities.
The narrative can be a bit confusing at times as Marlowe relates the tale by recalling his encounters with Jim. The book reminded very much of Somerset Maugham's THE RAZOR"S EDGE" in style. However I believe that Maugham did a much better job of incorporating the narrator into the flow of the story. Overall LORD JIM is a wonderful classic novel that I highly recommend.

This is the fifth book I have read by Conrad, and through these readings I have come to deeply appreciate his literary power and the perfection of his stories. Conrad has the skill to border about several similar subjects, without repeating himself. "Lord Jim" is truly a Shakespearean tragedy, mainly because of the Shakespearean nature of the main character. Jim is a young naval officer with high hopes of heroism and moral superiority, but when he faces his first test of courage, he miserably fails. While 800 Muslim pilgrims are asleep aboard the ship "Patna", Jim discovers that the boat is about to sink. There are not sufficient lifeboats for everybody. Should he wake them up or not? He gets paralyzed with fear and then sudenly jumps into a boat being set up by the rest of the officers. He is taken to trial and disposessed of his working licence.

Ashamed and humiliated, Jim dedicates the rest of his life to two things: escape the memory of that fateful night, and redeem himself. This agonizing quest to recover his dignity in front of his own eyes leads him to hide in a very remote point in the Malayan peninsula, where he will become the hero, the strong man, the wise protector of underdeveloped, humble and ignorant people. Jim finds not only the love of his people, but also the love of a woman who admires him and fears the day when he might leave for good. The narrator, Captain Marlow (the same of "Heart of Darkness") talks to Jim for the last time in his remote refuge, and then Jim tells him that he has redeemed himself by becoming the people's protector. Oh, but these things are never easy and Jim will face again the specter of failure.

Conrad has achieved a great thing by transforming the "novel of adventures" into the setting for profound and interesting reflections on the moral stature of Man, on courage, guilt, responsibility, and redemption.

Just as in "Heart of Darkness" the question is what kinds of beings we are stripped of cultural, moral and religious conventions; just as in "Nostromo" the trustworthiness of a supposedly honest man is tested by temptation, in "Lord Jim" the central subject is dignity and redemption after failure.

A great book by one of the best writers.

After reading this book (along with several other of Conrad's books) I am under the impression that Joseph Conrad may very well be my favorite author. Here is another masterpiece, a deeply incisive study of character of the motivation and the ultimate failure of all high-minded ideals. Granted my own personal world view falls directly in line with this realization and therefore prejudices me towards anything the man might write, but, when considering such a lofty title as 'favorite author' one must regard other aspects of the novelist's creation. As with the others, Conrad wins by the power of his stories.

Lord Jim is my least favorite of the the four books I have read by Conrad. The story is rather scattered: a righteous young man does something wrong that he holds himself far too accountable for and the public shame the action brought him exaggerates the reality of his failure and makes him believe the rumors swirling around about his so-called cowardice. He spends the remainder of his life trying to reclaim his self-regard, mostly exaggerating his own importance in matters he hardly understands. His goal is to liberate the primitive people of the jungle paradise he inadvertantly finds himself in (due to an effort to escape every particle of the world he once inhabited) and his once high-minded ideals and regard for himself lead him to allow those people to consider him almost a God.

Jim likes being a God and considers himself a just and fair one. He treats everyone equally and gives to his people the knowledge of modern science and medicine as well as the everyday archetecture and understanding of trade that those primitive folks would otherwise be years from comprehending.

Of course everything ends in failure and misery and of course Jim's restored name will be returned to its demonic status, but the whole point of the novel seems to me that one can not escape their past. Jim, for all his courage in the line of fire has tried to avoid all memory of the once shameful act of his former life and by doing so becomes destined to repeat his mistakes.

Lord Jim is far more expansive than the story it sets out to tell, ultimately giving a warning on the nature of history and general humanity that only a writer of Conrad's statue could hope to help us understand.

If there is a flaw it is not one to be taken literally. Conrad was a master of structural experimentation and with Lord Jim he starts with a standard third person narrative to relate the background and personalities of his characters and then somehow merges this into a second person narrative of a man, years from the events he is relating, telling of the legend of Jim. It is a brilliant innovation that starts off a little awkward and might lead to confusion in spots as the story verges into its most important parts under the uncertain guidence of a narrator who, for all his insight into others, seems unwilling to relate his personal relevence to the story he is relating.

Nevertheless (with a heartfelt refrain), one of the best books I have ever read.

Robert Louis Stevenson was without a doubt one of the greatest historical/adventure novelists that ever lived, and Kidnapped is unquestionably one of his best works. My only regret is that I waited so long to finally read it. It was a new and exciting change from Treasure Island, a book which I love, but have read approximately once every year since the second grade. Finally, longing for a little swashbuckle, and wishing for a way out of my Jim Hawkins rut, I picked up Kidnapped, and was immediately swept off on a thrilling, suspenseful and exhilarating adventure through the Scottish highlands. For days I sat rigid on the edge of my seat, eagerly following the young David Balfour as he was cheated of his inheritance by his wily uncle, kidnapped by pirates, and befriended by a cocky Jacobite outlaw. Breathlessly, I followed him and his companion as they were falsely accused of murder and forced to flee from British troops. Finally, I heaved a sigh of contented disappointment as the story ended, glad at the way things had ended, yet upset that it all had to end and that I would at last have to part from the two heroes of whom I had grown so fond. This is without a doubt a book that I will reread as many times as I have Treasure Island, and I envy the lucky reader who is picking it up for the first time. It is thrilling, exciting, suspenseful, unpredictable, and thoroughly intoxicating. After reading it, my thirst for such dashing adventure was so terrible that I immediately had to run to the library and lay my hands on every adventure novel I could find. I would highly reccommend it to every lover of adventure stories, particularly those with a historical base. I would suggest though that first time readers take a minute to read just a very little bit about the Jacobite rebellions, particularly the one of 1745. It will help greatly to clarify the story, and make it that much more enjoyable. (If indeed, it could get any better than it already is!)

I missed this one as a kid, which is too bad, because I think I would have appreciated it then as well. Set following the failed Scottish rebellion, 'Kidnapped' tells the story of young David Balfour, whose greedy uncle tries to cheat him out of his inheritance by having him kidnapped and sold in the American colonies as a slave. On the way, however, he befriends a Jacobite rebel and is instead caught up in the Scottish troubles and has to fight his way back to his home and claim his inheritance. The adventure is all the more exciting because it feels like such a real world with all the careful place-related detail Stevenson employs. While the language can be difficult in places, that quickly fades once you get into the rhythm of the book.

"I will begin the story of my adventures with . . ." That's how Robert Louis Stevenson begins one of the best novels in his career, Kidnapped. Set in the aftermath of the Jacobite rebellion of 1745 in Scotland, Kidnapped is an intriguing story narrated by David Balfour, a young Whig and Lowlander of Scotland, who is tricked by his miserly uncle; survives attempted murder, kidnap and shipwreck; and in the company of Alan Breck, a Jacobite, escapes through the Highlands and returns home to claim his fortune. The book is a wonderful adventure story with a vivid, clear presentation of the ongoing events. Although originally written for entertainment, Kidnapped effectively blends David's adventures with the ongoing historical events of the time. In some ways this story relates to the lives of people in our present time, as people still do anything to try to keep family inheritances to themselves, and friends of different rival ethnic backgrounds try to look beyond their racial differences to maintain good friendships. These racial tensions run deep in the ancient misunderstanding between the two heroes themselves: Whig and Jacobite, Lowland conservative rationalist and romantic liberal Highlander. The book is written with such realism that one would think it to be the true adventures of a person during that period, carefully recorded in a diary before being published as a kind of biography. This just shows the distinct imagination the author uses to capture the roles and personalities of the characters, the themes, and the environment before putting them all together to produce one outstanding novel. Kidnapped is a novel so good that it could be enjoyed by anyone. But it distinctively calls out to those that want the suspense and adventure it has to offer. I recommend it for an intelligent reader in search of a good piece of historical fiction.