Not being familiar with Elkin or his work, it was a pleasant surprise to read 'Dick Gibson.' Elkin has an amazing imagination, and a wonderful ear for wordplay. The 'guests' on Gibson's radio shows just can't help but reveal their deepest, darkest (usually sexual) secrets. And Gibson is too smart to step in their way. This book is amazingly prescient about the advent of 'entertainment' like Jerry Springer, "reality" programs, and all those radio shows people call just hear themselves think. It's a shame this programming has none of Elkin's sardonic wit - or his intelligence. I'm looking forward to reading more Elkin.

Elkin is not an easy read, but he's funny, brilliant, dazzling and dizzying, the kind of writer that might emerge if Proust were cloned with I.B. Singer, or maybe Damon Runyon. This book shows him at the top of his game. His sheer energy and love of language blasts through on every page. Forget about plot. Elkin is to writing what Cirque du Soleil is to entertainment. If you like well-plotted books that will leave you with a moral or a memorable story, Elkin may not be for you. If you like language for language's sake and appreciate sentences sculpted by a lingual Michelangelo and marvelous displays of craft, try this book. Elkin is a limited writer and an acquired taste, but within his limitations he was the best. I know of no other writer who could, for example, write a novel about terminally ill children (The Magic Kingdom) and make it funny and moving without ever getting anywhere near sentimentality or the kind of somber earnestness you'd expect. If you like this book, try Magic Kingdom and also Criers and Kibbitzers, a short story collection of his.

This is not quite Mrs. Ted Bliss but in some respects it is probably better. I don't know - I loved them both, but being a woman perhaps liked Mrs. Ted better. Still - Stanley Elkin is a man with a jumpin' mind! The twists and turns of this novel are magnificent - and what I love most is that his writing is not predictable. You keep reading just to see what new trick he'll pull.

The Land of Oz is..well..WOW. It definately is not just a sappy children's book, it's funny, and truly amusing. Don't call it a child's book, call it a book for all audiences.

When I bought The Land of Oz, I opened up a new world of adventure. Little did I know, The Wizard of Oz's author, L. Frank Baum, had written 13 other books after The Wizard of Oz.

The Land of Oz is about a young boy named Tip, who lived with a witch named Mombi. Mombi was a very evil witch and one day she journeyed to an old wizard to get some magical ingredients. While she was gone, Tip constructed a man out of wood and carved a pumpkin and placed it on its head. Then, he set the "pumpkin man" standing out in the street so it would scare old Mombi. When she returned, she wasn't scared but mad at Tip. She decided to try the Powder of Life, an ingredient she had gotten at the wizard's house that would make anything come to life, on the "pumpkin man" to see if it worked. It did and brought the "pumpkin man" to life. Mombi was going to turn Tip into a marble statue in the morning for trying to scare her, so Tip and the newly called Jack Pumpkinhead left to journey to The Emerald City. Jack Pumpkinhead was the first of many new characters to come into the Oz stories.

The reason I would suggest this book is because it is fun. There are adventures and new characters and a surprise close to the end. Also, characters like The Scarecrow, and The Tin Man appear in this book. Dorothy is not in this book because it is kind of a prologue to the next book, Ozma of Oz.

After I finished this book, I realized that I really liked it and would like to read more of the series. As I continued to read the rest of the books, I liked them more and more. As of 7/3/02, I am on Tik-Tok of Oz, which is book 8. As you can see, I'm far in the series and still reading. If you liked The Wizard of Oz, then you will probably like The Land of Oz.

I suppose some would consider it sacrilege and those who only know "The Wizard of Oz" the movie wouldn't believe it, but "The Land of Oz," the second book in L. Frank Baum's 14-book series, is clearly superior to "The Wizard of Oz." No Dorothy, no Toto, no Lion: no problem. This book is sensationally entertaining. Whereas the first book seemed more interested in presenting marvelous characters and creatures scene by quick scene (which it does well) than in delighting us with what they say and do, "The Land of Oz" is a tour de force that will keep a smile permanently affixed to your face (like Jack Pumpkinhead!). Baum's style is enormously improved; he supplies more detail, more endearing dialog, more fun, more edge, more sides to everything. The characters and creatures are marvelous: the aforermentioned Jack Pumpkinhead (my favorite), the Highly Magnified Woggle-Bug, the gump (two sofas, an antlered animal head, palm leaves and broom brought to life as a flying "thing"), the Saw Horse, the army of girls who take over the Emerald City and make servants of the men (in 1904!), Mombi the witch (far more interesting than the Wicked Witch of the West), and on and on, including more vivid portrayals of the Scarecrow and Tin Woodman. Overall, considerably better than the first book, which is good in its own right, and simply one of my favorite books, one which can be loved by adults (as I am) or children. If you read only one Oz book (OK, you have to read the first one, but if you read only two) include "The Land of Oz".

This tale of Psmith and Mike's entry into the banking world is a wonderful send-up of corporate culture (and more), circa 1900. But many of the situations are just as relevant today, and anyone who's tried to navigate the waters of a new job should enjoy (and envy?) Psmith's exploits. There are many passages that are absolutely hysterical ("...Mr. Waller was a widower, and after five minutes' acquaintance with Edward [his son], Mike felt strongly that Mrs. Waller was the lucky one.") This book doesn't quite equal "Leave It To Psmith" in terms of plotting or consistent, side-splitting humor -- but it is a very enjoyable read nevertheless.

There's little I can say about this book other than if you love lighthearted comedy and 'comedy of errors', read this book. There's not a single book by Wodehouse that I haven't enjoyed to some extent, but the Psmith books are among my top favorites. Psmith's urbane charm and sly wit, combined with the typical miscommunication of a Wodehouse novel are perfect.

I read this book a dozen times and it still makes me laugh out loud. In the ten years since I have read it, I have given it away as a gift, and lent it out to scores of people, all of whom have enjoyed and went on to read other works by Wodehouse. What makes it so enjoyable? Perhaps the autobiographical nature of it (wodehouse worked in a bank and hated it) that adds an authenticity, and is just as fresh as when it was written over 80 years ago. But mainly, it is the character Psmith, one of the most delightfully eccentric characters in literature; based on an aquaintance his cousin knew at a public school, who was "impeccably dressed in savile row suits", called his fellow students comrade and had a "fatherly" way of talking to his headmasters. Also highly rec. is "leave it to Psmith"

This is the first of Trent's cases that I have read and I am not sure how many there were previously, but this was an enjoyable read. The characters are developed nicely, the plot flows along at a decent pace, and there are enough twists to keep me guessing. Of course, the solution comes from left field, but was rather interesting based upon the characterization of the deceased. A definite old time mystery without much gore and [sexual content], but interesting nevertheless! Maybe I'll read some of his earlier cases.....

Trent makes a lasting impression in this, his first, last and only appearance. Appearing in 1913, "Trent's Last Case" is among the first classic English country murder mysteries. It's all butlers, country houses, motor-cars and dressing for dinner, sprinkled with wry observations on the manners of the wealthy, country folk, inn keepers, servants upstairs and downstairs, police inspectors, husbands, widows, American secretaries and French maids.

We begin with our man Trent arriving in town to investigate a murder. The plot is brisk, without enough clues to make it a whodunit. Trent's an established painter with a national reputation as an amateur detective and newspaper correspondent. An amateur sleuth would be incomplete without a nemesis, so we have a long-time friendly rival, Inspector Murth. The presumption of a long history and the effortlessness of the characters' interactions was drawn beautifully. All is revealed through what the characters say and do, not by long narrative descriptions. I rather wish this was only the beginning for Trent and not the end.

Actually Trent's last case is his first - and his last: E. C. Bentley didn't write another full-length novel (although there is a disappointing collection of short-stories entitled 'Trent Intervenes', I think; the only edition of this I have seen was in the green and white Penguin crime classics). The importance of 'Trent's Last Case' is that it helped to shape a new paradigm in British detective stories: witty, social acute, conservative (to the point of looking down on 'trade'), and flippant bordering on frivolous. We have Bentley to thank for Allingham, Christie, Crispin, Hare, Innes, and Sayers; the alternative could have been more tedious imitators of the Great Detective, Sherlock Holmes.

One of the better Tarkington tales I've read. An upbeat and at times humorous story about a middle class family and their two early 20-year-old children ( one boy and one girl ). The girl, Alice Adams, is the focus of the story, as she struggles to be liked by the town's society folks. She doesn't have the social prestige nor the money to attract many beaus.

This leads to turmoil, and Mrs. Adams tells her husband to leave the mediocre paying job he's had all his life to start his own company so they can be rich and pay their children "advantages". He does this, after many trepidations, but the basis of his newfound business is a stolen glue formula from his previous employer. This ultimately leads to his demise.

There is a bit more to this story, but all in all, it is a story of class envy, snobbery, and greed. Tarkington's main point, however, seems to be that every dark tunnel of life ultimately has some other exit that inevatibly lead to light -- as even in the Adams's darkest hour their was hope yet.

Alice Adams was funny and definitely some good quality writing. At first I thought it might be too old-fashioned since it was written in the early 1900's, but when I read it I was able to compare Alice's desire to be popular to teenage girls today. My only negative thought about this book is that some characters especially the mother, repeated things a lot. The mother had several lines that she said at least 5 times throughout the book, and that was somewhat annoying. Otherwise the book was great!

Booth Tarkington is one of my favorite authors. Noone captures the spirit of the person better than he does. The way he makes Alice Adams come alive makes me want to be there and meet this wonderful young lady. If an author can make me want to do that, he is excellent in my book.
The movie ending is the opposite of the book ending, which disappointed me, because I wanted it to be true to the book. Nevertheless, I also wanted Alice to have her dreams come true. If you really absorb yourself in the book, however, you will see that her dream DOES come true, just not necessarily the way you want it to.
There is also the beautiful way he paints the whole family into the book. I won't give it away, but you will see the intricacies woven in.
I found myself totally absorbed in the story and couldn't stop reading it.
Please read this book! You will love it!

What, exactly, is the connection of this book with "Laura Schlessinger"? The link indicates that this "Laura Schlessinger" is the radio moralist-charlatan. Is that her portrait on the dust cover? Dr. Liara is an old bat, all right, but I doubt she is "The Bat."

The Bat is probably the most popular of all of the novels of America's great female mystery writer, Mary Roberts Rinehart, and it is quite simply one of the finest mystery/suspense novels ever written. The plot is outstanding, the atmosphere is unremittingly tense and apprehensive, and the conclusion is totally surprising without being contrived. If you like good mysteries you will probably love The Bat.

I always enjoy reading her books due to the imagery and variety of different character types and personalities she incorporates into her story lines. The Bat was my favorite...it had the "old" mystery feel. The characters were very well described and therefore, easy to imagine. I began feeling what the characters felt and encountered in that dark, old estate. It is hard for me to get through a book without getting bored and starting on another. However, The Bat traveled with me to work, the gym and house each day, just so I could finish it. I couldn't seem to put it down. Great piece of literature...one I would highly recommend for those who love a good mystery!

The course of true love never did run smooth with the "Damsel in Distress", naturally. Love may not care if time totters, light droops, and all measures bend. The problem, of course, in this boy loves girl and vice versa romance, the respective love-light is shining at the wrong object d'amour. This merry mix-up is further complicated by the differences in class ("blood").

In this delightful comic tale, Wodehouse reminds us once again the universal truth mused by e.e. cummings: love's function is to fabricate unknownness. That known is being wishless, but love, is all of wishing.

Wodehouse's "Damsel in Distress", like all his other works, is framed in the Edwardian Era. In contrast to the acme of vulgarity of this prosaic age, no one could write like he did, nor would want to. His large collection of works is held like an extinct specimen in the amber of the moment - capturing the bubbling gaiety and the insouciance of the Gilded Age.

Life does move on. Once a while though, it's pleasing and reassuring to hold and peer with appreciation inside the polished resin that was Wodehouse - knowing that the English language is still at its zenith, and few has mastered it.

George Bevan, burgeoning young american musical composer, fancies himself a knight-in-shining-armor when in the middle of Piccadily Circus a fair maiden flings herself into his cab to escape the obese pursuit of the dragon - her brother Percy, heir to the family title and vigilant protector of the family name. Our hero's fair lady Maud does indeed live trapped within the tower of Castle Belpher to which he repairs in swift pursuit of happiness.

George will face grim prospects in scheming servants, an evil aunt, a kindly but aunt-dominated Lord Marshmoreton and worst of all the fact that Maud is in love with another. The whole setting has obvious similarities to Blandings for those familiar with the Lord Emsworth stories. I wasn't roaring with laughter, but I was attached to the characters and couldn't put the book down. It is hard to say which book is a good introduction to Wodehouse because they are all so good!

This was my first Wodehouse and one of my absolute favourite books. A dream of wonderfully comic characters, from the preoccupied Earl of Marshmoreton, sulky Lord Belpher, radiant Lady Patricia (aka Maud) and all-round good guy George Bevan, as well as a bevy of funny support characters (like the house staff who make bets on the romantic attachments of the inhabitants). Utterly delightful, with laugh-out funny scenes throughout. If you haven't read this, you're missing out!

The Financier says as much about the importance of the conjugal nuclear family (the Butlers and the Cowperwoods) and its struggle to put up just the right airs, as it does about America's love for building up its giants, tearing them down and rebuilding them. Through Frank Cowperwood's financial acumen and sheer grit, he raises his family's (father's) humble beginnings onto Philadelphia's loftier social fabric. But the railroads and city treasurer shennanigans are only part of his story. Determination, focus and most of all hubris make Cowperwood one part angel, three parts beast: providing the finer things for his parents and immediate family but sentencing his wife, Lillian, to a life replete with rumors, a city's preoccupation with his mistress and love compromised.

It is astonishing how many figures from recent headlines--Donald Trump, Michael Milkin, Bill Clinton and even Michael Jackson--come to mind by The Financier's end. More than a century later, Dreiser's commentary rings hauntingly true.

I must point out that Mr. Dreiser is one of my favorite authors. Sister Carrie, Jeanne Gerhardt (sp?) and An American Tragedy are the finest books on American society in the same manner that Anthony Trollope's works on Victorian England are the finest of their ilk.

The Financier takes the reader to Philadelphia just prior to and around the time of the civil war. Mr. Cowperwood starts small,dreams bigger and free-falls gigantically. The power plays and court trial are fascinating studies of human nature and a treatise on Dreiser's nature -vs- nurture views.

But far deeper in the story lies the its heart- Coperwood's love for one of his financial partner's daughters. The lengths they go to keep the relationship going matched with the lenghts her father goes to stop it (she is much younger and he is married) is a fine a redition of love against the odds as you'll read.

Its amazing how a sophmoric book like "Martin Dressler" can win a Pulitzer Prize while the journalistic genius of Mr. Dreiser remains on the fringes of mainstream of American Literature.

This book is not for everybody. If you have an above average IQ and executive ability to read between lines, you will learn a lot. About REAL dynamics of society, about world of high-profile players and politicians... the truth is striking. And most important of all - little (if anything) has changed since this book was written.

The revised edition of Barclay's commentaries was issued in 1975 and was prepared not by William Barclay, but by the Rev. James Martin. According to the introduction, the revised edition renews the printer's type, restyles the books, corrects some errors in the text and removes some references which have become outdated. In addition, Biblical quotations in the commentaries use the Revised Standard Version instead of the King James Version (however Barclay's own translation is retained at the beginning of each daily section).

The reality of the revised edition is quite different. What the introduction fails to mention is that the 17 volumes of the revised edition of the New Testament have 12.6% fewer pages than the now out-of-print 2nd edition. Only the 2nd edition contains all of Barclay's commentary on the New Testament. For example, in the 2 volumes on the Gospel of John, the revised edition contains 547 pages; however the 2nd edition contained 634 pages. Thus, the revised edition has 13.7% fewer pages than the 2nd edition. In the 2 volumes on Revelation, the reduction is over 20%.

I first noticed the selective deletion of portions of Barclay's original commentary in the commentary for John 13:33-35, in which Jesus speaks of loving one another as he loved us. In the 2nd edition, Barclay so beautifully states the following: "He [Jesus] knew all their [his disciples] weaknesses and yet He still loved them. Those who really love us are the people who know us at our worst and who still love us." However, these two sentences do not appear in Martin's revised edition. Repeatedly, key sentences and phrases are deleted from the revised edition. The revised edition is in fact a condensed and inferior version of the commentaries actually written by William Barclay. I do believe that William Barclay's commentaries are the most insightful and meaningful commentaries that I have ever read on the New Testament, and I cannot recommend them highly enough. They have truly changed my life. However, if you want to read all of what Barclay actually said instead of what Martin thought was important enough to leave in, then check with a used book store or do a used book search on the internet to get the 2nd editions of the Gospel of John or other volumes in the Daily Study Bible.

Lke Caruso or Babe Ruth, Barclay is in a class by himself.As a commentator he had a combination of skills I have not found equalled by anyone else He was and remains the best in thefield. His writing style is accessible but eloquent Anglo-English (he was Scotch). His erudition peerless,(he knew more about Judiasm as a religion than almost all specialists I have read in that field) His intellectual intergrity is breathtaking. He will acknowledge and discuss that the original Mark did not make a strongarguement for the Resurrection, that John was brillant but probably wrong about the actual day of the crucifixtion etc etc etc. His analysis of many issues (like the authorship of John's Gospel)while easy to understand, is far more sophisticated than what you will find in the Expositer's.

Barclay will educate you, strengthen your faith, and leave you shaking your head in regret that "they dont make them like him anymore. I have read a bunch of these guys. Barclay is the geniune article, in a class by himself, the standard by which I and I think you too will judge everyone else.

Barclay's writings speak to me like none other. William Barclay passed on in the early 1980's, but thankfully, he left behind so much of his useful and practical knowledge.

Of these DSB series, John is my favorite.

Barclay's book on John says that this disciple was portrayed as "The Eagle" because he saw things from a higher, more spiritual view and his writings had more metaphysical meat to them.

Barclay's exegesis on John really brings that out.

And the thing I love most about this book is the practicality of his teachings. It's not a dry or dusty interpretation, but a here and now explanation. He makes the writings of these men come alive and then shows how the teachings of Jesus are practical and applicable to all the needs of mankind - for now and forever.

As someone else once said of this remarkable man, William Barclay, "he saved the Bible from the experts."

John was the first of this series that I read. And then I went out and bought Matthew. And then Luke. And then Mark and before I was done - I'd purchased and read them all.

The revised edition of Barclay's commentaries on the New Testament was published in the 1970's, replacing the 2nd edition. It was prepared not by William Barclay, but by the Rev. James Martin. According to the introduction, the revised edition renews the printer's type, restyles the books, corrects some errors in the text and removes some references which have become outdated. In addition, Biblical quotations in the revised edition use the Revised Standard Version instead of the King James Version (however Barclay's own translation is retained at the beginning of each daily section).

What the introduction of the revised edition fails to mention is that while the 17 volumes of the previous 2nd edition contains a total of 5,195 pages, the revised edition prepared by Martin has only 4,541 pages, or a reduction of 12.6%. The removal of portions of Barclay's text in the revised edition varies among the 17 volumes, but nowhere is it more pronounced than in the 2 volumes on Revelation. In the 2nd edition, the 2 volumes contain 528 pages, but in the revised edition the 2 volumes only contain 415 pages, a reduction of 113 pages, or 21.4%. One of the worst cases of the removal of portions of Barclay's commentary occurs in the commentary for Revelation 3:1-6 (Sardis: A Lifeless Church). In that particular commentary, well over 50% of the text from the 2nd edition is removed in the revised edition. Repeatedly, key sentences and phrases are deleted from the revised edition. The revised edition is in fact a condensed and inferior version of the commentaries actually written by William Barclay.

However, I do want to make it clear that I found that the 2nd edition of the Daily Study Bible, including the 2 volumes on Revelation, are by far the most insightful and meaningful commentaries that I have ever read on the New Testament, and I cannot recommend them highly enough. Barclay's 2nd edition commentary on Revelation did an outstanding job of explaining the historical background and the meaning of this difficult text. Any serious study of Revelation would benefit tremendously by the use of Barclay's commentary. However, if you want to read all of what Barclay actually said instead of what Martin thought was important enough to leave in, then check with a used book store or do a used book search on the internet to get the 2nd editions of the 2 volumes on Revelation or other volumes in the Daily Study Bible series.

I was looking for Volume II and am using this "review" as a means to inquire. Volume I covers chapters 1-5. I assume Vol. II would cover chapters 6-18? I would like to purchase Vol. II.(As a small review: Mr. Barclay has taken on the most difficult book and made it much easier to understand.)

The breakdown of the written text was very informative for me an arm chair catholic bible reader. The recommended interpretations are all viable and the "more likely meanings" of the text seemed well founded. However, a volume 2 would be a great finish to the reading.