Excellent book. 149 pictures of wrecks from the late 19th century to the 20 th century. He also includes his bibliography and notes.

This book, originally published by Yale University Press, is indeed out of print, but is an excellent study in the lives of local Chinese elites and peasants. Professor Schoppa spans the centuries by describing in an anecdotal style, a historical picture of life around Xiang Lake, a reservoir in Zhejiang province. Professor Schoppa researched scores of volumes and consulted many scholars and historians in China to write this book.

I personally know the author, and consider him an expert in the field of East Asian Studies.

The updates get better and better every year. And why not so does the team. Have a question about the Bronx Bombers? Well if it can be answered here it can't be answered anywhere. Highly recommended by BehindtheBombers.com The Official Website of the Yankees Fan.

This beautiful children's book brings the reader above, below and all around the ocean to discover all forms of sea life. The exquiste art work makes you feel like your witnessing the creatures first hand and the informative and accurate descriptions enhance the book and make it a pleasure to read. My five year old chooses this book to read at bed at night over and over again! Best testimonial I know of!

Hilarious, touching and insightful. A new American classic.

Three Musketeers by Dumas has got to be one of my favorite books ever written. I decided to read it after seeing the recent movie adaptation. For anyone who liked the movie- read the book-it's a hundred times better! The plot twists are more involved, the characters are allowed to develop properly, the humor is more subtle. Everything about the book is great. I can't remember when I've enjoyed reading a book more than when I read Three Musketeers. I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys classic literature, historical fiction, French novels, or just a great story about how good can win over the forces of evil.

Have you only seen Musketeer movies without reading the original book? Then, you're in for a surprise! Dumas' novel isn't as absolutely funny nor as absolutely solemn as many directors tend to present it -actually, The Three Musketeers is a well-balanced story where you can laugh and cry at different moments, as in real life. Of course, the action scenes are great, but I think those chapters in which the characters only talk between them are much better, like when D'Artagnan looks for his friends after the diamond studs affair. I strongly recommend anyone to read this book and fall in love with the personifications of Nobility, Strength, Intelligence and Courage, or Athos, Porthos, Aramis and D'Artagnan, as Dumas named them, and discover why the book is named The Three Musketeers when they were actually four.

This book was one of the most captivating adventure tales I've ever read. It follows the adventures of the four french musketeers (well, three of them are musketeers to start off with): Athos, Porthos, Aramis, and d'Artanagan. The book is filled with swashbuckling action, government and court intriuge, and new plot twists at every turn. It paints a wonderful picture of life in past times, set in the colorful world of post-medieval France. Although young d'Artanagan is the hero of this book, the other characters are just as well portrayed. I particuarly liked Athos: his combonation of nobleness, military genius, sorrow, bitterness, thoughtfulness and mystery made me want to skip ahead to his parts of the book. All in all, this was a wonderful read, and a classic for anyone who loves adventure stories. I could find no qualms with this book, except that it did not keep going. Go out and buy it now! You won't be disappointed. All for one, and one for all!

I am ashamed to admit it, but, yes, I have been reading for over 25 years and this is the very first time that I have ever read Jane Austen. None of her novels were required in high school, no literature class that I took in college used any as a text, and I had never thought to pursue her for sheer entertainment. It is quite sad, actually, for I find Austen much more accessible than some of the classic that I did have to wade through, including Wuthering Heights and The Scarlet Letter. Austen has recently seen a resurgence in popularity, likely due to the recent BBC and Hollywood adaptations of her books, including the Emma Thompson vehicle Sense and Sensibility.

Pride and Prejudice was Austen's second novel, following the success of Sense and Sensibility. Its original title was--and I'm not making this up a la Dave Barry--First Impressions. To my taste, this would have been a much more apt title, but it had been used by another author before Austen could get this book in print. The story is about the five Bennet sisters, who, while not orphaned or penniless, have few choices as to husbands because their father's estate is entailed on a male heir, and they have no brother. The father seems to have resigned them to their fate, but their mother wastes no opportunity to arrange a good match for her daughters. The two oldest--Jane and Elizabeth--are level-headed and quite understand the position that they are in, but the youngest three are flirtatious and giddy, a bad combination in winning society's eye. Disasters ensue when eligible bachelors Mr. Bingley and Mr. Darcy come to town, as well as the officers of the ---shire regiment.

The reason First Impressions would have been a better title is that each character--not just the main two, Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy--is constantly assuming things about other characters based on their initial reception of them. Mr. Darcy, in the country, is too proud to dance with any of the young women because of his mistaken impression that they are all declasse; Elizabeth forms her prejudices about Mr. Darcy because of her first meeting with him and this dance snub. The townsfolk think the best of Mr. Wickham because his first impression on everyone is quite favorable. And on and on and on.

Very interesting, but it goes on forever, as the characters can never be quite direct given the mores of the time. That does not mean that they can not be insulting, as a particularly vicious exchange between Lady Catherine and Elizabeth shows. I'm glad that I have now broken my Austen fast, but I think that I can wait awhile before digesting any more.

I have always loved the style and social politics of the Regency period (the time of Jane Austen.) But when I read "Sense and Sensibility" in 7th grade I found the first few chapters lifeless, dull and hard to read. Two years later I was encouraged by a friend to give "Pride and Prejudice" a try. I did and have since become a complete Janeite. I am now able to peruse joyfully through "Sense and Sensibility" with a new understanding and appreciation of Jane Austen. The reason? "Pride and Prejudice" is fresh, witty and is a great introduction to Jane Austen's writing style without the formality of some of her other novels (unlike S&S and Persuasion Austen does not give us a 10 page history of each family and their fortune.) If you have never read Jane Austen or have read her other novels and found them boring, read Pride and Prejudice. The characters, and the situations Austen presents to them, are hysterical and reveal a lot about Regency society and morality. This book perfectly compliments a great writer like Jane Austen and is essential to every reader's library. The Penguin Edition of the book is stellar and I personally recommend it not only for the in-depth and indispensable footnotes, but also for the cover that is non-suggestive of any of the characters' appearances. In summary "Pride and Prejudice" is a great book for beginner Austen readers and seasoned fans, and Penguin Classics is a great edition for fully enjoying and understanding the book.

It doesn't get better than Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Whether you're the hopeless romantic or you just love the classics, you're going to love this book. Though I am only sixteen, I consider myself to be moderately well-read. I love reading, and, when I am between books, my life feels desolate and empty. One day, while in the most barren pit of ennui, I picked up Pride and Prejudice at my mother's recommendation. I do not ordinarily like my mother's taste in reading; her favorite books tend to be very dull, but so deep was my boredom that I succumbed to her suggestion. I wasn't displeased with what I found. I fell in love with the book at the first sentence. I brought my beloved book to the dinner table, to my classes and late into the night. I love everything about it. I love the characters; especially Elizabeth Bennet! I love the Victorian vernavular which works so well for this particular novel. I love the scintillating plot and the suspense created by knowing that Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy should be together but their pride and prejudice (hence the title) are temporarily keeping them apart. The language that the novel is written in might be a little more difficult to read than contemporary literature, but once one gets accustomed to it, it makes the novel even more pleasurable. I cannot imagine Elizabeth or Darcy or Bingley or any of the other characters speaking any less eloquently; it would ruin the whole experience! The flowery language completes the whole effect of reading a Jane Austen novel. If a disgruntled female reader put down Pride and Prejudice, pick it back up! I strongly suggest it because it may prove to be tedious at first but if read again, it would probably read more easily. I can offer no suggestions to the male reader, however, because generally this book, in ever essence, is a female novel. I am not saying that men would definetly not enjoy it; I'm simply saying that I have yet to meet any male who has not addressed this book in a very vehement manner. I simply love this book in its entirety, and I know it won't be too long before I pick it up again. Jane Austen surely knew what she was doing when she wrote this one! Her Pride and Prejudice will always have an honored spot on my bookshelf.

I initially approached this book with a great deal of trepidation. I had never read Dostoyevsky, and was concerned that I would get bogged down in some lengthy, mind-numbingly boring, nineteenth-century treatise on the bestial nature of man or something. I am happy to report this is not the case. Instead, and to my delight, it is a smoothly flowing and fascinating story of a young man who succumbs to the most base desire, and the impact this has both psychologically and otherwise on himself and those around him.

To be sure, the book seems wordy in places, but I suspect this has to do with the translation. And what translator in his right mind would be bold enough to edit the great Dostoyevsky? But this is a very minor problem.

What we get with Dostoyevsky is dramatic tension, detailed and believable human characters, and brilliant insight into human nature. Early in the novel our hero meets and has a lengthy conversation with Marmeladov, a drunkard. This conversation is never uninteresting and ultimately becomes pathetic and heartbreaking, but I kept wondering why so much time was spent on it. As I got deeper into the book, I understood why this conversation was so important, and realized that I was in the hands of a master storyteller. This is also indicative of the way in which the story reveals itself. Nothing is hurried. These people speak the way we actually speak to one another in real life, and more importantly, Dostoyevsky is able to flesh out his characters into whole, three-dimensional human beings.

And what a diverse group of characters! Each is fleshed out, each is marvelously complex. Razujmikhin, the talkative, gregarious, good-hearted, insecure and destitute student; Sonia, the tragic child-prostitute, with a sense of rightness in the world; Petrovich, the self-important, self-made man, completely out of touch with his own humanity; Dunia, the honorable, wronged sister: we feel like we know these people because we've met people like them. They fit within our understanding of the way human beings are.

Dostoyevsky also displays great insight into human nature. Svidrigailov, for example, talks of his wife as liking to be offended. "We all like to be offended," he says, "but she in particular loved to be offended." It suddenly struck me how true this is. It gives us a chance to act indignantly, to lash out at our enemies, to gain favor with our allies. I don't believe I've ever seen this thought expressed in literature before. In fact, it never occurred to me in real life! Petrovich, Dunia's suitor, not only expects to be loved, but because of his money, and her destitution, he expects to be adored! To be worshipped! He intentionally sought out a woman from whome he expected to get this, and is comletely flummoxed when she rejects him. His is an unusual character, but completely realized.

There is so much more to talk about: the character of Raskolnikov, which is meticulously and carefully revealed; the sense of isolation which descends on him after committing his crime; the cat and mouse game played on him by the police detective. I could go on and on. I haven't even mentioned the historical and social context in which this takes place. Suffice to say this is a very rich book.

Do not expect it to be a rip-roaring page turner. Sit down, relax, take your time, and savor it. It will be a very rewarding experience. And thank you SL, for recommending it.

Like many writers of his era, Dostoyevsky uses a lot of prose and little dialogue, which makes reading the book a bit of a plodding chore.

However, the story is anything but boring: Raskilnov, a poor student, comes up with the philosophy that killing an old female pawnbroker will actually be good for the world because she cheats people and is otherwise useless. It's premeditated --- he even counts exactly how many steps it takes from his place to her door.

The book also recounts the following few days when Raskilnov's mother and sister come to visit and he has to play his 'family role' i.e. "I'm a good son and brother when I'm not killing old women." In addition, he is involved with a family consisting of a dying mother, a father, 3 young sons and an 18-year-old daughter who must go into prostitution to support them.

So what happens to all of these characters in pre-Revolutionary Russia? What will be Raskilnov's punishment? Does he actually think he was right to kill? The answers unfold as you read this gem from the world of Russian literature -- so renown you feel like you really achieved something when you read it!

This novel stands out as one of the finest pieces of actual literature I have read. Top 5 at least.

First, let me pay tribute to "Everyman's Library Series". They make very handsome novels, complete with soft cream pages, and a built in fabric book mark. They all come in moroon, and add a certain pinache to any book collection. Best of all, they are well priced.

As for Crime and Punishment. I was very impressed. More often than not, I read the classics, and wonder how it is they have become classics. For Dostoevsky, there can be no doubt. And Crime and Punishment is his best known effort. Not his best though. C&P is the exploration of the world that it's hero/villain Raskolnikov occupies. He takes it apon himself to murder a particularly vile pawnbroker(thus making him a villain) under the guise of the highest moral resposibility. Well, no plan is perfect, and most of the book is an involved psycological examination of it's main character, the ways he tries to justify his crime to himself, and the people around him who have no idea what the hell is going on. Dostoevsky creates living breathing people that you care about in this tale. It's simple premise gives way to an incredibly complex story. The dialogues bewtween Raskolnikov, and Porfiry( the ever suspicious investigator) are wonderful. And then theres the clever and sneaky Svidrigailov, whom I found rather amusing at times. To me the book was very suspenseful. never knowing if or when young Raskolnikov would confess, or continue to hide in uncertainty due to the circumstancial evidence that linked him to the crime. SO many times I wanted to read to the end to find out. But I didn't, and neither should you. There's just so much depth to this book, I have no doubt it will recieve a return read. Perhaps in another 10 years I will read it, and get even more out of it. That's how all great books are. Highest recommendation.

I read Jane Eyre for my AP Lit. Class in the 12th grade. I figured, oh just another boring book. WOW! was I completely mistaken. ALthough long, Jane Eyre could have been 1,000 pages and I still would have read every page, with joy. The growth Jane Eyre, the novels main character and Protagonist, goes through throughout the novel is amazing. Born into an unloving world, with rejection and anger at every corner, Jane is forced to keep herself company and therefore, her only friend is herself. Adopted by her uncle, who soon dies, Jane is forced to live with her aunt Reed. I dont want to summarize about all this stuff, I am going to get down to the nitty-gritty. The novel mainly centers around Jane and her love for Rochester. When Jane becomes eighteen, she is hired to govern at the mansion of Rochesters, and to guide and teach his daughter, Adele. The marvelous love story between Jane and Rochester is as intense as anything you will ever read. At times while reading the novel, I would have to put the novel down and take in what I was reading. The passion and heart exhibited by these two characters was at times unbearable. If you want to read a true novel, full of power and emotion, read Jane Eyre- the best novel ever written. :-)

When I first read Jane Eyre, I (and I think many others) was taken in by the odd combination of romance and ominous overtones that makes Jane Eyre such a unique book. Of course, the Victorian-era writing and social commentary also made an impression.

But upon reflection, underneath all of this is a story of people with difficult lives learning to find and accept each other and hopefully coming to peace and happiness despite long odds. Maybe my second reading just comes from a twenty-first century mind reading things into a nineteenth century book that just aren't there. But to me, the book does have the feel of a modern story of hardship as well as a Victorian story of people trying to overcome their backgrounds to find love.

Jane Eyre tells the life story of an orphaned girl sent away to a harsh boarding school by a cruel aunt. Despite the harsh nature of the school, Jane thrived at the school since she is finally out from her aunt's crushing dislike for her. She graduated and took a job as a governess for a girl in the care of a mysterious man who spent much of his time traveling abroad, Mr. Rochester.

At first, the two do not like each other. This is compounded by the fact that Jane thinks she is plain looking and not worthy of his company. But the two develop a peculiar friendship, and there are many signs that their feelings are deeper. But Mr. Rochester is busy courting other ladies at the time. Mr. Rochester also seems to have a secret that he will not divulge to Jane but may have serious consequences for her.

Jane's job as a governess and the friendship that develops make it seem that the book will quickly become a Jane Austen book (which of course, would not have been a bad thing) in which the man and woman from different classes find love with one another, but from the point of the friendship blooming, Jane Eyre takes a few remarkable twists and turns that I had not expected and that make for real page-turning.

But it is as much the quiet desperation of both Jane and Mr. Rochester and their struggle to find each other despite this that makes Jane Eyre a book truly worth reading and treasuring.

I read this book in junior high school and, like so many other girls, fell head over heels in love with Mr. Rochester; after all this time, the book is still a terrific read. The first part is classic Cinderella with an interesting twist. Jane is an orphan who is abused and mistreated by her rich and evil stepmother and her nasty cousins; unlike Cinderella, Jane stands up age age 10 and fights back. She is promptly shunted off to a school for girls from poor families, where she spends the next eight years. Needing a change of scene and environment, she answers an advertisement for a governess and enters the household of Mr. Rochester. Rochester, however, is no Prince Charming; he's 17 or 18 years older than Jane, hard, bitter, cynical, selfish, and, unknown to all but a few, encumbered with a wife who is the prototype of the "mad wife in the attic". Rochester is a romantic at heart, however; he is captivated by Jane's innocence and simplicity. We all know how the book comes out so there is no sense in rehashing the plot; suffice to say that Bronte is a marvelous storyteller. The one problem I have with Jane Eyre is the same that arises in Bronte's other books, and that is her stifling insularity; she seems unable to find value in anything that outside her own narrow, English Protestant frame of reference. However, this is a small caveat in this book. "Jane Eyre" is a classic romantic novel that has entranced generations of readers and looks good for generations to come.

This is the first of Tim O'Brien's books I've read. Although I don't regret having read it, and it's beautifully written, I have to say that I found the ending to be most frustrating. O'Brien seems to leave up to the reader exactly how the tension in the book is resolved and while that may work for some, it didn't work for me. I like my loose ends neatly tied up, and that doesn't happen here. Still, there is much to recommend it. The reader has to work with this book--it is told from sundry points of view, all of which make the characters come vividly to life. The flashbacks and oblique references to the main character's former interest in magic makes for fascinating subplot, and both greatly enhance our understanding of what makes him tick. The main character's foray into plant care (I can't be more specific or I'll give something important away) inspires the same level of horrifically scary chill one gets reading in Stephen King's "The Shining" that the main character's novel consists of nothing other than the sentence, "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" over and over and over again. I found the "interview" tidbits to be distracting, but they do enrich the novel with additional points of view. Is it a love story? A story of moral and political corruption? A Vietnam cautionary tale? It's all of these and more.

...but it is so powerfully written, and some of the scenes -- particularly the more horrific ones -- are so vivid that I had to recommend it solely on that basis. (I won't reveal the particulars of one very powerful scene, but I am sure that the grotesque events described in excruciating detail will stay with me for a very long time.) The main problem I had with this book is that it focuses almost completely on two incidents in the main character's life -- his participation in the massacre at My Lai during the Vietnam War, and his wife's disappearance from an isolated cabin at a northern Minnesota lake many years ago. Granted these are the pivotal events of John Wade's life (as is the suicide of his father, which is also constantly touched upon), but the narrative constantly circles these two events, so that after several chapters, it feels as if you are going over the same ground over and over again. You crave some new information, and the horror loses its power to horrify, particularly in the Vietnam scenes. The book spirals back out of this pattern at the end when it becomes very dark, very disturbing and very engrossing yet again. Another reason I liked this book was its narrative structure; it reads like the unfinished manuscript by a frustrated true-crime writer. This unnamed writer gradually becomes another character in the story whose obsession with what happened at the Lake of the Woods and the mystery of Kathy Wade's disappearance drives the story forward. At the end, this mystery is never neatly solved, which may annoy some readers, but I enjoyed the ambiguity and the opportunity to make up my own mind about what happened between this husband and wife in the dark night.

I'd like my first comment to be an overall five stars, you've got to read this book type of comment. Reading this book for a class, I had to stop at a certain page, which was one of the hardest things for me to do; it's a page-turner, but not like trashy books. This is literature at its best, in unconventional form.

Tim O'Brien captures in this book the moral dilemmas of the Vietnam War as well as the moral dilemmas as a modern human, as a politician, as a lover, as a husband, and as a possible murderer. This worldview is on the nature of our humanity and our motivations, and some people think it's pretty glum.

I read a "warning" from a teacher's community of reviewers and they described the book as "vulgar" and "gruesome." This is not a horror story. It's more the account of what maybe took place at one time in our history in Vietnam. Although the placement of our character John Wade was in "My Lai" which is an actual part of Vietnam, but perhaps a more symbolic motion to remind the reader that this is fiction, we can't forget that our author was a part of Vietnam and probably has a good notion of the type of violence that went on there; after all who could be more accurate then somebody who has actually been there? Though the novel has been blamed for confusing fact and fiction, there is a disclaimer in the front of the novel affirming that it is a work of fiction and must be read that way. If the reader does not do what the reader is told, the there will be disappointment from the ambiguous ending of what really happened. Tim O'Brien was asked about the truth of this novel and responded, "The literal truth is ultimately to me irrelevant . . . what matter is what happens in our hearts." When reading this book it's evident, this work is from his heart, and the ultimate truth, or lack of it in this novel, is completely irrelevant because it's not what the book is about. He didn't sit down to write about a murderer, or an escaped wife, he was writing people, and if they fascinate you, then this book will too.

The tone of the book could be taken as rage and the themes could be explained as the lack of truth and hope and meaning in life. There does seem to be a distorted view of marriage and sex and love since John Wade does stalk his girlfriend-turned-wife and perhaps kills her? But the question isn't answered, so no reader can assume, and Tim O'Brien sets the reader up to know that this book will never have a clear-cut ending very early on in the novel. Th\e reader has a choice then, he offers to set it down if that's not good enough for the reader.

The biggest strength in my opinion is the sheer artistry in which O'Brien paints the dramatic line of the novel. The unconventional prose form really added to the unconventionality of the story. The ambiguity of the narrator and his connection to John Wade just made you think even more. The chapters with only the evidence listed gave such a tremendous strength to the exposition provided. The mystery of the Northern Minnesota setting on the water made a perfect escape route for concrete answers to the mystery. And the love that was spoken between husband and wife was enough for a reader to want to find what that feels like. This is not the first work I've read by O'Brien; in fact it's one of the many. This so far was my favorite and with my high recommendation.