Book Reviews

FullReviews Index - page 2

Hotel Savoy
]In his second novel, Hotel Savoy (1924), Joseph Roth skillfully depicts a string of events in the life of his Gabriel Dan. Roth was intent on portraying in prose the psychology of uprooted, hopeless, and hopeful."

I, Roger Williams
It's often easier to write about how much we don't know about the lives of early American writers than to discuss the few fragments of the past that have survived. Roger Williams was an early American writer, but we have very little real detail about his life and works.

John Greenleaf Whittier: Selected Poems
John Greenleaf Whittier has been called the "Quaker Poet." He's famous for "Snow-Bound," which sold more than 20,000 copies in one month. With this collection, Editor Brenda Wineapple reminds us of the poetry and the life of John Greenleaf Whittier. "Revisited now," the editor sees Whittier as "fresh, honest even flinty and practical."

F. Scott Fitzgerald: Novels and Stories 1920-1922
F. Scott Fitzgerald is known for The Great Gatsby, but he created a great many other novels and stories. Read about Fitzgerald's works from 1920-1922.

Thoreau: Collected Essays and Poems
To explore the breadth and intensity of Thoreau's work, Elizabeth Hall Witherell brings together Thoreau's work for the first time in one authoritative collection. As she writes, "America's greatest nature writer and a political thinker of worldwide impact, Henry David Thoreau crafted essays that reflect his speculative and probing cast of mind."

Mark Twain: Gilded Age and Other Novels
This Gilded Age collection encompasses Mark Twain's literary career, starting with his first novel-length, fictional work, The Gilded Age, which he co-wrote with Charles Dudley Warner... and carrying us through to his final work, The Mysterious Stranger, which was left in manuscript format upon his death.

Faith in a Seed: The Dispersion of Seeds and Other Late Natural History Writings
Henry David Thoreau's life was full of wonders. He led a life that was enmeshed in nature, as he saw and experienced life to the fullest. His belief in the power of nature has been well-documented. He's most recognized for Walden, which was a complete immersion in nature.

Refiguring Huckleberry Finn
In Refiguring Huckleberry Finn, Carl Wieck tackles Huck's famous story with a passion.

The People of the Sea
Imagine a place where "the people of the sea" are torn between land and their ocean kingdom. There's love, loss, rescue, return, and more: David Thomson presents a whole world (more old than really new) in his exploration of the Atlantic gray seals, also known as selchies.

The Skin of Our Teeth
The Skin of Our Teeth, by Thornton Wilder was published in 1943 to critical and controversial acclaim. The play is a hilarious romp through human experience, taking in many of the prominent voices in literary history; but the play has a darker side as well. Read on...

Yeats's Ghosts: The Secret Life of W.B. Yeats
Brenda Maddox's book is not the first biography about Yeats, nor will this work be the last. He was, after all, a revered Irish poet and writer. When he won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1923, he was recognized for his always inspired poetry, which in a highly artistic form gives expression to the spirit of a whole nation.

Pirate Hunter
Pirates appear in some of our greatest adventure literature, with Robert Louis Stevenson and others helping us to imagine the pirate life... In this new book, Richard Zacks explores the pirate life and adventures from the viewpoint of Captain Kidd, a man who has been called a pirate for several centuries.

Christopher Marlowe: A Literary Life
Have you ever wondered why so much controversy still surrounds the life, works and death of Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593)? His legend has become all the more mysterious in the centuries since he lost his life in a barroom brawl...

My Brother's Keeper
Although the intended scope of this memoir was never fully realized, My Brother's Keeper offers a unique perspective on James Joyce. For many years, Stanislaus Joyce shared friends, books, misadventures, and a few triumphs. All along, Stanislaus was in his brother's shadow, as James Joyce continued to develop his literary genius.

Candide
In 1759, a vitriolic Frenchman known as Voltaire (1694-1778) wrote Candide. It was written in retaliation against the tenets of the then-eminent German philosopher Leibniz, who claimed that mankind lives in the best of possible worlds. Voltaire tried to dismantle this notion, and thus created his most widely read book. The Bantam Classic edition offers a highly informative forward by Andre Maurois, with caustic wit and hyperbole.

C.S. Lewis: A Biography
In this biography, A.N. Wilson explores the life and works of C.S. Lewis, from his early childhood, through years of fighting in World War I, his relationships, his books, and his friendships.

St. Patrick of Ireland
In St. Patrick of Ireland, Philip Freeman sifts through the fragments of myths, legends, and time-worn manuscripts to re-create the story of Patrick. Freeman quickly reads between the lines of Patrick's letters to get at the real drama of his life and works. Along the way, he focuses on the man behind the legend.

Am I a Snob?
In Am I a Snob?, Sean Latham explores not only the origins of the term, but what it has come to mean for writers.

Dust Tracks on the Road
Zora Neale Hurston wrote stories, novels, plays, and folklore. A born storyteller, she was part of the Harlem Renaissance of African-American writers. Read more about Zora Neale Hurston.

Dos Passos: Travel Books and Other Writings
As one of the latest additions to the American writers series, Library of America has published Travel Books and Other Writings: 1916-1941, by John Dos Passos.

How to Read Literature Like a Professor
Thomas Foster opens up a new world of literature, drawing from some of the world's greatest classics to explore what literature is, what it means to us, and how we can understand it. It's a fun and entertaining introduction for students and book lovers alike.

Three Chinese Poets
In this slim volume, Vikram Seth offers translations for three eighth-century Chinese poets: Wang Wei, Li Bai (or Li Po), and Du Fu (or Tu Fu). Seth's aim in creating these translations is to be consistent to the form and language of the Chinese poets, not focusing as much on the poetic flow of the lines.

Bram Stoker's Dracula
To commemorate the centenary of Dracula, Carol Margaret Davison has brought together this collection of essays by some of the world's leading scholars. This book offers analysis of Stoker's original work, but also celebrates the influence this famous monster has had upon our literature and culture.

West of the Border
West of the Border" is a discussion of the borderland upon which multicultural writers position themselves. Noreen Groover Lape explores the contradictions in American society, brought about by cultural contact points. These points of contact create chaos and contradictions, but they also create the catalysts by which multicultural literary voices emerge.

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