Trans-Atlantyk Review

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(More customer reviews)Gombrowicz's take on the generally painful experience of exile is an artful combination of the particular and the universal. The novel's comic tone seems a historically and culturally specific attack on hackneyed Polish nationalism. Yet Trans-Atlantyk manages to raise greater questions of literature's ability to do justice to 20th-century horrors such as WWII. The translation is a work of art in itself -- for those who can't read Polish (such as myself), you will not be bothered by that fear of a mediated, second-rate experience so common to mediocre translations. To the contrary, the language of this translation is unbelievably rich. Indeed, do not let the richness scare you off -- the style becomes easier to digest as the novella moves forward. Enjoy...

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Cranford Review

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(More customer reviews)I have always been a fan of 19th century novels and many of my favorite authors come from this time period. I have never read anything by Gaskill, and finally grabbed this book after seeing the BBC miniseries of the same name.
It was a sentimental look at several spinsters in the town of Cranford, all of which are likable and good people. The overall tone of the book was very positive, with one of the main lessons showing that people love to help genuinely good people. It is a nice contrast to many novels that show the worst in people.
Note that this does not match the BBC series in all aspects since the BBC series took all 3 Cranford books and condensed them into a miniseries, but many of the episodes from the book are included with modifications. I enjoyed the book and the TV show, even though they did not match exactly.
I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in this type of literature and who wants a refreshing glance as a time that was.

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The most well-known and well-liked of Gaskell's works, this softly humorous picture of an English country village was first serialized in a magazine edited by Charles Dickens in 1851. Based on the village of Gaskell's childhood, "Cranford" is narrated by a young woman visiting the town who describes the genteel poverty of two middle-aged spinster sisters, Miss Matty and Miss Deborah. Gaskell tells of their little adventures in a confidential and almost chatty tone, perfectly conveying their habits and standards of propriety, decency, and kindness in reduced circumstances. The colorful characters and subtle class distinctions of the village of Cranford are captured in this compassionate and hopeful portrayal of small-town English life.

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Never Come Morning Review

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(More customer reviews)I noticed in another customer review of this book that two key pieces of plot information are provided in the review itself. That is something no reviewer should ever do. Don't let that blemish keep you from buying this remarkable book. Never Come Morning is one of the finest novels you will ever read. This is Catcher In The Rye for the rest of us, for everyone who grew up more worldy than Holden Caufield.
Algren opens a window on Chicago's ethnic, inner city streets. The sights, sounds, smells, words and music of Chicago in the late 1940's are right there in front of you. He then points his highly accurate lens on his character's hearts, minds, concerns, fears, worries, struggles, hopes & dreams.
Never Come Morning is a lyrical, poetic work of fiction that's nonetheless so realistic it could have been yanked straight from the headlines of any city's newspapers, in any era, from the 1940's straight through to 2004. The novel describes the lives of several teenagers living on Chicago's Near Northwest side, in the late 1940's. It is realistic yet never exploitive, heart-wrenching yet never heavy handed.
Those familar with Chicago neighborhoods will delight in seeing The Triangle, Riverview, Humboldt Park, Division Street, Chicago Avenue, Western Avenue, Milwaukee Avenue, Oak Street Beach and Logan Square referenced in print. As El trains fly overhead - some down tracks still with us and some down tracks long-gone - you will be astounded at how well this writer has captured the Chicago of your youth.
Those familar with Chicago characters like the ones in this novel (Bruno Bicek, Steffi Rostenkowski, Catfoot Nowagrodski, Fingers Idzikowski, Fireball Kodadek, Bibleback Watrobinski, Casey Benkowski, Momma Tomek and The Barber) will have to put the book down and take a walk outside. The memories that come flooding back will be too STRONG, and too REAL.
Anyone who's lived in a neighborhood where kids run the nighttime streets, anyone who's ever hung out on a corner, tossed dice against a warehouse wall, walked a freight yard, played ball for a Park District League, been to Riverview, swam at Oak Street or dated a girl from the neighborhood will be shocked from the sheer force of recognition this amazing novel provides.
Yet even those who've never set foot in Chicago will be spellbound by this remarkable, poetic novel about tough kids growing up under tough conditions in a tough town. A must read for anyone interested in American Realism, and/or fiction carved from real life.

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A reissue of a classic American novel, with an introduction by Kurt Vonnegut, Nelson Algren's second novel, originally published in 1942, tells the story of Bruno Bicek, a tough from Chicago's Northwest Side, and Steffi, the woman who shares his dream while living his nightmare. "An unusual book and a brilliant book." -- The New York Times

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Works of Jules Verne (Volume 13); The Robinson Crusoe School. the Star of the South. Purchase of the North Pole Review

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(More customer reviews)This omnibus from Avenel collects five of Jules Verne's most popular novels, and three stories from one of his first collections. These are all the earliest translations into English of his works, often appearing just months after the original French editions, containing many of the original illustrations. Oddly enough, the cover painting, although of Captain Nemo (a main character in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea) is actually taken from an edition of The Mysterious Island which is not included in the omnibus.
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is a translation of Vingt Mille Lieues sous les mers by Mercier Lewis (1873), illustrated by Alphonse de Neuville and Édouard Riou. It is 6th in the Voyages Extraordinaires series, preceded by In Search of the Castaways, and followed by Around the Moon.
A Journey to the Center of the Earth is an anonymous translation, first published in 1871 by Griffith and Farran, of Voyage au centre de la Terre, illustrated by Édouard Riou. It is 3rd in the Voyages Extraordinaires series, preceded by The Voyages and Adventures of Captain Hatteras, and followed by From the Earth to the Moon.
Around the World in 80 Days is a translation of Le tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours, by George Makepeace Towle (1872), illustrated by Alphonse-Marie de Neuville and Leon Benett. It is 11th in the Voyages Extraordinaires series, preceded by The Fur Country, and followed by The Mysterious Island.
From the Earth to the Moon is a translation of De la Terre à la Lune by Louis Mercier & Eleanor E. King (1873), illustrated by Henri de Montaut. It is 4th in the Voyages Extraordinaires series, preceded by A Journey to the Center of the Earth, and followed by The Children of Captain Grant (In Search of the Castaways).
Round the Moon is a translation of Autour de la Lune, by Louis Mercier & Eleanor E. King (1873), illustrated by Émile-Antoine Bayard and Alphonse-Marie de Neuville. It is a sequel to From the Earth to the Moon, and is 7th in the Voyages Extraordinaires series, preceded by Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas, and followed by The Adventures of Three Englishmen and Three Russians in South Africa (Measuring a Meridian).
Three short stories are included from the collection, Dr. Ox's Experiment, and Other Stories, translated by George Makepeace Towle (1874), with various illustrators: Doctor Ox's Experiment (translation of Une fantaisie du docteur Ox); Master Zacharius (translation of Maître Zacharius); and A Drama in the Air (translation of Un drame dans les airs).
Although the illustrators are identified in the introduction to the omnibus, the translators are not, and I was able to identify the translations with the aid of the Internet and various web sites.

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The book may have numerous typos or missing text. It is not illustrated or indexed. However, purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original rare book from the publisher's website. You can also preview the book there.Purchasers are also entitled to a trial membership in the publisher's book club where they can select from more than a million books for free.Volume: 13 Original Publisher: f.Tyler Daniels co., inc. Publication date: 1911Subjects: Fiction / Classics; Fiction / Literary; Fiction / Science Fiction / General

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The Adventures of Captain Hatteras Review

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(More customer reviews)For those of us of a certain age, not that we lived in the 19th Century, the name Jules Verne always conjures unforgettable images of people, places and things that remain indelibly etched in the mind long, long after we've turned the last page. Jules Verne is an endless adventure; we end one, then start another and another, until we realize that we've virtually traveled to almost every place on this planet and the heavenly bodies that surround it. The fifth of his magnificent Extraordinary Voyages, The Adventures of Captain Hatteras is a breathtaking novel set in the frigid regions of the Arctic Circle and the North Pole itself, though we know now that finding an active volcano there strains credulity. It was widely believed at the time that there was an opening at the top of the world which led to the very depths of the earth. A concept that inspired Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth. And Captain Hatteras is Jules Verne at his prime, at his most imaginative stage, at his thrilling best. Its plot is simple yet intriguing: In Liverpool, a seaman named Richard Shandon, First Mate, receives an anonymous letter asking him to construct a reinforced ship and assemble a reliable crew for a rough voyage to the Northern regions of North America, and everyone, Hatteras promises, will be richly rewarded. Once up in the Arctic labyrinth one of the crewman reveals himself as Captain John Hatteras, and his mission is to be the first man to reach the North Pole. So off they go into one of the most horrendous adventures imaginable, even by today's standards.
These are just a few of the images alluded to above: sailing and trekking through sub-zero temperatures amid gigantic icebergs; cutting wind; mutiny; near starvation; bold huskies; sudden storms; castaways wintering in an ice house; a floating iceberg packed with ravenous polar bears about to leap down onto the ship and devour the bold explorers, and a breathless ending to satisfy the fastidious reader. This Oxford University Press edition is a new translation with an introduction and notes by the Jules Verne scholar William Butcher, giving this particular Verne work all the attention and justice it merits.


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The novel, set in 1861, describes adventures of British expedition led by Captain John Hatteras to the North Pole. One of Jules Verne's lesser known stories. As with many of Verne's imaginative creations, his description of Arctic geography was based on scientific knowledge at the time the novel was written (1866) but foreshadowed future discoveries.

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