The Wit & Wisdom of Winston Churchill Review

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(More customer reviews)Be forewarned. The words of Sir Winston Churchill are not for everyone. If you are too timid, sensitive, politically correct, Victorian in outlook, or do not drink, you are not the ideal audience for this book. However, if you love stirring speeches, great epigrams, and explosive wit, then Winston is your man. Divided into several sections, the first deals with epigrams concerning subjects in general, for example; History--"A nation that forgets its past has no future." The next section deals with excepts from his most famous speeches: Their Finest Hour, Blood, Sweat, and Tears, etc. Then, Coiner of Phrases, a section dealing with famous words or sayings first attributed to him, such as Destroyer, for "light search and destroy vessel." Next, Saints and Sinners, a section reserved for his opinions of the great (and nearly great) of the world; his opinion of former Prime Minister David Lloyd George: "He could talk a bird out of a tree." Finally, the last (and best) section, Escapades and Encounters (aka Winston's Wit). Yes, here we have the famous Lady Nancy Astor story (I won't spoil it for you here), another famous (and politically incorrect) encounter with Labourite Bessie Braddock, and the hilarous story The World Is Not My Oyster, in which the eighty-six year old Churchill blames his indisposition on the oysters served at the Savoy Grill, not the numerous glasses of wine he consumed there. So, grab a glass of your favorite port or sherry (or a snifter of brandy, if you must), sink into a comfortable chair with a favorite snack and this book, and INDULGE YOURSELF. Trust me, it will be one (or more) of your finest hours.

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An extremely entertaining compendium of bon mots, anecdotes, and trivia about Winston Churchill from a leading Churchill lecturer and performer -- useful for speakers, students, of history, and World War II buffs, as well as general readers.

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The Nick Adams Stories Review

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(More customer reviews)To me, this book is so eloquent I am reluctant to review it because it will be impossible to do it justice.
It is a collection of short stories from earlier works of Hemingway. In each of them, a thoughtful reader can gain insight into Hemingway and him/herself.
The following is from "Indian Camp." In it, Nick is a very young boy, and, with his physician father, he has been present at a difficult childbirth and found the victim of a suicide. Dawn is approaching and he is in the canoe with his father rowing back across the lake.
Quote:
"Do many men kill themselves, Daddy?"
"Not very many, Nick."...
"Is dying hard, Daddy?"
"No, I think it's pretty easy Nick. It all depends."
They were seated in the boat, Nick in the stern, his father rowing. The sun was coming up over the hills. A bass jumped, making a circle in the water. Nick trailed his hand in the water. It felt warm in the sharp chill of the morning.
In the early morning on the lake sitting in the stern with his father rowing, he felt quite sure that he would never die.
Unquote
Regardless of how you feel about Hemingway, this is a poignant look into the soul of the man, and ourselves. Hemingway's family was plagued by suicide, including that of his physician father, and, like all of us, Hemingway was once a young child coming to grips with the idea of mortality, in a world still fresh and fascinating and frightening.
Other stories deal with the joys of a life full-lived, an appreciation of the natural world around us, and our "quiet desperation," in love, life, and death.
"The Nick Adams Stories" is high on my "Top Ten List."

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The famous "Nick Adams" stories show a memorable character growing from child to adolescent to soldier, veteran, writer, and parent -- a sequence closely paralleling the events of Hemingway's life.

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Light in August (The Corrected Text) Review

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(More customer reviews)After reading Faulkner's four major masterpieces -- The Sound and the Fury; Absalom, Absalom!; As I Lay Dying; and Light in August -- I've come to the conclusion that Light in August is far and away the easiest to read, has the most dramatic plot, the most intriguing primary characters in Joe Christmas, Gail Hightower and Joanna Burden, and even some of his most intriguing minor characters in Uncle Doc Hines and Mr. McEachern. Overall, it is his most readable and likeable masterpiece. And it leaves you wanting so much more.
The complex and ambiguous character of Joe Christmas alone could have been the source of three or four novels detailing different times in his life. While Christmas is hardly a likeable person, he is fascinating, hypnotic, a train wreck; you can't keep your eyes off him. His actions are morally ambiguous and inconsistent and yet fully understandable within his nature. As a creation he deserves to rank with Huck Finn, Tom Sawyer, Captain Ahab and Jay Gatsby in the pantheon of American literary characters.
Faulkner has a big mission here. The novel exposes the evils of racism both in the South and among white, northern abolitionists. It traffics in religious symbolism while savaging religious fanatacism. And it leaves one with a great deal of memorable violent and sexual imagery. And that's just for starters. This book is deep, and while it's storytelling is largely non-linear, it is far more palatable than the other three, which tend to be confusing and obscure. Enjoy this one. If you've never read Faulkner, it's a great starter.

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Steinbeck: A Life in Letters Review

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(More customer reviews)Steinbeck left an autobiography of sorts when he died, a collection of personal letters to his friends. His widow and his friend worked together to gather the letters from everyone they could. They edited them for clarity and published them in chronological order.
The result is the personal story of a very creative, complex writer who worked every day with his hands. When he wasn't writing novels using pencils and a legal pad, he was mending the fence or fixing the roof. He loved people as much as he loved solitude, so he began each day by reaching out with these letters to his friends around the world. He talked about his surroundings and his thoughts and his ongoing projects.
All of this would be enough to make a wonderful book, but there's the added benefit of Steinbeck's writing style. Steinbeck used as few words as possible, always trying for a poetic effect without pretension. He wanted to be honest and accurate, but he knew the value of capturing an image or feeling with a colorful use of words. As a result, this massive book is a pleasure to read, from start to finish. Steinbeck's writing style keeps you interested but never overwhelmed.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who has enjoyed a few Steinbeck novels. Aspiring writers should read it, as well. When you're done, read the Steinbeck chapter in 'Alcohol and the Writer' and Jackson Benson's books on Steinbeck. You'll be glad you did.

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The Log from the Sea of Cortez (Penguin Classics) Review

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(More customer reviews)John Steinbeck had a high interest in marine biology, one that helped forge an extraordinary friendship with Ed Ricketts in the 1930s. Ricketts, the model for Doc in CANNERY ROW, was a professional biologist living in Monterey. He proposed an exploration of the Gulf of California and in the spring of 1940 he and Steinbeck set sail on a rented boat with a colorful crew that should have suggested a sea novel along the lines of CANNERY ROW and TORTILLA FLAT. The original result from this trip was the book THE SEA OF CORTEZ, which included the "log" fashioned by Steinbeck and an extensive inventory of the scientific information collected. It was published in the fall of 1941 and promptly forgotten when Pearl Harbor was struck. A decade later, the scientific catalogue was removed and Steinbeck added another section, a moving and often hilarious appreciation of his friend Ed Ricketts. The title became THE LOG FROM THE SEA OF CORTEZ and that's what we have here.
This is a great book for the beach, where I read it. It is filled with the imagery of a warm coastal area. It is several things, really: a book filled with the wonder and scientific knowledge of marine life, a how-to (and sometimes how-not-to) guide for collecting specimens, a travelogue that captures the wilderness communities of Baja California in its time, and an often hilarious account of staying amused at sea with the likes of a crew with names like Tony, Tex, Sparky and Tiny. Steinbeck also takes the occasion to explore his own philosophy as inspired by their studies. Especially interesting is his Easter Day entry, in which he defines and explores at length what he calls "teleological" and "non-teleological" thinking. He gives us much to think about, and does so in clear, fluent prose. If you pay close attention, you will see him forming the idea for what years later became THE PEARL.
One caution: read the critical introduction AFTER enjoying the text. Like most introductions, it contains some spoilers and it also makes references that are better understood once one is familiar with the material it limns.

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Lord of the Flies (50th Anniversary Edition) Review

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(More customer reviews)"Lord of the Flies" is singularly the most important novel for required reading, whether assigned in school or self-imposed. It regularly appears as number one on my own list of best books.
Let's play "What if." What if a plane carrying a full load of school boys crashes on a deserted island with no adult survivors? What would happen to those boys? What would you expect to happen?
William Golding works with this premise: an idyllic setting, innocent schoolboys. One boy, an older boy just short of teenage years, a boy with fair hair, assumes leadership to stir the others into some semblance of organization and survival mode, much like adults would do if adults were present. He also saw a need to defuse the web of fear of the younger ones. Where are we? How long will we need to wait before someone comes for us? All questions with no answers at this time.
Ah, yes, Golding tells us, everything goes well for a while. But remember the "scar" made by the crashing plane? Something ugly is on this island (but it's not the scar). It's in the bushes, in the dark, in the depths, in the depths of hearts, and it grows like the malignancy it is.
A blatant revelation of what is about to come occurs when Roger silently and stealthily watches a young'un, unbeknownst to the little child. All the young'un is doing is running a stick through the sand, disturbing a crab in a tiny pool of water. Even he imposes control and fear on a helpless creature as Roger boldly picks up a couple of rocks and tosses them the youngster's way. He deliberately misses but comes closer with each throw. Next time he will probably hit the young boy, but not yet. This taboo--deliberately and unnecessarily causing pain to one smaller than you--has not been broken--yet.
Although the dance of the spears, the primeval chants, the attack and killing of the pig, then feasting on its flesh, their kill, are shocking acts of savagery, this event is foreshadowed by the seemingly innocent lob of the stones. From a casual incident, but one with eventual intentionality, the ritualistic slaughter is not so far-fetched or surprising. Golding prepares his readers. This is how the chaos of society starts. It begins with one simple disconnect from the rules. It begins in the minds and hearts. Will I do what society expects? Will I follow the rules to keep things running and working? Do I break a rule or two for my own enhancement. Will I feel a power surge if my rock hits that young `un?
Ralph would probably speak of the terror of knowing that rules WILL be broken. He would speak of the utter horror that any rule can be and will be broken and he won't live to tell about it. Just ask Piggy.
This novel is the only one I taught over and over during the twelve years I worked with high school seniors. My other choices I would switch around those years, drop some, add some. This one I kept. It is that important. I think of "Lord of the Flies" as a necessary manual for societal behavior and an effort to keep the chaos of evil at bay.
Is it even necessary to ask how many times that rock has been thrown since this novel was published in the 1950's? Or how much chaos has imploded so many lives?
Like the way of manuals, some remain in circulation and are deeply read; others fall by the wayside out of disinterest. Some are thrown in the trash. "Lord of the Flies"--what is its current status? And society--how is it doing? Reader, are you a little bit fearful?


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The Definitive Wit of Winston Churchill Review

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(More customer reviews)There are a number of collections of the Wit of Churchill. This one calls itself the definitive collection. It has twelve chapters: Thrusts and parries, Maxims and reflections, Stories and Jokes, Churchillisms, Great communicator, People, Britain,Empire and Commonwealth, Nations, War, Politics and Government, Education ,Arts and Science, Personal.It has a small appendix on 'Red Herrings'.
I eagerly bought this book in part because in the back of my mind are a number of remarkable quotations by Churchill, including those of the Great War Speeches. Those utterances were not simply 'remarks' but were world- shaping historical events. The hero Churchill who rallied the British at their darkest hour and made it into their finest hour is one of the great human heroes. One of his quotations here is in praise of Courage, the first of all virtues and no one in those dark days exemplified and inspired it more than him.
Nonetheless despite my great admiration for him and the power of his language at the most critical historical times I was somewhat disappointed in the tenor and quality of many of the quotations here. Perhaps even a great man must be allowed his trivia. But should it be gathered in the collection of his most notable utterances? Is it possible that his truly memorable and great utterances are not in the thousands or even the hundreds, but rather in the tens?
I too do not think isolating utterances and presenting them on a wide variety of problems, people and situations really helps us understand Churchill's view on a particular matter.
But enough crabbing.This book does contain many gems from one of mankind's greatest heroes. Here are a few gems from a book in which there are no doubt more than I have noticed.
"Courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities because, as has been said,it is the quality which guarantees all others."
"Death is the greatest gift God has made to us"
"Meeting jaw to jaw is better than war"
"It is always more easy to discover and proclaim general principles than to apply them."
"Fearthought is futile worrying over what cannot be averted or will probably never happen."
"But you ought to let the Jews have Jerusalem; it is they who made it famous."
"In war,Resolution. In defeat, Defiance. In victory,Magnaminity. In peace,Goodwill."
"All wisdom is not new wisdom."
"One always measures friendships by how they show up in bad weather."
"The power of man has grown in every sphere , except over himself."

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Charismatic, erudite, and often controversial, Winston Churchill was one of the most inspiring leaders of the twentieth century, and one of its greatest wits. His much-celebrated sense of fun and mischief has led to many of his jokes and ripostes becoming almost as well known as his famous wartime speeches. Gloriously comprehensive, The Definitive Wit of Winston Churchill includes all Churchill's most famous quips and witticisms, and even an appendix of quotes falsely attributed to Churchill. The only book of its kind to be sanctioned by the Churchill estate and to track down each quotation to its source, it captures the great statesman at his most eloquent, witty, and engaging and makes a great gift for the holidays and special occasions year-round.

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Living in Hope and History: Notes from Our Century Review

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(More customer reviews)A compilation of essays by Ms. Gordimer not to be overlooked by those of us "burnt out" on societal issues...or even personal issues. A heartfull of optimism and honesty that I found refreshing. I read this while walking my daily treadmills at the gym after my daily treadmills at my job. Often feeling weary of life's struggles, I choose to look at others's woes for distraction (usually the newspaper). Reading her thoughts and essays I couldn't help but be inspired not only by her optimism and honesty and her unflagging belief and value in people, but also her analytic mind. She's obviously not afraid to think deeply about peoples and is not afraid to "get personal". I read the book late last year and will probably pick it up again or another of hers. I quit my 19 years of successful employment in the private sector and am now considering non-profit work, thanks to Ms. Gordimer and others like her.

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