Customer Reviews:
A "must" read........1999-11-01
There are certain artefacts that draw one in life - there are certain records/albums/cd's one might feel - without which a collection is incomplete. As with books, a dictionary, Shakespeare, Roget's Thesaurus and Trevanian's books are on my shelf. I only wish RW and I could have met. If perchance you read this -or know the author- tell him Thank You.[Have an Islay Malt on me!] A wonderful book. I also highly recommend Summer of Katya and the other 3 known books by Trevanian.
An excellent book that changed my whole life!!!.......1999-10-11
My life has been devided into two parts: before and after reading the 'Shibumi'. It gave me the concept of 'overwhelming calmness' to which the development of any person must be directed. However, the 'overwhelming calmness' is not the the aim in itself, but one of the most important stages on the way of the endless development-the only worthy thing in the world.
Book Description
The Main is Montreal’s teeming underworld, where the dark streets echo with cries in a dozen languages, with the quick footsteps of thieves and the whispers of prostitutes. It is a world where violence and brutality are a way of life. To the people of the Main, police lieutenant Claude LaPointe is judge and jury, father confessor and avenging angel. Montreal’s police force has changed over time, but LaPointe has not. His commitment to justice is total, as is his devotion to the Main and its underworld community. But when a cold-blooded murderer invades LaPointe’s territory, he is forced to examine his long-held beliefs and secrets and to confront his own loneliness and mortality. With a cast of unforgettable supporting characters and an unusual and remarkable hero, The Main is another gripping tale of death and danger, of action and mystery, by the incomparable Trevanian.
Look for these other Trevanian classics from Three Rivers Press: The Eiger Sanction, The Loo Sanction, Shibumi, and The Summer of Katya.
Download Description
Trevanian’s books have been translated into more than fourteen languages and have sold millions of copies worldwide. He lives in the French Basque mountains. His new novel, The Crazyladies of Pearl Street, is now available in hardcover. Visit his website at trevanian.com.
From the Trade Paperback edition.
Customer Reviews:
It's the characters that bring you back.......2007-08-14
I read approximately 50 titles per year, and I read my first Trevanian novel last year. This is a novel of a different style; a throw back to character definition, plot extension, and the ability to place the reader into the time and location of the story. While not exciting (like Patterson, Sandford or Connelly), Trevanian has the talent that transports the reader into the novel; you learn about the characters, their thoughts and their lives. I would put this novel in the category of Updike and Irving. In only 325 pages, Trevanian develops complex characters that you feel for and understand. The plot, though well thought out and nicely presented, is not what brings you back to keep reading; it's the characters do that. If you're looking for a quick, non-thinking book for the beach, keep looking. However, if you are tired of the same old stuff, give it try.
Great Writing.......2005-12-20
The author has always been one of my favorite writers, ever since I read Shibumi. I read the Loo Sanction, then Summer of Katya (which I didn't like all that much), and for some reason (after reading the jacket) didn't think I'd like The Main. What a surprise and what a terrific piece of writing. I only wish there were more of his books to read. Now if only some of that can rub off on my writing...
A fine, fun book.......2003-06-04
This is perhaps the strongest of Trevanian's works; maybe it does not quite reach "Shibumi"'s heights of fancy and excitement, but the characterisation is better, the characters themselves are more believable, the plot is less absurd, and the descriptions of the Main and its inhabitants are delightful. The plot revolves around the policeman of the old school who benevolently watches over The Main, a street in Montreal, with an iron fist and a gentle touch. LaPointe, a lieutenant in a force which has changed around him, though he has not, is caught up in a murder, the events surrounding which, drag him back and forth through his inner self, as he is forced to confront his mortality, the lack of personal love (though he is generically loved in his rôle as protector of the street) in his life, and a number events of his past. Even the bit players in this story are real, with histories and personalities which dictate how they act; and the revelation at the end of the plot will be a nice surprise, well concealed, though the clues are fairly given. Trevanian did a fine job with "The Main".
Mature antihero.......2003-05-02
I liked Trevanian's earlier works like Eiger Sanction, but their heroes tended to be a little too perfect, a little too James Bondian (Bond books, not movies!)
The Main features a much more interesting hero, an old French-Canadian cop who has failed in many ways and is definitely not hip to new trends in policing. He is a great street cop whose lifetime of prowling gives us an insider's view of the city.
The earlier works are thrillers, but this is a minor masterpiece.
Story about a cop with a difference.......2001-01-01
The Main is a fine novel. Set on the mean streets of a Canadian city this story follows a middle aged cop trying to keep with the times, to take care of the people his turf, solve crimes, and help his friends--not all of which is mutually compatible. It is book full of humanity and human weakness, expertly framed by great story telling. Another testament to the versatility of the author.
Book Description
Sinclair Lewis drew on his boyhood memories of Sauk Centre, Minnesota, to explore middle-class life in America as no writer had done before. These remarkable novels combine biting satire with an lingering affection for the men and women who, as he wrote of Babbitt, want to "seize something more than motor cars and a house before it's too late." "Main Street" was a phenomenal event in American publishing and cultural history; it is a wry, sad, funny account of a woman who attempts to challenge the hypocrisy and narrow-mindedness of her Midwestern community where the romance of the frontier has dwindled to drab reality. "He is America incarnate, exuberant and exqusite," H.L. Mencken said of George Babbitt. With this boisterous, vulgar, gadget-loving real estate man, Lewis fashioned a new and enduring figure in American literature, the total conformist--and captured the noisy restlessness of American commercial culture.
Customer Reviews:
Beautiful edition of two important American novels.......2004-11-09
These two novels have changed their reason for importance since they were written. When new, they were very current. Full of fashionable slang, capturing the rising tide of America's urbanization, female independence, new machines, greater sexual license, and the pressures all this put on an agrarian culture. Now they capture memories of a time that seems more distant than it is. All of it seems so innocent and simple. Yes, the writing is very good if not great and the characters still do live, but their context is a memory.
Lewis' writing is certainly effective, memorable, and attractive. All reasons to keep reading him and enjoying the stories and thinking about what he has to say. I think what keeps him from being timeless is that it seems to be all about evoking a time and place. There is certainly nothing wrong in doing that; it is just that as the times change the writing may not survive being transplanted into the new context. I think it is a testament to the author's power that he is still read and lives in our present, even if his influence continues to diminish.
At the end of "Main Street" when Carol Kennicott says, "But I have won in this: I've never excused my failures by sneering at my aspirations, by pretending to have gone beyond them." I think we admire her. However, when she continues, "I do not admit that Main Street is as beautiful as it should be! I do not admit that Gopher Prairie is greater or more generous than Europe! I do not admit that dishwashing is enough to satisfy all women! I may not have fought the good fight, but I have kept the faith." any intended irony is made more strange by the added irony of history and cultural change since these words were written. It all feels more distant and even unnecessarily argued given where we are now. Do young people today even wash dishes? Europe generous?
The name Babbitt lives on as a kind of archetype. When someone is called a Babbitt, everyone of a certain age and older knows exactly what is meant. When I grew up in the `60s he was revived as an epithet for our parents' generation and yet the baby boomers became more conformist and materialistic than any previous generation. Maybe that is why we haven't taught George F. Babbitt and his exploits to our children as well as we might have.
The perfect sentence for Babbitt is, I think: "Nothing gave Babbitt more purification and publicity than his labors for the Sunday School." Will anything else help you understand his character more fully?
The Library of America is a largely magnificent series of very handsomely done editions that are of such quality that they are permanent additions to your library. I love having them on my shelf. They are a joy to read, hold, and admire. In addition to the two novels there is a chronology of Lewis' life that serves as a mini-bio, John Hersey provided the notes on the text. A fine edition of two important American novels.
Relevant to today's Society.......2002-03-21
I read "Main Street" several years ago. It impressed me then and the memory of it has stayed with me. I had previously read "Babitt" and "Arrowsmith" which were both good novels but neither compared to "Main Street". Both previous novels poked fun at small town middle America. As a resident of North Dakota, I got a good chuckle over Lewis's portrayal of Arrowsmith's brief trip to our fair state. My recollections of "Babitt" are that it was rather satirical in its' imagery of a shallow well-to-do man. All of us could chuckle at him because he reminded us of so many people we knew. The impact of "Main Street", to me, is how we see the world through the eyes of the main character; the doctor's wife. She is a real person dealing with real observations about real people in a real community. Something in her clicks and says, "this is all too shallow, too plastic, too predetermined". We agree with her and yet feel somewhat uncomfortable in doing so because there is so much that she questions and much of it we have already accepted. I was extremely impressed with Lewis's portrayal of this feminine character and how he chose her (as opposed, for example, to her husband) to be the eyes of his reality. For that time and place, it was, I think, a bold move on the author's part. And it works! I remeber the impact of her questioning her relationship with her husband. It almost seemed like a scene out of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers".
This book was the one that made Lewis notorious in his own home town. I expected to have to appreciate the times to be able to appreciate the book. I found myself sensing issues and scenarios that are just as common and real today. If you only have time for one book by America's first Nobel Prize-winning author, I recommend that you select this one to read. You won't be sorry!
America the beautiful?.......2000-04-08
Both Mainstreet and Babbitt are critical and realistic apraisels of life in America. More specifically mid-western America. Carl Van Doren commented saying,"Not one of them ( the contemporaries of Lewis) has kept so close to the main channel of American life as Mr. Lewis or so near to the human surface. He is part of a channel and a surface. To venture into hyperbole, not only is he one American telling stories, but he is America telling stories." These books once swept the nation with controversy due to their honesty of American life. I would recommend these books to anyone who enjoy books about people and the details concerning their lives, dreams and aspiratins. Lewis slowly draws the reader into the ever intricate and mediocre lives of the characters. While the stories are rarely fast paced they are certainly worth the read. If I had to make any recommendation I would advise reading Babbitt first due to the fact that it is more involving and fluid than Mainstreet. In addition to the two novels this book is published under a beautiful binding made to library standards. Enjoy.
Book Description
Real life, with its greatest hurts and grandest dreams, is the basis for Circle of Friends, Just off Main, a deeply engaging women's fiction series by actress Jennifer O'Neill.
Book one, A Fall Together, introduces the quintet of primary female characters. Varied in age, ethnicity, and economic status, they are united by their small town citizenship, their spiritual crossroads, and the determination to take on their personal issues with hope.
In this season of the faith journey, they laugh, cry, and pray together through a teenage pregnancy, breast cancer, a troubled exhusband, and other major matters of the heart.
Customer Reviews:
You must be patient........2006-11-10
This book takes a while to get into - you must be patient and learn about each character individually. This is the first in a series so I got just a taste obviously and I was disappointed that I really didn't get to dive into the story line further. I do hope the next one will be easier to identify with earlier. I am a fan of Christian fiction, but this is my first book from this author. Overall, good reading.
Great Story!.......2006-08-27
I just finished reading "A Fall Together", what a great story. Funny how the two sisters reminded me of myself and my sister. I hope one day she will see Christ through my actions. And I have two teenage daughters at home that I'm consistently struggling to keep the doors of communication open too. Jennifer has blended this community and circle of friends into a wonderful story. It would be a great to see a story like this in film one day too. I'll be looking for the next book in the series that is scheduled to be released in Jan 2007.
Refreshing Read.......2006-08-14
Though I don't have much time to read, I made time to read this book! Ms. O'Neill out did herself on this one, addressing life issues in a sometimes humorous always honesty manner. Her characters are real, her writing style is unique and her book is well worth the read. I highly recommend it!
A Great Read!.......2006-07-06
"A Fall Together" is a wonderful story of the importance faith, family, and friendship in the struggles of life, written with all the passion that Jennifer O'Neill always writes with. I found myself constantly drawn back to the story until I finished the book, and now I am anxiously waiting for the next part of the story in the next book. As one who works with single again adults I found the struggles of Lauren, Irene and their children realistic and true to life. This is a great book and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who likes a great story.
Dick Bont
JENNIFER O'NEILL IS AMAZING!!!.......2006-06-06
Jennifer O'Neill has done it yet again. We loved her other books and this one is incredible. It is filled with Danielle Steele characters and has a touch of Desperate Housewives. Jennifer, this book would make a wonderful mini-series for TV or even a series of videos that people can purchase. Your heart felt cry is heard in this book and that is what makes this book a must read. We were able to read the entire book and not want to put it down - each problem the characters faced seem real, the characters have depth and the story makes the reader get drawn into their world and their situations. You feel for the characters and it makes you cry. Thanks for having the heart of compassion and a desire to help people deal with situations. We hope you will continue writing more good books and you know we will be telling others about this wonderful book. Hope to see it on a best sellers list.
Average customer rating:
|
Left Behind: A novel of the Earth's Last Days : 10th Anniversary Limited Edition (Left Behind - Main Products)
Tim F. LaHaye , and
Jerry B. Jenkins
Manufacturer: Tyndale House Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Christianity | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
General | Jenkins, Jerry | ( J ) | Authors, A-Z | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
Paperback | Jenkins, Jerry | ( J ) | Authors, A-Z | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
General | Lahaye, Tim | ( L ) | Authors, A-Z | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
Paperback | Lahaye, Tim | ( L ) | Authors, A-Z | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
General | Fiction | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
( J ) | Authors, A-Z | Religion & Spirituality | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books | Jakes, T.D. | Joyner, Rick
( L ) | Authors, A-Z | Religion & Spirituality | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books | Lucado, Max
Fiction | Fiction & Poetry | Christianity | Religion & Spirituality | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
General | Fiction | Religion & Spirituality | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
All 4-for-3 Deals | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
Similar Items:
-
Tribulation Force: The Continuing Drama of Those Left Behind (Left Behind No. 2)
-
Nicolae: The Rise of Antichrist (Left Behind No. 3)
-
Armageddon (Left Behind #11)
-
Assassins: Assignment: Jerusalem, Target: Antichrist (Left Behind No. 6)
-
The Rising: Antichrist Is Born (Before They Were Left Behind, Book 1)
ASIN: 1414305400 |
Book Description
It's been 10 years since the release of the best-selling Left Behind series. To commemorate, the publisher is releasing a 10th Anniversary limited edition at a special low price of $9.97. Special features include a full-color pull out timeline with Tim LaHaye's prophecy notes, behind-the-scenes commentary from Jerry Jenkins, and letters from readers whose lives have been changed by reading Left Behind.
Book Description
In this definitive biography of Sinclair Lewis (Main Street, Babbitt), Lingeman presents an empathetic, absorbing, and balanced portrait of an eccentric alcoholic-workaholic whose novels and stories exploded shibboleths with a volatile mixture of caricature and realism. Drawing on newly uncovered correspondence, diaries, and criticism, Lingeman gives new life to this prairie Mercutio out of Sauk Centre, Minnesota.
Customer Reviews:
A great find........2006-02-07
I actually stumbled into this book because of my interest in the art of Grant Wood. I purchased an old special edition of Main Street that was illustrated by Wood. After enjoying the illustrations, I decided that I might as well read the book. Well, that led to Babbitt and Elmer Gantry (with two more on order.) As I looked for Sinclair Lewis books, I saw this biography by Lingeman and was impressed by the great reviews (and the low price of used copies.) I decided to give it a try. In biographies, I mainly read about Victorian scientists but I have enjoyed a few political and artist's bio's. I did not know what I was in for with this incredibly interesting 554 page story of one of the most interesting people I can imagine. Lingeman is a master who combines an incredible amount of research with a writing style that will make you feel as if you are reading a page-turner of a novel. If you have read this far without buying the book of course you are interested in Sinclair Lewis so go ahead, buy the book, and enjoy it.
Justice.......2003-06-27
Schorer's 1961 biography of Lewis, while well researched, came off as particularly mean-spirited. I could never understand why a biographer would take on the huge task of an exhaustive biography when they seem to distain it's subject so much.
Finally Mr. Lingeman has given us a more even handed look at one of America's most neglected authors. Perhaps it was the great popularity of Lewis during the 1920's that brought about a more recent reaction against him but it seems that the time is ripe for another look at this most American of American authors and the Lingeman book makes that clear. This biography is clearly as in depth as Schorer's but, fortunately, does not have some strange axe to grind. Besides, the life of Sinclair Lewis makes for some interesting reading when it is put forth honestly.
Interesting and enjoyable.......2002-08-08
Okay, I haven't read Mark Schorer's earlier biography, but I have read a number of other critical works about Lewis over the years, and more than half of Lewis' twenty-odd novels.
I found this book fascinating and insightful, and I was moved by Lingeman's final argument - that the time is ripe for a rediscovery of Lewis, that the "license to consider Lewis an irrelevant hack" that Schorer's book had conferred on the academic world is expired. I think it's criminal that Lewis is hardly even read in colleges today, while Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Cather, Faulkner, Steinbeck, etc., are still read and discussed in detail. (Nothing against these great writers, all of whom I've read extensively, but Lewis was there first and made all their paths to brilliance easier.)
As long as America is still loaded with familiar George Babbitts, Elmer Gantrys, Sam Dodsworths, Carol Kennicotts, etc., Lewis will be a classic (if not THE classic) American novelist. And Lingeman's biography presents a revealing picture of the unique, angry, ultimately lonely man behind these characters.
After Schorer.......2002-05-13
As one of a diminishing number of whole-hearted Lewis enthusiasts in America, having read all of Lewis's novels except *Hike and the Aeroplane,* I have to say that Mark Schorer's biography of 1961 remains the standard. Lingeman does fill in details Schorer wouldn't or couldn't and adds some tangential specifics for which devotees such as I can be grateful. A meeting between F. Scott Fitzgerald and Lewis in 1922 is sketched in (but how does Lingeman know what they talked about after they closeted themselves with a bottle of gin?); we know more about (say) the circumstances surrounding Lewis's researches for *Gideon Planish,* and Lingeman gets down to the brief nitty-gritty of Lewis's sexual performance, but he has no fresh overall understanding, nor are his specifics brought into new focus, or any special focus. Instead, he builds upon Schorer's essential claim: Lewis's limitations and strengths as a writer are his commitment to surface; his refusal to look into himself comes from the painful and constricting boyhood that stunted the writer even as it enabled him.
I'd nominate Schorer's biography as a great one, qualifying my appraisal only by a parodying Hemingway on Gilbert Seldes: "It could only have been better if Sinclair Lewis had been better." The figure in the carpet, the consistent understanding that ties a book together, is vividly present on every page of Schorer. And unlike Lingeman, Schorer could talk with Lewis's two wives, plus Claude and Michael Lewis, Harry Maule, and Bennett Cerf; his account of Lewis's horrifying, seedy end in Italy is enlivened by portraits of the dermatologist Vincenzo Lapiccirella, the old servant whose refusal to discuss Lewis's alcoholism Schorer finds "engagingly reticent" (Schorer bristles with savage and delicious irony), and the enigmatic Alexander Manson. Beside Schorer, Lingeman is thin and pale, but if Lewis's fixing of quintessential American types and his sense of humor and sense of outrage appeal, you'll want to read his biography anyway, as I did.
Highly readable, very informative.......2002-02-06
I had high hopes for this book before I started, and then had the rare pleasure of having those hopes surpassed. In this immensely readable biography, Lingeman brings us the Sinclair Lewis we have always wanted to admire, but perhaps never dared: the flawed, brash, idealistic cynic that put on the page a world as American as he was. Over and over I was struck by how relevent the world of Lewis was, and how like our own it continues to be.
Neither heavily academic, nor breezy and light, this biography does exactly what it is supposed to do -- shines light upon a writer we remember, but never really knew.
Average customer rating:
|
Main-Travelled Roads: being Six Stories of the Mississippi Valley
Hamlin Garland
Manufacturer: Adamant Media Corporation
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
All Amazon Upgrade | Amazon Upgrade | Stores | Books
Literature & Fiction | Amazon Upgrade | Stores | Books
ASIN: 0543903648
Release Date: 2001-08-22 |
Book Description
With illustrations by H.T. Carpenter. With an introduction by W.D. Howells. This Elibron Classics book is a reprint of a 1898 edition by Herbert S. Stone & Company, Chicago & New York.
Book Description
This Elibron Classics book is a facsimile reprint of a 1860 edition by Bernhard Tauchnitz, Leipzig.
Customer Reviews:
Anthony Trollope, Postman and Travel Writer.......2005-05-06
In the late 1850s, British postal employee Anthony Trollope travelled though the Caribbean Islands and Central America on Official Business. In his free time he wrote a book about what he saw and what he thought about it. He undergoes the usual travel woes (terrible boats, worse food), and spends considerable time discussing the projected Nicaragua Canal (not worth the expense). But most interesting are his views on the recently emancipated blacks of the British colonies.
Writing on the eve of the American Civil War, Trollope's feelings are ambiguous. As a Christian, he knows that emancipation was, in the abstract, a good thing. But he clearly feels that the days of slavery were the Good Old Days (he uses that actual phrase) when the islands were prosperous. The free blacks, to Trollope's annoyance, insist on working only enough to supply their own wants, which are relatively few. All this fertile land is going to waste for lack of labor because there's no way to force the blacks to work. (At this time in Britain, a worker could not quit his job without his employer's permission.)
The issue for Trollope is not just economic. Idleness is a sin and a sign of barbarism. Of course you didn't see Trollope himself toiling away in the hot sun--or even in the cold rain, since it was widely believed that physical labor in the tropics was fatal to white people. It's a fascinating glimpse of mid-19th century racial attitudes, as long as you can keep your historical perspective. If you become angry because Trollope refuses to think like a 21st century liberal, you won't learn anything.
Product Description
Various publication dates
Books:
- Tropical Rain Forest
- Understanding Flight
- Valley of Bones
- Voices of Protest: Huey Long, Father Coughlin, & the Great Depression
- Watchdogs of Democracy?: The Waning Washington Press Corps and How It Has Failed the Public
- Where There Is No Doctor: A Village Health Care Handbook
- Windows Vista Inside Out
- Wish Come True (Carson Springs Novel)
- Wolf in Shadow (The Stones of Power)
- 1984 (Signet Classics)
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Teach Me How to Love You: The Beginnings
- Good Night: The Sleep Doctor's 4-Week Program to Better Sleep and Better Health
- Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive Science: 13th Irish International Conference, AICS 2002, Limer
- Algebraic Integrability of Nonlinear Dynamical Systems on Manifolds: Classical and Quantum Aspects
- Diagonally-Parked in a Parallel Universe : Working Through Social Anxiety
- History: Fiction or Science
- First Friend: A History of Dogs and Humans
- Audubon House: Building the Environmentally Responsible, Energy-Efficient Office
- Asymptote: Flux
- Annual rings in big sagebrush: Artemisia tridentata
The Summer of Katya: A Novel
Death Dance
The Crazyladies of Pearl Street: A Novel
Incident At Twenty-Mile
Shibumi: A Novel
