Classics

Tess - heroine or whore??

Advantages: A tragic but wonderful read
Disadvantages: None

...old favourite of mine - Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy. When the book ( first called 'A Pure Woman') was published in 1891, it ruffled quite a few Victorian feathers!! Hardy fearlessly tackled issues such as murder, rape and violence which were, at the time unmentionable. What readers today have to understand is that the topics Hardy covered - while commonplace in contemporary literature, were considered obscene in the nineteenth century. ...
...truth be concealed." Tess of the D'Urbervilles deals with the oppression of an innocent girl. Most of the consequences she faced were not due to her own actions which makes this story somewhat of a tragedy in that sense giving the book a mood that you can try to make for yourself a good life, but you do not determine your own outcome. The book starts with a somewhat insignificant incident - or so we think : John Durbeyfield, a middle-aged peddler, ...

oldchem 04.07.2009 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy

Had low expectations but great results

Advantages: Great story that offers so much to the reader that they won't want to stop until it's over
Disadvantages: May miss parts of the audio and story

...out passages. When assigned Great Expectations these were the ideas that were conjured up in my mind and I tried so hard to avoid reading the book so I figured listening to it would be better. As soon as I heard the first chapter though I was hooked. The story begins with the excitement of the main character Pip meeting a convict, while in a graveyard visiting his parents graves. The convict takes everything Pip has and asks where his mother is, ...
...to be a happy ending. Great Expectations is so many things, a fake biography, a fairy tale, or a mystery story, which could entice any reader. And those wishing to read "the classics" or even a little Dickens should look to Great Expectations first. This classic is a great addition to any book shelf and to listen to someone else read it almost makes the story seem that more real. The only problem I had was that as I stopped to think about the great ...

wafflejr 02.03.2009 · Read full review
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Review of Great Expectations - Charles Dickens

Big ideas in a little world

Advantages: beautifully written
Disadvantages: bitty

...closer investigation, I discovered that the books were compilations of tales that had appeared in a certain magazine some time back. Don camillo and friends were born out of a happy accident, a late submission and a great imagination. "The little world of Don Camillo" is the first installment in this series, and the whole collection can be picked up in a single volume, which I recomend. It's not long after the second world war, Italy has thrown ...
...to a village somewhere along the Po river, in northern Italy. He's a big man, he's seen battle, he's still not above settling an argument with his fists. He's also a very humane individual, with fairly good humour, which is as well, because the Mayor of his village is a communist and thinks that all priests are reactionary scum who will be shot as soon as the communists seize power. The conflict between Don Camillo and Peppone the mayor fuels much ...

Bryn_Pearson 12.01.2004 · Read full review
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Review of The Little World of Don Camillo - Giovanni Guareschi

"Is Mr. Heathcliff a man? If so, is he mad? And if not, is he a d

Advantages: A wonderful, wonderful book.
Disadvantages: Can take a little getting in to

...it was for me with Wuthering Heights - I had not yet seen the 1939 film starring Laurence Olivier, so all I had to visualise he charaters and settings were the wonderful words from Emily Bronte. Incredibly this dazzling, iconic novel published in1847 (under the pseudonym Ellis Bell) was the only book written by Emily Bronte. How tragic that she was taken only a year later, suffering from consumption - what more masterpieces could have been written? ...
...of those moors. Wuthering Heights is a powerful story about love and hate and sorrow and death. It takes place over a period of thirty years and is all narrated by firstly Mr. Lockwood, and mainly by Ellen 'Nellie' Dean, the faithful housekeeper. The book starts as Mr Lockwood has rented Thrushcross Grange on the Yorkshire Moors. His landlord - Mr Heathcliff - lives in a remote farmhouse called "Wuthering Heights". Lockwood finds Heathcliff and all ...

oldchem 08.07.2009 · Read full review
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Review of Wuthering heights - Emily Bronte

THE JUNGLE BOOK

Advantages: GREAT BOOK FOR KIDS
Disadvantages: WRITTEN SOME TIME AGO

INSPERATION FOR THE SCOUT MOVEMENT AND MANY FILMS THIS IS A CLASSIC CHILDRENS STORY BASED IN THE WILDS OF THE AFFICAN JUNGLE IT TELLS THE STORY OF A LITTLE LOTS BOY GROWING UP WITH A PACK OF WOLVES I HAVE READ THE BOOK, LISENED TO THE AUDIO BOOK AND SEEN THE FILM AND THEY ARE ALL MAGICAL EXPERIENCES, WOULD RECOMMEND TO ANY CHILD OVER 8 AND ADULTS WHO ENJOY A GOOD READ IN AN EVER INCREASING GLOBLE WORLD WERE THERE DOES NOT SEEM TO BE MUCH WILD ...

TIMPRICE123 22.04.2006 · Read full review
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Review of The Jungle Book - Rudyard Kipling