Look, Stranger! in America: On This Island - W. H. Auden

Advantages: good title
Disadvantages: mediocre stories

...assumedly working on a novel (about which we learn nothing) who earns the money he needs for his daily life by teaching Berliners English. He doesn´t have an interesting personality, hardly utters an opinion, remains passive, has no sex life and is only interesting in so far as he meets different people who he presents to the reader, he doesn´t judge, he is like a camera held undiscriminatingly onto some specimen of the human race. The title of the first, the longest, story is Sally Bowles and not surprisingly a Sally Bowles is the main character here. The following story with the title On Ruegen Island (Summer 1931) introduces two new characters who have nothing to do with the ones we´ve met in the first story. The following two stories The Nowaks and The Landauers centre around two families, a poor one from the Berlin proletariat living... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: Its an absolute Classic must read story. Even if you never read it again
Disadvantages: The language does have a old style about it which makes it not immediately readable

...The story of Robinson Crusoe is the classic desert island story. One man washed up on an island and forced to look after himself. This is not a boring story of a man sitting on a beach for two hundred pages. Crusoe has many adventures before being marrooned on his island. His early misadventures as a seafarer. His business intersts in South America and the eventual venture that leaves him on the island. Crusoe is a classic seventeenth century character. His actions and opinions towards foreigners and his form of speech may seem a little archaic in our modern world of equality but Crusoe is a likable character and his ability to turn a dangerous island into a safe home is compelling and well thought out. Despite the many descriptive passages the author maintains a plot and keeps the reader interested in the fate of Crusoe This novel... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: very witty and at times hilarious
Disadvantages: nothing

...This book deals with Bryson's revisit to England after living there for 20 years in the early 70's. He decides to take a tour of England before returning to live in America. I have to admit, I'm a big fan of Bryson's novels, he manages to make even the most mundane or horrific thing seem funny, hilarious at times. Its one of the novels that will have people giving you strange looks are you're on a bus or train sitting alone but are laughing to yourswelf due to this book! Bryson is extremely observant and his descriptions of people and places are fantastic. He has a dry sense of humour which appeals to me. For fans of travel writing and of Bryson himself this is yet another masterpiece of a book! Well worth reading in my opinion.... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful