kensington directions curriculum comforters

books:

1 review
Muriel Spark

New Directions Publishing Corporation, 2001

"We Haven't Got the Savage In Ourselves Under Control"
All The Stories of Muriel Spark (2000) is the latest edition of novelist's short fiction; four stories have been added since the book was released as Open to the Public: New & Collected Stories in 1997. The new edition is fully warranted, as Spark remains one of the greatest short story writers in English of her time, a fact rarely acknowledged in the literary world. Best known as the author ...

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (Perennial Classics)

71 reviews
Muriel Spark

Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 1999

Hippy of the 1930's -- Chapter 3 described it all [76][T]
Imaginatively asking and answering questions to and for her students, protagonist Miss Brodie leads her set of six young women from the ages of 10 to 18 -- a journey that they define to be the "main influence of their school days." Each girl in the set is different. Like the seven dwarfs, you could nickname the six girls: Rose Stanley (Sexy); Monica Douglas (Brainy); Eunice Gardner (Splits); ...

Memento Mori

13 reviews
Muriel Spark

New Directions Publishing Corporation, 2000

Superb novel, ahead of its time
A wonderful novel about a subject taboo in the 1950's in London... growing old. One of the very few books of its time to talk about those in their 70's and 80's without being patronizing or treating them as stereotypes. BBC Television produced a wonderful version filled with stars who had not held starring roles in decades (except Maggie Smith). Wonderful character studies and a clever ...

Italy: The Best Travel Writing from the New York Times

8 reviews
Olivier Bernier, Frank Bruni, ...

Harry N. Abrams, 2005

Great Gift
I got this beautiful book for two dear friends, brilliant musicians, who will be traveling to Italy soon. They were entranced, and have thanked me several times, saying the book makes them feel "as if we are already in Italy."

A Far Cry from Kensington

12 reviews
Muriel Spark

New Directions Publishing Corporation, 2000

A Long Way From Home
I picked up a copy of Muriel Sparks, "A Far Cry from Kensington" on a friend's recommendation, and I loved it. Mrs. Nancy. Hawkins, the main character is a woman that everyone depends upon and needs to talk with. She has that certain way about her that summons trust and understanding. The fact that her figure is zaftig and that she is a widow lends credence she believes to her trust factor. Mrs. ...

The Driver's Seat (The New Directions Bibelots)

7 reviews
Muriel Spark

New Directions Publishing Corporation, 1994

The Art of Sensual Massacre
The bleakest of Muriel Spark's twenty one novels, 1971's The Driver's Seat provides its audience with a short, harrowing ride, one often without apparent course or destination. Written in uncomfortable second person present tense, the reader becomes an immediate and hesitating witness to the last days in the life of Lise, the book's erratic, exacting, and strangely confrontational anti - ...

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, The Girls of Slender Means, The Driver's Seat, The Only Problem (Everyman's ...

1 review
Muriel Spark

Everyman's Library, 2004

Extraordinary and chilling
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie is, as Tom Farber said of Evan Connell's Mrs. Bridge, satire written with a scalpel. It's precise and sharp, and you also get the feeling things are being laid open and cut away. At times she is as cruel and cold (consider Mary, for instance, whose stupidity is described with disdain even as she is dying horrifically). You have to have a certain amount of ...

The Abbess of Crewe

8 reviews
Muriel Spark

New Directions Publishing Corporation, 1995

About Nixon-- Or Bush??
Spark said this was a dig at the Bush Administration, but read it now for a new perspective. The line-tapping nuns of Crewe feel just as much like Bush's NSA as Nixon's plumbers. Who's Alexandra? Personally, I think Bush is the model for Winifrede... Read this for some laughs and some razor-sharp cuts at the "paranoid style" of government that Richard Hofstadter warned us of 40 years ago-- ...

The Girls of Slender Means

8 reviews
Muriel Spark

New Directions Publishing Corporation, 1998

A Little Confusing
Don't get me wrong this was a good book but I got confused with all the characters. It kind of jumped around from person to person and from the past to the present. It was interesting reading about the stories of each of the girls. It didn't really seem to follow a story line. The story finally began to come together at the great ending then just kind of stopped. Not the best book I've ever read ...

Loitering with Intent

7 reviews
Muriel Spark

New Directions Publishing Corporation, 2001

One of her best; one of the best books ever
It's hard to believe this book is out of print (as it appears to be in many editions). Spark is the finest living English writer (as of early 2000, she's still with us) and this is one of her best novels. It folds back in on itself. It's obviously autobiographical even with the kind of foreshadowing and self-reflection of the author, who doubles back the flashback, first seeing herself, then ...

The Comforters (Revived Modern Classic)

2 reviews
Muriel Spark

New Directions Publishing Corporation, 1994

Spark's First Endures
Muriel Spark's first novel, THE COMFORTERS, is a genuine classic. The intrustion of the "literary device" is marvelous because it is anything but a gimmick. For one thing, the mysterious metafictional typewriter (from an author composing a novel you might be reading) is inspired by experiences Spark describes in her autobiography. Aural hallucinations contributed to two masterpieces of ...

The Public Image (New Directions Paperbook, No 767)

4 reviews
Muriel Spark

New Directions Publishing Corporation, 1993

A razor-sharp portrait of male resentment of female success
I am a bit reluctant to express an opinion about this short but deeply satisfying novel, first published in 1968, because it does not seem to me to be a satire. I can see that perhaps _The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie_ is a satire, and _The Abbess of Crewe_ surely is. Most of Spark's work is short and has considerable bit. She herself labeled _The Public Image_ "an ethical shocker," but I'm even ...

The Finishing School

17 reviews
Muriel Spark

Anchor, 2005

Not Your Everyday
Witty and memorable... that was my impression from the first chapter. The story itself is about a (nomadic) finishing school, Sunrise College. I laughed at what they were actually learning there and the obsession war going on between Chris and Rowland. It's like watching a British soap opera with style. Very entertaining.

Reality and Dreams

4 reviews
Muriel Spark

Mariner Books, 1998

Run, Don't Walk, to Get This!
This book was an unexpected surprise. I'd read Spark's earliest novels years ago, had only the vague memory that they were enjoyable and well-written. REALITY AND DREAMS is a reminder that Spark is far better than just good. In just 160 pages, she carries off a miracle of imagery, plot twists and character development that swirl about the title's themes and the difficulty that mortals, ...

The Ghost Stories of Muriel Spark
Muriel Spark

New Directions Publishing Corporation, 2003

Eight spooky stories from the mistress of the unexpected. "I aim to startle as well as please," Muriel Spark has said, and in these eight marvelous ghost stories she manages to do both to the highest degree. As with all matters in the hands of Dame Muriel her spooks are entirely original. A ghost in her pantheon can be plaintive or a bit vengeful, or perhaps may not even be aware of being a ghost at all. One in fact is the ghost of a man who ...

The Novels of Muriel Spark: Volume 1

1 review
Muriel Spark

Houghton Mifflin, 1995

Thank God and the Stars and Heaven for Muriel Spark
There has never been a dryer or wiser wit committed to print in the history of the English language. Ms. Spark is a master of the sly and slippery slope that devious human beings find themselves on---often with tragic results. Her characters are vividly and superbly drawn. But it is her wit that causes Ms. Spark to rise above her contemporaries. She renders the worlds she creates with such ...

Robinson (New Directions Classics)

3 reviews
Muriel Spark

New Directions Publishing Corporation, 2003

Muriel Spark, Robinson
I sometimes find it ironic that Defoe's Robinson Crusoe (1719) is generally identified as the beginning of realism in English literature. While Crusoe does, arguably, bookend a tradition of novelistic prose defined by a rational approach to observation, description, and narration of events, it also spawned a tradition of desert-island stories that demonstrate, again and again, how the isolated ...

The Hothouse by the East River

4 reviews
Muriel Spark

Penguin (Non-Classics), 1977

one of her best in my humble opinion
As mentioned by someone else on this page, this book is not for people who are new to Spark's novels. It is probably my favorite of all her books, in a way. I read it right after I read her autobiography and it was interesting to see how she integrated some of the events and people from her life (particularly around WWII in England) into the story.

Aiding and Abetting: A Novel

22 reviews
Muriel Spark

Anchor, 2002

Intriguing Novella
Muriel Spark's novels have always been fabulous and Aiding and Abetting is certainly no exception. It is a fictional account of an actual murder suspect from Great Britain in the early 70s. Lord Lucan was accused of murdering his children's nanny and the attempted murder of his wife, but escaped capture. Although there are those that suspect he then killed himself, there are others who believe ...

CURRICULUM VITAE
Muriel Spark

Houghton Mifflin, 1994

search for books
comforters, contemporary, curriculum, directions, kensington

Impressum / about us