The Mandelbaum Gate1 review Muriel Spark Welcome Rain Publishers, 2001 Readable but hard to follow and scarcely worth the effort I picked this book up when I ran out of reading material over the holidays. It looked great from the book cover (but you know what they say . . .) I found it to be a tedious book, very long and somewhat dull. Worst of all, when the "weird part" takes over -- it is very hard to follow. ...             The Late Bourgeois World: 21 review Nadine Gordimer Viking Adult, 1966 A good read but not her best This is a good short read and well worth the few hours it takes to get through it, but it is an earlier novel and not one of her best. If you haven't yet read any Nadine Gordimer, I recommend that first you try "None to Accompany Me," which is excellent.             The Golden Notebook: Perennial Classics edition (Perennial Classics)28 reviews Doris Lessing Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 1999 A book that transcends it's own time + Satisfied customer + Topic is 6 stars, writing is 4 stars [T][29] I am a long time fan of Doris Lessing. However, for me, this is her greatest work. It tackles a myriad of issues and is just as relevant today as it was then and would have been a hundred years before. I could see myself in her protagonist Anna Wulf when I read this book 20 years ago and, upon ...             The Old Men at the Zoo Angus Wilson House of Stratus, 2001             Pale Fire86 reviews Vladimir Nabokov Vintage, 1989 brilliant + everyman's decisions + Enjoyable at Multiple Levels + Mind bending!             The Spire (York Notes Advanced) (York Notes Advanced) (York Notes Advanced) (York Notes Advanced)7 reviews William Golding Trans-Atlantic Publications, Inc., 2006 One of the finest novels in the English canon. + A classic of the first order + Obsessed by a vision + Superior Fiction + An Ode to Obsession             Giles Goat Boy (The Anchor Literary Library)11 reviews John Barth Anchor, 1987 Best Barth Book + A fantastic adventure book! + A review from the author of YEARS OF RAGE This was my favorite book by Barth so far, so far being as far as Sot-Weed Factor (a close 2nd), Chimera, and Lost in the Funhouse. This was also the 1st book I read by Barth, which may have something to do with it, but nonetheless it is well worth the dense English of a prose master.             The Last Gentleman: A Novel18 reviews Walker Percy Picador, 1999 A Latter day Camus + Bored and Confused + Going beyond the personal to the universal First of all, I do not bother to review a work I do not like. I am a writer myself and no one likes to get a bad review. Why should I upset another writer on Amazon? So, unless I am paid or asked to review a book in my professional capacity, I only comment on really good books. The Last Gentleman ...             Another Country40 reviews James Baldwin Vintage, 1992 Interesting, Intense, Involving, Intelligent, Insightful, etc... + Without ? + Homosexuality and Interracial relationships in a not so friendly time + Sex and race in the American bohemia             The French Lieutenant's Woman52 reviews John Fowles Back Bay Books, 1998 Fun novel! + Much Ado about Nothing + A great contemporary, Victorian novel + Victorian Version of the Heartbreak Kid [30][93][T]             Portnoy's Complaint101 reviews Philip Roth Vintage, 1994 Funny, Influential, Modern, Psychological Jewish Novel -- that's well worth your time... + Laugh-out-loud hilarious! + I thought this was a book about gangsters + Great Reflection of 1969 and Jersey Jews [52][T]             The Vendor of Sweets (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics)1 review R. K. Narayan Penguin Classics, 1993 Amazingly well-written and insightful R.K.Narayan's books offer a wonderfuly detailed and intricate view of the South Indian world,and The Vendor Of Sweets fits into this mould to a T.In this novel,the life of Jagan, the vendor of sweets, and the trials and tribulations of his life are wonderfully captured. What is refreshing, however, ...             The Girls of Slender Means10 reviews Muriel Spark New Directions Publishing Corporation, 1998 AN A-LIST VOICE PERFORMANCE + "Long ago in 1945 all the nice people were poor, allowing for exceptions." + A Little Confusing Nadia May is an A-list voice performer. Her voice, while distinctly feminine, is supple yet strong, rich with some 25 years of audiobook narration experience. Mays has the ability to shift easily among characters, subtly lowering her voice or softening when a heavenly request it made. She is ...             Bomber: Events Relating to the Last Flight of an RAF Bomber Over Germany on the Night of June 31st, 19438 reviews Len Deighton HarperCollins Publishers Ltd, 1978 Great, Well Researched Look at WWII Air War from Both Sides! + Disturbing intricate and emotional. + N ot for weak stomachs + Wonderful Panel Novel + Epic story of the WWII airwar             The Defence (Twentieth Century Classics)2 reviews Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov Oxford University Press, 1986 An early gem + again, clever and wisping, but still not perfection Out of print? Out of print??? I assume that Vintage are waiting for the movie tie-in edition, or something. It's in print in my country, anyway, under its proper title "The Luzhin Defence". This is, as Brian Boyd says in his excellent Nabokov biography, its author's first masterpiece. I am an ...             Island (Perennial Classics)63 reviews Aldous Huxley Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2002 The hope for a sane society + exploration of the here and now, the there and later + Utopia Vs Dystopia + Published in 1962, but still relevant! + A tool to living...             A Man of the People7 reviews Chinua Achebe Anchor, 1989 Perhaps Achebe's Best + Probably my favorite Achebe + timeless + A Man of the People + CLASSIC ACHEBE, DEEP CHARACTER WITH DOUBTS AND DILEMMAS             An Error of Judgement (Twentieth-Century Classics) Pamela Hansford Johnson Oxford University Press, 1987 Setter, an eminent Harley Street consultant, is trusted and admired by his circle of friends, devoting himself to the rehabilitation of the lonely and the misunderstood. But deep within himself Setter recognizes a latent streak of sadistic cruelty which enables him to perceive the truth about a delinquent youth whom he suspects of having taken part in a particularly repellent and senseless crime. ...             A Single Man16 reviews Christopher Isherwood University of Minnesota Press, 2001 Read this book! + A single man as Everyman + READ THIS BOOK!!! This short novel follows one day in the life of George, a 58-year-old English professor at San Tomas State College in Los Angeles, CA. From the moment he wakes up and shuffles to the bathroom, we are immediately thrust into his perception of life both as a gay man in the 1960s, and without his ...             Pavane (Del Rey Impact)32 reviews Keith Roberts Del Rey, 2001 Beautifully Written + WHAT IF... + Linked short stories This book is marketed as Alternate History but I disagree. The content is broken down into mini stories detailing matters seldom written about. My favorite coda was the Semaphore story. If you buy this book and are expecting in-your-face alternate reality, then you'll be disappointed.