Tempest-tost (Salterton Trilogy)7 reviews Robertson Davies Penguin (Non-Classics), 1980 An Astounding Feat + Modern classic + A sheer delight + Yes, he was younger then.             Reservation Blues77 reviews Sherman Alexie Grove Press, 2005 Confronting Racism + Music and Salvation + a song of power, remembrance, loss, vitality, and love! Alexie at his best. With humor, irony, and compassion, this novel mirrors the hopelessness of being born, raised and a resident of the reservation.             The Moccasin Telegraph and Other Stories (Penguin Short Fiction) W. P. Kinsella Penguin (Non-Classics), 1985             Walking Across Egypt (Ballantine Reader's Circle)49 reviews Clyde Edgerton Ballantine Books, 1997 Funny and Sweet + Southern fiction at its best + Surprised delight. Mattie is a little old church going lady who lives alone and gets mixed up with Wesley, a 15 year old jailbird. Her children, a grown son and daughter, are horrified. So are the neighbors,and her fellow church members. But Mattie and Wesley are innocents; Mattie determined to "do good", and Wesley ...             The Sot-Weed Factor (The Anchor Literary Library)44 reviews John Barth Anchor, 1987 Spectacular; a hilarious tour-de-force + A hilarious book + A Truly Inspiring Work... There are already some great reviews of this book here. Suffice it to say that "The Sot-Weed Factor" is a bona fide riot and one of the five or so novels I'd choose to be stranded with on a desert island. To think Barth was in his twenties when he wrote it is bewildering, so proficient is the ...             Zuleika Dobson (Modern Library Paperbacks)24 reviews Max Beerbohm Modern Library, 1998 Beware of this Time Piece and English Humor [59] + "Is it satire or parody or nonsense or what?" + Highly Developed British Eccentricity! + One of the great farces ever written             Diminished Capacity8 reviews Sherwood Kiraly Berkley, 1997 Forgetful hero tells unforgettably brilliant tale! + Diminished Capacity + Wacky, loveable characters & a fun story + Rich, 3 dimensional characters and hilarious writing! + I laughed the whole way through!             Catch-22827 reviews Joseph Heller Simon & Schuster, 1996 Fantastic, Humorous and Everlasting + Best Book I Ever Read + Most Brilliant Satire + Stubborn, heroic innocence in a mad world             The Ballad of Habit and Accident1 review Rock Brynner Wyndham Publications, 1981 a wildly funny and anarchic odyssey through the sixties This is Brynners semi-autobiographical account of his life from 19 to 30. I don't know how much is fact and how much fantasy, but it is wonderful reading. Brynner tells the story of his drunken wanderings across the world and of the strange and unusual people he encountered on his quest for a ...             The Trial40 reviews Franz Kafka Schocken, 1999 Was it really an unfinished business???? + One of the most important writers of the 20th century + What a wonderful nightmare! + great thinker, creative writer             Jacques the Fatalist (Oxford World's Classics)9 reviews Denis Diderot Oxford University Press, USA, 1999 An interactive literary device + very entertaining + It's written on high + Buried Treasure + Burning Read             Human Croquet: A Novel32 reviews Kate Atkinson Picador, 1997 Amazing and Absorbing + Entrancing I found myself overwhelmed by this story and atmosphere in which it was told. Every now and then I had to just stop reading and absorb the newest information. Kate Atkinson's writing is multidimensional and stunning, as she interwove times, people, and plots so that they were overlaid upon each ...             Second Skin2 reviews John Hawkes New Directions, 2005 More than skin deep + A difficult but beautiful read Second Skin is a lyrical, difficult but ultimately rewarding novel. It focuses on Skipper, the narrator, who simply tries to survive a series of life tragedies ranging from being the victim of a mutiny to losing his wife and daughter to suicide. To say these things is not to give away the plot. ...             The Bear Went Over the Mountain: A Novel (Owl Book)91 reviews William Kotzwinkle Holt Paperbacks, 1997 One of the funniest books I've ever read + Every re-read makes me laugh again + Funny and funnier and smart and smarter than your hairy honor student That's all I have to say about it, except I've lent this book far and wide to a diverse audienceof friends and family, in terms of age and sense of humor. Every one thought it was a scream and just adored it.             The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy663 reviews Douglas Adams Del Rey, 1995 Comic work of genius + One of my all-time favorite books + My go-to gift for 12 year old boys + improbably great             Killoyle: An Irish Farce3 reviews Roger Boylan Dalkey Archive Press, 1997 An Irish Nabokov + oh, the footnotes! + no title Killoyle is a book to be savored -- if you try to rush through it, I don't think you'll enjoy it. Roger Boylan's style demands a thoughtful, reflective pace of reading. I think of Boylan as an Irish Nabokov. Like Nabokov, he is a virtuoso of language who apparently writes for the pure pleasure of ...             Death on the Installment Plan31 reviews Louis Celine New Directions Publishing Corporation, 1971 Aesthetically pleasing. Theoretically important. Absurdly relevant. + Better than Journey... + IT'S UP TO YOU TO READ THE BEST & SKIP THE REST + Dark, Bleak And Yet All So Brilliant!             Bouvard and Pecuchet with The Dictionary of Accepted Ideas (Penguin Classics)4 reviews Gustave Flaubert Penguin Classics, 1976 Essential reading for the 80's generation-disco desperates + Odd but interesting book + Sharp satire, fuzzy edition Although he never finished this book, it remains even in translation, a perfect guide to the perils of bourgeois ambitions. Two hapless bank clerks use a sudden inheritance to dabble disastrously in all the current fashions, with hilarious and mordant results. Includes a "dictionary of received ...             The Feast of Love: A Novel156 reviews Charles Baxter Vintage, 2001 A Fabulous Feast + Better for the Young A gorgeous, lush, heartbreaking, glittering exploration of romantic love in all its forms. The style takes a little getting used to, but once you're in, you're hooked as Baxter spins you through the lives and passions of a handful of related characters. Rich, wise, and funny, the book is a feast ...             Ulysses393 reviews James Joyce Vintage, 1990 Mount Everest for Readers + Great performance. + Uses the reader as an active part of the story I can offer little in the way of literary criticism that has not been expounded by scholars about Joyce's masterpiece. What I can offer is the viewpoint of an 'average' reader. My edition was the 1922 text, and it was prefaced by the original publisher with a simple disclaimer: "The publisher ...