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The Iliad (Penguin Classics)
Homer
Penguin Books, 1991
A defense of Fagles for the general reader
I don't normally write reviews for "the classics": what can I say that hasn't already been said more elegantly and succinctly by hundreds and thousands already? So, regarding the book itself I will say simply that this story clearly has earned the title of "classic" ...
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Maisie Dobbs
Jacqueline Winspear
Penguin Books, 2004
Loved this book
What an interesting, intricate character is Maisie Dobbs! I read the second book of this series first, then went back to read this one. The flashback, revealing Maisie as a poor but brilliant girl, being granted (in a somewhat fairy-godmother style) education and ...
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The Portable Nietzsche (Viking Portable Library)
Friedrich Nietzsche
Penguin Books, 1977
A Correction of False Vulgarization of Neitzsche
A recent interesing discussion encouraged this reviewer to comment on this book edited by the late Walter Kaufmann. This anthology undermines the false popularlization of Nietzsche, and serious readers get a better understanding of Nietzsche than is provided by critis ...
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The Tortilla Curtain
T. Coraghessan Boyle
Penguin Books, 1996
Exploration of the Human Condition
An intelligent friend recommended this thought provoking novel as a must read, and I completely understand why. It's one of the best I've read in a long time. The story is riveting and the characters are very well drawn. The writing is so rich with description and ...
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On Beauty
Zadie Smith
Penguin Books, 2006
Satirical and sensitive
This is the story of two families, each family headed up by a strong-willed academic man. These two patriarchs are opposites and enemies (or rivals, if you want to be optimistic). The emotional center of the book revolves around Howard's struggling marriage to Kiki. ...
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Pride and Prejudice (Penguin Classics)
Jane Austen
Penguin Books, 2002
Pride and Prejudice
I would definitely recommend this novel to anyone who enjoys a great classic with witty characters and an excellent love story.
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The Letters of Abelard and Heloise (Penguin Classics)
Peter Abelard, Heloise
Penguin Books, 2004
The Letters of Abelard and Heloise (Penguin Classics)
Arrived in very good condition as promised.
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The Great Gatsby (Penguin Popular Classics)
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Penguin Books, 2007
Shines Brilliantly Like a Just-Discovered Piece of Cameo Jewelry from a Bygone Era
It's difficult to give any even-handed critique F. Scott Fitzgerald's standard-setting Jazz Age novel since it was required reading for most of us in high school. However, if you come back to it as a full-fledged adult, you'll find that the story still resonates but ...
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" You Are What You Eat " Cookbook: Over 150 Healthy and Delicious Recipes
Gillian McKeith
Penguin Books Ltd, 2006
You are what you eat
This book is well Brilliant! I started cooking things I never used before. I have dropped 20 pounds in 2 weeks and feel 100% better. My husband even started to eat some of my meals. The conversions charts for farenheit and the metric system are easy enough to print ...
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Ceremony: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)
Leslie Marmon Silko
Penguin Books, 2006
Breath-taking
All I can add to the many thoughtful reviews here is this:
I've read very few works of fiction that have provoked a profound paradigm shift. This is one of the ones that did.
I couldn't look up from the pages and the story will stay with me for life.
I feel I owe a ...
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The Diary of a Napoleonic Foot Soldier
Jakob Walter
Penguin Books, 1993
Wonderful!!
An outstanding book for anyone interested in history. Although it was somewhat common for politicians, generals and admirals to keep logs, it was extremely rare for a person of lower rank to write anything. Mainly because few of them could read or write.
The main ...
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The Complete Novels of Jane Austen
Jane Austen
Penguin Books, 1999
Loved it
I loved having all of my favorite Jane Austen books in one hard cover book! I loved that the pages were slightly yellow to help avoid the strain on my eyes!
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In This Mountain (The Mitford Years, Book 7)
Jan Karon
Penguin Books, 2002
Mitford Series - In This Mountain
Jan Karon does a great job with this whole series - haven't found a book yet I didn't enjoy!
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At Home in Mitford (The Mitford Years, Book 1)
Jan Karon
Penguin Books, 1996
Solid Christian literature
I'm giving this one five stars even though I did not personally care for it. Why? Because the author has rendered a magnificently-written, coherent story (albeit, a pretty unreal one) which achieves a high enough level of literary excellence that I'm compelled to call ...
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Death and Judgment (Commissario Guido Brunetti Mysteries)
Donna Leon
Penguin Books, 2006
A very vivid book.
The first scene is of an accident involving a large carrier-truck in the mountains which, crashing, spills and kills its contents: the corpses of women lie in the snow, littering the mountainside like so many bright dolls.
As in many Brunetti novels, justice does ...
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