Customer Reviews (2)

Bathtub Gin, Bootleg Liquor and Speakeasies!
This is a very good example of a noir detective story.In it we meet a lot of real people from the Roaring Twenties entertainment crowd.The mystery is sketched around Rudolph Valentino's death, but we see the real people that lived in and around his circle.It is clear that Baxt knew some of these people since he writes about them as an old friend might.He has a witty, breezy style, and he perfectly captures the way of life of Prohibition New York.The story takes place in the summer of 1926, just a few days afer Valentino's sudden death.We meet Dorothy Parker and the rest of her Algonquin crew as they join forces with the cops to solve the murder of a dead showgirl.There is a lot of organized crime in the story, and we get a clear picture of how they operated, the front men that they set up and the way they dealt with traitors.(Even cement shoes show up in the book).I really enjoyed this book, and Baxt is an accomplished writer.

This smart/funny book captures Ms. P's wit/cynicism
If you like a mystery that makes you both laugh and think, you have to read at least one of G. Baxt's celebrity sleuth novels. This is one of my favorites because he really captures D. Parker's legendary personality to create an intriguing mystery around Rudolph Valentino's death. Nothing seems forced in this novel; G. Baxt adroitly weaves together fact and fiction to create three-dimensional characters based on some of the most interesting celebrities of the past, including some of the most notable members of the Algonquin Round Table of The New Yorker magazine fame. And some of the dialog he has given D. Parker seems so genuine to her public persona that it's almost as though he knew her. ... Read more

Product Description
A collection of Short stories by author Dorothy Parker. ... Read more

Product Description
The biting sarcasm of one of the wittiest, most quotable American women of letters is collected here in two dozen stories whose insight, characters, and irony have withstood the test of time. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Trivial and petty humanity
The Dorothy Parker story is one in which the characters are shown to be petty, small, and selfish. It is one in which we see into the trivial character of the characters. It does not have warmth or love of life in it. There is much focus on small social mannerisms. One understands that there is an effort at irony and humor. But this does not work for me , and in my reading the overall effect is not the sadness which deepens one's appreciation of humanity but rather the sadness of emptiness.
These stories are very much of the time and place they were written, and certainly not for all time and for enduring remembrance and rereading. ... Read more

Product Description
Stories in the Travelman Short Stories series take the reader to places of mystery, fantasy, horror, romance, and corners of the universe yet unexplored. In turn, readers take them on the bus or subway, slip them into briefcases and lunchboxes, and send them from Jersey to Juneau.

Each classic or original short story is printed on one sheet of paper and folded like a map. This makes it simple to read while commuting, convenient to carry when not, and easy to give or send to a friend. A paper envelope is provided for mailing or gift-giving, and both are packaged in a clear plastic envelope for display. The cost is not much more than a greeting card. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Good Stories/Nice Gift
This is a clever way to present 2 great short stories by Mrs. Parker. The "book" is more like a roadmap, it folds out for easy reading. Perfect for the "6" train ride downtown to the Algonquin. These are 2 of my favorite Parker stories, both about love. If you're looking for an inexpensive gift book, this is it. It even comes with a mailing envelope too. ... Read more

Product Description
A remarkable series of audiobooks, featuring distinguished twentieth-century American poets reading from their own work. A first in audiobook publishing--a series that uses the written word to enhance the listening experience--poetry to be read as well as heard. Each audiobook includes rare archival recordings and a book with the text of the poetry, a bibliograohy, and commentary by J. D. McClatchy, the poet and critic, who is the editor of The Yale Review.

"To hear a poem spoken in the voice of the person who wrote it is not only to witness the rising of words off the page and into the air, but to experience an aural reenactment of exactly what the poet must have heard, if only internally, during the act of composition. THE VOICE OF THE POET recordings deliver these pleasures as they broadcast the pitch and timbre of many of the major voices in twentieth-century poetry."--Billy Collins, U.S,. Poet Lauerate. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

The Wonder of the Wit
This is a great CD for your next road trip. I especially enjoy Dorothy Parker's poem "Men." Her scathing delivery is hilarious. Ogden Nash, with his deliberate and self-indulgent style, may strike a listener as tedious at first. But just listen, and the reason for his easy arrogance unfolds within your mind as his assonance and rhyme build through imagery and punchlines to a certain sublime truth about this life, whoever you are, wherever you are. I've listened to several of these poems over and over. Phyllis McGinley is more stark and political than Ogden and Dorothy, and her delivery far less nuanced. I'm not sure why she was included in this collection; it may have been polished off nicely with a better choice. I can't really blame her, though--who can follow Ogden Nash?

Funny and fascinating
In this new CD-update of the Voice of the Poet series, we get three poets instead of the normal one.Each of these poets could, of course, fill a whole CD.But the selections are balanced (especially since editors were confined to what happened to exist in the archives from which these readings were pulled).I venture to guess there will be at least one poem from each of them that you will find amusing.

I was more familiar with Parker and especially Nash, two legends of the now-dying art of light verse.This was my first experience of McGinley, a more serious writer, who won a Pulitzer Prize for her proto-feminist collection TIMES THREE.She's great too.For those unfamiliar with one or more of these poets the companion book contains capsule biographies by J.D. McClatchey.

For me, hearing the voices of Parker and Nash was a gas.Parker is so austere and while Nash is so wonderfully nasal.My favorite track on the disc is probably his cantankakerous reading of "Tune for an Ill-Tempered Clavichord."

The Voice of the Poet is a great series, at least the three CDs with which I am familiar.If you enjoy hearing poems, as well as reading them-- and especially if you enjoy witty, funny verse-- I heartily recommend AMERICAN WITS. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Grow Older Gracefully w/Dorothy Parker!
Brilliant! Dorothy Parker's poetry is ageless.As you read each of the poems in this book, you are taken on a tour, not only of her life but of anyone's "of a certain age."She is wistful, audacious, happy & sad, critical and praising.She "rails against the night"in every way possible and the tour becomes a reflection of your own life inevery way. I doubt if Dorothy Parker thought that 60 years later someoneelse would read her poetry & identify with it.I think she would bepleased!

A wonderful collection of Dorothy Parker originals
Browsing through a used bookstore I recently ran across a 1942 edition of The Collected Poetry of Dorothy Parker. Quite simply, a marvelous book. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

The Hobo Philosopher
The Hobo Philosopher

"You Might as Well Live" -Dorothy Parker

Prior to reading this biography most of what I knew of Dorothy Parker came from reading quotations attributed to her in one book or another. While reading this biography, I have also been readingselections from "The Portable Dorothy Parker" trying to get a first hand taste of what she sounded like.
As always seems to be the case with people noted for humor, Dorothy's life is not very funny.
She was often financially prosperous and somehow always seemed to have money - or patrons. When she was wealthy, she spent her money, more often than not, foolishly. It seems that the consensus is that she was an attractive and fascinating woman. There is a picture on the cover of the book that testifies to that fact.
But as I lay the book down completed, I can't help thinking of Marilyn Monroe. Dorothy was certainly Marilyin-ish in her confusion and insecurity with men. She was obviously lucky enough to find a loving man in the person of Alan Campbell. But it seems that she was not very deserving of his loyalty. She treated him horribly but yet he stuck with her. They separated off and on but eventually spent their last years together.
She was an anti-Nazi. She lived through the McCarthy Era and was labeled a PAF - a premature anti-Fascist. She, like many other intellectuals of her day, hated Adolf Hitler before the U.S. government declared such an attitude to be appropriate. She had difficulty getting work for a period but she was already established and had income from her royalties. At one point she was refused a passport due to her Leftist attitudes, writings and associations.
It is very clear that she was an alcoholic.
In reading a few of her short stories and some of her poems there is no doubt that she was intelligent. Her writing is thoughtful and I think that her stories and poetry will turn out to be more enjoyable than reading about her life. Her reviews of plays and other writers are much like all the others in that profession - they are accurate some of the time and totally inaccurate at other times. They are simply opinions.
I will continue reading her anthology - giving special attention to the poetry and the short stories.
As a male I feel that I have met Dorothy Parker type women. She loves you - she loves you not, is the problem. Women like her are so insecure in themselves that it permeates all their relationship. When they have you, they don't want you; and when you leave, they long and whimper for the day that you will return. They are like the old Punch and Judy game.
For myself, I am very happy that at some point, I outgrew this type woman. They can't be happy themselves. There is no right way to treat them. And to be a part of their life is to be continually involved in an emotional calamity. They can never make themselves happy and they can't make their men happy either. Dorothy was extremely fortunate to have found Alan Campbell from what I have read in this biography. Nevertheless for some strange reason Dorothy Parker still manages to draw my pity and my curiosity.

Books written by Richard Noble - The Hobo Philosopher:
"Hobo-ing America: A Workingman's Tour of the U.S.A.."
"A Summer with Charlie" Salisbury Beach, Lawrence YMCA
"A Little Something: Poetry and Prose
"Honor Thy Father and Thy Mother" Novel - Lawrence, Ma.
"The Eastpointer" Selections from award winning column.
"Noble Notes on Famous Folks" Humor - satire - facts.
"America on Strike" American Labor - History

review

The book arrived promptly and in good shape.Shipping charges were too high to send a small book within state lines.I knew ahead of time about the charges but needed the book for Christmas.

She didn't wear glasses/ they made many passes
In this book it ispossible to learn much more about Dorothy Parker than most people I believe will ever want to know. Somewhere in the middle I began to feel that I was just giving too much time to a personality which certainly was worthy of some interest, but perhaps not that much.
Keats does a very good job of explaining where Parker (nee Rothschild) came from , and why she hungered for dialogue with others yet was always quite alone. She was the daughter of a wealthy Jewish industrialist and a non- Jewish mother of Scottish background who passed away before Parker ever came to know her. Parker was not liked by her step-mother and her father too farmed her out most of the time.She was given a strict Catholic education which she deplored and rebelled against. Emotional warmth real love was not part of her childhood. She had no Jewish education and apparently no real knowledge of much Jewish. Later in life however she became active in anti- Nazi causes.
Parker was married or rather connected with for twenty- nine years with her second husband Allan Campbell who was also like her half- Scottish and half- Jewish.
Parker became famous for her Algonquin Round Table wit,for her witty and often acidly pessimistic verses, for her short stories, for her book- reviews in the "New Yorker" in which she displayed a special excellence at demolishing the pretentions of others. She was like many small town people who come to the Big City , a fiercely loyal New Yorker who suffered in the years she and Campbell were on the Coast writing mediocre screenplays for Hollywood.At one point she was one of the most famous writers in America, and there is no denying her very tough and quick wit, her ability to condense in a line or two the definition of a situation, a mood.
A small woman only five feet tall with piercingly beautiful dark eyes she was much pursued, much admired, and much lover-ed , if that is the word. She deeply loved Charles MacArthur later the husband of Helen Hayes, but for him she was just one of many. Her disappointments in many ways led her to at least two suicide attempts, and one of her best known poems from which the title of this book is taken.
All the fun, the wit, the good times, the drinking, the effort at pretending that they were not taking themselves too seriously of the Round- Tablers seems quite meretricious now. Keats often compares Parker with Hemingway and seems to feel they have something like equal weight as short- story writers. Though Hemingway was not a very nice person in general, and was a bit cruel to Parker at one point the truth he is a great short story- writer a major figure in the American Literary Tradition. Parker is much less than that.
There is something however touchingly, painfully sad about her life. The loneliness was always with her even when the crowd was applauding and her witticisms were being celebrated everywhere.

Check Your Sources
John Keats is belittlingly sexist in his treatment of Dorothy Parker in his biography, saying hideous things like, "what they [Parker's friends] failed to realize was that Dorothy Parker was like all other women in one terrifyingly simple respect," without further explanation, and calling his subject "little Miss Parker" throughout. To make matters worse, Keats did not properly check sources, and as a consequence committed grave factual errors in the work. For example, he talks about Dorothy's four years at Miss Dana's finishing school, when Parker only attended the school for a year. The list of mistakes continues.

Don't buy it!
Horribly partial male-chauvanistic telling of Dorothy Parker's life - embarrassingly dated. As Dorothy would have said, this is not a biography to be cast aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force! ... Read more

Product Description
Writer and well-known wit, the inimitable Dorothy Parker (1893-1967) had something to say about virtually all her contemporaries among the literati, and they returned the favor in full measure. This well articulated primary and secondary bibliography covers the complete canon and its critical reaction, with illuminating annotations complemented by a biographical sketch. Included also are three personal views of Parker by Joseph Bryan, III, Richard Lauterbach, and Wyatt Cooper. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

For your health
Excellent book for learning how to preserve foods the old way without chemicals and harmful preservatives. One of the many steps to help prevent cancer, heart disease, diabetas, artherites, and many other killers. ... Read more