Book Description
Two tales of suspense ripped from the pages of Civil War! Captain America has fallen into a clash with his government and his friends, and the people close to him are paying the price. The life of Cap's girlfriend, Agent 13, is torn apart as her superiors use her divided loyalties against her. Elsewhere, a new villain emerges; the Red Skull begins to make himself known; and the Winter Soldier again comes face-to-face with Cap. Meanwhile, get inside the mind of of Tony Stark, and learn why he feels superhuman registration is necessary - and why he's taken it upon himself to lead the charge for its implementation! Big changes are in store for Iron Man in the post-Civil War landscape, and the build-up begins here! Collects Captain America #22-24, Iron-Man #13-14 and Iron Man/Captain America Special. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (12)

the best iron man
First, I'm not a huge Iron Man fan, though I thought after this book I might become one (alas, not I) because this is what Iron Man should be about, not the suit but the man. And Tony Stark is a weak man (as alcoholics are), but this book really pulled it all out. Loved it, in fact, it is the only Iron Man book I've found so far that I liked. You really see something dark in Stark coming out.

more iron man vs. cap
Great book.More in depth look at the conflict between Tony and Cap.And more of the internal conflict tearing up Tony Stark.

Iron Man tie-in for Marvel's 2006 event
This trade paperback collects four issues that show the Civil War events from Tony Stark/Iron Man's perspective.The 38 page 'Casualties of War' is the highlight: during the Civil War's rising action Iron Man and Captain America meet for a last-ditch reconciliation attempt that respectfully references key episodes in Marvel Universe history.Iron Man #13 and #14 explore Stark's personal and professional motivations for supporting the Superhero Registration Act while tragedy strikes his confidantes Happy and Pepper.Finally, the Brian Michael Bendis penned 'Civil War: The Confession' provides an elegant denouement with two conversations between Cap and Iron Man.Introductions to each issue help explain the overall story but this is best read with other Civil War tie-ins.

The Iron man's side of civil war
The story explains the past, present and future of the relationship between Iron Man and Captain America, the art is really good, it is not the best civil war tide in but it is good.

HEAVY IS THE HEAD THAT WEARS THE IRON MASK
THIS WAS WHAT CAPTAIN AMERICA TPB SHOULD HAVE BEEN LIKE.THIS IS TONY STARK STILL CONFLICTED AFTER EVERYTHING HAS HAPPENED.LOOKS BACK AT SOME INTERESTING TIMES IN IRON MANS HISTORY THAT HELPS ADD WEIGHT TO HIS VIEWS ON THE WHOLE WAR.MANAGES TO KEEP IRON MAN FROM TURNING INTO A BAD GUY LEADER BUT DID MAKE MY HEAD SPIN A BIT WITH STORIES CONFUSING ME.STILL DONT KNOW WHAT IS GOING ON WITH CAPTAIN AMERICAS DEATH,EVEN AFTER 11 OF THESE CIVIL WAR BOOKS,MAYBE NEXT ONE WILL SOLVE THAT.IF YOU HAVENT GOT THIS BOOK AND YOUR LOOKING FOR C/W EXPANSION THIS IS GOOD BUT AS WITH EVERY OTHER TITLE BESIDES THE MAIN CIVIL WAR BOOK,IT IS NOT ESSENTIAL. ... Read more

Book Description
Rabbit Ears Treasury of Christmas Stories: Volume 1 enlivens and entertains with these festive holiday stories read by your favorite stars and featuring original music by some of today’s greatest artists.

A Gingerbread Christmas
Something must be done: Christmas has been canceled in the town of Gloombury! So the Prince and Princess of Gingerbread attempt to save the day. This fun-filled holiday classic conveys the true meaning of Christmas.

The Steadfast Tin Soldier
Here is the charming story of a tin soldier and the hardships he endures for the love of a ballerina. This poignant classic by Hans Christian Andersen will delight young and old alike.

Please visit our website at http://rabbitears.randomhouse.com. ... Read more

Product Description
Oversized hardcover book published in 1994. This book and CD were produced in honor of the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Wallenius Lines. Olof Wallenius, the founder of the shipping line was a music lover and named his ships after well-known operas. His favorite ship was My Fair Lady. Book has the story of My Fair Lady and colorful illustrations. CD is 70:28 in length. Performed by the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by John Mauceri. Soloists: Kiri Te Kananwa-Eliza, Jeremy Irons-Professor Higgins, Warren Mitchell-Alfred Doolittle, John Gielgud-Col. Pickering, Jerry Hadley-Freddy, Meriel Dickinson-Mrs. Pearce. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Word-music
This is a wonderful collection of poetry readings by some of the bestactors in the world. If youallow yourself only one tape of poetry, Iwould recommend this one. The rendition of Lawrence's "The Snake"is spellbining, and the reading of Macneil's "A Death in theFamily" is quietlly gut-wrenching. And you will be surprised how wellBill Shatner recites about whales. Buy this tape, and you will listen to itagain and again. ... Read more

Amazon.com
A departure from Evelyn Waugh's normally comic theater, Brideshead Revisited concerns the tale of Charles Ryder, a captain in the British Army in post-World War I England. Unlike Waugh's previous narrators, Ryder is an intelligent man, looking back on much of his life from his current post in Oxford. He strikes a special friendship with Lord Sebastian Flyte as the setting moves to the Brideshead estateand a baroque castle that recalls England's prior standing in the world. Ryder falls for Flyte's sister while families, politics and religions collide. What makes the book extraordinaryis Waugh's sharp, vivid style and his use of dialect and minor characters. This is one of Waugh's finest accomplishments and a superb book.Book Description

A classic of our time, beautifully performed by Jeremy Irons and the basis of the award-winning television mini-series, Brideshead Revisited tells the story of the Marckmain family, as narrated by friend Charles Ryder. Aristocratic, beautiful, and charming, the Marchmains are indeed a symbol of England and her decline; the novel a mirror of the upper-class of the 1920s and the abdication of responsibility in the 1930s. Brideshead Revisited has become shorthand for a fantasy era of titled elegance, dead-end hedonism and fatuous wit.

Customer Reviews (25)

Always Worth Revisiting
The purchase of Brideshead Revisited is one of sure investments in your library. You will revisit it very often because it is one of the books that keep you in their thrall forever. Actually, I have a copy in my desk in the office and pick it up to read a few pages when my students are late for meeting.
This is a book which can be read in many ways - most of which open up a new perspective on its contents and some of which may help you understand yourself and those you choose to share it with. It may be read as a Christian treatise (Waugh took this quite seriously) and a memoir of studies at Oxford in the 1920s. A story of a misplaced homosexual affection and story of decline of British aristocracy. Whichever way you choose you will not be disappointed.

Enchanting!
If you love the BBC TV mini-series based on Evelyn Waugh's "Brideshead Revisited", it's not an option not to own this book!While the script and dialogue almost follow line by line from the novel, it is an immense pleasure to read the actual novel and savour Waugh's witty and delightful writing style.His education at Lancing and Hertford College at Oxford, comes through vividly in the book about the friendship between Charles Ryder and Sebastian Flyte who met at the Oxford University and their choices and journeys in life.This edition with Evelyn Waugh's photo on the front cover is my favourite.

A Wonderful Edition of a Wonderful Book
After an unpleasant chance first encounter, protagonist and narrator Charles Ryder, a student at an unnamed Oxford University college (though critics have suggested Waugh used Hertford College as his model; in the television series Charles Ryder wears a St Edmund Hall tie), and Lord Sebastian Flyte, the younger son of an aristocratic family and himself an undergraduate at Christ Church, become friends. Sebastian takes Charles to his family's palatial home, Brideshead Castle, where Charles eventually meets the rest of the Flyte family, including Sebastian's sister, Lady Julia Flyte.

During the holiday Charles returns home, where he lives with his father. Scenes between Charles and his father Ned (Edward) provide some of the best-known comic scenes in the novel. During the holiday he is called back to Brideshead after Sebastian incurs a minor injury. Sebastian and Charles spend the remainder of the summer together.

Sebastian's family is Catholic, but only first generation: Lord Marchmain, an Anglican, converted to his wife's religion, Roman Catholicism. Religious considerations arise frequently among the family, and Catholicism influences their lives as well as the content of their conversations, all of which surprises Charles, who had always assumed Christianity to be "without substance or merit." Charles is also put off religion by Lady Marchmain, Sebastian's mother, a devout Catholic who tries to control others through guilt and manipulation. Sebastian, in some ways a troubled young man, learns to find greater solace in alcohol than in religion, and descends into that habit, drifting away from the family over a two-year period, which occasions Charles' own estrangement from the Flytes. Yet Charles is fated to re-encounter the Flyte family over the years, and eventually forms a relationship with Julia, who by that time is married but separated from the wealthy but uncouth Canadian entrepreneur, Rex Mottram.

Charles plans to divorce his own wife -- who has been unfaithful -- so he and Julia can marry. However, motivated by a comment by her brother and by her father's deathbed return to the faith, Julia decides that she can no longer live in sin, and for that reason can no longer contemplate marriage to Charles. Lord Marchmain's reception of the sacrament of Extreme Unction also influences Charles, who had been "in search of love in those days" when he first met Sebastian, "that low door in the wall...which opened on an enclosed and enchanted garden," a metaphor that informs the work on a number of levels.¹ Waugh desired that the book should be about the "operation of divine grace on a group of diverse but closely connected characters."

During the Second World War, Ryder, now an army officer after establishing a career as an architectural artist, is billeted at Brideshead, once home to many of his affections. It occurs to him that builders' efforts were not in vain, even when their purposes may appear, for a time, to be frustrated.

This is a wonderful, well-written book, about nostalgia for a time that was rapidly disappearing, thrust aside for a much more harsher and more modern existence.
The book itself is a beautiful edition, and a lovely experience to read.

The dissonance between "divine grace" and authorial intentions
The first two-thirds of "Brideshead Revisited" is classic Evelyn Waugh, filled with wit and humor, fascinating characters and provocative scenes, and (above all) evocative description and meticulous prose. Waugh continues his tradition of skewering the pretensions and foibles of the aristocracy--although it's true the Oxford scenes are not as over-the-top as in "Decline and Fall" (Frank Kermode's introduction notes Waugh's acknowledgment of the 'mood of sentimental delusion' which pervades the work).

I have the same reservations, however, about the third part of the book as did many of Waugh's contemporaries, including Edmund Wilson and Conor Cruise O'Brien. While the prose never falters and the "plot" is fascinating to the end, the satire is set aside for a moral, and your appreciation of the book may very well depend on whether you agree with its underlying religious message. To be sure, I really admire this book and continue to recommend it to everyone, but a second reading showcased what for me are shortcomings--flaws that make the work seem slightly less aesthetically pleasing than Waugh's earlier comic novels (particularly "Decline and Fall" and "Handful of Dust").

Like, say, Flannery O'Connor or Graham Greene, who present their theology in the complexities of the characters' actions and motives, Waugh famously declared that he intended to show the "operation of divine grace on a group of diverse but closely connected characters." Yet, where O'Connor and Greene use their stories to illustrate the subtleties of grace, Waugh seems to be making a case for it--but there are many passages that more convincingly show the operation of authorial, rather than divine, grace. And when he details conversations and debates on secular values and Catholic faith, Waugh can be a little heavy-handed--bordering on didactic. Throughout the dialogue the deck is loaded to demonstrate, for example, that Charles's milquetoast agnosticism pales in comparison to the richness of Catholicism.

In fact, the problem with fiction as a vehicle for theological principles is that it can never truly show anything like "divine grace"; it's necessarily the author who determines what happens to the characters--and why it happens. While Lady Marchmain declares halfway through the book that "we must make a Catholic of Charles," and while Julia's near-apostasy and Sebastian's alcoholism interfere with their spiritual salvation, it is ultimately Waugh--not God--who decides their various outcomes. (This dilemma is clearest during a deathbed conversion scene, which tell us everything about the author's hopes and "proves" nothing about faith. And this episode is based on a real-life occurrence in which, aside from the presence of God, Waugh himself played a coercive role.)

This is not to say, however, that Waugh portrays his Catholic characters as saints or their actions as exemplary. Indeed, what saves the novel from becoming a catechism is that Charles, Julia, and Sebastian all are deeply flawed, at times disagreeable people. And, not ironically, the character who (in my mind) is the most lively and lifelike of the bunch is the irrepressible and unapologetic Anthony Blanche. In fact, one might even argue that Blanche's scene-stealing charm is "secular grace" working its inexorable way on Waugh himself.

My comments here focus on only one theme--albeit a central one--in the novel. Most of the book, fortunately, is a comic excursion through a lost age and an elegiac ode to lost youth, as well as a thesis on divine grace. In the final analysis, it's impossible to ignore the beauty of the writing or underestimate the ability of this novel to make one ponder one's own secular or religious beliefs.

Preserving the Past's Dialogue [74][80][T]
Written in Boswellian memory (where tangible objects elicit greatly detailed memories of one's life)this book has a middle-aged soldier stomp upon a castle named Brideshead from which many memories are emerge.

Charles Ryder is the protagonist who we follow from his first days of Oxford through his marriage, divorce and potential engagement. Intertwined with each adventure is the family that owns Brideshead. He is best friends with a son of the owner, a debater of religion with another, and very fond of a daughter.

Ultimately becoming a famous artist of architectural designs which are victims to age or developers' ruin, he becomes famous for his architectural portraits of grand manors and other buildings which are destined for doom. He "preserves" their images with portraits which become plates in books sold to the public.

Like Ryder's paintings, Waugh's writing preserves much of upper class British society.His detailed dialogue infused with their jargon and repertoire is very different from 21st century America, and that is what is so very indelible about this book. Each person speaks as one could only imagine people "like that" did in "those times."

This book has many similarities to "Handful of Dust" -another Waugh classic - as each imports similar characters: a owner of a mansion, an untrue spouse, a British politician who hob nobs with the rich, a playboy, and the others who like fox hunting.But, this novel is more mature, more deep-rooted, more . . . everything.

Unquestionably, a great novel.This book may be the best of the people of Britain in that social scale during the 1920's-40's. ... Read more

Amazon.com
Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita triggers a deep conflict within the American psyche about crossing the line between love and the perverse lust for a child. In the bestselling audiobook, Jeremy Irons delivers a smooth, calculating presentation of Humbert Humbert, the middle-aged man obsessed with a 13-year-old girl named Lolita. Following a failed marriage to a "large, puffy, short-legged, big-breasted and practically brainless baba," Humbert decides to move to America to work as a tutor. Much to his dismay, his plans change and he moves into a boarding house in Ramsdale, New Hampshire. But his disappointment quickly fades after he realizes he lives next door to the "light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul Lo-li-ta." The relationship blossoms between the man "with a cesspool of rotting monsters behind his slow boyish smile" and the sassy, vivacious young girl.

The Russian-born author has amazing control of the English language--his jaw-dropping prose comes through powerfully on this audiotape (though some scholars believe the novel symbolizes Nabokov's internal struggle with the English language). Regardless of whether you condemn or condone the classic, listening to this audio rendition is a must. --Gina Kaysen (Running time: 11.5 hours)Book Description
8 cassettes / 12 hours
Unabridged.
Read by Jeremy Irons


Exhilarating, both appallingly funny and hauntingly sad, Lolita is Vladimir Nabokov's most famous and controversial novel, a twentieth century classic whose characters' names have become synonymous with the outrages and degradations of obsessive passion. When the aging emigre Humbert Humbert falls in love with the precocious nymphet Dolores Haze, all the rules -- of desire, decency, and literature -- are broken.  Lolita has the power to shock, challenge, and enrapture anyone who listens to this masterful performance by Academy Award-winning actor Jeremy Irons.

Even if you're not a fan of audio - I urge you to listen to this recording. Engrossing, enraging, titillating, disturbing, fascinating -- Jeremy Irons oozes with all things right in literature.  The boundaries have been pushed. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (444)

A Pervert's Progress
"Lolita" was hugely controversial when first published in 1955. It was banned for a time in both Britain and France, although (rather surprisingly, given the often hysterical moral climate during the Eisenhower years) not in the United States. Today the most common reaction to many books (as well as films and popular songs) which fell foul either of the censors or of conservative public opinion during that era is "what was all the fuss about?", but "Lolita" retains its power to shock even today.

The reason is that the central character, Humbert Humbert, is not only a murderer but also a paedophile. Humbert, a French-born academic resident in America, is obsessed by what he calls 'nymphets', sexually desirable girls between the ages of nine and fourteen. This obsession appears to be the result of his tragic, and unconsummated, affair with his childhood sweetheart, Annabel, who died at the age of thirteen. In 1947 Humbert, then aged in his mid-thirties, moves to Ramsdale, a small New England town, where he becomes infatuated with Dolores ("Lolita"), the twelve-year-old daughter of his widowed landlady, Charlotte Haze. In order to remain close to Lolita, Humbert agrees to a proposal of marriage from Charlotte, who has fallen in love with him, although he has no sexual interest in her, or indeed in any adult woman. He eventually seduces Lolita after her mother's death in a road accident.

The book is divided into two parts, and I have often thought that Part I (which deals with Humbert's early life and his stay in Ramsdale and ends at the point where he and Lolita become lovers) would have made a superb novel, or perhaps more accurately novella, in its own right if Nabokov had published it on its own without any Part II. It is a brilliant psychological study, exploring the mind of a man who is despicable yet at the same time fascinating, at times almost sympathetic.

There was, of course, a good reason why the book could not end with Part I. A hundred years earlier Flaubert could only get "Madame Bovary" published by persuading a court that his heroine's suicide in the book's final chapters was a just punishment for her sins that would dissuade other Frenchwomen from cuckolding their husbands. In some respects little had changed between the 1850s and 1950s; there was still a moralistic convention that fictional criminals, just as much as real-life ones, had to be punished for their crimes, the main difference being that the novelist had a rather larger range of punishments available to him than the criminal courts. Nabokov could have concluded "Lolita" with Humbert in jail on a charge of statutory rape, but evidently rejected this option, possibly because it was too obvious. Instead he provided a nemesis in the shape of playwright Clare Quilty, Humbert's fellow-paedophile and his rival for Lolita's affections. (Despite his feminine-sounding Christian name, Quilty is male).

After Charlotte's death, Humbert takes Lolita out of school and takes her on a car journey around America, staying in motels. Much of the second part of the book is taken up with a description of their travels round America, during the latter part of which they are pursued by Quilty, who is determined to seduce Lolita away from Humbert. Unfortunately, I have never regarded Part II of the novel as altogether satisfactory- the plot seems to get lost and the story of their long journey becomes tedious and repetitive. For most of the book Quilty is a vague, shadowy presence, and when he finally appears near the end he emerges as a bizarre and eccentric character whom I found it difficult to believe in.

Another thing I should mention about this book is the author's extraordinary prose style, particularly remarkable in view of the fact that he was not a native-born English speaker. It is a record of his love-affair with his adopted language, a mixture of puns, word-games, literary allusions, recondite words and jokes. For example, Annabel's surname is Leigh, an obvious allusion to Poe's "Annabel Lee", a poem to which Nabokov makes reference several times in the early chapters. (He even considered naming the book "The Kingdom by the Sea"). Nabokov's word-games are often bilingual; at one point he uses the French sentence "Qu'il t'y mene" (literally "That he leads you there") for no other reason than that it spells out the surname of Humbert's enemy.

I said above that Humbert seems almost sympathetic, yet he never quite wins the reader's sympathy, and his attempts at self-justification never ring true, if only because the reader remains all too well aware that he is a fallible narrator. (The story is narrated by him in the first person and takes the form of a confession written by him shortly before he dies in prison while awaiting trial for Quilty's murder). By Humbert's account Lolita seduces him rather than vice-versa, but this may well be a fabrication designed to portray his victim as a sexually precocious temptress. (He also claims that she was sexually active with both boys and girls by the age of eleven). He claims to love her, but this is difficult to take at face value when one considers how he treats her. Quite apart from the question of underage sex, he disrupts her education, drugs her with intent to commit rape, plots to murder her mother and plans to abandon her when she turns fifteen, that being the age at which girls cease to interest him sexually. If that is how Humbert behaves towards someone he loves, I dread to think how he might have treated Lolita if he had hated her. At the end of his life, however, he does have a moment of enlightenment when he realises that he has deeply wronged the girl he claimed to love. Contrary to what some have claimed, Nabokov never intended this book to justify or glorify child molesters. It can be seen as a pervert's progress in which the central character condemns himself out of his own mouth.

Literature, but in a good way
Definitely literature, reading this book clears up a number of cultural references. Exciting and fast paced, for the most part, Nobokov artfully addresses the dual perspectives on pedophilia while refraining from the vulgar. The exploration of a troubled mind is reminiscent of Dostoyevsky's "Idiot" and "Crime and Punishment", but set in the familiar culture of America.

Much more powerful than even its controversial reputation would indicate
Wow. Beautiful, witty, clever, perfect. A masterpiece (or "un chef d'oeuvre" as Humbert would undoubtedly say). Any book that makes me laugh and cry with my whole belly, face, and heart repeatedly throughout the book (though most of the crying came at the end) and within the same ten minutes has accomplished an amazing feat. I found this on the shelf of our family library, and when my mother tried to discourage me, her not-really-that-innocent seventeen-year-old daughter from reading it, I knew it must be good. Of course it's disturbing, but people who dwell on it excessively are missing out on quite an experience. It's one of those books that must be read again and again because there are so many allusions, puns, etc. that are easy to miss the first time. Next time I'll be reading an annotated version, but I enjoyed trying to pick up on everything myself the first time around. I recommend doing the same thing.

A book that will stay with you.
Immoral, depraved, criminal, mean, arrogant, but also sophisticated, erudite, charming and humorous - that is Humbert Humbert, the narrator of this tragic "love" story. Love is probably the wrong word to describe the obsession Humbert has with Lolita, the twelve year old girl whom he essentially kidnaps. The erotica in this book is never graphic, but will still make the reader cringe. The language is full and intense and the central characters are convincing. I found myself actually rooting for Humbert in the later chapters even though he is so despicable - such is the power of Nabokov's description of this unforgettable character. The disturbing subject matter and tragic consequences still haunt me several weeks after finishing this book.

A great book, but not exactly pleasant reading
I've read "Lolita" twice now, and it's very difficult for me to explain how I feel about this book. On one hand, I think it's brilliant. Vladimir Nabokov's amazing prose makes "Lolita" one of the most celebrated 20th century novels ever written. It's clever and shocking and absolute genius. However, the story also revolves around a pedophile/murderer, Humbert Humbert. In the first few pages of the book, we learn that Humbert is writing "Lolita" as a confession while he rots away in a jail cell. Humbert has always had an obsession with "nymphets," which is his affectionate term for sexually desirable girls ranging from nine to 14 years of age. He ends up marrying a woman just because he's hung up on her 12-year-old daughter, Dolores (a.k.a. "Lolita"). Humbert and Lolita eventually begin an affair, and Humbert's overwhelming desire for her ultimately leads him to commit murder.

Being the phenomenal writer that he is, Nabokov makes the child molester Humbert appear charming and almost sympathetic to the reader. This man is a completely wretched human being, but due to the author's exquisite manipulation of language, we're forced to view Humbert in a very different light. I think "Lolita" is a fantastic story, but the whole pedophilia aspect has always soured my experience of reading this book. I can appreciate "Lolita" for its innovation and brilliance, but it's just not the kind of story I genuinely enjoy reading. ... Read more

Book Description
(Book Jacket Status: Jacketed)

When it was published in 1955, Lolita immediately became a cause célèbre because of the freedom and sophistication with which it handled the unusual erotic predilections of its protagonist. But Vladimir Nabokov's wise, ironic, elegant masterpiece owes its stature as one of the twentieth century's novels of record not to the controversy its material aroused but to its author's use of that material to tell a love story almost shocking in its beauty and tenderness.

Awe and exhilaration–along with heartbreak and mordant wit–abound in this account of the aging Humbert Humbert's obsessive, devouring, and doomed passion for the nymphet Dolores Haze. Lolita is also the story of a hypercivilized European colliding with the cheerful barbarism of postwar America, but most of all, it is a meditation on love–love as outrage and hallucination, madness and transformation.

With an Introduction by Martin Amis


From the Hardcover edition. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (15)

A pleasure for the Ears
Jeremy Irons is the perfect choice to read this Audiobook of the "infamous" Lolita. Iron's reading is a perfect pairing with Nabokov's writing, the richness of the language comes through even though you are not settled into your easy chair by a crackling fire with a decent vintage opened at your side.

It is pairings such as this that gives one hope that more Audio books will be prepared with equal care, unabridged, and enriching the listener's experience.

Deliciously Naughty
"LOLITA---LIGHT OF MY LIFE- FIRE OF MY LOINS---MY SIN, MY SOUL.
LOOO---LEEE---TAAA.
The tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps.
LOOO--LEEE--TAAA" -Hubert Hubert-

Humbert Humbert is an intellectual, a teacher, fluidly articulate, a lover of books, a poet, and good looking. One could say he has it all. But there's one little problem, Hubert Hubert happens to be a pedaphile.

Nabokov is so brilliant, the reader will empathize with Hubert Hubert in some strange way, because he
will make them...justifying why Hubert Hubert does the things he does. And the reader will try to justify his perversion, too.

Hubert Hubert is a child molester, a monster, a pervert, a stalker, evil, and sick. And he is appalled, even by himself. This is the reason Nabokov has named him Hubert Hubert (One is good-one is evil).

"IF ONLY SHE SAW THE MONSTERS BEHIND THE EYES,
I AM THE DEVIL'S PLAY THING" Hubert Hubert

Hubert Hubert is obsessed with young girls (Nymphets) as he so elequently calls them. He is sexually attracted to Lolita most of all, and married her mother to get close to her. (Naughty boy).

His thoughts are written so beautifully and deliciously the way he feels for Lolita, that the reader neglects, at times, to see his perversion and sins. Hubert Hubert describes Lolita's knees, her legs, her skin, her hair, how it
drapes over her apple fresh cheeks. How lovely. How pretty. How wicked.

Hubert Hubert descibes Lolita's mother (his wife)like this: "Being with her was like thrashing inside a decaying forest"

Shame on you, Hubert. She's only 35 years old!You dirty, dirty old man.

Hubert Hubert speaks in third person through several parts of the book...because Hubert Hubert cannot even bear himself--for he is a demoralizing, warped, sick individual. And the reader will still fill empathy for him

"I am the Devil's Plaything. I am a Monster."

Hubert Hubert trys desperately to become the doting step-father, giving Lolita what she wants, getting involved in school activites, protecting her from the big bad world.

But he forgets one thing....

Hubert Hubert does not protect her from Hubert Hubert.

Vladimir Nabokov is a genius, and Lolita has so many levels of beauty, metaphor, and lushness, one cannot find any inmperfection within it.

Lolita will horrify the reader and delight the reader at the same time.How the heck to Nabokov do that?

Nobody could have read this book as Irons did--the sexuality rolls of his tongue like a kind of poison.

***Not too many books can compare to this Lolita. A true, unbelievable classic.

Yes, 5 stars but I COULD NOT FINISH
I had read Lolita many years ago in my college student garret and was entertained, a bit appalled, thought I was able to "get" HH, but mainly I was amazed by the language. I can remember rereading sentences just to feel the commas. BUT, hearing it read by Jeremy Irons is a whole different thing. He is an absolutely amazing actor. It is CREEPY and the incredible language becomes his own completely, rather than feeling in any way, like Nabokov's intellectual exercise. Just describing Iron's speech, his sibillant esses, makes me shudder. I had to stop around CD 5 (near Salina, Kansas, as I drove from SF to the East Coast with Tyler the dog) because the person and the story were now so sordid and disturbing.
Then, staying with my cousin in Bethesda, I was in a room with the usual suspect college student books (Camus, Pynchon, Vonnegut, a used copy of Introduction to the Principles of Earwax) and sure enough, there was Lolita. It was ~benign and fascinating once again, until I pushed myself to imagine Iron's voice. Then I put it back on the shelf and washed my hands.

a total mindfu-...mind altering.
the scariest thing about this book is that you don't see it coming. you pick up the book thinking you're going to be repulsed by the whole thing. it's pedophilia! but instead you find yourself nodding along, agreeing, sympathizing with humbert's totally horrible viewpoints. you find yourself wanting to be more like lolita so someone will love you like that. you find yourself laughing when the narrator wants you to laugh, feeling sorry for him when dolores finally escapes. it's utterly convincing to anyone who's ever been obsessed with anything... like diving into another world.



it's incredibly well written, but i don't think i would recommend this book to anyone. i think instead that it's the first book i've read that should carry a warning label. "listening to this book will seduce you."

absolutely amazing
Nabokov's story of HH and his obsession with little Lolita is one of the most amazing books of all time.The audio version read by Jeremy Irons is absolutely the best audio book I've ever heard.Jeremy Irons played the role of HH in one of the movie adaptations of the book, and he reads this first-person narrative fully in character.I cannot think of another actor who could have captured the essence of this book the way Irons did.I purchased the audio version to listen to on my iPod on a trip, and I kept listening to him read the story even when I was taking breaks from the road.Just as it is hard to put the book down, it is hard to stop listening to this audio book.Once you get past the introduction to the book (I didn't catch the name of who read that; it was a different voice, unless Irons was just doing a character), you won't be able to stop. ... Read more

Book Description

Customer Reviews (1)

Great - inspiring and beautiful
A fascinating insight into the methods and influences of this up-and-coming design partnership, introduced by a foreword from actor Jeremy Irons. Her style is free-flowing and organic; his is classically inspired and architectural. Ranges over their complete oeuvre from Allegra's patterned rugs and fabrics to Ashley's jewelry and furniture. With a brief review of historical inspirations (from ancient Pompeii to modern England), fabulous photographs by Bill Batten, and a wealth of practical advice and beautiful images. The text is both down-to-earth and fascinating, with unexpected humorous touches. Thoroughly recommended for any lover of great design. ... Read more

Book Description
This digital document is an article from Siempre!, published by Edicional Siempre on April 30, 1998. The length of the article is 1511 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: El hombre de la máscara de hierro.(TT: The Man In The Iron Mask)
Author: Mario Saavedra
Publication: Siempre! (Refereed)
Date: April 30, 1998
Publisher: Edicional Siempre
Volume: v44Issue: n2341Page: p78(2)

Distributed by Thomson Gale ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Beautiful story, excellent narration, terrific music!!
This may be my daughter's favorite storytape after years and years of listening to every new tape published.We had to buy the CD after wearing out the audiotape.Jeremy Irons' voice is both soothing and rich, the music is delightful and magical, and the story could fascinate any child between 5 and fifty (or more!!)My daughter particularly loves to listen to this musical tale with the lights out before going to sleep!

I highly recommend this moving tale with its delicate music and musical themes.

DAYTON SAYS:BUY THIS CD
Another review, by Glen Ridge, has pointed out how wonderful this CD is, and I certainly agree.How did I find out about this CD?I was driving in my car on my way to what would be for me the best movie of the summer (I probably am not allowed to give you the movie's name, but it is about Greeks and a wedding and you MUST...MUST go see it, and if you can't, then when it comes out in video, you MUST...MUST buy it here at Amazon)....anyway, I was driving along and was listening to my local NPR radio station.The CD was already well over 1/4 of the way through, but that did not take away from the spell-binding experience.I had a long drive to the movie theatre, and so I was able to hear the CD to the end.Though I was pushing my time limit to get to the show on time, I sat in my parked car listening to the last five minutes.But, it was well worth the mad dash to the theatre...besides when I got to the theatre there was a long line (by the time the movie started, it was sold out...again), so I was not late after all.The CD and the movie provided for an unplanned, magical Friday evening.I hope each of you reading this will have a similar experience in your lives.I am buying this CD for my little niece....perhaps I might give it to her ...it truly is a wonderful CD.And, it is with great pleasure that I give my rating....DAYTON SAYS: BUY THIS CD.

Delightful, absorbing, tranquil, among best for kids!
I was surprised and delighted today to happen upon a page on Amazon listing the Audie award winners, where I noticed that this recording hadwon for children's music.We happened several months ago to pick up a copyin a toy store, totally by accident, having read nothing about its releaseand seen no publicity.It's a beautifully narrated tale of a quest onwhich two children set out to search for a cure for their mother's illness. They are aided by music, which is baroque and surreally beautiful,introducing young listeners to this musical genre with the light anddelicate melodies that transport them as easily off to sleep as to dream ofevergreen forests and fairies and unicorns, timid and pure.

I bought thetape on the strength of my respect for Jeremy Irons and my daughter's lovefor unicorns.At the last minute I exchanged the CD for a tape because Iwasn't ready to commit to the difference in price.BOY WAS I WRONG!For weeks I couldn't get my daughter to try it, then one night I put it onto help her sleep and it became her favorite tape for MONTHS!The music isbeautiful and the story compelling, yet one ultimately falls asleep withouta fight, it brings such a sweet tranquility to the listener.

There aremelodies I would love to hear repeated, and the gist of the story is one ofchildren's strength and courage and love for their mother, and for truth. Nonetheless, despite how much I adore this tape, my daughter continues tolove it just as much as I do--Now there's some testimonial! We're readyto upgrade to a CD so we'll be able to be sure to keep it for a long, longtime.I must admit, I could easily choose to listen to this withoutchildren anywhere in the vicinity, and plan to give a copy for Christmas toall of my favorite kids. ... Read more

Book Description
"Hypnotic."

THE BOSTON GLOBE

He was a married M.P.with two grown children. On the surface, his life was what he wanted it to be. She was his son's fiancee, a shattered woman who had only known forbidden love. When they meet, their attraction is instantaneous, their obsession complete. And nothing, it seems, can tear them away from each other and their dangerous, damaging, illicit passion....

"Striking."

THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW ... Read more

Customer Reviews (43)

BEST BOOK I'VE EVER READ
I just love the way Josephine Hart writes.This book is the first one I couldn't put down.Absolutely mesmerizing.

great, intense, very different and unpredictable!!!
I guess I liked this book so much because the plot was just so unusual.The story was very unique, with classy characters that have a dark side. A classic all that glitters is not gold story with a disturbing twist.The main character comes to realize things about himself he never knew existed and makes the most uncompromising sacrafices to satisfy his new found obsession.

Insipid, cliche ridden, posturing tripe
Josephine Hart's "Damage" is an old trope redone poorly.Middle aged man finally feels "alive" because of some forbidden lust.Then, as the formula demands, he and others pay the consequences.In the end, with its lifeless characters and painfully predictable trajectory, it's a big "So what."

Strong points:

The author's prose is very easy to read, which, in itself, is a greater achievement than some might imagine.

It's short, you can read this in a single sitting, 2 maybe 3 hours max.It may be a harmless way to waste time while waiting at an airport or to lull yourself to sleep on the plane.


Neutral point:
Makes no demands on the reader.You do not have to bring any special expertise or experience to this tale in order to get everything out of it.(In fact, too much imagination, wide ranging interests, or life experience will likelydestroy any interest in reading past the first few pages.)

Now for the bad points:

This tale is very thin, even thinner than the book itself.It may have worked as a short story but should have never gone much beyond 10pages.It just doesn't have the legs to support itself.

The characters are so flat and lifeless that the reader is given no reason to care about any single one of them.Maybe this reflects the flat, lifeless existence of the narrator before (and, as far as I can tell, after) he discovered lust, but it doesn't work at all for me.

The narrative voice is supposed to be that of a 50ish man but it sounds like an inexperienced school girl giving her impression of adult male lust. The voice was so jarring, so off putting, that it was a struggle for me to maintain an image of the narrator as a male.I'm not kidding, I re-read some of the initial paragraphs several times to see if I had missed some gender cue.Then I briefly wondered if the guy's "dark" secret had something to do with a belated discovery of homoerotic inclinations or trans-sexuality.No such luck. In a few pages I realized the inapposite voice simply reflected the author's significant limitations.But that girlish voice in a grown man's body was really bothersome.

The author sprinkles the text with little phrases that I suppose are intended to sound profound or insightful but instead come across as trite, gratuitous posturings.

The writing style is tedious and repetitive.Start reading paragraphs at random and they all sound pretty much the same. If this is supposed to represent the repetitive nature of obsession, it doesn't work.Instead, it is soporific.

There is no momentum, neither forward, backward, nor sideward.The only movement in the story comes from physically turning the pages.

The cover blurbs use words such as "noir", "erotic", "scandal" and "obsession" to describe the novel but there was no such substance to be found between the covers.Oh, sure, the narrator tells you that it is a tale of awakening lust and tragic obsession, but his promises don't deliver.Medical textbooks have more dramatic sexual descriptions than this thing does.

Then there is the over-the-top sign off at the end.Without "spoiling" the pathetic final lines by quoting them, I don't think that the reader needs to be condescended to.I can't tell whether the author is intending to instruct mentally dense readers or whether she intended to create a warped sense of sympatico between author, reader, and characters by adding such self-aggrandizing drivel at the end.

This is a book best suited for those with the mindset of the stereotypical, adolescent girl who hungers for doomed passions but settles for cheap romance novels while waiting for real life to come her way.

[edited to fix typo]

Is simplicity powerful or dull in this book?
The story of Damage is a great story, but it was fairly predictable. However, I still like the ending, how the protagonist fades into bright white seclusion. The story is powerful but without sophistication of writing style and is sometimes even a little dull. Whether it's intentional or not I cannot decide.

Love and Destruction
I relate more to love stories like this: I've seen enough "damage" over my lifetime from passionate relationships to feel at home here.

The author doesn't spend too much time analyzing the destructive power behind the narrator's desire for his son's fiance.How could she?How can anyone explain that mysterious but all-consuming passion that overwhelms some people?
There are so many betrayals at the heart of DAMAGE but yet you don't end up hating the narrator.Somehow a middle-aged British doctor and politician, a successful family man, is helpless and destitute by his passion.
Not guilty by reason of insanity.
And I accepted that. ... Read more

Product Description
Book DescriptionWhen it was published in 1955, Lolita immediately became a cause célèbre because of the freedom and sophistication with which it handled the unusual erotic predilections of its protagonist. But Vladimir Nabokov's wise, ironic, elegant masterpiece owes its stature as one of the twentieth century's novels of record not to the controversy its material aroused but to its author's use of that material to tell a love story almost shocking in its beauty and tenderness.Awe and exhilarationalong with heartbreak and mordant witabound in this account of the aging Humbert Humbert's obsessive, devouring, and doomed passion for the nymphet Dolores Haze. Lolita is also the story of a hypercivilized European colliding with the cheerful barbarism of postwar America, but most of all, it is a meditation on lovelove as outrage and hallucination, madness and transformation. ... Read more

Book Description

Paulo Coelho's enchanting novel has inspired a devoted following around the world. This story, dazzling in its simplicity and wisdom, is about an Andalusian shepherd boy named Santiago who travels from his homeland in Spain to the Egyptian desert in search of treasure buried in the Pyramids. Along the way he meets a Gypsy woman, a man who calls himself king, and an Alchemist, all of whom point Santiago in the direction of his quest. No one knows what the treasure is, or if Santiago will be able to surmount the obstacles along the way But what starts out as a journey to find worldly goods turns into a meditation on the treasures found within. Lush, evocative, and deeply humane, the story of Santiago is art eternal testament to the transforming power of our dreams and the importance of listening to our hearts.

Customer Reviews (18)

Beautiful!
This is story is so beautiful!It's about destiny, courage, following your heart, and forging your own path.It makes an excellent gift.

I like the audio version in particular because the narration is excellent.I listen to audiobooks when doing exercise and mundane tasks and audiobooks like this are so engaging that I'm finished with the task before I realize any time has passed.This audiobook is good for people of all ages and educational backgrounds.

I forgot I was driving a 5-hour trip!
This purchase was an impulse buy from a bookstore before I drove 5-1/2 hours to Houston. The CD came highly recommended by the clerk selling me some books. I thought, why not, I love Jeremy Irons' voice. This CD was indeed the best audio book I've ever heard and I've listened to almost 30. I had just recently finished "His Excellency" about George Washington, which is very long (13 cd's) and extremely good. Although I'd never heard of Paulo Coelho, who is internationally famous, I know and love Jeremy Irons as an actor, and he should win an award for performing the characters in this book. I finished it the following day driving to Austin and thoroughly enjoyed the deeper meaning behind the story. Since Santiago's adventures reminded me of my son and how he met his wife, I gave this audio book to him for his birthday. He is very well-read and this book, he tells me, is his new favorite.

The Alchemist
I bought this as a present for my daughter, who loved the book.

Mystical
I hightly recommend anyone to listen to this CD. It tells a story about Divination, reading omens and following your personal legend.

I not that great with literature, but I love The Alchemist. The way the story was told was very mystical.

A spiritually compelling fable !
"The Alchemist" is a lighthearted, subtle, sensitive, and eloquent story that will take the reader into a journey of self-discovery and wisdom.
This is not a material for spiritual midgets!
"The Alchemist will provide the reader with inspiring and enlightening moments....


... Read more

Customer Reviews (21)

Survival amidst death
A most incredible book... It holds the reader glued to every page, not unlike the grip of death which encased Shangai after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December of 1941.

The story, based on J.G. Ballard's actual experiences, is about a young British teenager who lives with his parents in Shangai at the eve of Pearl Harbor and is then interned by the Japanese from 1942-1945 in the Lunghua prison camp near Shanghai. It is truly mesmerizing, in the negative sense unfortunately, because of the countless moments of inherent evil that arose as a result of war. The places-airfield runways made of bones of dead Chinese, a make-shift cemetery full of corpses with extremities sticking out, canals full of dead bodies, floating flower coffins with Chinese babies-the people-an opportunistic American soldier who profits from death, Japanese soldiers bent on brutality, an American doctor who does everything to save the sick and dying, the indifference of a British woman to a sick boy-and events-the killing of a Chinese coolie, the never-ending deaths of sick prisoners, the death march to Nantao-exemplify that evil and are described with such incredible detail and clarity as to be almost permanently engraved in the mind of the reader.

Through all the death and destruction, of which almost every chapter of the book is filled with, lives a young British teenager (the author himself, but written in 3rd person) who has an incredible will to survive. The question of his morality is ever-present if we judge his thoughts and actions solely; yet in the face of starvation and omnipresent death, his story is one of a smart young boy who is trying his best to survive. When viewed under those circumstances and compared to the actions of others in the book, his story can be perceived in a more positive yet still overwhelmingly sad light. Indeed, it is the author's reconstruction of his thoughts in particular that divulge the horror of the events he experienced. One of the most memorable concerns the death march to Nantao:

"Dr. Ransome had recruited a human chain from the men sitting on the embankment below the trucks, and they passed pails of water up to the patients.

Jim shook his head, puzzled by all this effort. Obviously they were being taken up-country so that the Japanese could kill them without being seen by the American pilots. Jim listened to the Shell man's wife crying in the yellow grass. The sunlight charged the air above the canal, an intense aura of hunger that stung his retinas and remind him of the halo formed by the exploding Mustang. The burning body of the American pilot had quickened the dead land. It would be for the best if they all died; it would bring their lives to an end that had been implicit ever since the Idzumo had sunk the Petrel and the British hand surrendered at Singapore without a fight.

Perhaps they were already dead. Jim lay back and tried to count the motes of light. This simple truth was known to every Chinese from birth. Once the British internees had accepted it, they would no longer fear their journey to the killing ground...."

Steven Spielberg's adaptation of the book in the 1986 movie of the same name is insufficient at best. While the cinematography and acting are good, the crux of the story-the cruelty and horrors of post-Pearl Harbor Shangai-is conveniently glossed over. It's as if Spielberg decided to change the script from an "R" to a "G". The problem is that the latter version of the movie no longer resembles the former and effectively does injustice to the thousands of people (and millions more not included in the scope of the book)-including the author himself-who suffered and/or died in Lunghua prison and Shangai from 1942-1945 at the hands of the Japanese.

Naah
Despite the hyperbolic praise on the back cover--best war novel of the twentieth century!!!--I found this Ballard offering so tedious and unpleasant that I gave up on it just thirty or so pages before the end. My main problem was with Jim; he's basically the only character and he's so unlikable that after a while you just don't feel like spending any more time with him. In Jim you also see the germ of the fascist leanings so evident in the main characters of the truly execrable--but at least readable--Ballard novels __Cocaine Nights__ and __Super-Cannes__.

In my opinion, if you want to read the semi-autobiographical adventures of a boy in an occupied country, you're better off with __The Painted Bird__. If you prefer books about life in prison camps, try __If This Is a Man__ or __The Truce__ by Primo Levi. You'll find in his books the humanity so glaringly absent in Ballard's.

Art in it's Finest Form!
This book is a true story about a boy named Jim. It is extremely depressing and dark in it's tone. It is also very beautiful "like Road to Perdition?" The movie was better than the book, "thanks to John Williams rich score."

This is an awesome book, buy the soundtrack too, it will give you the complete experience.

Numbed by War
J.G. Ballard's very unique, and especially trying, childhood is detailed in this autobiographical novel that offers powerful insights into war and history. Ballard, represented by "Jim" here, was a pre-teen living with his British expatriate parents in Shanghai on the eve of World War II. When war reached the city, Jim was separated from his parents and spent the next three years in a Japanese internment camp, learning to fend for himself under the most brutal conditions. Thus Ballard's distinct life experience leads to one of the most fascinating and terrifying stories you are likely to find on the horrors and miseries of war. Jim is so preoccupied with survival that he describes the most outlandish horrors with bland matter-of-fact understatement, including multitudes of corpses floating in rivers, scores of his fellow prisoners dying of starvation and disease, public executions, and even watching human bones being made into concrete. Along the way, the human psychological factors of war are revealed as Jim grows apart from his parents, loses affinity for his own countrymen, identifies with his oppressors, and wishes for the war to continue so he doesn't have to face the unknown future. Through Ballard's powerful writing, we can see exactly why Jim (and the young Ballard in real life) would reach these states of mind. This story also offers many intuitions on the futile nature of war itself, as shifting loyalties and factionalism blur the lines between friend and foe, and post-war anarchy becomes even more dangerous than the actual war. These are all hugely enlightening insights into war from a man who experienced it himself in a very distinct way. [~doomsdayer520~]

About loneliness and deathý
A beautiful and terrible book, Empire of the Sun has become one of mine preferred. After the attack to Pearl Harbour, the Japanese invaded South-Est Asia. Thousands of European civilians, women and children, couldn't escape and were interned by Japanese. A lot of them died from disease and starvation. James Ballard, the author, was one of those children. Living in Shanghai with his family, eleven years old, he was interned till the end of the war in the Lunghua camp. Jim, the protagonist of the novel, is the `alter ego' of the writer, so the story is quite autobiographic.
Shanghai is seized by Japanese and in an apocalyptic try to escape, Jim, born in a rich British family, become separated from his parents and must fight alone to survive. He will be soon prisoner of Japanese and will be interned till the end of the war, spending the years from childhood to adolescence in the internment camp. The war, that overwhelms everything and everybody, is reported from the point of view of the boy in a raw and shocking way, nothing is saved from the corruption caused by war.
Shanghai is a hell's city, where thousands Chinese people lead a life without hope, oppressed first by Europeans and then by Japanese. Jim spends a life of absolute loneliness, not able to have a true relationship with other people. Obsessed by the primordial necessity of food, he become a `disgusting boy' ready to do everything to survive, even to steal the food from other European prisoners, or to become the slave of a small criminal without scruples. Jim looks with a corrosive eye and black umor at the life of the European prisoners. With their body destroyed by disease and starvation, they loose any hope and lead a life made of baseness and small egoism. Leave alone to cope with the ruin of his life, Jim will find a refuge in a world of dreams, populated by the myth of Japanese aviators. Jim feels himself close to the Japanese kamikazes for their bravery, but especially for their loneliness and sadness. His dreams will allow him to survive till the end of the war. At the end the only life that he knows will be the life in the camp, and when this will end also his world of dreams will collapse marking the end of his childhood. By now an adolescent without any hope, Jim will wander an apocalyptic landscape, almost crazy from starvation, welcoming the death as liberation, but he will survive. The death is an obsessive presence in every page of the book,bodies, devastated by flies, are every where and the air is saturated by smell of decomposition. In my opinion this story is one of the most important documents about the atrocity of wars in the twentieth century. For its strong and shocking message against the war this is a book without time and I think that will be read also by future generations. ... Read more