The File On H.: A Novel

Book Description

In the mid 1930s, two young American scholars voyage to the Albanian highlands, the last remaining natural habitat of the oral epic, with one of the world's first tape recorders in hand. Their mission? To discover how Homer could have composed works such as The Iliad and The Odyssey without ever writing them down. Their research puts them at the center of ethnic strife in the Balkans and, mistaken for foreign spies, they are placed under surveillance. Research and intrigue proceed apace, until a Serbian monk plots a violent end to their project.

Customer Reviews:

Great representation of Albanian epic legacy.......2006-05-17

This book would be much more fun to read in Albanian, or if translated directly from Albanian. As in most of his other works Kadare manages to perfectly incorporate Albanian history/culture/values in the plot. Kadare does an indespensable service to Albanian culture, by providing the reader with an account of Albanian legends and ways of life. The main point of this book is to remind the readers that Albanian/Illyrian and Ancient Greek culture, mythology are much closer than assumed. And that they were in a complex (give and take) relationship. Kadare says all this in a beautiful way!

A Little Muddled but Enjoyable.......2006-04-11

The H of the title is Homer (of Odyssey and Iliad fame), and the central figures of this tragicomic satire are two Harvard researchers who arrive in Albania during the reign of King Zog (1930s) to study the oral epic tradition and its relation to Homer. Armed with the newly invented reel-to-reel tape recorder, they set themselves up a remote region where they will convince passing "rhapsodes" to recite epics into the tape recorder for later analysis. Alas, the idea of this is so preposterous to the paranoid Albanian authorities that they assume the two researchers are spies, and so order the governor of the remote province to keep a close eye on them. He, in turn, enlists the services of his most trusted informer, Dull Baxhaja, whose florid reports are the primary enlivener of the governor's dull days.

Somewhat wacky hijinks ensue, as the governor's wife dreams of a romantic assignation with one of the researchers, and Dull's reports grow more and more darkly comic. Originally written in 1981, the book is eerily prescient with regard to contemporary nationalist Balkan politics, as a wandering Serbian monk enters the story, takes umbrage that the researchers are not interested in Serbian epics, and stirs up trouble for them. At the same time, the theme of paranoia and emphasis on the rivalry between various informers is itself a satire on the grim nature of Communist Albania under the Hoxhas. Amidst all this, Kadare is also trying to say something about the elusive nature of art and historical memory. The overall effect is a little muddled, but not unenjoyable.

Note: The novel grew out of Kadare's 1970 meeting in the with Albert Lord, a notable scholar of oral epics who told Kadare of his travels in the former Yugoslavia as the assistant to Milman Parry during 1933-35. Affiliated with Harvard, Parry and he engaged in much the same kind of research as the two characters in the novel -- albeit with rather more successful results. In fact, part of the Milman Parry Collection of Oral Literature at Harvard has been digitized, and it is now possible to hear some of their field recordings online!

Good but not the best of Kadare.......2004-11-25

Unique, witty, and very comedic but still not one of my favorite Kadare books. Perhaps it lost more in translation than some others have, or perhaps it is just not to my tastes. I still recommend others of his books to readers before they try this one. This is a wonderful book for the die-hard Kadare fan but will do little to make you such a fan in the first place.

Hybrid.......2003-10-08

I found this novel one of the less successful works of Ismail Kadare.

It is a mixture of a literary research tale and a political spy novel with 'Madame Bovary' aspects.
Two Irish researchers are looking for old Albanian epic poems in order to discover the enigma of the composition of H(omeros)' epics. The government thinks that they are spies, while the governor's wife dreams of an extramarital affair.
The essential background problem is the division of Albania which was forced to give up Kosovo to Serbia. Even the assignment of epic poems to Albania or Serbia turns out to be an insurmountable problem!

I found the mixture a little bit improbable and the political reactions more or less exaggerated.
This book is still a very worth-while read, although it doesn't reach the same high level as Kadare's masterpieces, e.g. 'The General of the Dead Army' or 'The Pyramid', which treated universal human problems.

Even A. B. Lord must be laughing in his grave.......2002-06-07

This volume is a delightful story that immediately reminded me of Lord's The Singer of Tales. Two Irish Homeric scholars set out to record the songs of the epic-singers, to compare versions told at different time and/or by differents singers ... does that sound like Lord's research? Here, however, it is the story of collectors of the epics and the internal security officers of Albania that are the heart of the story - a very funny story poking fun at ignorance, fear, position ...

When the Irish researchers arrive, the governor's wife has day dreams of an affair, the office of the Interior Ministry has dreams of snaring the perfect biographer, the governor is out to snare the spies with counterspies who don't know English, a Serbian monk who tries to insure that the epics are recognized as Serbian not Albanian ...

Customer Reviews:

the greatness of short stories.......2000-09-27

This is one of the most useful books I have bought in years! Dr. Werlock and her contributors include not only interpretations of short stories and information on their authors, but useful reminders of literary terms (e.g., fable, denouement) and historical events (fascism, McCarthy era, Vietnam War). What I like best, though, are the interpretations themselves: they're not just factual synopses of the stories, but thoughtful and new ways (to many of us, at least) of looking at them. I also enjoy seeing listings of characters and locations from short stories, like Emily Grierson (Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily") or Gibbsville, PA (in O'Hara's stories). The whole book reminds me why I love short stories!

Honeywood File: An Adventure in Building

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Homebuilding and Human Nature

Honeywood File: An Adventure in Building
H. B. Creswell
Manufacturer: Academy Chicago Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0897334736

Book Description

In this first U.S. publication of a richly comic classic-originally published in England in the 1920s-the pitfalls and vicissitudes of home building are presented in sharp and unforgettable detail, in the form of letters to and from the architect, a hapless young man named James Spinlove. In his valiant attempts to create the Honeywood mansion for Sir Leslie Brash, Spinlove encounters a motley collection of contractors, surveyors, plumbers and town planners-to say nothing of intensely litigious lawyers, and Sir Leslie Brash hmself, along with his good lady. The Honeywood File follows the rich tradition of wry English humor. It also contains a great deal of valuable and still-pertinent information about building a house.

Customer Reviews:

Homebuilding and Human Nature.......2001-04-21

Building a home, or anything else for that matter, requires you to do business with a wide range of people, bankers, landowners, officials, builders, tradesmen and even architects. An understanding of how to deal with varied human natures is therefore valuable, and will make the project go more smoothly.

Such understanding is best acquired in the University of Life, as there are very few good textbooks. However, there is one book that was specifically written to illuminate the interpersonal difficulties that arise when building a home. Although "The Honeywood File" was first published in 1929 and describes the construction of a country mansion for Sir Leslie Brash in the English county of Kent it deals primarily with human nature, and human nature does not change. Nor do many of the practical mishaps and changes of mind that can arise when building a home. My copy is dated 1972, but confirmation of the timelessness and universal relevance of this book is provided by its recent republication in the USA.

"The Honeywood File" is in the form of an amusing exchange of letters between Sir Leslie, his architect James Spinlove and a range of more or less honest major and minor characters. After reading it you may decide that the best way to approach your project is to appoint an architect, but even if you don't you will still be better equipped to deal with the vagaries of human nature.

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One of her best!

Unquestionably My Favorite Holt Novel Yet.

Awesome!

Over The Moon, For Seventh Moon

This is one of the Best books I ever read and I've read alot
On the Night of the Seventh Moon
Victoria Holt
Manufacturer: Fawcett
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Avon ANEW CLINICAL 2-Step Facial Peel

ASIN: 0345470389
Release Date: 1995-03-01

Book Description

According to ancient Black Forest legend, on the Night of the Seventh Moon, Loke, the God of Mischief, is at large in the world. It is a night for festivity and joyful celebration. It is a night for singing and dancing. And it is a night for love.

Helena Trant was enchanted by everything she found in the Black Forest -- especially its legends. But then, on the Night of the Seventh Moon, she started to live one of them, and the enchantment turned suddenly into a terrifying nightmare . . .

From the Paperback edition.

Customer Reviews:

One of her best!.......2007-06-29

This is my absolute favorite novel by Victoria Holt. I cannot praise it any more than anyone else has.

But I must correct the amazon description of "However, Holt creates elaborate characters and sets the narrative in the fabled and romantic Black Forest of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the time of the Napoleonic Wars."

The book is set in the Black Forest, yes, but the Black Forest is in Germany(and technically was in Bavaria, which was a kingdom within the German Empire after the unification of 1870), and the book was set in the Victoria era.

Unquestionably My Favorite Holt Novel Yet........2007-02-28

I have read some Holt novels I didn't even feel were worth bothering to review because of my lukewarm attitude toward them. This is far from the case with On the Night of the Seventh Moon. If you don't like filthy romance books full of corny, eyerolling garbage like Stephanie Laurens seems to insist on dishing out, complete with their relentless bludgeonings of copulation scenes and weak plots, I urge you to pick this book up instead.

From the beginning I was mesmerized by Holt's characters and rich, complex weaving of romance and the evildoers who would keep Helena and Max apart for a decade until they find each other again. In fact, everything about this book had me so enthralled that I couldn't put it down until the very end. Holt has the ability to write adventurous romantic novels that don't make you want to throw up when you read them, and that's something most authors can't lay claim to. If you like your books clean and well-written, Seventh Moon is destined to become one of your favorites, and I would never steer you wrong about that. I know you will really enjoy this particular novel, because it is just that outstanding.

Awesome!.......2007-02-13

I love it when an author can write a story about two people in love and keep the story clean without explicit sex. This author knows how to write a love story that will keep you reading from one page to the next until the end. I'm very impressed with her work on other novels as well as this one.

Over The Moon, For Seventh Moon.......2006-07-03

This is one of my favorite Victoria Holt books. It's romantic, there's intrigue, lies, allies, spies, murder plots, a villain, a hero, and everything in between, using the Black Forest and the mythological characters that the heroine and at times, damsel in distress, Helena Trant, grew up with as a back drop. The forests were in her blood and wasn't afraid when she got lost in the mist.

And here comes a hero to literally sweep her off her feet. A man of many and mysterious identities.

These two discover what Shakespeare knew all along: "The course of true love never did run smoothly".

Both are lied to and deceived by people they thought they could trust, and ironically, some of those same people bring them together again.

No one weaves a story like Victoria Holt. As far as I'm concerned, she only has two worthy peers: Phyllis A. Whitney and Mary Stewart.

If you want to be taken to another place and time, and believe in love and fairy tales, this is the book for you.

This is one of the Best books I ever read and I've read alot.......2004-03-19

This book is a real love, adventure, and mystery story. I have loved this book sense I first read it and I read it at least once a year. If you're one of the people who are picky about what to read and you have many different tastes this is a book that you can read and love.
It has a wonderful plot and a well written one to, it's set in Prussia and in England. It's really hard to explain this book when there are so many things going on (although when it's going on you don't get confused like other books of this time) Murder, Passion, True love, and many rememberable people that you'll fall in love with over and over again. From England, to her mother's home land, to the arms of a hansome Prince not wanting to be known.
It's a beautiful book and I would say that if you read this you'll be very pleased. Hope you like it!

On The Night if the Seventh Moon (Hardcover)

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Classic Victoria Holt

On The Night if the Seventh Moon (Hardcover)

Manufacturer: Doubleday & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000H0DYJW

Customer Reviews:

Classic Victoria Holt.......2007-04-05

This is by far my favorite by Victoria. A great read, a true classic. Really keeps you guessing with lots of intrigue. Curl up in a comfy chair and let this one take you on a journey.

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On the Night of the Seventh Moon

Manufacturer: Doubleday
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000GZYGWC

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On The Night Of The Seventh Moon
Holt
Manufacturer: Fawcett crest
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000JD4HOS

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On The Night Of The Seventh Moon
Victoria Holt
Manufacturer: Fontana
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Historical | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0006132448

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On the Night of the Seventh Moon
Victoria Holt
Manufacturer: Fawcett crest
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
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On The Night Of The Seventh Moon
Victoria Holt
Manufacturer: Fontana
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000UHP6J8

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On the Night of the Seventh Moon
Victoria Holt
Manufacturer: DOUBLEDAY
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000OLC6OS

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On the Night of the Seventh Moon
Victoria Holt
Manufacturer: Doubleday & Company Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000NPTPWG

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On the Night of the Seventh Moon
Victoria Holt
Manufacturer: Doubleday Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000UALO78

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Four very varied tales...

Meh good enough

Superior but uneven works by major authors

Great intro to alternate history; hardcore fans might yawn

A well-developed alternate to traditional history settings

Worlds that Weren't
Harry Turtledove , Walter Jon Williams , S. M. Stirling , and Mary Gentle
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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Amazon.com

Alternate history is the branch of speculative fiction that explores what might have happened if history had taken a different turn. The obvious changes, like the Nazis winning World War II, have filled innumerable novels. Fortunately, the anthology Worlds That Weren't avoids the obvious with its four fine new novellas from four superior authors: Harry Turtledove, S.M. Stirling, Mary Gentle, and Walter Jon Williams.

The collection opens with "The Daimon," written by Harry Turtledove, AH's best-known practitioner. In Turtledove's turning point, the ancient Greek philosopher Socrates chooses to accompany General Alkibiades to war instead of remaining in Athens, and sets Alkibiades on a triumphant, terrible new course.

Set in the British India-dominated alternate history of The Peshawar Lancers, S.M. Stirling's novella is a rousing old-fashioned adventure. "Shikari in Galveston" follows a hunting safari through a regressed American frontier that might have given even Daniel Boone pause.

A prequel to her Book of Ash tetralogy, Mary Gentle's novella "The Logistics of Carthage" concerns Christian warriors serving pagan Turks in a North Africa conquered by Visigoths instead of Vandals, and is the strongest story in Worlds That Weren't.

The collection concludes with "The Last Ride of German Freddie," in which Nebula Award winner Walter Jon Williams considers what might have happened if the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche had taken himself and his superman theories to the Wild West. --Cynthia Ward

Book Description

In this collection of novellas, four masters of alternate history turn back time, twisting the facts with four brilliant excursions into what might have been.

Customer Reviews:

Four very varied tales..........2007-03-17

Four very varied alternative-history novellas:

In "The Daimon", Harry Turtledove lets Socrates guide Alcibiades in Athens' wars with Syracuse and Sparta. Well written, with lots of historical details. (Including a cameo by a teen-age Plato.) Definitely the best of the four.

In "Shikari in Galveston" S. M. Stirling takes a gallant officer from his Peshawar Lancers through a dashing adventure against cannibals in a post-Fall South-East America. Light, fun, fast reading.

In "The Logistics of Carthage", Mary Gentle describes a minor incident in an alternative medieval (Arian) North Africa, which is apparently part of the backplot to her novel "Ash". Unfortunately this rather drags as a standalone story, with a great deal of emotional agonizing and very slow plot movement.

In "The Last Ride of German Freddie", Walter Jon Williams gives us Friedrich Nietzsche in the Gunfight at the OK Corral. A little slow, but an amusing look at Nietzsche applying his philosophy in the old West.

Meh good enough.......2007-01-10

if you've got time to kill it's good enough, it's not their best work though

Superior but uneven works by major authors.......2005-07-22

This collection presents standalone alternative history novellas by Harry Turtledove and Walter Jon Williams, along with works by S.M. Stirling and Mary Gentle set in pre-established alternate universes. Generally, while all four stories are well-written (and, in Gentle's case, extremely well-written), none of them except William's piece are exceptional.

Turtledove's "The Daimon" takes the most literal turning point of the four: Socrates' decision not to accompany the Athenian invaders to Scicily. By sending Socrates on that expedition, Turtledove sets in motion a believable chain of events that lead, of course, to a very different outcome. Turtledove is at his best, a refreshing break from the anemic, repetitive writing found in his various series. My only complaint is that the story ends where it probably should begin.

Stirling's "Shakari in Galveston" takes place in the "Peshawar Lancers" world, in which a heavenly body struck the Earth in the 1870s, leaving climate change, famine, and cannibalism in its wake. That novel is first rate, and so is this story. "Shakari" presents an expedition in semi-civilized, cannibal-plagued post-Fall Texas. The hallmark Stirling Gothic horror is in check, as is the gratuitous sex that often mars Stirling's work. The story's exciting, but it's the weakest of the four novellas. Stirling might have been better off choosing the Mexican "high culture" or the ascendant Native Americans, rather than degnerated Americans, as his subject matter. And, few readers havent't read "Peshawar" will fully appreciate this story.

The same is true of Gentle's "The Logistics of Carthage." This story demands an understanding of "Ash: A Secret History." In that universe (according to Gentle's afterword), the Visigoths sacked Carthage rather than the Vandals. This, among other things, changed the nature of Christianity, the Ottomans, and any number of other things. It's pretty hard to figure out if, like me, you haven't read "Ash." This is (almost) beside the point given the strength of Gentle's characterization. She is a superior writer. "Logistics" features a female soldier and a sympathetic male comrade. They are caught in a tinderbox ignited when another soldier, also female, is denied burial by local Christian hardnoses. The bizarre ways in which this drama plays out make up the story.

Williams' "The Last Ride of German Freddie" is far and away the best of the four novellas. Set in Tombstone, Arizona, "German Freddie" is everything a novella should be -- long enough to be interesting, and satisfying as a self-contained story. It's a surprise to find out who the titular character is, and from that point forward it's pure drama. It's impossible to describe the action without using spoilers. One interesting fact, and an irony given the subject matter, is the appearance that nothing really changes as the result of the divergence.

Great intro to alternate history; hardcore fans might yawn.......2004-08-15

These four alternate-history novellas made an appetite-whetting introduction for me, a newbie to alternate history.

In Turtledove's "The Daimon," Socrates looks on in dismay as a great Greek general, Alkibiades, flouts politically-motivated criminal charges against him and parlays victory in one battle - a battle which, in "real" history, was lost - into a position of unmatched power in Athens. Once on this pedestal, however, Alkibiades resorts to the same murderous tactics used by his old foes.

Gentle's fifteenth-century heroine in "The Logistics of Carthage" followed her son to war, discovered that she preferred a soldier's life to a prostitute's, and joined a company of European mercenaries. Now, her company finds itself stranded on the coast of North Africa with a corpse they cannot bury because of a religious dispute. During a tense and bloody standoff, Yolande has what she believes are visions, but which are actually glimpses of the future 500 years hence. This was the least satisfactory story, as it seemed not to have much of a point. It might make more sense to fans of Gentle's "Ash" series.

In "The Last Ride of German Freddie," Williams plunks German philosopher Frederich Nietzsche onto the dusty streets of 1881 Tombstone, Arizona and pits him against the Earp brothers. Nietzsche tries his hand at some trigger-assisted social engineering at the OK Corral. But is it really social engineering, or merely the vengefulness of a man thwarted in love?

With Shikhari in Galveston, Stirling brings us the most inventive and fully-realized of these four universes: a radically different present-day Earth that, in the nineteenth century, saw her population slashed and much of her land rendered scarcely habitable by a catastrophic heavenly bombardment. The British Empire still reigns - albeit not supremely - over much of what remains. A British officer and his Indian servant travel to the wilds of southern Texas for a hunting expedition, and, rather than hunting for trophies, find themselves fighting for their lives against an adversary unlike any they ever imagined.

Those who, like me, are new to alternate history, or just not well versed in the real history behind the fiction, will benefit from first reading the afterword accompanying each novella.

A well-developed alternate to traditional history settings.......2003-10-08

Science fiction fans of alternate history settings will want to place Harry Turtledove, et.al.'s Worlds That Weren't anthology high on their reading lists: it provides four novellas by Turtledove, Stirling, Gentle and Williams, each featuring a well-developed alternate world from 1452 Constantinople to a mysterious Old World figure stalking Tombstone. Each makes for a diverse, well-developed alternate to traditional history settings.

Customer Reviews:

An Excellent Concise Survey of Six Non-Christian Religions.......2005-02-24

Are you a Christian who has wished for a concisely written book describing the basic beliefs of other major religions? If so, you will find Paul Stroble's WHAT DO OTHER FAITHS BELIEVE an ideal text: clear in both thought and style, it states the basics of six non-Christian religions. Short enough to read in a single afternoon but well-packed with enough information to fuel a group study program, it is easily the most accessible volume of its kind that I have ever encountered.

After an opening chapter in which he sets forth the reasons that Christians should study non-Christian religious beliefs, Stroble provides a clearly written survey of the basic beliefs of Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and--dividing a single chapter--Sikhism and Baha'i. In each instance Stroble begins with a brief description of the religion's history. He then goes on to describe the principle beliefs of each with tremendous clarity. In a concluding chapter, Stroble returns to Christianity, and neatly outlines how these religions either agree or disagree with Christian teachings and beliefs.

Although I recommend the book for individual reading, it may also be used for group study programs, and it contains many useful "sidebars" that amplify the material, recommend points for discussion, and occasionally suggest group activities. I would point out that this text will be of little use to a scholar interested in exploring minute differences in religious belief--such will find it very fundamental--but it is easily the best foundational introduction of its type that I have encountered. Strongly recommended.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer

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Questions of Faith: What Do We Believe?

Manufacturer: Hachette Audio
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Cassette

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