Tag: Tree Book

  • The Meek One

    I am in the minority here who didn’t like The Meek One. I just really didn’t enjoy the story about a man who is so detached from his young wife that he drives her to suicide. The writing is good but I really can not stand to read about all this psychological abuse. As in… →

  • Remember, Body…

    Some Greek poetry in the Little Black Classics collection, and it is relatively modern (as in the author has not been dead for the past two millennia). These are sensual poems. There is a lot of love and maybe more so longing for love. This feeling was portrayed rather well, but the poems became sort… →

  • The Yellow Wall-Paper

    This was one of my favorite books in the collection, again from a writer – Charlotte Perkins Gilman – whom I had never heard of before. It is a chilling tale of a woman who, by her doctor husband who believes she is hysteric, is prescribed rest. As the time goes on, she is denied… →

  • The Steel Flea

    The Steel Flea is a piece of Russian comedy for a change. I am more familiar with Russian tragedy, but since this in essence is still a satire or social commentary it is not unlike the other Russian authors that I read. It is a short tale of Russian worker who aims to outdo the… →

  • The Old Nurse’s Story

    I bought the whole collection of Little Black Classics not only because they look so pretty on my shelves, but also because I was hoping to read some authors which I had never heard of but were pretty great. Elizabeth Gaskell was of those. This collection contains two short stories which portray her nice writing… →

  • The Absolutist

    The latest novel by John Boyne! I couldn’t wait to read it, but unfortunately I was supposed to get this book as a Christmas present (First World Problems), so I had to wait a little time. It was a real touching story in my humble opinion. I personally don’t really know a lot about the… →

  • The Maldive Shark

    Melville, best know for Moby Dick, has some of his work collected in this edition that was inspired by his years on sea. I think the best part of it was that I immediately got that he actually spent his time there. Descriptions of the life at sea seemed – as far as I could… →

  • The Great Winglebury Duel

    I am way behind on my classics and I am willing to admit it. This means so far, I had not read much of Charles Dickens besides A Christmas Carol. This edition contains two short stories, and they were quite nice but lacked something. Maybe, because the typical social criticism was largely absent, it felt… →

  • Sketchy, Doubtful, Incomplete Jottings

    There’s not more to it than the title suggests. So, I can also be short in my review. I didn’t like it at all. Sketchy, Doubtful, Incomplete Jottings (Little Black Classics #36) – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe →

  • Well, they are gone, and here must I remain

    Well, they are gone, and here must I remain – a long title for a short collection of poetry. Maybe a bit of a weird choice, since it is quite the mouthful. On the other hand though, it sort of resembles perfectly the kind of romantic poetry that is collected here. Coleridge was one of… →

  • Gooseberries

    This collection of three short stories was my introduction to Chekhov, and it failed to really sway me. The writing was good, if a bit depressing, but the stories failed to grab my full attention. I have to admit that the shorter the story, the less likely I am to like it. It is too… →

  • How We Weep and Laugh at the Same Thing

    Michel de Montaigne was apparently one the most important French Renaissance philosophers, but I had never heard of the good man before picking up this Little Black Classic which bundles six of his essays. I was pleasantly surprised. His ideas were not particularly shocking (at least not today) but the meandering way in which it… →

  • The Wife of Bath

    We didn’t read this in class. Of course, we talked about the Canterbury Tales but actually reading it, no. That’s why I was pleased to see it as a part of the Little Black Classics, giving me the opportunity to read a small part without necessary the feeling that I should read it all. The… →

  • The House of Special Purpose

    When I read this, I was not much of a historical novel reader, I used to read a lot of the suspense at the time. However, I gladly made an exception for John Boyne, since I’m a fan of his books! I really loved how he set once again a beautiful story in a beautiful… →

  • The nightingales are drunk

    The nightingales are drunk is one of the nicest titles from the Little Black Classics collection. Unfortunately, the poetry editions have been a bit hit and miss (but mostly miss) with me. I often feel like I don’t get them. Hafez liked his drink – I don’t. Maybe that is why we didn’t connect. Either… →

  • Of Street Piemen

    I had to read the title multiple time to finally get it was pie-men. Mayhem was a Victorian social reformer who spend a lot of time writing about ordinary life in that period. This is a part of that collection. As a book to read, I found it very mundane. There are lengthy descriptions of… →

  • Circles of Hell

    I bought a copy of the full Divine Comedy a couple of years ago, but have so far been holding out on reading it as I foresee another multiyear project to finish it. Circles of Hell – some snippets from the more sinister part of the collection looked like it could give me a taste… →

  • The Gate of the Hundred Sorrows

    I have never read The Jungle Book – in fact I’m only vaguely aware of its story. This collection of short stories however deals with Northern India, where Kipling grew up. They were a quite random collection and it hardly resonated with me. The title story, the Gate of the Hundred Sorrows, was rather depressing… →

  • The Tinder Box

    I grew up with Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tales so I was glad to see that this collection (six stories) was made up of some of the lesser known stories. Most of them I hadn’t heard before because they were less child-friendly lets say. I knew The Red Shoes from the Efteling, but was glad… →

  • How a Ghastly Story Was Brought to Light by a Common or Garden Butcher’s Dog

    This was a Little Black Classic that I was looking forward to read, mainly because of its strange title, which was almost as long as the story. It sort of spoils the story sure, but what intrigued me mainly was that in such a long title there was still room to discuss different names for… →

  • The Eve of St Agnes

    Having never read anything by Keats before, but having heard a lot of it, I was really looking forward to this collection of five of his poems. The poem of the title is the longest and it is, as his other poems, very visual. It really tells a story, and while this is a nice… →

  • The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

    (Please be aware this is an old review) I think this is one of the most discussed books published in the last few years. The story can be considered either too shocking, or not shocking enough, is Bruno really this naive? Well, I don’t really care for those things, I wanted to read this book… →

  • How to Use Your Enemies

    This is more than a guide on How to Use Your Enemies, it is at the same time a guide on How to Use Your Friends (considering you have some left after behaving like the author suggested). It was so manipulative that it was actually an awkward read for me. It is compared to Machiavelli,… →

  • Good Omens

    On paper Good Omens had the potential to become my favorite read of the year. The end of the world – heavy recommendations from friends – Britishness in general. So why didn’t it? It was last year during one of my trips to London that I saw a friend of mine buy her 3rd copy… →