A small, perfect jewel. These letters from Rilke to his wife chronicle the poet's encounter with the works of the revolutionary painter Cezanne. An eloquent and deep reveal of the workings of art. Highest recommendation.

This MASSIVE book will hurt you if you read it in the wrong position! This is an excellent overview of the many movements that followed on from the French Impressionists. I found some sections more exciting than others, and it occasionally descends to what feels like a listing of important names and works ... but the ILLUSTRATIONS!! This book is a treasure even if it will leave dents in your flesh.

I'm deep in obsession with Cézanne. Your enjoyment of this volume might hinge on whether you, too, are a fan. Not all the letters are revelations. The text is enlivened by lots of illustrations: the paintings of Cézanne and contemporaries, old photos, and more. It is an easy read.

I love Zola! I'm only 150 pages into this one. Brian Nelson's translation is great (he's done several excellent Zola translations). It doesn't look like this will join my Zola faves list: there isn't much of a plot, really. Nevertheless, it is a rich portrait of society and a scathing critique of bourgeous "values" and hypocrisy. And it's fairly seamy.

I reaaallllly need a good creepy book for the holidays. ;) Suggestions welcome, but beware, my tastes are slightly eccentric -- if you know who Thomas Ligotti is, he's a good example of the kind of horror fiction I like ...

I have found Head First books to be a bit hit and miss, but this one is just right. I didn't expect to find statistics so interesting, and here the "fun, visual" approach of the Head First series helps a lot.

"So-so" isn't an accurate tag for this, a very good one-volume history of Japan (to about 2004 or so). The book is packed with information, and ranges across politics, culture (with what I thought were particularly good sections on literature) and ecological concerns. Totman's writing is not bad - just academic and, I thought, rarely vivid, and this made the book a bit of a slog for me. Impressive coverage for a book of this length.

I have a personal connection to this book, but not enough space to describe it. This is a crucial collection of poems (and a couple of verse dramas) by one of America's great, and most stubborn and persistent, experimental writers. As of this writing Atkins is still with us, and I am thrilled this book has appeared.

Outstanding historical fiction. Mantel's writing is so good it makes me cry aloud. Many have complained they find the book hard to follow -- I would say that it simply requires and repays attention. Richly deserves its Man Booker Prize!

I read this to re-live my days as an English major. Eliot was a great critic even if his stiff-backed relgiosity can be hard to take. The prose is wonderful, but also wonderfully stuffy and even snotty. Still a banquet of thought ... it's not surprising if some of the treats are stale by now. Any book that makes me want to march off and re-discover the poetry of John Dryden is doing something right!

You will likely enjoy this. Eventually you may start to question, as I did, whether it really needed to be quite so long. Dan Simmons is a smart, enaging novelist and the book is meticulously researched. It is loads of intense, gory fun. But there is a leaner, meaner novel hiding inside it. The end of the book was creative and unexpected, but I don't find indigenous religious beliefs more convincing than any others.

This is an engaging and wide-ranging series of poems, centered on the author's loss of a pet parakeet. I'm not kidding, and neither is the author, but that doesn't mean you won't find many of the poems funny. The imagery is often fresh and surreal. This is Freitag's first book - I will be waiting for more.

Lattimore is my go-to translator for the Iliad. It FEELS faithful to the original, though since I don't know ancient Greek (yet) this seems like something I shouldn't be allowed to say. How can a poem that on one level is all about guys and gods shoving spears through each other be ultimately very moving? You can ask Homer, but he's dead and won't tell you directly.

No, I haven't finished it, yet. But anyone who has ever been young and alive should read this. Exquisite writing about relationships.