Other Books: On Other Topics.
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Schismatrix Plus
Bruce Sterling
ISBN 0 441 00370 2

As Philip Jose Farmer wrote - "A tsunami of imagination". This was my first meeting with the writings of Mr Sterling and what an impact it made. It's up there with Odd John, and Stranger in a Strange land ... both from previous generations of sci-fi literature ... in it's impact. The book is set in a future where humanity has evolved in two distinct directions, the aristocratic technically augmented Mechanists and the revolutionary Shapers, who battle within and between themselves for the future. This is cyber-punk before the genre existed. It's an often dark, ever moving, gloriously imaginative roller-coaster of a book.

Schismatrix transcends the genre There are a tiny handful sci-fi books that transcend the genre. Orwell's 1984 was one. So is Schismatrix. It's not typical sci-fi. It's not even a novel in any meaningful sense of the word. But it's THE REAL DEAL, signed, sealed and delivered. The Postmodernist Manifesto of Cyborg America, written twenty years before academia ever named the movement. And love it or hate it, you've got to read it. . . . I guarantee your grandkids will!

Oliver Sacks

The Island of the Colorblind
Oliver Sacks
ISBN: 0679451145

I can't imagine anyone browsing this site who hasn't read, and loved, the writings of Oliver Sacks. Here's another one .... as engaging as it is different from his other masterpieces. Read the attached review (from AS&EM) for more info.

Other books by this wonderful author include:

The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat : And Other Clinical Tales
Awakenings
Island of Cycads
A Man Without Words
Touching the Rock; An Experience of Blindness
A Leg to Stand on
An Anthropologist on Mars : Seven Paradoxical Tales
Migraine
A Glorious Accident : Understanding Our Place in the Cosmic Puzzle
Living With Tourette Syndrome
Pride and a Daily Marathon
Seeing Language in Sign : The Work of William C. Stokoe
Thinking in Pictures : And Other Reports from My Life With Autism
The Organism : A Holistic Approach to Biology Derived from Pathological Data in Man
Seeing Voices; A Journey Into the World of the Deaf
Migraine: the evolution of a common disorder

Cloudstreet
Tim Winton
ISBN 0 330 32269 9

Despite my obvious parochial leanings I don't always enjoy home-grown literature. This book, and this author, are an exception. It's a charming tale about people and their everyday lives. Maybe it's because I've lived the same years as Mr Winton or because I spent my childhood in circumstances not dramatically different to Cloudstreet but I found this an engaging and entertaining read ..... only occasionally troubling. The often lyrical prose guides you through the lives of the Lambs and the Pickles, neighbours on Cloudstreet to a beautiful conclusion with "Being Fish Lamb. Perfectly. Always. Everyplace. Me." Read it and you'll understand.

A masterpeice of Australian Literature Tim Winton's work was recommended to me by an Australian friend who is an avid reader and it did not disappoint. I was captivated by his freeflowing style and by his excellent character studies. The way he brought to life the characters of Sam and Dolly, Lester and Oriel, Rose and Quick, and Fish was a wonder to behold. I felt I knew exactly how they would react in any of the situations they found themselves. Although being a "Yank" I had to check in everyday with my "Aussie" mate to translate some of the slang words used by Mr. Winton in his marvelous story, I thoroughly enjoyed his tale of two families and the obstacles they had to overcome. The final paragraph of this book was well worth the effort it took to read it. Cloudstreet is a wonderful read and I am so grateful to my Australian friend for sending me this book. I highly recommed this Australian gem to all my fellow Americans!

Connie Willis

To say nothing of the dog
Connie Willis
ISBN 0 553 57538 4

My first Willis book was Uncharted Territory which I enjoyed but found a little slow. Then came Bellwether which was a superb sci-fi romp into fads and relationships. Next was Doomsday Book which started a little slowly but was well worth the effort and then To say nothing of the dog, which uses many of the same characters for its delightful tour into another time and another place. A lovely combination of history, chaos theory, and humour. Next I read Lincoln's Dreams which also explored history and chaos theory, and was a similarly enthralling read.

Of course To say nothing of the dog links in nicely with the British humour of Jerome K Jerome's Three men in a boat (To say nothing of the dog) which I'd not read until after Willis' book.

On my Willis 'still to read' list is Remake.

I guess this all makes me a Willis fan :-)

To Say Nothing of the Dog
A a science-fiction fantasy in the guise of an old-fashioned Victorian novel, complete with epigraphs, brief outlines, and a rather ugly boxer in three-quarters profile at the start of each chapter. Or is it a Victorian novel in the guise of a time-traveling tale, or a highly comic romp, or a great, allusive literary game, complete with spry references to Dorothy L. Sayers, Wilkie Collins, and Arthur Conan Doyle? Its title is the subtitle of Jerome K. Jerome's singular, and hilarious, Three Men in a Boat. In one scene the hero, Ned Henry, and his friends come upon Jerome, two men, and the dog Montmorency in--you guessed it--a boat. Jerome will later immortalize Ned's fumbling. (Or, more accurately, Jerome will earlier immortalize Ned's fumbling, because Ned is from the 21st century and Jerome from the 19th.)

Lincoln's Dream.
What a scary "little" mystery! In Lincoln's Dreams Willis draws us to question the nature of time, place, and the interconnectedness of all living things. By the end I had alternately accepted and rejected the reincarnation theme several times. Reincarnation alone doesn't account for the interplay between the hero and heroine--they are definitely more than manifistations of a dead horse and master. Willis implies that souls are constantly traveling through time together and replaying a type of predestination that they can never escape until what? Is a resolution even possible for these characters? Or are their love and loyalty the only reality? The possibilities for exploring the existence of the soul and its nature that Willis opens the mental door to provide the same sort of nagging haunting that James' Turn of the Screw offers whenever you take the view that the narrator IS reliable and therefore the book really becomes an effective horror story. So much for free will and choice.

Bellwether
Here-and-now speculative yarn involving chaos theory and statistical prediction, from the author of the fine Doomsday Book (1992), etc. Employed by the HiTek company, Sandra Foster is trying to develop a theory that can predict how and why fads and trends begin. But her attempts to computerize her data (mostly in the form of magazine and newspaper clippings) are constantly frustrated by the awful Flip, the erratic, forgetful, careless interdepartmental assistant. Still, Flip does lead Sandra to meet biologist Bennett O'Reilly, who thinks he's discovered a hidden factor within current chaos theories. As Flip blunders about--ghastly black lipstick, weird clothes, faddish accessories, attitude problem and all-- Sandra and Bennett decide to set up a joint project to test their ideas on the behavior of a flock of sheep. HiTek's management heartily approves--such a project might well win the coveted Niebnitz Grant. Sandra and Bennett learn that a bellwether sheep unconsciously acts as a catalyst to determine the entire flock's behavior. Bingo! Flip, while seeming totally incompetent, unknowingly acts as a human bellwether, causing fads and trends to crystallize around her as she lurches chaotically through life. Willis's intriguing notion comes across with the authority of a genuine insight--and probably merits a more dramatic and thoroughgoing workout than the agreeable but bland treatment it receives here.

Doomsday Book
Connie Willis labored five years on this story of a history student in 2048 who is transported to an English village in the 14th century. The student arrives mistakenly on the eve of the onset of the Black Plague. Her dealings with a family of "contemps" in 1348 and with her historian cohorts lead to complications as the book unfolds into a surprisingly dark, deep conclusion. The book, which won Hugo and Nebula Awards, draws upon Willis' understanding of the universalities of human nature to explore the ageless issues of evil, suffering and the indomitable will of the human spirit.
The Denver Post A stunning novel that encompasses both suffering and hope... The best work yet from one of science fiction's best writers.

Books by Connie Willis (In order of my preference):

To say nothing of the dog
Lincoln's Dreams
Bellwether
Doomsday Book
Uncharted Territory

Remake (Not yet read)
Fire Watch (Not yet read)
Impossible Things (Not yet read)

Automated Alice
Jeff Noon
ISBN 0 552 14478 9

This cyber-punk parody places itself squarely as a trequel to Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland and Through the looking glass. It's a mad, tumbling Alice set in Manchester in 1998. Full of puzzles and wordplays it's sure to intrigue any Alice fan and should also keep a neophyte turning the pages.

For anyone who's ever wondered about the ellipsis ... Noon introduces us to the Ellipsisters Dorothy, Dorothy, & Dorothy.

Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland always seemed a bit peculiar as a children's tale. Its references to pill popping and hallucinations have made it fertile ground for pop culture parody, such as Jefferson Airplane's counterculture classic song "Go Ask Alice." British author Noon has reworked the tale for the 1990s. Set in Manchester, England, in 1998, Alice has traveled to the future through her great-aunt's grandfather clock while chasing a pet parrot. Noon adds a suite of puns to bring the story up to date, including numerous "Computermites" and "Civil Serpents." Inspector Jack Russell and "policedogmen" replace the Queen of Hearts and her henchmen. Automated Alice, an animated porcelain doll, guides Alice through her mystery world. Noon's wit even includes a Quentin Tarantula, a filmmaker famous for his violent, celebratory portrayals of criminal life. Who says the classics are no longer relevant?

Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
Gregory Maguire
ISBN 0 06 098719 3

This wonderful book relates to L. Frank Baum's fourteen, or so, Oz books in a similar manner to Automated Alice and the Alice books.

The following review says it all for my opinion :"Which Witch is a Witch? Maguire is a genius. He took someone, we loved to hate when we were children and turned her into someone we hate to love. She had almost everything Baum's Characters were looking for. She had a Brain, She had "the Nerve", and most surprizingly, she had the HEART! He creats a character that is so frightningly REAL and human, and he questions the very nature of good vs. evil. And by the end of the story he leaves us with the most frightening truth: There are no answers. There is more than one side to everything, there is no cut and dry, no good or evil, no black or white, only various shades of gray."

It is to [Maguire's] everlasting credit that he has succeeded so admirably that his book stands as an independent and inspired whole; it is also very close to being an instant classic.... Maguire has hit a home run his first time at bat. That Wicked is a first novel is remarkable because it is so fully realized, so rich and involving. It is the most seamless interweaving of fantasy and reality since John Crowley's peerless Little, Big, written in poetic language as graceful as a Ray Boldger tap-dance."

"Maguire combines puckish humor and bracing pessimism in this fantastical meditation on good and evil, God and rree will, which should...captivate devotees of fantasy."

Epidemics and History: Disease, Power and Imperialism
Sheldon Watts
ISBN: 0300080875

Neal Stephenson

Snow Crash
Neal Stephenson
ISBN: 0553562614

The Diamond Age
Neal Stephenson
ISBN: 0553573314

While Schismatrix introduced me to the cyber-punk genre, and I've explored it's various directions since then, these two books by Stephenson are amongst my favourites. The imagination and ingenuity are astounding. Who'd have thought I'd be totally engrossed in a story about a little girl's 'primer' (Diamond Age)? The characters and, especially, the rat-dog-thing in Snow Crash are an incredible group of zany, mythical, creations that ably support Hiro Protagonist's abortive pizza delivery career. I loved both of these books.

Snow Crash
From the opening line of his breakthrough cyberpunk novel Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson plunges the reader into a not-too-distant future. It is a world where the Mafia controls pizza delivery, the United States exists as a patchwork of corporate-franchise city-states, and the Internet--incarnate as the Metaverse--looks something like last year's hype would lead you to believe it should. Enter Hiro Protagonist--hacker, samurai swordsman, and pizza- delivery driver. When his best friend fries his brain on a new designer drug called Snow Crash and his beautiful, brainy ex-girlfriend asks for his help, what's a guy with a name like that to do? He rushes to the rescue. A breakneck-paced 21st-century novel, Snow Crash interweaves everything from Sumerian myth to visions of a postmodern civilization on the brink of collapse. Faster than the speed of television and a whole lot more fun, Snow Crash is the portrayal of a future that is bizarre enough to be plausible.

The Diamond Age
Decades into our future, a stone's throw from the ancient city of Shanghai, a brilliant nanotechnologist named John Percival Hackworth has just broken the rigorous moral code of his tribe, the powerful neoVictorians. He's made an illicit copy of a state-of-the-art interactive device called A Young Ladys Illustrated Primer Commissioned by an eccentric duke for his grandchild, stolen for Hackworth's own daughter, the Primer's purpose is to educate and raise a girl capable of thinking for herself. It performs its function superbly. Unfortunately for Hackworth, his smuggled copy has fallen into the wrong hands. Young Nell and her brother Harv are thetes--members of the poor, tribeless class. Neglected by their mother, Harv looks after Nell. When he and his gang waylay a certain neo-Victorian--John Percival Hackworth-- in the seamy streets of their neighborhood, Harv brings Nell something special: the Primer.

The Bone People
Keri Hulme
ISBN: 0140089225

Whenever I'm asked for my favourite book 'Bone People' is the answer. Maybe I was at an impressionable age when I first read this dark, but vital and energetic, tale but it certainly made an impression on me. This was the first Booker Prize winning novel I read and it prompted me to read every Booker winner since.

From 500 Great Books by Women; review by Prudence Hockley
The Bone People weaves its story together with dreams, myths and legends, the world of the dead, and the ways of ancient cultures. The result is an unconventional and powerful novel which, after being rejected by major New Zealand publishers, was published by a women's collective and won the prestigious Booker Prize in 1985. The Bone People explores the potential within families for both destruction and healing, as well as the great personal costs of the disintegration of individual connections to traditional communities and cultures - in this case, the indigenous Maori culture of New Zealand. The novel centers on a strange trinity of characters, each isolated, each spiritually adrift. Simon, a mute child surrounded by mysteries, is found on a beach and is adopted by Joe, a Maori man embittered by the loss of his wife and son and thwarted in his desire for family, religious, and cultural ties. The two are bound together by "a bloody kind of love that has violence as its silent partner." Simon and Joe come into the life of Kerewin, a part-Maori woman estranged from her family. She is a strong woman, compassionate and powerful, a sensualist who delights in color and landscape, food and archaic language, but who is also wary and conflicted. The three come together, break apart, experience great pain and loss, and eventual healing. Ultimately, the family they create stands as Keri Hulme's assertion of vitality and regeneration for individuals, families and traditional cultures.

Good Omens
Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman
ISBN 0 552 13703 0

Bringing about Armageddon can be dangerous. Do not attempt it in your own home.

The nice and accurate prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch.

Another favourite. I can't recall a book that has had me laughing so much. It's a perfect combination of Pratchett's imagination and humour transported by Gaiman's style and hint of the dark. My copy has Prachett & Gaiman as authors while those online have it as Gaiman & Practchett.

Unit 731 Testimony
Hal Gold
ISBN: 4900737399

A reader from USA , March 14, 1999: like Joseph Mengala experiments of Nazi Germany? NO, Japan goverment NEVER admit this happened in history; They just "entered" China; just entered!

A reader from Japan , February 24, 1999: Lies aginst a grate people This is all lies propagated aginst the Japanese culture using 4th and 5 th class doucments not even in book. Almost as bad as Rape of Nanking book lies.

The God of Small Things
Arundhati Roy
ISBN 0 00 655068 1

In her first novel, award-winning Indian screenwriter Arundhati Roy conjures a whoosh of wordplay that rises from the pages like a brilliant jazz improvisation. The God of Small Things is nominally the story of young twins Rahel and Estha and the rest of their family, but the book feels like a million stories spinning out indefinitely; it is the product of a genius child-mind that takes everything in and transforms it in an alchemy of poetry. The God of Small Things is at once exotic and familiar to the Western reader, written in an English that's completely new and invigorated by the Asian Indian influences of culture and language.

The New York Times Book Review, Michiko Kakutani
... as subtle as it is powerful, a novel that is Faulknerian in its ambitious tackling of family and race and class, Dickensian in its sharp-eyed observation of society and character.

Only Forward
Michael Marshall Smith
ISBN 0 586 21774 6

christian@gamethought.com from Seattle, WA , September 14, 1999
Weirder than Lovecraft, but with living characters. This is my favorite novel because it is so beautifully sad. I can't explain how this sadness is conveyed, however, so I will just point out its other merits. It is narrated by a character who, the reader gradually discovers, cannot be trusted. The meaning of entire portions of the novel is flip-flopped several times in light of previously withheld information suddenly dispensed by the protagonist. His story is too painful to him to tell all at once, and the consequences of this fact are manifested in the plot itself as its events steadily grow more bizarre and grotesque. Leaving aside the amusement provided by this post-modern presentation, there is the lure of a surreal anarcho-capitalistic setting and writing which can convincingly move to being funny, to horrifying, to just plain depressing. Saying any more might spoil the many surprises. A completely original book.

Fugitive Pieces
Anne Michaels
ISBN 0 7710 5883 7

The New York Times Book Review, W.S. Di Piero
The lyricism and sassy deftness of Fugitive Pieces remind me of the early work of Saul Bellow. (Jakob describes Alex as "a perpetual-motion machine that wanted to talk philosophy.") And its squirrelly eccentricities of fact and the often playful suppleness with which it handles ideas owe a lot to Italo Calvino and Jorge Luis Borges. Ms. Michaels is superb at expressing what it feels like to think and to remember

Hermann Hesse

The Glass Bead Game
Hermann Hesse
ISBN 0 3330 30241 8

A reader from Colorado, US , March 25, 1999
Awaken in this World of Crystal Thought With biblical simplicity, Hesse tracks the awakening of an intelligent man constrained by society. The book pits yin against yang: reason against passion; social responsibility against individual needs; abstract against concrete; past against future. Hesse's hero lives an inspiring life and dies a fitting death. Poems and three short stories add to the beauty and wisdom of the work. This book will change your life and as Joseph Knecht awakens, so will you.

Morvarid Karimi moor2vari2@hotmail , February 27, 1999
Just a short message! Sorry, my English is not as good as my German! After having reviewed some of the comments I get the feeling that some American friends are used to read short and simple sentences! German language is famous for the complicated structure and long sentences. It is wonderful to read this book in German esp. because of the use of language. I can imagine that the English translation could never reflect this beauty.

Siddhartha
Hermann Hesse
ISBN 0 330 023481 1

A reader from Ithaca, New york , September 17, 1999
TRUTH through ENLIGHTENMENT
This book is about a young Buddah on the way to self discovery. He leaves his family on a quest to find himself. I truly believe that everyone can relate to this book in their own way. It might help direct you toward the right path. This is a must read at any given time in your life, no matter what age you are! Give it a try, and while your reading it ask yourself the same question that appear in this book. A true revelation of creation.

Sikpupi99@aol.com , September 10, 1999
A BOOK FOR PEOPLE WHO THINK. ( A SCARCITY)
Siddhartha is one of the few books that I have read in my life that have really stuck with me. This is not an overly descriptive book, but Siddhartha's journey doesn't necesitate and complex description, which is one of the points of the book. The world can be simple, if you look at it properly. The story reads more like a parable than a novel, which exemplifies its spiritual content. This story will make you think. About this, that, and everything interrelated. This is not a story to breeze through quickly, but to reflect on. This is book for anyone spiritual, and openminded. If you feel that is you, please do humanity a favor and pick up this book.

Also by Hermann Hesse:

Steppenwolf
Narcissus and Goldmund
Beneath the Wheel
Gertrude
Pictor's Metamorphoses and Other Fantasies

Antoine De Saint-Exupéry

Children's books and books about flying .... What more could a person ask for? I still love the Little Prince and have enjoyed his other books ... especially Flight to Arras and Wind, Sand, and Stars.

The Little Prince (Le Petit Prince)
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
ISBN 0 15 246503 0, 0 88774 400 1, and others

It is hard to think of any book so widely read and internationally loved by both children and adults as Antoine de Saint-ExupŽry's The Little Prince, originally written as Le Petit Prince in 1943. A fable in the most classic sense, this wise story offers layer upon layer to be peeled away with each reading. Just as with the narrator's Drawing Number One, The Little Prince can truly be understood only by children (a classification that has nothing to do with age). The narrator, who has spent too many years in the company of grown-ups and still doesn't care much for them, runs across the little prince while repairing his airplane in the desert. The "extraordinary small person," after demanding that the narrator draw a picture of a sheep, proceeds to tell him the story of his journey from planet to planet, a trip that has finally led him to Earth. In his galactic travels, he meets a variety of archetypal characters, each a different and equally undesirable manifestation of adulthood; along the way he encounters a king, a tippler, and a geographer, all of whom possess particular absurdities seen all too clearly through the eyes of the little prince. The bewildered prince visits Earth, which appears just as strange and alien as the other planets--until he meets a small fox who shows him what he has been looking for. The narrator apologizes at length for the quality of the illustrations, using his lack of parental support as an excuse, but no apology is necessary; Saint-ExupŽry's ink drawings are delightful, simple, and rich in personality. (All ages; well suited for reading aloud, but written at a 9- to 12-year- old reading level.)

Ce livre est d'une telle richesse, qu'on dirait qu'il Žmane son histoire ˆ travers les pages. Plus on avance au cours de l'histoire, plus on se rend compte ˆ quel point ce rŽcit pour enfants est le fruit de nombreuses annŽes de pensŽes solitaires et d'Žtude des principes de la vie de la part de Saint-ExupŽry. Plus vous le lirez, plus vous serez convaincu que toute la vŽritŽ s'y cache. Ce n'est pas un bouquin ˆ feuilleter, vous savez, juste pour voir le chapeau. Non, il faut que vous soyez attentifs et capable de comprendre que l'ŽlŽphant est entourŽ par le serpent boa. Il faut que vous vous transportiez dans l'histoire, et que vous rŽŽpousiez la mentalitŽ de jeune personne qui vous a jadis si bien reprŽsentŽ, et qui, j'en suis sur, vous reprŽsente toujours aussi bien. Laissez donc ce livre, comme le renard, vous apprivoiser jusqu'ˆ ce que vous ne puissiez vous en sŽparer. C'est une morale Žternelle.

Wind, Sand and Stars
Antoine De Saint-Exupery
ISBN: 0151970874

bharper@mediaone.net from California, US , July 14, 1998
"The true face of the earth" The essays and anecdotes in this volume are true gems to be enjoyed slowly, recalled fondly and shared often. Despite the relative infancy of the aviation industry at the time he composed them, Saint-Ex clearly understood that flying - especially the type of long and dangerous kind that he was engaged in - was both a metaphor and a brilliant illumination into the nature of the human condition.
Like flying into uncharted territory, our journey through life is fraught with perils, faced mostly alone and with few witnesses to our acts of courage or cowardice. However, instead of facing up to this fact, Saint-Ex points out how "modern" culture consists of ever more elaborate denials of this basic fact: we have been indoctrinated with the goal of spending our lives working solely to achieve the most comfortable, painless, risk-free existence possible. And we continue to do so, much to our detriment. These essays are skillful and evocative arguments that! ! only when we face up to, and acknowledge our tenuous and perilous existence, can we truly appreciate what it means to be alive.
Saint-Ex does a wonderful job in writing about what has become important to him: experiencing the majestic beauty and power of the earth and nature, what the existentialists would call "being authentic", and the friendship and cameraderie of the pilots and people he has met on his journeys. "Men travel side by side for years - each locked up in his own silence... till danger comes. Then they stand shoulder to shoulder. Then they discover they belong to the same family.... Happiness! It is useless to seek it elsewhere than in this warmth of human relations... Each man must look to himself to learn the meaning of life. It is not something discovered: it is something molded.
These prison walls that the age of trade has built around us, we can break down. We can still run free, call to our comrades, and marvel to hear once more! ! , in response to our call, the chant of the human voice.

Flight to Arras
Antoine De Saint-Exupery
ISBN: 0156318806

A reader from Galicia, Spain , January 23, 1999
A fascinating account of flight by a superb author. I bought this book on a wet Cornish holiday in '63 because it had a crude scrawl of an aeroplane on the cover, and I like flight. I little dreamed that by pure chance I had picked up a masterpiece, but I had. St. Exupery was one of those superb freaks that - all too infrequently - nature can produce: a man of action with the mind of a philospher and the soul of a poet, with the ability to express them all with lucid clarity.
He was said to be a terrible pilot, and intellectuals will pooh-pooh his 'metaphysics'. Forget that. When he disappeared, flying reconnaisance over the Med. during the war, we more normal mortals lost a marvellous example of how fine humans can be when given the chance, and humanity lost one of its graces. He was only forty or so, and had he lived he would have been recognised as one of the greats both of literature and of cultivated thought. As it is we have only these few little jewels of books by which we can appreciate his qualities and perhaps realise that we, too, can be so much better than we are.
'Flight to Arrass' is an account of a reconnaisance flight over occupied France, probably based on his personal experience, first at high altitude, then lethally low. In this extraordinary pilot-writer's mind, potential sudden death becomes transmuted into a magical account of memories which provide beauty, humour and wisdom, and his extraordinary ability as a writer puts you in the pilot's seat as you have never been before. You live with him the peril of being there, and you enter the wonderful world of his mentality in his detached response to terror and imminent abrupt extinction. All his books give you immediate access to a world of experiences which you otherwise will never meet, seen through eyes of unique maturity and intelligence.
Listen, in the same way that flowers are their own best advertisement, St. Ex's books are their own best recommendation. For me, 'Flight to Arrass' is one of his best, and it will cost you less than a cheap lunch. You owe yourself contact with this better example of humanity. The work of the translator in the case of St. Ex. is also as near perfection as you will find - A pleasure to read. If you have not read any of his books, then lucky you, in that this magical world as seen through his eyes is waiting all fresh for your discovery. Don't wait. Buy it now. I recommend it to you.

Night Flight
Attoine De Saint Exupery
ISBN: 0156656051

acarlos@mit.edu from Cambridge, MA , April 7, 1998
Searching something beyond individual happiness Night Flight is about passion. Rivi�re is the director of a postal company that is experimenting with Night Flights for the South American mail. He is able to extract the best out of his men to help him achieve a higher good, something beyond themselves. What is that something is up for grabs. But it definitely goes beyond individual happiness: it may have to do with the collective good, or with a vision of improving our society. In any case, for Rivi�re, it is something worth more than a human life, the life of Fabien (pilot from Patagonia) who dies in the middle of a storm because of believing in Rivi�re's vision.

Also by Antoine De Saint-Exupery:

Southern Mail
Airman's Odyssey
Wartime Writings, 1939-1944

And then, of course, there's Paul Webster's excellent biography of Saint-Exupéry ... Antoine De Saint-Exupéry : The Life and Death of the Little Prince (ISBN 0 333 61702 9).

Sheri S Tepper

It's likely that I haven't read everything whe's published but every time I meet a new Tepper book I read it. I love her imagination although some of the books don;t 'gel' quite as well as others.

The Awakeners (North Shore & South Shore)
Sheri S Tepper
ISBN 0 312 89022 2

reader from California , September 12, 1999
A complex, carefully crafted, exciting fantasy ride. As usual Tepper brings to life a complex and extremely realistic world. Her heroic characters are multi-dimensional and evolve during the course of the story. The plot twists and turns as the host of main characters (there have to be at least ten) each add to the story from their own point of view. Somehow Tepper manages to keep all the action coherent and moving in a forward direction but the reader has to really pay attention! This is not a book that you can put down and pick up two weeks later unless you have a phenomenal memory. The only weak element is in the creation of the villians. They are almost one-dimensional and are reminiscent of the flat villians of Tepper's Six Moon Dance. Villians aside though, this is a typically wonderful Tepper book. You'll feel sad when its over.

A Plague of Angels
Sheri S Tepper
ISBN 0553568736

A reader from Ireland , July 19, 1999
Elegant, spell-binding masterpiece. This book is honestly one of the best books I have ever read. It's up there with Dune as one of my all-time favourite epics. It's beautifully written, and you will read it and re-read it again and again. If you like Sheri Trepper, read this. If you don't, read it and be converted...

Emil Josefsson (mrdouglas@geocities.com) from Orebro, Sweden , July 15, 1999
A great Science Fairy Tale! I love this book, and the way everything that seem so weird and strange fits together. There's a reason and an explanation for everything that happens and this is gradually revealed as you read this novel. It's hard to talk about it without giving the plot away so I'm just goint to tell you that I bought it in hardcover when it was first published, something I rarely do. I usually wait for the paperback, but as a fan of both epic fantasy and thought-provoking science fiction I was really anxious to read this particular genre-bending story, and I can tell you it was worth every penny!

Gibbon's Decline and Fall
Sheri S Tepper
ISBN 0553573985

A reader from Colorado , February 4, 1999
Unusual, thought-provoking, inspiring and fun! Not for everyone, but Sheri has evoked some brilliant images and themes. Her treatment of the "unseen" is powerful and her unexpected solutions very refreshing. With Ms. Tepper bullets and tech are never the solution. Very refreshing!

The Gate to Women's Country
Sheri S Tepper
ISBN 0553280643

I work for the military and, as such, found this an exceedingly intriguing book.

A reader from California , June 18, 1999
Fantastic! Sheri S. Tepper launched herself to the top of her relm with The Gate to Women's Country! Any SciFi fan will enjoy how the story unfolds and pulls you in.

A reader from california , August 12, 1999
just goes to show you... women can, indeed, write about social engineering with calculation. i suspect the problem a lot of people have with this book is that it's women regarding men as objects and not the other 'way round. i can only say, this is the best of speculative fiction: taking social and scientific what-ifs and extrapolating them into interesting narrative.

Other Sheri S Tepper books.

In very approximate order of preference:

The Awakeners
A Plague of Angels
Gibbon's Decline and Fall
The Gate to Women's Country
Beauty
Sideshow
Grass
The Bones
Shadow's End
After Long Silence
King's Blood Four
Necromancer Nine
Wizard's Eleventh
The Revenants
The true game
The Song of Mavin Manyshaped
The Flight of Mavin Manyshaped
The Search of Mavin Manyshaped
Marianne, the Magus and the Manticore
Marianne, the Madame and the Momentary Gods
Marianne, the Matchbox and the Malachite Mouse
Raising the Stones
... and lots, lots, more.

Jeanette Winterson

Written on the Body
Jeanette Winterson
ISBN 0 09 919391 4

ClassLady2@aol.com from Chicago, IL USA , August 6, 1999
Beautiful Love Story, Wonderful Writing. "Written on the body is a secret code only visible in certain lights; the accumulations of a lifetime gather there. In places the palimpsest is so heavily worked that the letters feel like braille. I like to keep my body rolled up away from prying eyes. Never unfold too much, tell the whole story. I didn't know that Louise would have reading hands. She has translated me into her own book." -Jeanette Winterson Set in England, a Russian translator speaks about the preoccupation that this person has with women -- a series of women, until Louise comes into this person's life, transforming it forever. Their Love Story is beautifully detailed and lovingly chronicled in heartstopping prose. This writer can create unforgettable paragraphs. Her book is refreshingly put together, and she has used abundant creativity in constructing loving passages, one after another, written on the body -- or rather about the body, and the protagonist's insatiable longing for Louise. Poignant, pensive, and beautiful, this book is a joy. The Love Story is magical and wondrous and makes one's heart flutter to read about it. Highly recommended!

Art & Lies: A Piece for Three Voices and a Bawd.
Jeanette Winterson
ISBN 0 394 28081 4

Melvin.Pena.5@nd.edu from Notre Dame, Indiana , September 8, 1999
Construction of self, and the symbiosis of language and sex. A stream of consciousness type novel that follows the musings and reflections of three characters on a train in the future: Handel, a plastic surgeon who is at odds between his faith and his profession, and was as a youth, raped by a Cardinal in Rome; Picasso, a young female artist struggling with her body, her painting, and her ineffectual family, and who was, all through childhood molested by her older brother; and Sappho, the ancient Greek poet, who bemoans the lot that historical distance has given her--a brand as the matriarch of femal homosexuality, and ignored for her literary significance--and being dead over 2000 years, powerless to change her reputation. The novel's primary theme is the inextricability of sexuality from language--and how language is manipulated to suit individual perceptions. Another interesting theme is the construction of self--to what extent do characters --through youth/inexperience/inability to act--allow themselves to be created as selves, and can it be changed? Furthermore, is a nature vs. nurture argument even appropriate to address the question of becoming and existence? A fascinating novel.

Sexing the Cherry
Jeanette Winterson
ISBN 0802135781

A reader from Oak Park, IL , February 18, 1999
This book fires the imagination, yet warms the heart. A delightful little book filled with mirth, quirky images, and lively prose. With much of the action set in the 17th Century, the story revolves around the adventures of two main characters, the mysterious Dog-Woman and her adopted son Jordan. For readers familiar with WintersonÕs work, it will come as no surprise that gender politics dominate much of the intellectual landscape, especially the tenuous nature of romantic love. However, it is the lightness and warmth in the story that make it a pleasure to read.

Oranges are not the only Fruit
Jeanette Winterson
ISBN 0802135161

lozbm@aol.com from London , February 15, 1999
starterling encarputaring spell binding! This book manages with adept precision to encoroperate unbiased philiosophical observations into a startling yet completely believable story line. This book never looses the readers fascination and imagination let alone full attention. The most thought provoking modern read I have experienced. The simplicity yet detailed description of the prose creates atmosphere, and emotion and an understanding of the characters. This book describes with complete understanding and accuracy religous extreme and the struggle of an amazingly intelligent adolscent to find an independant philosophy and an indevidual prespective of her world. This novel is completely unreserved and in effect extremely upfront in its use of metaphors, and explanation of human behaivour and philisophy. Read it and be inspired

The White Hotel
D M Thomas
ISBN 0 14 00 6032 4

A very memorable read. A disturbing gem.

A reader from Cairns, Australia , May 24, 1999
One of the greatest novels in the last 20 years The White Hotel is a work of such genius that it deserves to be read by all. The story which connects a nuerotic opera singer in the 1920's who is treated by Sigmund Freud and the holocaust of world war two is both deeply moving and shocking. The first half, through the use of poetry, letters, pschological analysis and dreams gives the reader great insight into the main protagonist's mind and life. The second half sets her life among the many who are trapped in the winds of hell that was the holocaust. Thomas shows us that each life is valuable and by focussing on one who would perish in the murder at Babi Yar he reenforces the truth that terms such as "holocaust" leave us unconnected with the reality of the horror, and thus allows us to forget. By depicting one persons fragility and inner thoughts the reader cannot dissasociate themselves from her death. The novel leaves the reader gasping for breath and led me to stare blankly afterwards lost in the possibilty that such inhumanity towards fellow human beings is possible. This novel, Solzhenitsen's work and others such as Primo Levi ensure that the mass murders of millions this century will never be forgotten. It is a great read, poetical and at times frankly realistic, and most importantly, it is a work which (something so rare nowdays) deserves to be read

Sombrero Fallout
Richard. Brautigan
ISBN 0671223313

bee327@hotmail.com from SLC , April 1, 1999
Best book I have read in recent years easily the most poignant story I have read by Brautigan, and arguably of any book I have ever read. The duality of the situations portrayed in the book (one, a mysterious sombrero falls out of the blue sky in a small town; two, the desperate loss of the love of a Japanese woman with beautiful hair) swings from the painfully bitter to the ridiculously humorous, sometimes even within the same paragraph! Brautigan's metaphors are fresh and insightful, and the depth created despite simplicity is virtually unmatched (Vigorous writing is concise)! It is truly a shame that this book is no longer in print.

So the Wind Won't Blow it all Away
Richard. Brautigan
ISBN 0 09 939 100 7 but now available at 0 39 570 674 2

A reader from Mt. Juliet, TN USA , August 25, 1999
The most achingly beautiful novel Brautigan ever wrote. Richard Brautigan's story of a young boy whose life is forever changed by the decision not to eat a hamburger is simultaneously sweetly amusing and heartbreakingly tragic. That this novel is out of print, especially in light of his death in 1984, is equally tragic. If you read no other Brautigan work, read this novel.

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