Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

Description

Catch-22 is a satirical war novel by American author Joseph Heller which was published in 1961. It is often cited as one of the most significant novels of the Twentieth century. The book uses a distinctive non-chronological third-person narrator who knows everything and describes events from the point of view of different characters. The timeline is given with the plot to bring all the separate storylines into a sequence.

The novel is set in Italy during World War II. The story mainly follows the life of Captain John Yossarian, a U.S. Army Air Forces B-25 bombardier, who has been assigned to bomb enemy posts in eastern France and Italy.  Most of the events in the book that occur at the time of the fictional 256th Army Air Squadron units are based on the island of Pianosa in the Mediterranean Sea, West of Italy. Though, there are few episodes that are based on basic training sessions at Lowry Field in Colorado and Air Corps training in Santa Ana, CA. 

The novel evaluates the absurdity of war, military life through the experiences of Captain Yossarian and his battalion, who attempt to maintain their sanity while fulfilling their service requirements so that they can survive and return home. He is afraid of his own commanding officers more than Germans, who are out there to shoot him. 

He is afraid of commanding officers because of being assigned excessive missions and the need to fly a lot more than required. He has seen his friends and army man dying; and, a lot more destruction. He thinks, "The enemy is anybody who is going to get you killed, no matter which side he is on, and that includes Colonel Cathcart." He has been portrayed as an anti-hero during the war, who wants to escape from the situation since he wants to live and go back home, but he can't.

The plot of this novel is based on the personal experiences of Joseph Heller during World War II. The feelings of Captain Yossarian and other bomber pilots are taken directly from the diary of Heller which contains the problems he had suffered while on duty. Heller flew 60 bombing missions from May to October in 1944. It took until 1953 before he could start writing about it that is why the book contains references to Post World War II phenomena like IBM computers and loyalty oaths. The war experience turned Heller into a "tortured, funny, deeply peculiar human being." 

Review

Catch-22 is Joseph Heller's masterpiece which is complex, satirical, as well as the funniest book, ever written. It received both extremely positive and negative reviews initially. The story is quite unique in its narration with black humor on military madness. Humor is expressed sarcastically through a different point of view that hammers on the unwanted Military actions. Actions, which are completely affected and govern by sinister bureaucrats.

This is the story of a Military Captian John Yossarian and his efforts to survive unwanted frequent flies during World War II. According to the story, unstable men do not have to fly aircraft, but the fact that they can rationally decide for themselves and ask for a waiver proves that they are stable enough to accomplish the target. The story is loaded with incidents and frightening moments. This comic fable that ends in horror becomes a more and more clear reflection of the non-comic and horrifying realities of the world in which we live and hope to survive.

Catch-22 is a classic of world literature. Heller's prose in Catch-22 is circular and repetitive, exemplifying the formation of the novel. Circular reasoning is widely used by some characters to justify their actions and opinions, Heller revels in paradox. Reading Catch-22 is nothing less than a rite of passage.

The phrase ‘Catch-22’ was later added in the English language referring to a type of impossible logic puzzle sometimes called a double bind.

• It was ranked 7th (by review panel) and 12th (by public) greatest English novel of the Twentieth century by 'The Modern Library'.
• 'Times' and 'The Observer' listed Catch-22 as one of the 100 greatest novels of all time.
• 'The Big Read' by the BBC ranked Catch-22 as number 11 on a web poll of the UK's best-loved book.

Adaptation

• The novel was adapted into a feature film with the same name in 1970, directed by Mike Nichols and Alan Arkin played the role of Captain Yossarian.
• A pilot for a comedy series based upon Catch-22 was made and telecasted in 1973 with Richard Dreyfuss in the lead role of Yossarian.
• 'Catch-22 Play: Aquila Theatre' produced a stage adaptation of the novel, based on Heller's 1971 stage adaptation. It was directed by Peter Meineck. This production toured the US in 2007/'08 with a Bexhill on Sea production in the fall of 2008.
• A six-episode mini-series produced and co-starred by George Clooney which was picked up by Hulu. It was streamed on 17 May 2019 and broadcast by Channel 4 in the United Kingdom. Kyle Chandler portrayed Colonel Cathcart and Christopher Abbott played the lead role of Yossarian.

About the Author

Joseph Heller (born on 1 May 1923 in Brooklyn, New York) was an American author of novels, short stories, plays, and screenplays. He is best known for the novel Catch-22, a satire on war and bureaucracy, whose name has become a synonym for an absurd or contradictory choice. His satirical style of writing made him one of the most acclaimed writers in contemporary America. 

Joseph Heller joined U.S. Army Air Corps at the age of 19. Two years later he was sent to the Italian Front, where he flew 60 combat missions as a B-25 bombardier.
After coming back from the war, he studied English at the University of Southern California then he attended New York University for a Bachelor's degree in Arts (1948) and Columbia University for a Master's in Arts (1949).

He was an army personnel who later turned into a teacher of English literature and writing. He was married to Shirley Held from 1945 to 1981 and they had two children, Erica (1952) and Theodore (1956). After his divorce from Shirley, he got married to Valerie Humphries in 1987.
He died on 12 December 1999 at East Hampton, New York.

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Rating: 4.2/5

Author: Joseph Heller

Publisher: Vintage Books

Publishing Date: 20 October 1994

Language: English

Genre: Satire, Dark Comedy, War Fiction, Absurdist Fiction, Historical Fiction, Classic Fiction, Action & Adventure

ISBN-10: 0099536013

ISBN-13: 978-0099536017

Pages: 576

Cost: $14.38 (Paperback)

The Ginger Man by J.P. Donleavy

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Description

'The Ginger Man' (1955) is a novel written by J.P. Donleavy which was first published in Paris. The Novel was originally banned from publishing both in Ireland and the United States of America because of obscenity. The book was rejected by numerous publishers, but 'The Manchester Guardian' published some extract from it, calling the book 'Comic Triumph'. Donleavy reached out to a Paris-based English-publisher 'Olympia Press' and succeeded in getting the book published by them, but he was angered by the fact that they published it under the pornography imprint series. 

'The Ginger Man', the story is set in Ireland just after World War II, 1947. It is a wildly funny, picaresque classic novel of the misadventures of Sebastian Balfe Dangerfield, a young American ne'er-do-well (belongs to a wealthy family), who is a Law student at Trinity College in Dublin. He lives his life on his own conditions, avoids bill collectors and he barely has time for his studies. Dangerfield's appetite for women, liquor, and general roguishness are insatiable -- and he satisfies it with endless charm. Since he is an alcoholic womanizer, eventually he finds himself in squalor and poverty.

Even though he has a wife and a daughter, he continues to have relationships with other women. He wrecks those relationships without caring. He moves to London by lending money from one of his mates. He expects handsome money through inheritance from his father, but he finds out that the dream will come true only after twenty years. 
However, at the end of the novel, he meets an old friend who is wealthy and flush with money. He tries to patch up with his last girlfriend Mary and plans to settle down with her for the future.

Review

'The Ginger Man' is one of the best novels in the world of literature holding the quality within. The very first line itself reveals the quality and immediacy of the very best work in history. 'The Ginger Man' reflects and comments dramatically on the absurdities of the age which is clinging to those values that no one believes in and makes the person unable to have the courage to find out the real moral convictions. 

The protagonist, Sebastian Dangerfield, is lusty, violent yet wildly funny. He believes in living with no limitations. He loves to spend time with women and drink until he wrecks down. He has no plans for the future until the end of the novel. 

J.P. Donleavy's novel is now recognized by the world as a masterpiece and modern classic of the highest order. It has also inspired a number of writers with its vivid and visceral narrative voice and the sheer poetry of its prose. It has sold 45 million copies and has never been out of print. It was named one of the 100 best novels of the Twentieth century by the modern library in 1998. It was reprinted in 2001 and republished on 29 July 2010 by 'Grove Press'.

"Nasty and lyrical, a curse that sounds suspiciously like a prayer, this outlandish hybrid of Irish-American letters is still armed and dangerous after thirty years. Sebastian Dangerfield, the Lecherous, treacherous, larcenous, and thoroughly charming Ginger Man appears to be immortal as well as immoral."-- Jay McInerney.

Adaptation

• J.P. Donleavy wrote the stage adaptation of 'The Ginger Man', directed by Philip Wiseman which opened in London in September 1955, with Richard Harris is playing Sebastian Dangerfield.
• The BBC produced a 90-minute 'made-for-television' version of the play, directed by Pete Dews, and aired it on 23 March 1962 in the United Kingdom. Ann Bell played Marion Dangerfield and Ian Hendry as Sebastian Balfe Dangerfield.
• In 2005, rumors of getting a film adaption surfaced everywhere, but the project never got anywhere. In 2006, Depp selected Laurance Dunmore as director and he went to Ireland to meet Donleavy in 2008 but again nothing went further.
• The book also inspired songs of the same name, the first song was recorded by Geoff Muldaur, Fritz Richmond, and John Sebastian on the 1964 Elektra The Blues Project. A second song was written and recorded by Australian singer-songwriter Brian Cadd and was released as the first single from his self-titled debut album, released in October 1972.

About the Author

James Patrick Donleavy, born on 23 April 1926, was an Irish/American novelist and playwright. His best-known work was the novel 'The Ginger Man', although he is also widely known and recognized for another novel 'A Fairy Tale of New York'.

Donleavy was born and brought up in Brooklyn, New York, USA, and went to Trinity College, Dublin (he left before taking his degree). He went to Paris where his novel 'The Ginger Man' was published for the first time. He moved to Ireland for good and lived at Levington Park, a country house on 200 acres (0.81 km square) at the shore of Lough Owel near Mullingar, County Westmeath from 1972 until he died (11 September 2017) at the age of 91.

J.P. Donleavy was the author of a large number of novels, including 'The Beastly Beatitudes of Balthazar B', 'The Destinies of Darcy, Dancer, Gentleman', 'Leila', and 'Singular Man'. He was the recipient of many awards such as:

• In 2015, the Bob Hughes Lifetime Achievement Award at the Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book Awards.
• In 2016, honorary doctorate at the Trinity College, Dublin.

J.P. Donleavy (1926-2017)

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Rating: 3.4/5

Author: J.P. Donleavy
Publisher: Grove Press/ Atlantic Monthly Press (29 July 2010)
Publishing Date: 29 July 2010
Language: English
Genre: Action and Adventure, Classic Fiction, Literary Theory, History and Criticism 
ISBN-10: 0802144667
ISBN-13: 978-0802144669
Pages: 347
Cost: $13.59 (Paperback)

The Lord Of The Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien

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Description

The Lord of the Rings is an epic high-fantasy novel written by an English author and scholar J.R.R. Tolkien and first published on 29 July 1954. The story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 fantasy novel The Hobbit, but eventually, it developed into a much larger work. The novel is set between 1937 and 1949. 

The title of the novel refers to the story's main antagonist, the Dark Lord 'Sauron', who crafts 'Rings of Power' along with Elven-smith in ancient times. The 'Dark Lord' forges one ring and fills it with his own power. The 'One Ring' is to rule the other 'Rings of Power' as the ultimate weapon in his campaign to conquer and rule all of the 'Middle-Earth'. It is now stolen and remains lost for him. After many ages, it falls by chance in hands of the hobbit Bilbo Baggins. 

From the quiet beginning in the Shire, a hobbit land not unlike the English countryside, the story ranges across 'Middle-Earth' following the course of the 'War of the Ring' through the eyes of its characters, most notably the hobbits: Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin.  

Rings were created ages ago for different reasons: One ring to rule them all, One ring to find them, One ring to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them all. From Sauron's fastness in the Dark Tower of Mordor, his power spreads far and wide. Sauron gathers all the Great Rings, but he always searches for the ring that would complete his dominion.

When Bilbo reaches the eleventy-first birthday he disappears, bequeathing to his young cousin Frodo the Ruling Ring and a perilous quest, to journey across middle earth, deep into the shadow of the Dark Lord, and destroy the Ring by casting it into the Cracks of Doom.

The Lord of the Rings tells of the great quest undertaken by Frodo and the Fellowship of the Ring: Gandalf - the wizard; the hobbits - Merry, Pippin, and Sam; Gimli - the Dwarf; Legolas the Elf; Boromir of Gondor; and a tall, mysterious stranger called Strider.

Review

The Lord of the Rings is one of the best-selling novels ever written, with over 150 million copies sold. Tolkien's work has been the subject of extensive analysis of its themes and origins. Although it is a major work itself, the story was only the last movement of a larger epic Tolkien had worked on since 1917.

The novel describes the 'Great War of the Rings', a strive between good and evil in 'Middle-Earth', following the odyssey of Frodo the hobbit and his companions on a quest to destroy the 'Ring of Power'. The story of 'The Lord of the Rings' includes philology, mythology, religion, and the author's distaste for the effect of industrialization, as well as earlier fantasy works and his experiences in World War. 

Although generally known to readers as a trilogy, it was published in three volumes over the Cours of a year from 29 July 1954 to 20 October 1955. The three volumes were titled 'The Fellowship of the Ring', 'The Two Towers' and 'The Return of the King'. The novel was divided internally into six books (two per volume) with several appendixes of background material included at the end. Simultaneously, a special anniversary volume containing the corrected text of all three volumes of the seminal fantasy trilogy, complemented by maps and cover art by acclaimed artist Alan Lee. The Lord of the Rings has since been reprinted numerous times and translated into 38 languages.

The novel has a great impact on the modern fantasy world; Tolkien's work is so influential that the use of the words 'Tolkienian' and 'Tolkienesque' has been recorded in the Oxford English Dictionary. 

In 2003, it was named Britain's best novel of all time in the BBC's 'The Big Read'. 
In 2015, The BBC ranked 'The Lord of the Rings' #26on the list of the 100 greatest British novels.

Adaptation

The prevailing popularity of The Lord of the Rings has led to numerous references in popular culture, the founding of many societies by fans of Tolkien's work, and publications of many books about Tolkien and his works. The Lord of the Rings has inspired artwork, music, films and television, video games, board games, and subsequent literature.

Radio

• In 1955 and 1956, the 13-part BBC broadcast of The Lord of the Rings.
•  In the 1960s radio station, WBAI produced a short radio adaptation. 
• In 1979 and 1981, a dramatization of the novel was edited into 13 one-hour episodes broadcast in the United States and subsequently issued on tape and CD.

Film

• J.R.R. Tolkien sold his film rights of 'The Lord of The Rings' to United Artist in 1969; Rock and The Beatles were corresponding film projects. 
• In 1978, two film adaptations were made with the same name as a novel by animators: Ralph Bakshi and Rankin-Bass. 
• The second and commercially successful adaptation was Peter Jackson's live-action 'The Lord of The Rings film trilogy, produced by New Line Cinema and released in three installments in the year 2001-2003. All three parts won multiple Academy Awards including consecutive 'Best Picture' nominations. The final installment of this trilogy was the second film to win a total of 11 Oscars.
• In 2009, 'The Hunt for Gollum' and 'Born of Hope' fan films were based on appendixes on The Lord of The Rings.

Television

In 2017, Amazon acquired the global television rights to 'The Lord of the Rings' for a multi-season television series of new stories set before 'The Fellowship of the Ring'. The deal included the potential for spin-off series as well. In 2018, it was projected to be the most expensive TV show ever produced.

Stage

In 1990, Recorded Books published an audio version of 'The Lord of the Rings' with British actor Rob Inglis -- who had previously starred in his own one-man stage productions of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings- reading. A large-scale musical theatre adaptation, The Lord of the Rings was first staged in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in 2006 and opened in London in June 2007.

About the Author

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE FRSL (born on 3 January 1892 in Orange Free State, Modern-day South Africa), was an English writer, poet, philologist, and academic. He was the author of classic high fantasy works like 'The Hobbit' and 'The Lord of the Rings'. He was the creator of 'Middle-Earth. 

He served as the Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon and Fellow of Pembroke College, Oxford, from 1925 to 1945 and Merton Professor of English Language and Literature and Fellow of Merton College, Oxford, from 1945 to 1959. He was a member of the informal literary discussion group known as the 'Inklings'. Tolkien was appointed a 'Commander of the Order of the British Empire' by Queen Elizabeth II on 28 March 1972. 

After Tolkien's death, his son Christopher published a series of works based on his father's extensive notes and unpublished manuscripts, including 'The Silmarillion'. These three books form a connected body of tales, poems, fictional histories, invented languages such as Tolkienian, and literary essays about a fantasy world called Arda and Middle-earth within it. 

While many other authors had published works of fantasy before Tolkien, the great success of Tolkien's novels led directly to a popular resurgence of the genre. This has caused Tolkien to be popularly identified as the 'father ' of modern fantasy literature- or, more precisely, of high fantasy.

He died on 2 September 1973 at the age of 81 at Bournemouth, England. In 2008, The Times ranked him sixth on a list of 'The 50 greatest British Writers' since 1945. Forbes ranked him the fifth top-earning 'dead celebrity' in 2009.

J. R. R. Tolkien

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Rating: 4.6/5

Author: J.R.R.Tolkien
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Published: 12 October 2005
Language: English
Genre: Classic Fiction, Fantasy, Action and Adventure, Classic American Literature
ISBN 10: 0618645616
Pages: 1178 (Hardcover)
Cost: 606.22 INR (Kindle Edition)

An Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro

Description

An Artist of the Floating World, originally published in 1986, is a novel by Nobel Prize-winning British author Kazuo Ishiguro. It is set in Japan (post-Second World War) and is narrated by Masuji Ono, an aging and retired painter, who looks back on his life that how he has lived it. It is 1948 when Japan is rebuilding its cities after the calamity of  World War II and the people of Japan are putting defeat behind them and looking to the future. 

The narrator, who is the protagonist of this novel, notices how his once great reputation is losing its strength and momentum since the war and how the attitude of others towards him and his paintings have changed. It is limited to loyalties between teacher and students, and the life of art. The celebrated painter fills his days' post-war by attending to his garden, his house repairs, his two grown daughters and a grandson, and his evening drinking with old associates in the quiet lantern-lit bars. His retirement should be tranquil and contentedly, but in reality, it is a dark page of Japanese History. 

His memories continuously return to the past to a life and a career deeply affected by the rise of Japanese militarism - a dark shadow begins to grow over his serenity. Occasions such as the forthcoming engagement of his daughter (which involves investigation into the family background) bring his involvement with the political campaigns of the pre-war regime painfully to the force of his consciousness.

The main conflict to deal with Ono's need to accept responsibility for his past actions and in the expostulation to find a path to peace in his goodwill for the young white-collar workers on the streets at lunch break. The novel also deals with the role of people in a rapidly changing environment. 

The novel is the winner of major awards since the time of the first release in print. Iain Maloney listed 'An Artist of the Floating World' as an essential novel for Japanophiles. Robert McCrum ranked it the 94th greatest novel ever written.  The novel was shortlisted for   Booker prize in 1986 and won the Whitbread Book of the Year Award for the same year 1986. It was a nominee for ALA's best books for young adults.

Review

'An Artist of the Floating World' is a deeply sensitive book written in very easy prose. A prestigious award-winning author weaves the story plot so beautifully. Even though the novel has no particular storyline, yet readers easily can establish the connection line by line. A great insight into post-war Japan while it comes to grip with the 'shame' of defeat because of some most influential people. The story is set for 2 timelines in Japan: one is pre - Second World War and another is post-WW II. The story leaves a strong impression on the reader by its style and substance. The author depicted each and every moment with the brush of the masterful artists.

The story tells you how Japan was different culturally and landscape-wise before and after.   And, it describes how the war did affect the social and professional life of a prestigious and pro artist. The questions linger in the aging artist's mind: Should he remain a traditional painter of the floating world of geishas (entertaining girls), tea houses, etc.? Do his high-minded intentions exercise his propaganda posters? How does a person or a society come to terms with the mistakes of the past? Should an artist follow an aesthetic of pure art or of social involvement? This novel, by the author of award-winning novels, will appeal to thoughtful readers.

The novel covers both genres i.e. historical fiction and global literature (Weltliteratur). It is known as historical fiction due to its basis on remembering the past and it draws from historical facts. It is also known as global literature as it has a broad international market and allows for a study on how the world is interconnected at present.

Apart from the original publisher 'Faber and Faber', The novel is also printed by other publishing companies such as Allen and Unwin and Penguin vintage International.
'An Artist of the Floating World' has become an eBook version additionally and is available on most eBook websites like Kindle and iBook since 2012. This novel has been translated into over 40 languages around the world.

About the Author

Kazuo Ishiguro was born on 8 November 1954 in Nagasaki, Japan, and moved to Britain in 1960 at the age of five. He attended the University of Kent at Canterbury and the University of East Anglia. His eight works of fiction have earned him many awards and honors around the world, including  Nobel Prize in Literature and Booker Prize. His work has been translated into over fifty languages. Ishiguro has written few screenplays and song lyrics too.

Kazuo Ishiguro has written amazing novels that had been nominated or the winner of some prestigious awards. His notable works are:
A Pale View of Hills (1982, Winifred Holtby Prize)
An Artist of the Floating World (1986, Whitbread Book of the Year, shortlisted for the Booker Prize)
The Remains of the Day (1989, winner of the Booker Prize)
The Unconsoled (1995, winner of the Cheltenham Prize)
When We Were Orphans (2000, shortlisted for the Booker Prize)
Never Let Me Go (2005, Corine International Buchpreis, Serono Literary Prize, Casino de Santiago European Novel Award, and shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize)
Nocturnes (2009, Guiseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa International Literary Prize).

Few of those books were adapted for films and TV shows. He lives in London with his wife and daughter.

 Kazuo Ishiguro

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Rating: 4.2/5

Author: Kazuo Ishiguro

Published: 23 March 1987  
Publisher: Faber and Faber
Language: English
Genre: Contemporary Fiction, Action and Adventure (Book), Historical Fiction (Book)
ISBN 10: 057114716X
ISBN 13: 978-0571147168
Pages: 208
Cost: 279.30 (Kindle Edition)

The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

Cover Page

Description

‘The Wind in the Willows’ is children and young adult novel by Scottish novelist Kenneth Grahame, which first published on 1 April 1908. It follows the adventures of the anthropomorphic animals Mole, Rat, Badger, Toad, and their friends. The novel begins with the Mole doing spring cleaning at his home and he is quite bored with it. Out of the boredom, he casts his cleaning tools down and runs to the surface to plow through the rabbit’s holes along the roads and through the grasses in the meadows to the river. At the river Mole meets Rat, and the two form an immediate friendship. This friendship brings Rat’s friends Badger, Otter, and Toad into the frame and becomes the ineluctable part of the story.

The novel crawls yet does maintain fast-pace to follow the four protagonist and their friends on their adventures and misadventures. Toad, a well-to-do heir, goes through innumerable craze such as his interest in motor-cars. His love for the cars incites him to steal one, which leads him to get arrested and sentenced to jail.  He escapes from jail and disguised himself as a washer-women. At the same time, the other animals must deal with the bad reputations they have for being Toad’s friend.

Meanwhile, the house of Toad is taken over by wild and menacing animals from the wild woods, and the four friends come together to save their friend’s house. With the wild woodier driven away, Toad turns over a new leaf and becomes a respectable and aristocrat member of the animal community. He is loved and admired by others. He is happy and shows the gratitude towards his friends that deepens his friendship with Mole, Rat, Badger; and, the four often take long walks and live happily thereafter.

Review

‘The Wind in the Willows’ (1908) is the classic of children’s literature by Kenneth Grahame. This slow-moving and fast-paced novel, focuses on four anthropomorphized animals i.e. Mole, Rat (a European water vole), Toad, and Badger.

The novel is set in a pastoral version of Edwardian England. It is notable for its mixture of mysticism, adventure, morality, and camaraderie and celebrated for its evocation of the nature of Thames Valley.
This classic story is all about how the friends of Toad and other resident animals of the river bank saved him from his wrongdoing and excesses.

The novel has the taste of excitement, sentiments, destruction of private property (plenty of that), paganism, and a happy ending. The book provides the pleasure of reading to all age readers whether they are children, young adults, or grown-ups who relish Graham’s ability to evoke the long summer days of childhood.

The timeless classic generation, ‘The Wind in the Willows‘ may be difficult for today’s kids because of its language and pacing. But, parents can help in reading-aloud settings. The drawing and illustration of this edition have the same inked pictures as the original novel. The prose is beautiful and occasionally requires the use of the dictionary.

The publisher is serving the English-speaking world for a long time by publishing classic literature. The novel is one of the best works of a global bookshelf throughout history and across the genre or discipline. Its authoritative texts aren’t enhanced by introduction and notes provided by scholars as well as proper and up-to-date translations by award-winning contemporary authors. Mr. Toad was voted number 38 among the 100 Best Characters in Fiction since 1900 by Book magazine in their March/April 2002 issue. In the year 2003, The Wind in the Willow’  was listed at #16 in BBC’s survey ’The Big Read’.

Adaptation

The novel has been adapted many times in the form of reprints, films, stage, theatrical films, radio shows, web series, and sequels or alternative versions over the years. 

Stage

• In 1929, The novel was in its 31st printing when playwright A. a. Milne adapted part of it for the stage for the first time ever with the title ‘Toad of Toad Hall’.
• In 2014, the novel 3as adapted for a musical by Julian Fellowes.
• In 2019, Michael Whitmore adapted it for a musical play named ‘The Wind in the Willow’ for Quantum theater.
• ‘The Wind in the Willow’ opera for children in two acts by Elena-Kats-Chernin (music) and Jens Luckwaldt (libretto, with English translation by Benjamin Gordon), commissioned by Staatstheater Kassel, word premiere 19 June 2020.

Theatrical Films

• ‘The Adventure of Ichabod and Mr, Toad', a 1949 animated adaptation produced by Walt Disney Productions for RKO Radio Pictures, narrated by Basil Rathbone. one half of the animated feature was based on other stories ‘The Legend of Sleepy Hollow’.
• ‘The Wind in the Willow’ a 1996 live-action film written and directed by Terry Jones starring Steve Coogan as Mole, Eric Idle as Rat, and Jones as Mr. Toad.

Television

• The Wind in the Willow was adapted for the first live-action film ‘Toad of Toad Hall’ by Michael Barry for BBC Television and transmitted live in 1946.
• The latest live-action TV film was in 2006 with Lee Ingleby as Mole, Mark Gatiss as Ratty, Matt Lucas as Toad, and Bob Hoskins as Badger.

There was much more adaptation for television films n series over the period.

Web Series

In 2014, Classic Alice took the titular character on a 6 episode re-imagining of The Wind in the Willows. Reid Cox played Toad, and Kate Hackett and Tony Noto served as loose Badger/Ratty/Mole characters.

Radio

The BBC has broadcast a number of radio productions of the story. Dramatization includes the number of series and episodes from the original publication of the novel to the date.

• Eight episodes from 4 to 14 April 1955, BBC Home Service, with Richard Goolden, Frank Duncan, Olaf Pooley, and Mary O’Farrell.
• The single 90-minute play, dramatized by A.A. Milne under the name Toad of Toad Hall, on 21 April 1973, BBC Radio4, with Derek Smith, Bernard Cribbins, Richard Goolden, and Cyril Luckham.
• Single two-hour play, dramatized by Alan Bennett, on 27 August 1994, BBC Radio 4

Abridged reading includes:

• Ten-part reading by Alan Bennett from 31 July to 11 August 1989, BBC Radio 4.
• Twelve-part reading by Bernard Cribbins from 22 December 1983 to  6 January 1984, BBC channel.
• Three-hour reading by June Whitfield, Nigel Anthony, James Sacon, and Nigel Lambert; Puffin audiobook, 1996.

 Other presentation formats: 

• Kenneth Williams did a version of the book for radio
• In 2002 Paul Oakenfold produced a Trance Soundtrack for the story, aired on the Galaxy FM  show Urban Soundtracks. These mix blended classic stories with a mixture of dance and contemporary music.

Sequels and alternative versions

The novel was written in many alternative versions and has many sequels till the date that includes:

• In 1983, Dixon Scott published a Fresh Wind in the Willow, which not only predates Horwood’s sequels by several years but also includes some of the same incidents, including a climax in which Toad steals a Bleriot monoplane.
• Frederick Thurber’s ‘In the Wake of the Willows’ was published in 2019. It is the New World version of the original, recounting the adventures of the same set of characters, and their children, who lived on a coastal estuary in southern New England.

About the Author

Kenneth Grahame, born in Scotland on 8 March 1859, was a British writer and novelist. His most famous work is ‘The Wind in the Willow’ (1908) which is one of the classics of children’s literature. He also wrote ‘The Reluctant Dragon’. Both his famous books were adapted for stage, film, television, and web series many times.

In 1908, Grahame retired from his position as secretary of the Bank of England. He moved back to Berkshire, where he had lived as a child. He did spend his time by the River Thames, working on the series of bedtime stories, those he told to his son Alastair earlier, and preparing the manuscript for the book with the quote - “simply messing about in boats”, which was published in 1908. Kenneth Grahame died on 6 July 1932 but his books lived on and never have been out of print.

Kenneth Grahame

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Rating: 4/5

Author: Kenneth Grahame

Publisher: Penguin Classics, Penguin books 

Publishing Date: 27 October 2005 

Language: English

Genre:  Children’s Book, Young-adult, comic genre 

ISBN-10: 0143039091 

ISBN-13: 9780143039099          

Pages: 197 ( Paperback)

Cost: $5.99 (Paperback)

Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis

                                                     

Description

Lucky Jim is a novel by Kingsley Amis, first published in 1954 by Victor Gollancz. It was Amis's first novel and won the 1955 Somerset Maugham Award for fiction. The novel follows the exploits of the eponymous James (Jim) Dixon, a disinclined lecturer at an unnamed provincial English University. The novel 'Lucky Jim' is dedicated to Phillip Larkin, who helped to inspire the main character James Dixon and contributed significantly to the edifice of the novel. The last name 'Dixon' was also inspired by Larkin's address '12 Dixon Drive, Leicester'.

In this comedy novel, Jim Dixon is a lecturer in medieval history at a red brick university in English Midlands, a moderately successful future in the History Department. He starts with uncertainty and towards the end of the academic year, he is concerned about losing his probationary position in the department. In his attempt to be awarded a permanent post he tries to maintain a good relationship with his absent-minded head of department, Professor Welch. He tries to stand out among others in the staff, but his trial goes wrong in the madrigal-singing weekend at Professor Welch's.

Besides all, In order to establish his credentials, Dixon must ensure the publication of his first scholarly article. He eventually discovers that the editor to whom he submitted the article has translated it into Italian and passed it off as his own article.

Dixon comes in touch with Margaret Peel, a fellow lecturer in the university, who attempted suicide in the wake of a broken relationship and recovering from it. Dixon feels pity for her and eventually started dating her. Soon, he meets Christine on a weekend, who is the girlfriend of Welch's awful son Bertrand. They tend to like each other but try to be apart as they both think that they both are in a relationship with someone.

The novel reaches its climax with Dixon's public lecture on "Merrie England". He tries to keep himself calm by drinking too much, therefore, he passes out. Welch lets Dixon know that his employment will not be extended due to certain things, however, he gets the offer of a coveted job from Christine's uncle to assist him in London. From this point on the plot begins to congeal, with Jim caught like a shrimp in the aspic.

Notwithstanding, Dixon soon realizes that Margaret is faking her suicidal attempt in course of emotionally blackmailing her ex-boyfriend and she had never been his fiancée. Feeling free from their so-called relationship with Margaret, he approaches Christine and she requests to see her off as she leaves for London. There Dixon learns that she is leaving Bertrand after being told that he has affair with the wife of one of Dixon's former colleagues. They both decide to leave for London together.

Review

The novel, Lucky Jim, was rewarded with titles as the finest, and funniest comic novel of the twentieth century by its readers and critics. Time magazine included Lucky Jim in its Time100 Best English-language Novels from 1923-2005. Lucky Jim remains trenchant, withering, and eloquently misanthropic as when it first scandalized readers in 1954. 

In the view of critics and readers, 'Mr. Kingsley Amis is so talented, his observation is so keen, that you cannot fail to be convinced that the young men, he so brilliantly describes, truly represent the class with which his novel is concerned. They are woefully unable to deal with any kind of social predicament. Their idea of a celebration is to go to a public bar and drink six beers. They are mean, malicious, and envious... They are scum and have no manners.' 

His scabrous debut leads the reader through a gallery of emphatically English bores, cranks, frauds, and neurotics with whom Dixon must contend in one way or another in order to hold on to his cushy academic perch and win the girl of his fancy.

More than just a merciless satire of cloistered college life and stuffy postwar manners, This novel is an attack on the force of boredom, whatever form they may take, and a work of art that at once distills and extends an entire tradition of English comic writing, from Fielding and Dickens through Woodhouse and waugh. Christopher Hitchens has written,' If you can picture Bertie or Jeeves being capable of actual malice, and simultaneously, imagine Evelyn Waugh forgetting about original sin, you have the combination of innocence and experience that makes this short frisk so imperishable.' Kingsley Amis has a rare wit that teeters between the hilariously nonsensical and the deep seriousness. This delightful novel is his first novel by which he did debut in the world of literature. 

Adaptation

• In the 1957 British film adaptation, Jim Dixon was played by Ian Carmichael in the movie titled 'Lucky Jim'.
• In 1982, Keith Barron starred in a seven-episode BBC TV series 'The Further Adventures of Lucky Jim' which was based on the characters of Lucky Jim and set in the 'swinging London'  of 1967.
• In 2003, ITV aired a remake of Lucky Jim with Stephen Tompkinson playing the central character of Jim.

About the Author

Sir Kingsley William Amis, CBE (The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire), born on 16 April 1922, was an English Novelist poet, critic, and teacher. He is widely known as a comic novelist of life in the mid-to-late twentieth century. His style of writing is known as comic fiction and fiction prose. He wrote more than twenty novels, six volumes of poetry, a memoir, short stories, radio and television scripts, and works of social and literary criticism. He is best know for satirical comedies such as One Fat Englishman (1963), Ending up (1974), Jake's Thing (1978), and The Old Devils (1986). 

His biographer Zachary Leader called Amis 'The finest English Comic novelist of the second half of the twentieth century.' In 2008, The Times ranked him ninth on a list of the 50 greatest British writers since 1945. He was shortlisted for the Booker Prize three times for Ending up (1974), Jake's Thing (1978), and finally, as the recipient for The Old Devils (1986). He was part of the Angry Young Men literary movement. He died on 22 October 1995 in London, England.

Kingsley Amis

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Rating: 3.8/5

Author: Kingsley Amis

Publisher: Penguin UK

Publishing Date: 30 May 2000

Language: English

Genre: Contemporary Fiction, Classic Fiction, Comedic Drama and Play, Surrealist Literary Criticism 

ISBN-10: 0141182598

ISBN-13: 978-0141182599

Pages: 272

Cost: 794 INR (Paperback)