Those who have had the pleasure to travel to and in Tuscany will especially appreciate this small book by a noted British poet and novelist of the late 19th century. Hewlett was an attorney in London who gave up his practice to write and travel. In 1895 he wrote this book concerning his travels to Italy and especially Tuscany. It is a lovely and calming read which mirrors the relaxed, slow and laid back lifestyle one encounters in the hill cities of Tuscany.
The chapter I enjoy most is simply entitled "Cats". It has been published as a stand alone piece elsewhere and I first read it 40 years ago whilst taking a literature course in college. I have remembered it fondly since. It takes place in the Convent of San Lorenzo in Florence where the author and 103 cats consider and appraise each other with little success and much suspicion. It is a classic example of doing more with less.
Hewlett was a close friend of fellow authors Ezra Pound and J. M. Barrie and shared their appreciation of Italy.
Allow me to also recommend Hewlett's "The Masque of Dead Florentines". Thanks to ManyBooks for bring us this small classic.

Haggard is to adventure what Doyle is to mystery-crime novels. Clearly intended for those in their teens or twenties it is none the less a great adventure book and has obviously withstood the test of time. I recommend it to all who like fast paced adventure. There is a somewhat obvious racial disdain for native peoples however it is more or less in accordance with general beliefs and values of the era.
A legend of immense wealth and a forgotten civilization draws British explorers to the heart of darkest Africa. From the first chapter to the last it is the paradigm of a page turner. Haggard wrote dozens of books many of which dealt with Africa however this is the best known for very good reasons.
Let Alan Quartermaine guide you through the jungle to the lost empire and it's jewels and gold. In the end you will agree the book is the real treasure.

One of the greatest works of fiction of all time written by the greatest author of his time. I have read Siddhartha four times and like Maugham's Razors Edge it is impossible to read it too often. There is not a sufficiency of superlatives in the authors native German or in our language to describe or accurately praise Hesse or his work.
Those of you who have never read this exceptional book do yourselves a favor and commence doing so now. If there is one word which describes Siddhartha it is ennobling.

The Food of the Gods is a poor and inadequate effort by Mr. Wells. He is a far, far better author than demonstrated in this book.
The book begins with two men who discover a substance which when consumed by man or beast greatly enhances the growth cycle and creates bees the size of condors and all manner of other monstrosities. One of the inventors rents a cottage and hires an elderly and exceedingly incompetent couple to take care of the experiment. Here the book begins it's slippery slide into the empire of the inane. Wells is far superior to this in everything else he wrote. The only saving grace in this story is the injection of humor and the absurd which the author has graciously included.
I can not recommend this book, rather read The Sleeper Awakes or The Country of the Blind or The Time Machine or almost anything else written by Mr. Wells.

Henry Ford was born in a small village and was molded by his parochial rural origins. Despite this humble origin and his lack of a higher education he essentially invented the mass produced automobile and changed the face of America with his invention. This book however is far more than an account of his industrial enterprise but gives a broad spectrum of his ideas on almost all aspects of society, the economy, international affairs, labor problems and government aid programs.
His most peculiar views and most obvious prejudices appear to concern bankers and Jews. He was famously and virulently anti-Semitic, had little respect for blacks, Catholics and other minorities and although this is minimized in his book his bigotry seemed deep seated and endemic. Again this may be the result of his small town waspish upbringing but for a man of his obvious intellect one would have thought he would hold these ideas within himself rather than make millions of enemies by publishing them in his Deerfield newspaper and in abbreviated fashion in this book.
Despite the above mentioned flaws in Mr. Ford\'s personality I found the book interesting, informative and instructful. When men who achieve so much hold ideas so petty it can only make us wonder as to the nature and value of genius.
I give this work four stars largely because it not only tells much about the mind and soul of Mr. Ford but also about his unresolved internal struggle.

Fergus Hume is superior to Romer and inferior to Doyle as a storyteller however his characters are interesting. The women are multi dimensional and actually appear to be integral to the human race. Something not always found in mystery stories of this era. This story includes an English manor house and a somewhat dysfunctional family, a pack of gipsy transients and a reasonably good mystery. There are numerous potential suspects and more than a few flawed and damaged players. Some quasi-racialist comments not intended to offend which no doubt accurately reflect the early 1900\'s era. Not a great mystery but a decent read.

I do not like horror stories and generally find them a misuse of my time. It must be said however that Lovecraft is by far the best of all authors in this genre and I include Poe in that group. One always feels trepidation and often it is accompanied by what seems a genuine fear. I don't know that this makes it superior literature but occasionally I am drawn to Lovecraft's work simply to assure myself it is as engrossing as I remembered it. This story although at a slower pace than some of his other works will not disappoint the Lovecraft fan. He IS the master of his genre.

This naturalist-science fiction-coming of age-adventure may be the best of Jefferies fictional work. A great and unspecified disaster has caused the collapse of British and presumably all late 19th century civilization. Britain has descended back into a medieval society with a few small cities based on a loose feudal system which appears to include knights, slaves, gipsy bands, brigands and an abundance of warring groups. Much of the British Isles are now covered by a large internal sea and travel is only one of many things which has become difficult and dangerous.
The protagonist hollows a log and builds a dugout canoe to seek adventure. His travels and experiences make up the core of the book. The story suffers from a sudden ending which makes one wonder if Mr. Jefferies had intended to write a sequel. If so that tomb never appeared as the author died a few years after this books publication. The body of his work stretched from children's stories to naturalist works, novels and essays. Yes he was a tree hugger but quite an extraordinary and talented one.
If you have not read Richard Jefferies before I recommend you first read Henry S. Salt's work "The Faith of Richard Jefferies".

Cotton Mather put himself in the hands of an angry god whilst threat and entreaty often failed to scare his flock to follow. The thing we must remember in reading this and other works about this very dark period of our history and the resultant corruption of christianity is that these pathetic, frightened and weak belivers were actually the sons and daughters of the founders of our "new world" and our nation. It is always so much easier to blame the weak and helpless than solve our own problems with positive and constructive behavior. Worth reading if you are not familiar with Mather and his puritanical murders and fanatics. Thanks to ManyBooks for providing this.

Rohmer was not a writer of the quality of Doyle nor was their much origionality in story or charachter developement. Nayland is not Sherlock but tries to be. Readable if somewhat racist. However their must be something in the persona of Fu Manchu as he is still read one hundred years after his creation. Intelligence, skill and supposed evil seem to carry him onward.
One can't help but wonder what a truly gifted writer might do with a character like Dr. Fu Manchu.