Hemingway. Who could say anything except EXCEPTIONAL from the ...
588803
Hemingway.  Who could say anything except EXCEPTIONAL from the man?  I am grateful for "A Memorable Feast" and thank his grandchildren for digging up the work that is contained in that book.  This has been "unedited" and while I'm not much of a poetry buff, his short stories ALWAYS make one stop and think....
2530426
Unique
Not your everyday yarn. You feel like you know Ernest Hemingway and want to learn more about the man.
1868944
What can you say about Mark Twain. Super in every way.
4662117
Don't read my review. Read what Hemingway has to say about Huckleberry Finn. I can't resist a short Hemingway quote: All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn. American writing comes from that. There was nothing before. There has been nothing as good since.

I do find the language jarring. The repeated use of what we now refer to as "the N word" is regrettable, though I am sure the language is historically accurate. The story takes place in a time when other human beings were held as chattel, bought and sold, families broken up at the whim of a legal owner. That's the sin, not what name was put on the enslaved people.

Also, as Hemingway also observes, the final chapters, devoted to Tom Sawyer's plots to free Jim, get tedious.

All in all, a great read.
4462643
Death in the Afternoon is a non-fiction book by Ernest Hemingway that explores the ceremony and traditions of Spanish bullfighting. Looking at the history and the culture behind bullfighting, the book also explores the dangers and fears being faced. Still considered one of the best books ever written about bullfighting, Death in the Afternoon explores the sport by one of its aficionados.

This is an interesting book, not something I would read normally but I did enjoy it. While I am morally opposed to bullfighting I didn't have any really knowledge of the sport and culture behind it. So I went into this book with an open mind and a little hesitant. I had never had a good experience with Hemingway in the past; granted I've only read one of his novels (The Old Man and the Sea) but it was enough to never go back. I know this is not a good reason not to return but I have to admit I did enjoy the writing styles.

Ernest Hemingway has a very descriptive writing style which makes for some interesting insights; but sometimes too much. I get the impression that he is using humour in some of his writing but it's so obscure that it either goes over my head or is just downright weird. I know Hemingway was a rather unusual man and had an interesting life but he isn't someone that I think I will ever understand or connect with in any way. While I'm against bullfighting, Hemingway seems to be an advocate towards it and often wants it to be more violent and deadly.

You have to understand that Ernest Hemingway is an arrogant, sexist, pompous ass and it often comes through in his writing, so you have to take everything he says with a huge grain of salt. I found myself disagreeing with him all too often but still interested in what he was saying. I went into this book knowing that Hemingway and I weren't going to get along at times, which was lucky because I was ready to throw out any of his opinions that didn't align with mine. I did find it interesting how he kept using bullfighting as a metaphor for art and Spain; I don't know if I agree with this but he seemed was be determined to make this point.

While I'm still opposed to bullfighting, I now have a whole lot more information about the topic; possibly too much. Hemingway's writing style was enough to make me willing to try something else of his (if I find something good) and this was an interesting and different reading experience. I don't read enough non-fiction, let alone travel or sports writing so this was a book way out of left field. I'm determined to read more non-fiction now and I hope that I manage to get through at least one a month. Also interesting to see how this review turned out; I'm never know how to approach a non-fiction review and I think I did alright here.
3922710
As the publication date for my novel Zipper rapidly approaches, I thought I would share some of the praise being lavished on it by several literary icons whose names you might recognize. (I have edited the comments for the sake of brevity.) Hemingway: A GREAT BOOK(!) Vonnegut: WOW(!) Jean-Paul Sartre: IHIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK(!) Hunter S. Thompson: THIS BOOK(IS) MIND-BLOWING(!) Faulkner: THE PROSE FLOWS INEFFABL(Y)(!) Edgar Allan Poe: UTTERLYTERRIFYING(!) Virginia Woolf: LIKE JAMES JOYCE ANDD.H. LAWRENCE(!)ASTONISHING(!) WHAT LITERATURE(!)

(On the advice of counsel, I have included their full comments below.)

Ernest Hemingway I am an old man who wrote in short clipped sentences and I have gone sixty-four years now without reading a great book.
Kurt Vonnegut Wow.
Jean-Paul Sartre If I were still sentient and capable of reading, the possibility exists that I might highly recommend this book.
Hunter S. Thompson It was somewhere around page 50 of this book when the drugs began to take hold. And this time, Gonzo had scored a really mind-blowing stash.
William Faulkner Like the grim but insistent and determined motivity of the river itself, the prose flows inexorably forward, doomed, yet nonetheless with a certain tenebrous insouciance, to its ordained and ineffable denouement.
Edgar Allan Poe Approximately a fortnight ago, a clumsy admirer accidentally dropped this volume on my grave. To be utterly frank, Ibeing in a somewhat somnolent statefound the incident rather startling, if not, indeed, terrifying.
Virginia Woolf--- I had to put up with the likes of James Joyce and that dreadful D.H. Lawrence when I was alive, and now this. It is astonishing what literature has come to.
399826
Early Hemingway with a significant amount of drinking at all hours of the day. Beautiful description of bull-fighting and the Spain countryside.
1158131
The book is definitely a 5 stars!
Hemingway is a phenomenal writer, and I hope this is the first of many books I read from him!
3275155
This book has its goods and bads. The good thing of this book is that Hemingway makes it what it is by incorporating the dramatic dealings with love and war into it. I don't think that anybody could of told his story any better since love and war together can be pretty tough topics. Anyways, Hemingway shows how WWI is by giving the reader an up close view on what is happening either with the war as a whole or with Henry. Hemingways also displays the powers of love one can have for another and how they can consume one. The bad thing of this book, though, is in the end Henry ends up like he was before he ever met Catherine. But hey, what can you say. Some stories have to end bad while really to come to think of it, still making the book interesting.
The main character, Henry, is in an American who is an ambulance driver for the side of Italy during WWI. After a while of going through the hardships of war he realizes that war itself is not a game and believes that he is in the wrong place. While out on a run Henry's leg get injured by a mind so he goes to a hospital and recooperates from his surgery. During that time he meets a British nurse and immediatly falls in love. Henry months later goes back to the war, and decides to runaway and come back to the one he loves because his love for Catherine is so great, and he knows it is the same for her. Plus, he knows she is pregnant, which makes him want to be there to comfort her in anyway. They somehow meet up and make the decision to escape the surroundings they are in. Although, that is not the whole ending, the reader will have to read what else happens to find out for themselves. Surely one will be shocked hungry for more to read towards the end.
The book is very good, don't get me wrong. I just wish and I am sure others wish that there could have been a happier ending, rather than what it was. I believe that if you are a reader looking for a good love story with a little war in the mix its for you but otherwise I wouldn't suggest one to read it just to read it.
1199046
In an era when everybody and their second cousin seems compelled to write memoirs, often making it up as they go, Paula McLain's "The Paris Wife" differs in that it is based in reality, on real historical people, but is pure conjecture and fiction.

The novel in memoir form is the story of Ernest Hemingway's first wife, Hadley Richardson, wed well before he has become the self-created literary icon "Papa Hemingway" of whose mythology we have all have been unwitting buyers. The book covers the period from when Hadley, living in her self-righteous sister's house looking ahead to what seems to be sure spinsterhood, ventures from a very sedate St. Louis to the exciting "City Of The Big Shoulders" (Chicago) at the very start of the Jazz Age. Brought to a "bohemian" party by an old school chum, twenty-nine year old Hadley meets the twenty year old Ernest Hemingway and a perfect symbiotic relationship begins. In Ernest she finds that bad boy to shake up he settled, unexceptional life and the Hemingway with big dreams and plans of literary success and an even bigger need for unconditional love and encouragement and (though he would deny it) a touchstone to keep him grounded. It tracks their marriage and Hemingway's abuse of that institution until Hadley can stand no more and, out of love for Ernest, gives him the divorce he desires.

After a short courtship, primarily by mail, he decides to quit his job and go to the continent to writer full time. Much to Hadley's surprise he asks her to come with him and marry him as well. So it is off to the continent and the pre-fame years. Though the title is "The Paris Wife" the majority of the story takes place in other exotic locations such as Pamplona, Spain (with its bullfights and famous annual running of the bulls), the chateaux country of France, Cap D'Antibes (long before the French Riviera became THE place to be), Switzerland and Italy. Nonetheless it is the social and professional connections such as Getrude Stein and Alice B, Toklas, Sherwood Anderson, Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald, John Dos Passos, Sara & Gerald Murphy and others that Hemingway makes in the booming ex-pat artistic community of Paris that will champion his talent and provide the fodder for his future classics.

Nearly all of the story is told in the first person from Hadley's point of view, in some ways the only adult character amongst a never-ending supply of spoiled children of which her husband was the worst, clinging to her for the constancy of her love while constantly putting himself in positions which are hurtful to her. Author Paula McLain brilliantly describes Hadley's struggle between love for Ernest and her need for self-survival.

This is a nimble, wonderful novel. Exquisitely written, never a false step or emotion, fully realized characters, situations and reactions and completely convincing at every turn. It is compelling and just a total joy to read. The irony is that this fictional memoir about real people feels truer than most true memoirs on library bookshelves these days.

You will not forget this beautiful book and you will probably never think of Ernest Hemingway in the same light as before. Now that's a real achievement for a novel.
3502850
Someone much more read, much more important in the world of letters, and much more famous, was asked a simple question -- what is the greatest American novel that you have ever read? Without hesitation, this author of conceivably a few candidates for such an accolade, blurted out the answer -- and without any embarrassment or any second thoughts -- the book is "The Great Gatsby." That person was Fitzgerald's friend and foe -- Ernest Hemingway.

To any young person reading this book, I can only suggest that you swallow every word, understand that each is placed in a precise place for specific reasons. Tight --a term used by the 1920's meaning drunk and which Fitzgerald may have been much of the time while writing this novel -- describes the writing style of this classic. Nothing wasted. Nothing but pure and calculated prose delivering the reader with crisp, succinct and pithy portrayal of its characters and issues.

I will not discuss the story. Hopefully, a new reader reads the book without reading others' interpretations. This is a classic. This is a great read. Take this book for a slow and enjoyable ride.

You will finish the book, close the cover, and say to yourself what Hemingway probably said, "Now that's a novel."

And, like many other readers of this book, you may very likely open its covers again and again in your future. Good books entice you to read them over and over.

His sales prove that the book has been read multiple times. It has sold more than 10 million copies. Selling over 10,000,000 copies is something which most writers dream of doing for all of their books in their entire career -- something which few can proclaim. This book meets that criteria by its one copyrighted version. Amazing.

Sadly, this book today -- in the United States alone -- sells 1.66 books a MONTH for every book sold during the LIFETIME of Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald unfortunately never got to see his work appreciated the way it deserved/deserves to be. In some respects, Fitzgerald's career is as sad or sadder that the protaganist in his greatest novel.
4549000
Tom Winton's book 'Four Days with Hemingway's Ghost' might at first sight, appear to be taking readers into the realms of fantasy.  But no, Tom's skilful and excellent story-telling makes the idea of meeting a ghost seem almost natural. The unique story is written with panache and an obvious knowledge of the great writer.  The main character Jack has an unfortunate accident and whilst in hospital in a coma, is forced to spend four days with the ghost of Ernest Hemingway.  I use the word 'forced' because Jack is given no chance of escaping even if he'd wanted to.

Jack is taken by Hemingway to all the places that had meant something to the old man during his life.  Therein lies the conflict in this story: how Jack reacts to the time spent with Hemingway, directly affects whether he will eventually recover, or go to meet his maker.  There is pathos, adventure and good fun in this beautifully written story.  Living in England as I do, I really didn't know much about Ernest Hemingway, but I do now and would like to learn a little more in the future.
2748232
Ernest Hemingway called her "Cat" or "Tatie" and fell in love with this "Paris Wife."  His charisma, those brown eyes brimming with life, his huge and dominating personality .... she couldn't help herself! She was his the moment she met him. This is a captivating story, a love story, full of utterly fascinating characters. Hadley Richardson, Hemingway's first wife, is not one of them. Her story is worth the read because of all the others, especially Ernest himself, who comes across as a self-centered, erratic, tortured man who
uses her for comfort. Paula McLain, the author, tells the tale via their letters. She writes well enough to keep your interest to the last page, even though you sense the inevitable outcome.
1773949
If you like Ernest Hemingway and cats, then you should find this book entertaining and informative. Part coffee table book and part biography,  HEMINGWAY'S CATS appears to be an exhaustive attempt by Carlene Fredericka Brennen to find everything ever written about one of America's greatest modern writer's love of cats. She quotes extensively from Hemingway's letters, his novel  ISLANDS IN THE STREAM and many of the endless biographies  including  A. E. Hotchner's PAPA HEMINGWAY and Carlos Baker's ERNEST HEMINGWAY: A LIFE STORY. (Surely no American writer has been the subject of more books than Mr. Hemingway with two more just published in the past year I believe.) Along with the cats, Hemingway's four wives get included of course. It would be fair to say that he often fared better in his love for animals than  in his relationships with his wives. He was prone, for instance, often to be much in love with two woman at the same time, one he was married to an another usually younger  one.  Although I have read all of Hemingway's major fiction, I've never read a biography of him previously so this book was certainly informative. I suspect, however,  that much of what Ms. Brennen covers is old territory to many readers.

But to the cats. Apparently Mr. Hemingway never met a cat he didn't love-- at one time having as many as 56 of them-- and went to great lengths to provide and care for them, even building a room for them in one of his houses as he said in a letter to Mary, his fourth wife: "Will make a big scratching pole covered with carpet for them to use their claws on and have catnip bin and ping-pong balls for kittneys to play with."  Cats filled a void in Hemingway's life, bringing him comfort from loneliness when he was separated from his family for whatever reason. Although  Ms. Brennen writes of over thirty cats by name, A Cuban black-and-white short haired cat named Boise was Hemingway's heart. Boise slept with him practically every night, kept him company while he wrote, ate with him and took walks with him. This cat died at the age of 14  from a heart attack. Hemingway believed that he would see him in heaven. Of the nine dogs named, Black Dog, an Alaskan Springer spaniel was the writer's favorite. Hemingway was horrified when Batista's soldiers clubbed him to death and looked forward to seeing him in heaven too.

A previously unpublished Hemingway letter that just came to light and was written about in the "New York Times" in March, 2012 illustrates again his love for cats. He was in the process of having to shoot a cat named Willie (that Ms. Brennen lists as a gray-and-black striped cat) who had been hit by a car and had both legs broken. In the letter Hemingway wrote: "Certainly miss you. Miss Uncle Willie. Have had to shoot people but never anyone I knew and loved for eleven years. Nor anyone that purred with two broken legs." Then a Cadillac load of tourists encountered him. He writes further: "I still had the rifle and I explained to them they had come at a bad time and to please understand and go away. But the rich Cadillac psycho said, 'We have come at a most interesting time. Just in time to see the great Hemingway cry because he has to kill a cat.' I humiliated him as he should be humiliated. Omit details."

The book is illustrated with literally dozens of photographs of Hemingway with his human family and cat family. My only complaint, a minor one, is that at times Ms. Brennen is repetitious. For example, I read several times the famous quotes by Hemingway that one cat leads to another and that cats are love sponges.
440290
Come on, it's Ernest Hemingway!  Nearly all his works are classic literature. This is a great read, albeit EH is a little rough on some of his friends and acquaintances.
879200
Rereading Hemingway. If you never read Hemingway, this book will get you hooked. Easier read compared to his other eprks
2080028
Based heavily on Churchill's letters.  He was a real wordsmith.  Churchill can say more in a sentence than some people can say in a page.