The benefits of reading are as varied as the nature of the books there are different ways available today. Apart from the fact that a fundamental prerequisite to the first years of schooling is completed, the benefits of reading are many.
The ability to read is the Ability to understand and comprehend the world around us. Remember that required reading list that you had in school? At the time, less than essential to your development seemed to, but is in truth, was one of the most important aspects of your early education.
The ability to learn new things and to extract meaning from words on paper to keep our brains agile, young and healthy. As stories between the covers, develop our imagination are busy, and we are almost in a very different World carried.
Whether you enjoy fiction, non-fiction, classic literature, popular literature can not be denied that some of the world's largest Authors have had some sort of influence on your favorite author.
Here's a short list of some of the greatest authors of all time, in no particular order:
Count Leo Tolstoy – Anna Karenina and War and peace are by far the greatest works of Tolstoy. And even with just these two books he would be considered a great author, but he went on, pen and other great works. These books paint a vivid portrait of the 19th Century Russian life and attitudes. Tolstoy also wrote essays and plays. His war and peace "is generally regarded as the best novel of all time.
Fyodor Dostoevsky – There's just something about the Russian writers of the 19th Century. Dostoevsky's epic Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamazov deal with the mental and political turmoil of the 19th Century Russia. Dostoevsky is often considered the best psychologist in written form, like his novels explore the human condition and human psychology the time of his novels.
William Shakespeare – Probably one of the biggest names in the great literature, William Shakespeare's nickname is The Bard (or The Bard of Avon) for his beautiful poetry and world-famous works of drama. In fact, during his time he was a genius and his plays were to was sought by some of the most elite of Europe. In fact, the Victorians liked Shakespeare so much of the time their service was described by George Bernard Shaw as "bardolatry." Today his works in all major living language were translated. Some of his most famous works of the play "Romeo and Juliet, a Midsummer Night's Dream, Hamlet and Julius Caesar. Although he thought, to borrow a lot of his ideas from other authors, he was the first author to collect a large quantity of writing and spending some of the best poems, prose, and drama the world has ever seen.
Charles Dickens – This author is probably one of the humorous if not beloved authors of all time. His Books vivid characters and his characters are paint lovable, relatable and timeless. Who does not know the name of Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, or PIP (from his book Great Expectations). His iconic characters have gained enough popularity of his novels never gone out of print.
About the Author
Looking for some of today’s best authors? BookPallet.com has what you are looking for! BookPallet.com has popular authors like JK Rawlings and Stephanie Meyers and classic authors like Shakespeare and Charles Dickens. Non-fiction, fiction, romance – whatever book you want is at BookPallet.com. Visit www.BookPallet.com today!
billy joel – Baby Grand (Ft. Ray Charles) – Greatest Hits Vo
Christmas in Connecticut Christmas in Connecticut is a holiday film that plays 365 days of the year. Barbara Stanwyck gives a brilliant, sardonic performance as Elizabeth Lane, a columnist for Smart Housekeeping magazine, whose enticing descriptions of the exquisite meals she prepares for her husband and baby on their bucolic Connecticut farm earns her fame as “America’s Best Cook.” A writer, she …
Shackleton is not a biopic of the great Anglo-Irish explorer but a dramatization of the failed trans-Antarctic expedition of 1914-1916. As written and directed by Charles Sturridge (Longitude), the production, filmed on real ice floes in Greenland, stays remarkably close to the facts, capturing the look of the surviving expedition photos by Frank Hurley (collected in the book South with Endurance)…
To answer the first and most important question: no, this compilation of Oscar broadcasts from the 1970s through the ’90s does not feature the infamous duet of “Proud Mary” between Rob Lowe and Snow White. This being an officially sanctioned documentary look from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, anything extremely embarrassing has been conveniently excised. Minor and cute gaffes, s…
This is an energetic, but ultimately mediocre adaptation of the play, directed on Broadway by Tommy Tune. Burt Reynolds is the town sheriff and a regular patron of a local bordello. He wages a public battle to keep it open after it is targeted as the devil’s den by a television minister. Charles Durning was nominated for a Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, and there are some lively song and dance n…
The fifth season of Seinfeld is without a doubt the series’ best. By their fifth year, the Seinfeld gang had ironed out the bumps from the first two seasons, further developing characters. The loyal fan base that had been accumulating over the years was now more or less the entire nation’s viewing audience. The pressure was on to give this new, mega fan base a high dose of their unique, misanthro…
Two CD ‘Deluxe Edition’ in a cardboard gatefold sleeve that collects Ray’s best-known ’50s and ’60s singles, such as ‘What’d I Say’, ‘I’ve Got A Woman’, ‘Georgia On My Mind’ and ‘Hit The Road Jack’. The man’s originality and infectious feeling bleed through on each of these 40 tracks. Ray Charles was a genius in interpretation of many genres, from Gospel to Country to Blues to R&B to old-fashioned Big Band singing. He is an artist of the highest order and this collection is outstanding in terms of his line of work. Greatest Hits. 2007.
Recounts the voyage of Charles Darwin aboard the HMS Beagle through the detailed diary of an imaginary cabin boy and offers information on one of the greatest scientific adventures of all time and the scientific world in Darwin’s day.
Track Listing: After Loving You How Sad Venice Can Be Ave Maria Hold Back The Night I Didn`t See The Time Go By I`ll Be There Times We`ve Known, The You`ve Let Yourself Go La Baraka And I In My Chair Sunday`s Not My Day Happy Anniversary Blue Like The Blue Of Your Eyes, A It Will Be My Day La Boheme She Old Fashioned Way, The What Makes A Man Yesterday When I Was Young You`ve Got To Learn
Disc 1:DISC 1: THE GENIUS ANTHOLOGY:Confession BluesThis Love of MineCan`t You See Darling (What You`re Doing to Me)Sentimental Blues, ADon`t Put All Your Dreams in One BasketAin`t That FineSittin` on Top of the WorldSee See RiderShe`s on the BallLate in the Evening BluesSomeday (Blues Is My Middle Name)Baby Let Me Hold Your HandBaby Won`t You Please Come HomeKissa Me BabyHey NowHeartbreakerYou Be My BabyI`m Moving OnTell Me How Do You FeelWhat`d I SayDisc 2:DISC 2: GENIUS REMIXED:You Be My Baby [Lover`s Rock Mix] – (remix)Sentimental Blues [Tru Mix], A – (remix)Can`t You See Darlin` (What You`re Doing to Me) [Selfless Mix] – (remix)Georgia on My Mind [Atlanta Skies Mix] – (remix)Kissa Me Baby [Lipstick Mix] – (remix)She`s on the Ball [Silver Sliver Mix] – (remix)Some Day (Blues Is My Middle Name) [Roger Dodger Mix] – (remix)Ain`t That Fine [Coolside Mix] – (remix)This Love of Mine [Heartbrake Mix] – (remix)What I`d Say [Lovegroove Mix] – (remix)I Got a Woman [Luminous Mix] – (remix)Tell Me How Do You Feel [T.M.H.D.Y.F. Mix] – (remix)I`m Movin` On [The Big Blue Mix] – (remix)
This Greatest Hits collection from British novelty duo Chas & Dave (singer/guitarist Charles “Chas” Hodges and singer/bassist Dave Peacock) starts appropriately with “Gertcha,” a song that became a regional phenomenon when it appeared in a commercial for
Charles Dickens Collection 2 (4-Pack)These four acclaimed adaptations bring to life the legendary characters, devastating drama, and coarse humor of one of the world’s greatest novelists.Source: Warner Home Video
The 100 greatest what? Why, the 100 greatest speeches, news stories, personalities, scandals and sports moments of the 20th and 21st centuries, all compiled in a 5-CD set that brings history home like no collection has done before! Just to list some of the tracks is to give a timeline of modern history-for speeches, you get Churchill’s “Finest Hour,” FDR’s “Day of Infamy,” Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” and much more. News stories include 3-Mile Island, Little Rock school integration, John Lennon’s death, Pearl Harbor and more. Among the personalities profiled are Amelia Earhart, Clarence Darrow, Frank Lloyd Wright, Charles Lindbergh, Helen Keller, James Dean, Walt Disney and many others, while tops among the 100 greatest scandals are Alger Hiss, Clinton/Lewinsky, Enron, My Lai, the O.J. Simpson trial, the Watergate break-in and other tangled affairs. And sports fans will revel in Ali-Foreman, Fischer-Spassky, Hank Aaron’s 715th, U.S. Hockey’s 1980 Olympic triumph, Secretariat and more. 500 clips that record how our lives changed!
A unique collection combining eight of the veteran politician’s most memorable speeches with the ambient, urban grooves of renowned music producer & social commentator, Charles Bailey. CBM Entertainment. 2003.
Charles Chinchilla looked out his window and couldn’t believe his eyes. . . . It’s a winter wonderland, and Charles Chinchilla knows just what to do . . . he and his friends will make the greatest snowman in the world! But it’s not as easy as they think, and it’s time to get creative! It’s a good thing Charles always has a plan. Get ready for a snowman like no other as author and illustrator Peter Hannan tells the hilarious story of a chinchilla determined to create a true snow masterpiece!
{^Greatest Golden Hits} collects English-language versions of French-Armenian crooner {$Charles Aznavour}’s biggest hits, including his two U.K. hits, the chart-topper {&”She”} and {&”The Old Fashioned Way.”} It can safely be said that {$Aznavour} sings w
This edition of the GREATEST JOURNEYS series takes viewers on a unique voyage through some of England's most impressive locales. Venturing off the beaten path, this one-hour documentary provides an alternative to traditional sight-seeing programs by focusing on locations other than the popular sights one would expect from a tour of England. A quirky itinerary is used to give viewers a well-rounded sense of English culture, with great emphasis placed on food, leisure, and celebration. Through on-site visits, viewers are able to learn about geography, architecture, history, and the British way of life.Using one of history's most important and influential authors as a jumping point, THE JOURNEYS OF CHARLES DICKENS explores a crucial period of English history. Dickens' famous characters are used as vehicles for examining the cultural, economic, and scientific impact of Queen Victoria's reign, which began in 1837; with Dickens functioning as a central figure, this documentary illustrates how a specific time in history paved the way for England as it exists today.
The focus of filmmaker Don McGlynn’s fourth documentary on a musical figure is arguably one of the greatest composers of the 20th century, Charles Mingus. The mad/genius, poet/musician forever changed American popular music and jazz with his classical inf
Charles Dickens Collection 2 (4-Pack)These four acclaimed adaptations bring to life the legendary characters, devastating drama, and coarse humor of one of the world’s greatest novelists.Source: Warner Home Video
The amazing Ray Charles – in a series of sizzling live performances drawn from various stages of his astonishing career. While these performances showcase many of the best-loved Ray Charles hits – `Let The Good Times Roll, ` `Mess Around, ` `What’d I Say, ` `I Got A Woman ` and so many others – there is nothing too-familiar about any of these renditions. Ray’s vocals are always passionate, spontaneous, and joyful; extended arrangements showcase the greatest sidemen and soloists; the interplay between Ray and his bands (and in some cases the Raelettes) is always dramatic and intense. From early stardom represented by the rocking Ed Sullivan TV performance of `What’d I Say, ` to the huge concert-hall audiences going crazy for `Mess Around, ` to a meeting with giants Fats Domino and Jerry Lee Lewis on the Hank Williams classic `Jambalaya, ` these amazing performances remind us of the charisma, brilliance, and sheer musicality of Ray Charles.
This is a wonderful compilation, full of gems like “’Round Midnight,” “Blue in Green,” “How Deep Is the Ocean,” “Bye Bye Blackbird,” and many others recorded with a virtual litany of jazz greats, including John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Horace Silver, Hank Jones, Cannonball Adderley, Charles Mingus, Art Blakey, Max Roach, and so many more, containing over two and a half hours of mid-period Miles Davis doing what he did best — finding the heart of a ballad and making it sound like his Harmon-muted trumpet was crying the blues for all the lost and lonely souls in the world. ~ Steve Leggett, Rovi Performers: Betty Glamann – Harp; Eddie Costa – Vibraphone; Milt Jackson – Vibraphone; Teddy Charles – Vibraphone; Art Blakey – Drums; Art Taylor – Drums; Barney Wilen – Sax (Tenor); Barry Galbraith – Guitar; Bill Evans – Piano; Britt Woodman – Trombone;
Ray Charles…a man with no sight but with great vision. Here is a star-packed tribute to this musical genius taped live in Pasadena with Ray performing his greatest hits and duets with Michael Bolton, Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight and Willie Nelson. 1991/color/90 min/NR/fullscreen.
This 11-cut greatest-hits collection of the recordings of Charles Mingus is simply comprised of what are considered to be his best-known titles recorded for the Atlantic label between 1956 and 1959. The title tune from Pithecanthropus Erectus kicks off th
One of {$Charles Dickens}’ greatest novels is once again adapted for the screen in this {\animated} {\drama} for the whole family. {%Pip} is a young orphan who seems cursed to live a life of dire poverty and little opportunity until he encounters a runawa
Ten-year-old Henry has just gotten the job of his life assistant to Charles Darwin on a voyage of the HMS Beagle. He will help Darwin collect all the creatures that fly, scuttle, and leap on this expedition to faraway lands. Little does he know that it will be one of the greatest scientific expeditions of all time! As the trip gets under way, Henry records everything he sees and does in his diary, providing readers with a firsthand account of the famous adventure. Fictionally told but based on facts, Charles Darwin puts an innovative spin on the story and accomplishments of the most famous naturalist in history, and it`s now available in paperback.
Charles Dickens Collection 2 (4-Pack)These four acclaimed adaptations bring to life the legendary characters, devastating drama, and coarse humor of one of the world’s greatest novelists.Source: Warner Home Video
A critic wrote: ‘Every writer of fiction, although he may not adopt the dramatic form, writes in effect for the stage.’ When considering the statement in relation to Dickens we cannot take the word ‘stage’ too literally. Much of Dickens’s writing involves the evocation of landscapes, such as the marshes in ‘Great Expectations’ or Yarmouth beach in ‘David Copperfield’ which could not be accommodated on the stage. Nor could the stage accommodate the numerous changes of scene which occur in Dickens’s novels. The ‘stage’ Dickens refers to is the stage of the reader’s imagination, and his narrative technique plays upon that ‘stage’ to grip and hold our imaginations.
Dickens’s dramatic technique has more in common with the cinema than with theatre; but the cinema is essentially a dramatic medium in that it functions through character, action, dialogue, and setting, and only minimally through literary techniques. In this essay I will look at some of the dramatic, and literary, techniques found in Dickens’s writing, and consider their effectiveness and their limitations.
When we think of a Dickens novel it is pictures and dramatic events which spring first to mind. In pictures we see, for example, Peggoty’s boathouse at Yarmouth in ‘David Copperfield’, the interior of Fagin’s den in ‘Oliver Twist’, and the frozen wedding feast in Miss Havisham’s room in ‘Great Expectations’. Among the dramatic events we might recall Magwitch threatening Pip in the churchyard, Oliver asking for more, and Uriah Heep being unmasked by Micawber.
Dickens’s ‘pictures’ are an integral part of the fabric of the narrative, conveying meanings in themselves, and unlike, for example James Joyce’s descriptions, we are not required to interpret the images looking for symbolism, but to see them vividly. It is through conjuring images on the stage of our imagination that he draws us into the story. For example:
‘She was dressed in rich materials – satins, and lace, and silks – all of white. Her shoes were white. And she had a long white veil dependent from her hair, and she had bridal flowers in her hair, but her hair was white. Some bright jewels sparkled on her neck and on her hands, and some other jewels lay sparkling on the table.’ (Great Expectations. Ch.8.)
The words of this passage serve only one purpose, that we should see the scene in our imagination. The writer’s stance is that of an objective reporter, and the short factual sentences, packed with detailed observation, do not in themselves convey any response or judgement. The reader responds not to the words, but to the picture. In fact the passage is notable for the total absence of emotive words. Nowhere do we see words such as ‘decay’, ‘horror’, ‘stagnation’ or ‘death’, and yet we can feel, or at least understand, Pip’s horror at finding himself in this room where the only sign of life is the movement of the dark eyes looking at him.
As an example of a dramatic event, using action and dialogue we can take this passage from ‘Oliver Twist’.
‘Before Oliver had time to look round, Sikes had caught him under the arms; and in three or four seconds he and Toby lay on the grass on the other side. Sikes followed directly. And they stole cautiously towards the house.
. . . He clasped His Hands together, and involuntarily uttered a subdued exclamation of horror. A mist came before his eyes; the cold sweat stood upon his ashy face; on his limbs failed him; and he sank upon his knees.
‘Get up!’ murmured Sikes, trembling with rage, and drawing the pistol from his pocket; ‘Get up or I’ll strew your brains upon the grass.’
Here the movement of the dramatic action is so powerful that we do not really need the dialogue; we would understand perfectly what was going on if the scene were presented as a silent film. Oliver is being forced, against his will, in a certain direction, and he is resisting with all his might, both physically and morally. The dramatic scene reflects the way Oliver has been forced into roles against his will ever since he was born in the workhouse. This is Dickens at his most dramatic, placing characters and actions vividly on the stage of our imaginations.
Much of Dickens’s writing functions in this way, but there is also much which is non-dramatic which functions on a verbal, literary level.
‘She was most noticeable, I thought, in respect of her extremities; for her hair always wanted brushing, her hands always wanted washing, and her shoes always wanted mending and pulling up at heel. This description must be received with a weekday limitation. On Sundays she went to church elaborated.’ (‘Great Expectations’ Ch.7.)
The reader might create a visual picture of Biddy from these fragments, but the passage really conveys ideas rather than images, and makes its impact through the use of language, achieving an effect which has no direct parallel in film or drama.
A more subtle literary technique, which also goes beyond the limitations of drama, is illustrated near the opening of ‘Great Expectations’:
As I never saw my father or my mother, and never saw any likeness of either of them (for their days were long before the days of photographs), my first fancies regarding what they were like were unreasonably derived from their tombstones. The shape of the letters on my father’s gave me an odd idea that he was a square, stout, dark man, with curly black hair. (‘Great Expectations’ Ch.1.)
This passage conveys an intimate and complex process in which an individual’s thoughts mingle with his perception of the outside world. The activity here is purely conceptual, illustrating the strength of literature over theatre or film – its ability to communicate concepts and intangible thought processes.
‘David Copperfield’ is perhaps the least dramatic of these three novels. Like ‘Great Expectations’ it is a fictional autobiography in the first person, but unlike Pip, David has become a writer and is consciously interested in his craft. Thus in reading ‘David Copperfield’ we are far more aware of the fact that we are being told a story that we are in ‘Great Expectations’.
My school days! The silent gliding on of my existence – the unseen, unfelt progress of my life – from childhood up to youth! Let me think, as I look back upon that flowing water, now a dry channel overgrown with leaves, whether there are any marks along its course by which I can remember how it ran. (‘David Copperfield’ Ch.18.)
This is the work of a self-conscious artist primarily interested in his own imagination, and again there is an intimacy between author and reader which cannot be achieved in a dramatic medium.
One could not talk about Dickens’s drama without mentioning his characters. The variety and memorability of Dickens’s characters is perhaps his greatest achievement as a writer. Often they are caricatures, but caricatures which capture something which is present in life. Every public school must have its Steerforth, criminal circle its Bill and Nancy, fishing community it Peggoty. These are the characters Dickens puts upon his ‘stage’.
I should like to conclude with a passage whose relevance to the theme of this essay is self-evident. Perhaps it is reasonable to suppose that it gives us an insight into Dickens’s creative mind as well as Pip’s.
‘what he did say presented pictures to me, and not mere words. In the excited and exalted state of my brain, I could not think of a place without seeing it, or persons without seeing them. It is impossible to overstate the vividness of these images’ (‘Great Expectations’ Ch. 53.)
Copyright Ian Mackean. Read the full version of this essay at:
