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A great family READ ALOUD:
I orginally found this book in my grandfather's bookcase in the mid 1950s. It has been my all time favorite book ever since. Christopher Morley is an early feminist...Helen is a role model. It is a treasure and great fun to read aloud to anyone in the mood to laugh and be charmed by an enchanting story.
A bygone era?:
A friend of mine, recently in the throes of moving and having to box and cart hundreds of books, declared in exasperation that she regretted ever buying a single one of them. I jokingly told her that as penance for her biblioblasphemy, she had to read Morley's Parnassus on Wheels. This in turn led me to reread the book, and I was just as delighted by it as I was when I read it as a teenager over 40 years ago. Anyone who loves books and the countryside will love Parnassus on Wheels. It's an Adam of the Road sort of story: Roger Mifflin, a traveling bookseller, roams the farmlands and backwoods of the nation spreading the gospel of books. His faith in the power of the word is boundless. People need books, he insists, even if they don't know they need them, and his mission is to deepen the spirit and broaden the imagination of the folks he encounters by matching them up with just the book they need. Along the way he meets Helen McGill, a good-hearted spinster, and they share adventures while falling in love with one another. The plot sounds simple, and it is. But the story is written with easy grace and the characters are attractive. But what makes the story so appealing for the bibliophiles for whom Morley wrote it is the intense love of books and reading that permeates every chapter. Reading Roger Mifflin wax lyrical about specific books makes us hunger to read those books ourselves. I remember that when I first read Parnassus as a youngster, I jotted down a reading list culled from the book. Roger gave me good advice. Some of the authors he mentioned have sustained me ever since. But is Roger's love of books as antiquated--and perhaps quaint--as the horse-drawn wagon from which he sells his treasures? Has the media age's focus on images and the publishing conglomerates concern for profits over quality made book-loving a relic of the past? I don't know. But if so, I'm happy to be a dinosaur.
Wonderful old book:
We are so enjoying this book as a "read-aloud" at night. Well-written, descriptive, and shows a real love of books and adventure. Read it!
One of the best books I've ever read!:
After reading Christopher Morley's "The Haunted Bookshop", I purchased this book which was referred to in "The Haunted Bookshop". Both books are keepers and 2 of the best books on the market!! Truly enjoyable!!
Great rainy saturday escape:
Are you wishing to take a break from heavy reading? Want something short and sweet to kill a few hours on an airplane? Then this book is for you! Don't be put off by the original publish date - it could have been written this year. A simple tale, simply told, of a delightful few characters and a rolling bookstore on wheels, Parnassus on Wheels is just a fun and uplifting little book to read. No complex sub-plots, no surprise endings, just a simple story that is well told. I enjoyed this book a lot, right down to the predictable happy ending. It was a very nice break from the other stuff I've been reading, took only an afternoon to read, and I highly recommend it for what it is - a fun little story. 5 out of 5
| Author: | Christopher Morley | | Binding: | Unknown Binding | | Edition: | 1ST | | Number Of Pages: | 3 | | Publication Date: | 1931 |
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