Diderot writes exquisitely of a nun who was forced into the convent by her family, and who desires nothing but to be given her freedom, and a job. As she tries to struggle out her situation, she encounters sadistic, lesbian and generally corrupt Mothers Superior, who alternatively adore or loathe her. By the time she is twenty, the nun makes an escape with an equally unhappy monk. And for the rest, you should read yourself. Like Candide, this book is a real pageturner and easy to read, while stealthily making a very Enlightenment statement about freedom for freedom's sake, and individual human rights. This book will speak to anyone who have ever struggled for anything, and to anyone who believes in Enlightenment ideas about humanity.

When i first started reading this book, i was thrilled to find one so literary, beautiful, and exciting. The characters were entertaining, intelligent, and the story was beautifully described, especially the scenes with the statue and the garden.

Yet, after 40 pages, the masochism and sadism became frankly boring, and repetative. As Wanda invented new ways to torture Severin, she really wasn't inventing anything new, just more of the same old.

Ironically, what at first seems like a progressive, amoral book, reveals itself as really a naughty fantasy of a very conservative mind, and all Wanda and Severin want to do is get married. Can anything be more boring than that? This is true perversion, and not really thinking outside of the box.

This book made learning basic economics very easy, and the examples and graphs are very clearly explained. A great book especially if you have a bad/incoherent professor.

I picked up this book at the library because of how much buzz it has received, expecting a Republican rant to giggle about, or, perchance, an actual intelligent argument worth thinking about.

Unfortunately, after making myself read 40 pages after the first 2 (at which point i wanted to throw up and return the book), I have to conclude, in all seriousness, Ann Coulter is mentally ill. Completely unrelated to her political affiliation, I think her hate for "liberals" is not healthly. She could just as well have been a rabid liberal -- I think she has an obsessive personality that latches on to an idea to explore and twist it in every direction. It's unfortunate that Coulter is encouraged by the Republican establishment, because I think that, for her own good, she should be phased out of punditry. She does not make any logical arguments, she just seems to be deliriously foaming at the mouth, and it doesn't matter to her exactly what to foam about.

As for her arguments, barely worthy of any refutation, she accusses liberals of never making logical arguments and just calling Republicans stupid, and the writes a 200 page book doing exactly that to liberals. She provides no argumentation, she just calls people names. There's nothing admirable about this; it's pathetic, and makes me pity her for being so obsessed beyond the reach of any reason.

This edition of "Flowers of Evil" contains all of the poems, not in their original order. However, ample introductory material and two tables of contents allows the reader to see what the work was when it was first published.

The poems themselves cover many subjects in traditional symbolist style, from cats to gypsies to corpses to a whole section on wine. A must for any student of poetry.

However, if you're looking for a translation that is true word for word and does not attempt to preserve the meter and rhyme, this is not the book for you. Mcentyre does a fabulous job tweaking the enlish to preserve poetic structure, but for students of French, and those interested in doing their own translations, other editions are preferable.

This book often made me very angry, and i would put it down for a month because i would feel too disgusted with what i had read. On the other hand, some pasages, chapters even, are beautifully written. Nonetheless, the overly brutish sexual adventures of Miller described in the book are often too much to bear.

McCarthy writes with wit about the history, current conditions(1964, when the book was published) and tourist attractions in Florence. Her advice is invaluable for finding little-known churches, and her descriptions of life in the city, and advice on when to go and where to stay, are vivid and helpful for any traveler in Italy.

This cd has everything, and makes me feel better when i put it in the cd player.