Hobbits and wizards and Sauron--oh, my! Mild-mannered Oxford scholar John Ronald Reuel Tolkien had little inkling when he published The Hobbit; Or, There and Back Again in 1937 that, once hobbits were unleashed upon the world, there would be no turning back. Hobbits are, of course, small, furry creatures who love nothing better than a leisurely life quite free from adventure. But in that first novel and the Lord of the Rings trilogy, the hobbits Bilbo and Frodo and their elfish friends get swept up into a mighty conflict with the dragon Smaug, the dark lord Sauron (who owes much to proud Satan in Paradise Lost), the monstrous Gollum, the Cracks of Doom, and the awful power of the magical Ring.The four books' characters--good and evil--are recognizably human, and the realism is deepened by the magnificent detail of the vast parallel world Tolkien devised, inspired partly by his influential Anglo-Saxon scholarship and his Christian beliefs. (He disapproved of the relative sparseness of detail in the comparable allegorical fantasy his friend C.S. Lewis dreamed up in The Chronicles of Narnia, though he knew Lewis had spun a page-turning yarn.) It has been estimated that one-tenth of all paperbacks sold can trace their ancestry to J.R.R. Tolkien. But even if we had never gotten Robert Jordan's The Path of Daggers and the whole fantasy genre Tolkien inadvertently created by bringing the hobbits so richly to life, Tolkien's epic about the Ring would have left our world enhanced by enchantment. --Tim Appelo ... Read more

Features

• Box set

Isbn: 0345340426
Subjects:  1. Classics    2. Fantasy    3. Fantasy - Epic    4. Fantasy - Series    5. Literature - Classics / Criticism   

Dave Thomas and Rick Moranis created their popular toque-wearing, beer-swigging "Great White North" hosers Bob and Doug McKenzie on the great TV comedy show SCTV to fulfill a Canadian broadcasting regulation that required Canadian shows to have a certain amount of "Canadian content." Bob and Doug became so popular that they made a hit record (Take Off, with Geddy Lee, nasalist with the Canadian rock band Rush) and this Major Motion Picture--filmed in "Hoserama." Bob and Doug are the Cheech and Chong of beer, so the plot involves the boys's attempt to scam a free case of Elsinore beer from the brewery, which is run by a mad scientist Brewmeister Smith (Max von Sydow), who wants to rule the world, like all mad scientists do. Strange Brew's intoxicating blend of hops and malt--er ... cleverness and silliness--earned it a loyal and well-deserved cult following. --Jim Emerson ... Read more

Features

• Color
• Closed-captioned
• NTSC

Asin: B00004RF9M
Subjects:  1. Feature Film-comedy   

DeLillo is at his dark, hilarious best in this 1985 National Book Award winner, a novel that preceded but anticipated the explosion of the Internet, tabloid television, and the dialed-in, wired-up, endlessly accelerated tenor of the culture we live in. He doesn't just describe life in a hypermediated society, he re-creates it. His characters repeat phrases, information, and rumor gleaned from television, radio, and other media sources like people speaking in code. And DeLillo has seeded the book with short gemlike episodes that demand to be read aloud, and that haunt the imagination years after their first reading: a visit to the Most Photographed Barn in America. A plane that nearly falls out of the sky. An hour in a classroom, canonizing Elvis. These vignettes are vivid and unique, yet, like the phrases from television shows that interject themselves, out of context, into Gladney's consciousness, they are strangely unconnected to one another--reflections of the lives DeLillo is showing us we lead. --Jan Bultmann ... Read more

Isbn: 0140283307
Subjects:  1. Classics    2. Delillo, Don - Prose & Criticism    3. Fiction    4. Fiction - General    5. Literary    6. Literature: Classics   

Neil Diamond is one of a rare breed. As a songwriter, his music has been covered successfully by artists as diverse as the Monkees, Deep Purple, UB40, and Smash Mouth. But Diamond used that three-chord alchemy to build an unparalleled career as a performer as well. The 38 tracks on these two discs address those interlocking legacies in the most comprehensive manner yet, gathering his material from Bang! Records (including such pop staples as "Solitary Man," "Cherry, Cherry," "Kentucky Woman," "Red, Red Wine," and "I'm a Believer"), Universal (highlighted by "Sweet Caroline," Song Sung Blue," "Holly Holy," and "I Am ... I Said"), and Columbia for the first time. And if Diamond has veered toward the middle of the road on those latter recordings (such as "September Morn," "Heartlight," and the Streisand duet "You Don't Bring Me Flowers"), there remains a remarkable consistency throughout his work. As if to underscore the point, a number of mid-period hits (including "Shiloh," "Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show," and "Soolaimon") are featured as live recordings from fall 2001. These performances show that the sweet roughness of his voice has only grown in power and drama; it's small wonder that Diamond remains one of the top live draws in the business. Even if it overlooks Diamond's unlikely late-'90s hit country album (Tennessee Moon), this set manages to be both concise and thorough, the best introduction yet to an American music legend. --Jerry McCulley ... Read more

Features

• Original recording remastered

Asin: B00005R5SO
Subjects:  1. Adult Contemporary    2. Pop    3. Pop Vocals    4. Pop/Rock    5. Soft Rock   

Myst Trilogy includes:
Myst Masterpiece The remastered version of Myst. In this acclaimed first adventure, embark on an intrepid journey into a strange world and its mysteries--a world wracked by intrigue, betrayal, and inexplicable distortions of time and space. Join Atrus as you discover the secrets of the D'ni civilization, where books are portals into other worlds, and lessons of the past shape your future.
Riven: The Sequel to Myst Riven plunges you deeper into a world cursed by bewildering rifts in time. Every shadow hides a secret, and appearances are never what they seem. Atrus needs you once again; help him free his wife, Catherine, and untangle the daunting mysteries of Riven.
Myst III: Exile A decade has transpired since Riven. Now Atrus and Catherine's efforts to rebuild the D'ni civilization are jeopardized by a new enemy. Saavedro, bent on avenging his ruined existence, has emerged from exile to claim vengeance upon Atrus's two sons. ... Read more

Asin: B0000639O2
Subjects:  1. Computer Games    2. Adventure    3. Collections (Collections)    4. Bundle (Bundles)   

The book's mystic religiosity is steeped in Robertson Davies's Deptford trilogy, and the fatal baseball relates to the fatefully misdirected snowball in the first Deptford novel, Fifth Business. Tiny, symbolic Owen echoes the hero of Irving's teacher Günter Grass's The Tin Drum--the two characters share the same initials. A rollicking entertainment, Owen Meany is also a meditation on literature, history, and God. --Tim Appelo ... Read more

Isbn: 0345361792
Subjects:  1. Fiction    2. Fiction - General    3. Literary    4. Fiction / Literary