For six decades, writer and editor Robert A. Parker has followed up each book he reads, mainly novels, with an evaluation. His comments are informed by an independent critical view that balances a moral and literary sensibility. In this first of six volumes, the authors covered range from Kobo Abe to Michael Cunningham. They include Richard Adams, Russell Banks, Anthony Burgess, A.S. Byatt, James Carroll, Willa Cather, J. M. Coetzee, and Joseph Conrad. The commentaries are listed alphabetically by author, and the books by the date of publication for each author. Some authors are represented by one book, some by five or more. Future volumes will cover additional authors alphabetically. The writers here represent a broad range of writing styles, cultural influences, and moral philosophies. And all are rated on their literary achievement, the effectiveness of plot, character, and setting, plus their recognition of the moral, ethical, and spiritual values of mankind.

A Jewish woman in love with a Prussian officer moves to Hitler’s Berlin in this ominous, “spectacular” novel by the New York Times–bestselling author (Kirkus Reviews). Every afternoon, Paule tends to her father’s newspaper clippings and listens to his stories. An actor, Paul-Alain Bernheim has a sexual appetite and a lust for life that have made him a legend of the Paris stage. He is also a fiercely proud Jew, and he has imbued his daughter with an unshakeable pride in the history of her people. So why, she wonders, has she fallen in love with a German? From the moment Paule spots Wilhelm von Rhode at an embassy reception, she can’t take her eyes off him. So after a whirlwind Paris romance, when von Rhode is recalled to Berlin, Paule follows as his wife. But as the Nazis tighten their stranglehold on Germany and the world prepares for war, their love may not survive what is to come. “Fascinating.” —Life

Writer and editor Robert A. Parker has followed up his six-volume A Literary Cavalcade with a seventh volume. This volume of criticism covers mainly the fiction he has read from 2013 to early 2017. His comments are informed by his Jesuit upbringing but also by an independent critical view that balances a moral and literary sensibility. The writers here represent a broad range of writing styles, cultural influences, and moral philosophies. And all are rated on their literary achievement, the effectiveness of plot, character, and setting, plus their recognition of the moral, ethical, and spiritual values of mankind. Here is a unique critical perspective that measures the meaning of literature against the meaning of life.

For six decades, writer and editor Robert A. Parker has followed up each book he reads, mainly novels, with an evaluation of that book. His comments are informed by an independent critical view that balances a moral and literary sensibility. In this second of six volumes, the authors covered range from Henri Daniel-Rops to Jose Maria Gironalla. They include Don DeLillo, Peter Dexter, E. L. Doctorow, Umberto Eco, Shusaku Endo, Louise Erdrich, William Faulkner, F. Scott Fitzgerald, John Fowles, E. M. Forster, Carlos Fuentes, and Gabriel Garcia Marquez, as well as a few mystery authors and historians. The commentaries are listed alphabetically by author, and the books by the date of publication for each author. The writers here represent a broad range of writing styles, cultural influences, and moral philosophies. And all are rated on their literary achievement, the effectiveness of plot, character, and setting, plus their recognition of the moral, ethical, and spiritual values of mankind.

For six decades, writer and editor Robert A. Parker has followed up each book he reads, mainly novels, with an evaluation of that book. His comments are informed by his Jesuit upbringing but also by an independent critical view that balances a moral and literary sensibility. In this sixth of six volumes, the authors covered range from Ignazio Silone to Emile Zola. They include Solzhenitsyn, Spark, Stegner, Styron, Tanizaki, Tolstoy, Turow, Unsworth, Updike, Vargas Llosa, Warren, Waugh, and Wilder. The commentaries are listed alphabetically by author, and the books by the date of publication. At least 115 authors are included in this volume, some represented by one book, some by five or more. The writers here represent a broad range of writing styles, cultural influences, and moral philosophies. And all are rated on their literary achievement, on plot, character, and setting, plus the moral, ethical, and spiritual values of mankind. Here, the meaning of literature is measured against the meaning of life.