Who has read the almost forgotten ....

[dfloyd]

author, Booth Tarkington, winner of two Pulitzer prizes. His first Pulitzer was for The Magnificent Amberson which was filmed by Orson Wells in 1941, starring Wells' troop of Mercury Players, including Agnes Moorehead and Joseph Cotton. What brings this to mind was, while browsing my library's dvds via computer, I saw that a new movie of the Magnificent Ambersons had been made by A&E. It is based upon Wells' screenplay, but it is in technicolor while the original Wells' movie was in b&w.

The film opens with a party given in 1904 by the Ambersons. The technicolor splendor of the Amberson's house and guests is reminiscent of the dinner party in Edith Wharton's The Age of Innocence. The b&w Wells' version is said to be even better than his Citizen Kane, so perhaps you should see both. In any event, this movie and its selection in the Modern Library's 100 best books is what is keeping Tarkington somewhat in the eye of the reading public.

His Penrod books of the pre WWI era created in Penrod a sort of 20th century Tom Sawyer. His novella, Monsieur Beaucaire is a rollicking romp of
18th century France. His second Pulitzer winning novel was Alice Adams, made into film by Katherine Hepburn.

My mother bought me the Penrod books when I was very young and complaining about Twain not writing any more Tom Sawyer books. I had already read Sawyer and Huck Finn plus the two Sawyer short stories, Tom Sawyer Detective and Tom Sawyer Abroad. There are three Penrod books: Penrod, Penrod and Sam, and Penrod/Jashber. These are probably too mild for today's youth acclimated to video games and high-speed chase scenes, but they are well written.

Reading a little of this very prolific author wil lighten your day. Tarkington attended Purdue and Princeton; Princeton 25 years before Scott Fitzgerald. And like Fitzgerald, he didn't graduate. Although he is the only one who has been granted two honorary degrees from the Ivy League bastion of learning.

[Jozanny]

I loaded him on the ereader; haven't gotten to it yet, but they should not have messed with the movie Orson actually wanted to make.

[PeterL]

Who could forget Penrod? There was something else good that he wrote. I started the Ambersons, but it was not what I felt like reading.

[myrna22]

author, Booth Tarkington, winner of two Pulitzer prizes. His first Pulitzer was for The Magnificent Amberson which was filmed by Orson Wells in 1941, starring Wells' troop of Mercury Players, including Agnes Moorehead and Joseph Cotton. What brings this to mind was, while browsing my library's dvds via computer, I saw that a new movie of the Magnificent Ambersons had been made by A&E. It is based upon Wells' screenplay, but it is in technicolor while the original Wells' movie was in b&w.

The film opens with a party given in 1904 by the Ambersons. The technicolor splendor of the Amberson's house and guests is reminiscent of the dinner party in Edith Wharton's The Age of Innocence. The b&w Wells' version is said to be even better than his Citizen Kane, so perhaps you should see both. In any event, this movie and its selection in the Modern Library's 100 best books is what is keeping Tarkington somewhat in the eye of the reading public.

His Penrod books of the pre WWI era created in Penrod a sort of 20th century Tom Sawyer. His novella, Monsieur Beaucaire is a rollicking romp of
18th century France. His second Pulitzer winning novel was Alice Adams, made into film by Katherine Hepburn.

My mother bought me the Penrod books when I was very young and complaining about Twain not writing any more Tom Sawyer books. I had already read Sawyer and Huck Finn plus the two Sawyer short stories, Tom Sawyer Detective and Tom Sawyer Abroad. There are three Penrod books: Penrod, Penrod and Sam, and Penrod/Jashber. These are probably too mild for today's youth acclimated to video games and high-speed chase scenes, but they are well written.

Reading a little of this very prolific author wil lighten your day. Tarkington attended Purdue and Princeton; Princeton 25 years before Scott Fitzgerald. And like Fitzgerald, he didn't graduate. Although he is the only one who has been granted two honorary degrees from the Ivy League bastion of learning.

I wouldn't base my reading selections on who has won any prizes. My impression of he Pulitzer award is that it has to do mostly with the current popularity of an author and the subject of the novel, not with the quality of the writing or the artistic merit of the work. Essentially, it is like a movie winning an Oscar. Doesn't mean much. Which is probably why, like so many Oscar winning movies, Booth Tarkington is mostly forgotten.

Mark Twain was a highly evolved satrist and his work is quite complex, has many layers of meaning, and deals with universal themes; that is why he is still read today. I haven't read Tarkington, so I wouldn't know, but, I would imagine if his work has the same level of artistry as Twain, it too would be as highly regarded.

[Scheherazade]

I have read Alice Adams and enjoyed it very much and will be reading the Andersons sortly.

Honestly speaking, I had not heard of this author till I saw his list in the Pulitzer winners' list but I like his style and he writes about a period of American history that I find interesting.

[myrna22]

I have read Alice Adams and enjoyed it very much and will be reading the Andersons sortly.

Honestly speaking, I had not heard of this author till I saw his list in the Pulitzer winners' list but I like his style and he writes about a period of American history that I find interesting.

If you enjoy reading him and find his novels engrossing because of the period of history he writes about, that's great. We should be reading for enjoyment. But, it may be that his work is sort of 'dated' as in it is work that fits in with a certain period rather than having more universal ideas.

[Jozanny]

I have read Alice Adams and enjoyed it very much and will be reading the Andersons sortly.

Honestly speaking, I had not heard of this author till I saw his list in the Pulitzer winners' list but I like his style and he writes about a period of American history that I find interesting.

If I am not too backlogged when you start it Sche I'd be willing to buddy read it, since I have to get used to my new style of reading 50 books at a time ;)

[dfloyd]

12345

[Emil Miller]

I haven't seen The Magnificent Ambersons, largely because after Citizen Kane there didn't seem anything left to say, but if Orson Welles was prepared to make film of it Booth Tarkington must have had something going for him. There was film in the 1950s called On Moonlight Bay based on the Penfold series and starring Doris Day. I recall that at the time it did not inspire confidence in the author but perhaps I was being too critical at what was after all a musical adaptation.

[PeterL]

There was film in the 1950s called On Moonlight Bay based on the Penfold series and starring Doris Day. I recall that at the time it did not inspire confidence in the author but perhaps I was being too critical at what was after all a musical adaptation.

If you meant "Penrod", then that's something that I'd love to see. It must be hilarious.

Yes, the movies exist
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bujNXaS_wHg
It looks vaguely familiar, so I think I saw it at some time.

[dfloyd]

The Magnificent Ambersons; not nearly as good as the Wells' 1942 b&w. I saw the movie with Doris Day, On Moonlight Bay (with Gordon McCrae). Did you mean it was taken from the Penrod series? It was just a bit a fluff; an early Day movie. These movies prompted the iconoclastic pianist, I can't remember his name, to say, "I knew Doris before she was a virgin."

The Penrod books are worth reading, but of course they don't come up to Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn. Monsieur Beaucaire is also worth a read, even if Bob Hope did make the movie. I just remembered the pianists name: Oscar Levant.

[Emil Miller]

The Magnificent Ambersons; not nearly as good as the Wells' 1942 b&w. I saw the movie with Doris Day, On Moonlight Bay (with Gordon McCrae). Did you mean it was taken from the Penrod series? It was just a bit a fluff; an early Day movie. These movies prompted the iconoclastic pianist, I can't remember his name, to say, "I knew Doris before she was a virgin."

The Penrod books are worth reading, but of course they don't come up to Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn. Monsieur Beaucaire is also worth a read, even if Bob Hope did make the movie. I just remembered the pianists name: Oscar Levant.

Yes I meant Penrod, I was probably thinking of Waugh's The Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold and subconsciously conflated the two. It's also just the kind of amusing rejoinder we came to expect of Oscar Levant whose wit was as sharp as his piano playing.

[dfloyd]

Penrod was just a young boy, but he did have an older sister. Tarkington wrote another book about early adolescence called Seventeen. Maybe this had something to do with the movie. In the three Penrod books, Penrod was about twelve years old. He wrote heroic books about outlaws and was always getting in some kind of jam with his friend Sam.

I'll have to see if I can find that movie, and see how it references Penrod. Its too bad that these kind of books are considered too mild for today's youth.

Speaking of Waugh, I wonder if anyone is reading Black Mischief any more? This book, while not politically correct today, was as funny as Scoop.

[myrna22]

original post. The original post, as are most of my posts, was to acquaint readers with this author. No where did I suggest that one should read authors who have won a prize. Nor did I suggest that Tarkington was on an equal literary level with Mark Twain. I think the most useful function of this forum is to acquaint readers with books and authors they have never explored, especially younger readers. The D'Artagnan Romances by Dumas have little to do with a modern world, but someone who hasn't read them is certainly missing a some delightful reads.

I have read nearly all of Twain, but his works were just briefly mentioned because, when a child, I sought more books to read after Twain's Sawyer and Huck Finn classics. You sound like a pedant or pedagogue. Many of those who teach literature are blinded from the forest because of the trees. But this is not a diatribe against your literary acumen, but a reminder to not fall into the trap of making comparisons between authors when none is required. If you haven't read Tarkington, pehaps you should try. I believe his major works are worth the little bit of time it takes to read him, namely the Magnificent Ambersons, the Penrod series, and Monsieur Beaucaire.

When I first joined this forum, I read many posts about Cormac McCarthy. I learned about a new author and promptly read three of his novels which I found interesting, but not containing any universal truths. I am always on the lookout for new books to exploare, so I was grateful to learn about McCarthy. If you only want to read books which undoubtedly contain nothing but universal truths, that is fine. But you will miss out on a lot of good reads by lesser known writers. I can only suggest to you to investigate new authors (new authors to you) before jumping to conclusions which are not pertinent to a post.

I find your post not relevant or appropriate or pertinent to my post. I'll respond to a post any way I want. Are you the forum police or something? Posters are only allowed to post responses of which you approve?

I would find it very,very appropriate rather than 'selling' a book on certain superficial qualities, to also include that there are other considerations: I would not in any way want to suggest to young and uninitiated readers that the Pulitzer Prize was a selling point for serious literature, and your post did just that.

You are the one who made comparisons between authors; I simply responded to that comparison.

I definitely don't need someone who wastes time reading Booth Tarkington to tell me I am going to miss out on a lot of great reads if I don't read what you read. How incredibly smug and rude of you to call me names. You want to tell young people what to read? How about letting them know there are levels of quality and depth in literature and Tarkington is a lightweight. Why do you want to hide that information from them?

And just a reminder: unless you run this place, you are completely out of line telling me what I may or may not post or how I should or shouldn't respond to your posts or any others.

[Emil Miller]

Penrod was just a young boy, but he did have an older sister. Tarkington wrote another book about early adolescence called Seventeen. Maybe this had something to do with the movie. In the three Penrod books, Penrod was about twelve years old. He wrote heroic books about outlaws and was always getting in some kind of jam with his friend Sam.

I'll have to see if I can find that movie, and see how it references Penrod. Its too bad that these kind of books are considered too mild for today's youth.

Speaking of Waugh, I wonder if anyone is reading Black Mischief any more? This book, while not politically correct today, was as funny as Scoop.

I read Black Mischief last year and thoroughly enjoyed it. Although Waugh died before the PC idea was propagated by liberal thinkers (?) I don't think it would have altered his persective. For example, as a staunch Catholic he took issue with the left over their support for the Communist backed Republicans in the Spanish Civil War. His travels in sub Saharan Africa taught him that, despite the wishful thinking of some of his upper class friends and the left-leaning intelligentsia, Africans were light years behind other races and he wasn't afraid to say so. His son Auberon was also anti-establishment and used to write reams of newspaper articles against anti-smoking campaigners.

[Nightshade]

I read almost all his books years ago, I Love them! My favourite was The Turmoil followed by Ramsey Milholland which seriously helped me in my AL level world war one litreature exam, I also like the Cannan onne and Alice adams and the flirt. AWasn't too keen on the Ambersons as I rember it but I think I got to them last and by then Id had a month of solid Tarkington and had reached Reader saturation.
Seventeen is hilarious and brilliant especially the scene where so comsumed with melodram the kid recites Sydney final monologue from a tale of 2 cities you know It is far far better thing I do today... to the girl he fancies. Or when he gives u his seat to her or something, oh now I need to read them all again!
I knew Moonlit bay reminded me of Tarkington for a reason!! And actually there were 2 or 3 moonlit bay movies (they are always on daytime tv!)

[estelwen]

I love Booth Tarkington! I read his "Penrod" tales and "Seventeen" many times in high school, snickering with my siblings as Penrod tried to write the story of a highwayman who constantly swore without daring to actually pronounce the words and whose teeth "met in the flech." The tortures to which his older sister had to submit, the pranks and completely unintentional disasters... I'm smiling now recalling them.

Literary value or no? All I know is that I thoroughly enjoyed everything I read of Tarkington's while I was in high school and am now determined to re-read and in fact explore some of his other works.

Thanks to dfloyd for bringing it up!

[dfloyd]

for more than fifty years. I remember Penrod writing about the highwayman. I just watched the new A&E prosuction of The Magnificent Ambersons. While it was not bad, I thought the Wells' 1942 movie with his old Mercury Players was better. The aunt, portrayed by Agnes Moorhead, was unforgetable. Now I'm going to reread the Penrod and Amberson novels, as well as his Monsieur Beaucaire.