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Parnassus On Wheels

4.09 of 5 stars 4.09 · rating details · 797 ratings · 187 reviews

I imagined him in his beloved Brooklyn, strolling in Prospect Park and preaching to chance comers about his gospel of good books.

"When you sell a man a book," says Roger Mifflin, the sprite-like book peddler at the center of this classic novella, "you don't sell him just twelve ounces of paper and ink and glue—you sell him a whole new life." In this beguiling but little-kn...more

Paperback, 142 pages

Published August 31st 2010 by Melville House (first published 1917)

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Bartleby, the Scrivener by Herman Melville

The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle

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Apr 13, 2011 Abigail rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Booksellers, Librarians, Bibliophiles...

Shelves: fiction

Review Temporarily Removed.

9 likes · like · see review

Sep 21, 2012 Mikki rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: novellas, books-about-books

"What absurd victims of contrary desires we are! If a man is settled in one place he yearns to wander; when he wanders he yearns to have a home. And yet how bestial is content—all the great things in life are done by discontented people."

-- Roger Mifflin of Mifflin's Travelling Parnassus

This is a tale of adventure, and although actual mileage is accrued and county lines are crossed, it's really more a personal journey -- one woman's mission to travel outside her comfort borders.

For the past 15...more "What absurd victims of contrary desires we are! If a man is settled in one place he yearns to wander; when he wanders he yearns to have a home. And yet how bestial is content—all the great things in life are done by discontented people."

-- Roger Mifflin of Mifflin's Travelling Parnassus

This is a tale of adventure, and although actual mileage is accrued and county lines are crossed, it's really more a personal journey -- one woman's mission to travel outside her comfort borders.

For the past 15 years, all had been well in the life of Helen McGill. Having traded in the rigid demands of the city for simpler ways on a farm, she and her brother, Andrew, settled into a comfortable routine tending to the home, land, and animals. The farm was prosperous, but the work left little time for leisure and so the only "literature" to cross the threshold were government agriculture reports and the occasional Sears and Roebuck catalog. Though that was just fine by Helen because as she put it, "I was more concerned with sitting hens than with sonnets" and so they lived a quiet uneventful life and were...content. That is until an unexpected delivery of books arrived on the doorstep and brought her cozy little idyllic world to an end.

Parnassus on Wheels is a fun little book about books that can easily be read in a few hours. Though it was somewhat easy to foresee the direction of the plot, the witty dialogue and quotable passages on life and reading and love were more than enough to keep me interested and still reading. The wonderful message in this simple story is that books are capable of opening up whole new worlds in our lives. They are the gateways to adventure and knowledge -- taking us on unexpected journeys to places we might never have known.

I'll leave you with a favorite passage:

"I think reading a good book makes one modest. When you see the marvelous insight into human nature which a truly great book shows, it is bound to make you feel small—like looking at the Dipper on a clear night, or seeing the winter sunrise when you go out to collect the morning eggs. And anything that makes you feel small is mighty good for you."

I will be reading its sequel,The Haunted Bookshop, within the next few weeks which takes Helen's story to a bookshop in Brooklyn.

3.5(less)

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Jan 06, 2013 Petra X rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Petra X by: 3131238-judy

Shelves: 2013-reviews, fiction

This is a pilot for a new feel-good tv series:

Opening Credits:
It is a glorious morning on a deserted track somewhere in the rural Midwest. Rolling on the lane is a long gypsy-type wagon being pulled by a great big horse. On the open seat upfront holding the reins is a cheery man of middle years with kind brown eyes who is laughing gently in a conversational kind of way with a fat, rather plain but very jolly lady. They are wearing clothes the era when cars and wagons shared the roads, 1917.(vie ...more This is a pilot for a new feel-good tv series:

Opening Credits:
It is a glorious morning on a deserted track somewhere in the rural Midwest. Rolling on the lane is a long gypsy-type wagon being pulled by a great big horse. On the open seat upfront holding the reins is a cheery man of middle years with kind brown eyes who is laughing gently in a conversational kind of way with a fat, rather plain but very jolly lady. They are wearing clothes the era when cars and wagons shared the roads, 1917.(view spoiler)

Can't you just see it? It was just made for tv. The late Mike Landon would have been perfect casting.

Brilliant, lovely, heart-warming book. Beautifully-written without any suspense at all. Each rather obvious episode gives warning of what is to come next and the whole thing unfolds in a pastoral, slower-times, comfy, apple-pie kind of way. A nice book to read if you have a touch of flu and are sipping a hot toddy curled up on the sofa.(less)

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Apr 13, 2013 Joe Miguez rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A minor classic, "Parnassus on Wheels" was inducted into the prestigious Modern Library collection in the late 1930s. But not long thereafter it, and its witty, thoughtful author, Christopher Morley, dropped into obscurity.

I stumbled across the Modern Library edition during a recent trip to Powell's Books in Portland. I'd similarly stumbled upon another of Morley's lost works, "Human Being," at Recycled Books in Denton, TX. I've now read both, and think I understand both why Morley was viewed a...more

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Jul 01, 2012 Yossibarzilai rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Muy divertida, ingeniosa, más en las reflexiones que en la trama e incluso cómica a veces rozando el slapstick. Una lectura muy agradable.

"Son casi increíble las estratagemas a las que descienden ciertos editores"
"When you sell a man a book you don't sell him just twelve ounces of paper and ink and glue- you sell him a whole new life"
"A veces tengo la impresión de que los editores saben menos de libros que nadie"
"La última vez quería algo de Shakespeare pero no se lo di porque no lo vi preparado...more

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Sep 06, 2011 Bev Hankins rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

Actually finished this one late last night, so it counts for the last of my Classic Bribe Challenge Reads. Parnassus on Wheels (1917) is the first novel by Christopher Morley. It tells the story of Helen McGill who is getting tired of taking care of her older brother Andrew who has recently become a famous "homespun" author and who is spending less and less time doing the farm chores that are supposed to be his end of the bargain. One day Roger Mifflin, owner of the Parnassus on Wheels traveling...more

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Jul 21, 2011 Marie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Parnassus on Wheels is a charming little story.

As a teenager, I fell in love with a beautiful old leather-bound copy of David Grayson's Adventures in Contentment, I think as much for the beautiful gold moon on its leather cover as for the gentle story inside, which told of a young man in the early 1900s becoming ill and leaving the rat race to enjoy the simple life of a farmer, along with his sister, Harriet. It had a utopian sort of simple poetry about it, though as I recall, Harriet isn't real...more

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Apr 21, 2010 Kate added it · review of another edition

The year is 1915. Our heroine is Helen McGill, a thirty-nine year old spinster who assists her brother Andrew in the running of his New England farm. Andrew is a literary man, however, and since his books have become successful, his attention to the farm and his appreciation of the work that Helen does have diminished considerably. Helen takes pride in her domestic accomplishments but she doesn't like being saddled with all the work and she doesn't like being taken for granted. Enter our unlikel...more The year is 1915. Our heroine is Helen McGill, a thirty-nine year old spinster who assists her brother Andrew in the running of his New England farm. Andrew is a literary man, however, and since his books have become successful, his attention to the farm and his appreciation of the work that Helen does have diminished considerably. Helen takes pride in her domestic accomplishments but she doesn't like being saddled with all the work and she doesn't like being taken for granted. Enter our unlikely hero. Roger Mifflin rolls into the farmyard in the "Parnassus on Wheels" of the title: a travelling bookshop. He's been travelling around the countryside evangelizing about literature but he's ready to pack it in to write a book of his own. He's seeking a buyer for the Parnassus and he thought that Andrew would be a likely candidate. In an uncharacteristically impulsive moment, Helen makes the purchase herself. She rationalizes that she’s simply trying to prevent Andrew from doing the same and disappearing from the farm once and for all. But it soon becomes apparent that the seemingly settled Helen is out for a bit of adventure. In the travelling book trade, she finds it.

Just to give you a bit of the flavour of the book, here’s Roger Mifflin on the power of books:

"Lord!" he said, "when you sell a man a book you don't sell him just twelve ounces of paper and ink and glue -- you sell him a whole new life. Love and friendship and humour and ships at sea by night -- there’s all heaven and earth in a book, a real book I mean."

And Helen on the sudden change in her life:

Since the morning of the day before my whole life had twisted out of its accustomed orbit. I had spent four hundred dollars of my savings; I had sold about thirteen dollars' worth of books; I had precipitated a fight and met a philosopher. Not only that, I was dimly beginning to evolve a new philosophy of my own.

Parnassus on Wheels serves up adventure and romance in witty fashion with a heartening message about the power of good books underlying it all.(less)

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Jan 02, 2010 Eric rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Parnassus on Wheels, originally published in 1917, is a cheerful enough book, concerning Andrew and Helen McGill, a brother and sister who ditch the city and take up the farming life. Everything's copacetic until the day they inherit a relative's library, which promptly sends everything to Hell. Pretty soon Andrew is not only reading as he plows the fields, but starts writing books, eventually neglecting his "practical" work to crank out bestselling homespun homilies. Sort of Green Acres in reve...more

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Apr 20, 2009 Christy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The first of Christopher Morley's two bookselling novels ("The Haunted Bookshop" is the second), this book breathed wind into my sails, a true, fable-ish bookseller's manifesto.

Helen McGill is an ordinary, middle-aged "housewife" for her brother Andrew, whose literary aspirations have interfered with the running of their New England farm. One day when Andrew is out, a "Parnussus" (like a tinker wagon I imagine) rolls up and out jumps a little red-haired man (R. Mifflin), a cross between a lepre...more

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Sep 06, 2012 Mmars rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Quick little story that harkens back to quaint times in rural America, when travelers were welcomed to come on in for a meal and a good night's sleep.

I'm not THAT old, but I do remember my brother asking every visitor who happened to be on our farm at lunch time if they'd like to come in to eat. My mother would whip off her apron and go out and stay one step ahead of him. Although our Avon lady (who thankfully didn't stop by over meal time) would bring her dreadful children with her and we HAD...more

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Sep 27, 2011 Jessica rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011

Read my full review here: http://virtualmargin.blogspot.com/2011/08/parnassus-on-wheels-41100.html

Not only is Christopher Morley's novella Parnassus on Wheels a book about books, it's a book about bookselling. A romantic comedy about bookselling! And there's a dog! Cuteness overload.

The story recounts the tale of a middle-aged woman, who, tired of taking care of her brother, the farm, and the house for so many years, decides to go on her own adventure. She buys a traveling caravan used as a book...more

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Mar 27, 2013 Ralph rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

When Helen McGill's brother, Andrew, suddenly becomes a famous author, a rural philosopher compared to the likes of Thoreau and Whitman, it is a sad day indeed. Suddenly, she is left to care for the farm all by herself while he rambles about the countryside, not that he was ever really much of a help anyway, with his nose always either in a book or in the clouds. Not only does she have to care for the chickens, milk the cow, etc., but now she has the added duty of burning most of the letters tha...more

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Apr 29, 2012 Mary Beth Williams rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book by Christopher Morley and its companion, "The Haunted Bookshop" are 2 long time favorites of mine. They have been on my most treasured bookshelf every place I have lived.

"Parnassus on Wheels" is story of a marvelous man who is small in staure and Olympic in personality. With his traveling book wagon, named Parnassus, and his companion, Helen McGill who was in her 39th year of life and seeking adventure, moves through New England countryside during 1915 on an itinerant mission of enlig...more

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Dec 02, 2011 Colleen rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

For lack of a more original description, this is a charming book--a pleasant diversion for an hour or two. Helen McGill, self-professed "fat old fool," thinks she is content tending farm with her brother, Andrew. That is, until Andrew becomes a famous author. Helen watches Andrew disappear on writing jags, traveling the country meeting his readers and neglecting their farm...and grows more and more resentful. So she is ripe for an adventure of her own when Roger Mifflin shows up in the farmyard...more

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May 29, 2011 Sharyl rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011-reads

This is a quaint, sweet novella. The term Parnassas on Wheels describes a moble used book store--a veritable mountain of books run by a rather eccentric middle-aged little man named Roger Mifflin. Roger is all alone with Pegasus, his chubby white horse and Bock, his little terrier, until he decides to sell his venture to someone else so that he can relax and write his own book. Enter Helen McGill, the overworked and bored spinster sister of a successful author. Their first meeting is not friendl...more

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Oct 30, 2012 Beleth rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012, club_lectura, imprescindibles

He aquí una novela curiosa, emotiva, sorprendente...de la que no esperaba gran cosa pero que me ha dado mucho a cambio. La librería ambulante es claramente un libro de libros, donde los amantes de la literatura verán mencionados un sinfín de autores y novelas y podrán sacar a relucir ese "librero" que todos llevamos dentro y empezar a recomednar sin control obras y otras.

Este libro fue publicado a principios del siglo XX, cosa que hay que tener en cuenta para poder disfrutarla a conciencia. Las...more He aquí una novela curiosa, emotiva, sorprendente...de la que no esperaba gran cosa pero que me ha dado mucho a cambio. La librería ambulante es claramente un libro de libros, donde los amantes de la literatura verán mencionados un sinfín de autores y novelas y podrán sacar a relucir ese "librero" que todos llevamos dentro y empezar a recomednar sin control obras y otras.

Este libro fue publicado a principios del siglo XX, cosa que hay que tener en cuenta para poder disfrutarla a conciencia. Las mujeres en aquella época estaban mucho más controladas, siempre ocultas bajo la sombra de un hombre y en ninguna mente cabe que algo así pudiera pasar. Helen McGill vive con su hermano Andrew y se encarga de limpiar la casa y cocinar. Lleva toda la vida en una granja haciendo sus labores... y nunca ha echado en falta nada. Pero entonces llega Roger. Aunque antes... retrocedamos un poco.

Andrew, el hermano, ha pasado de ser granjero a granjero-escritor y sus obras son conocidas por todo el territorio. Le acosan periodistas día y noche y ha vivido más de una aventura con el fin de "documentarse" para sus libros. Y entonces llega Roger. Ahí sí.

Como decía, llega Roger al mando de una caravanucha de tres al cuarto tirada por una yegua. Quiere vender su peculiar librería ambulante y piensa que Roger es su comprador ideal. El problema es que no cuenta con la impetuosa Helen, que desde el primer momento le inteneta parar los pies. Antes siquiera de que su hermano llegue a casa ya hace varios intentos por deshacerse de él, pero entonces se da cuenta de algo... ¿Si ella comprase la caravana... podría evitar que su hermano lo hiciera? Dicho y hecho. Helen se convierte en la feliz propietaria de un perro, una yegua y un buen montón de libros.

A partir de ese momento Helen se convierte en librera, duerme entre libros, disfruta de su tacto, de su olor... de su sabor literario, y de las mil azañas de Roger. Ambos vivirán tremendas aventuras a bordo de esa fuente inagotable de sabiduría que les hará cambiar de una forma que jamás hubieran esperado.

Es una auténtica delicia poder descubrir cómo las vidas de ambos se van cruzando entre libro y libro, entrelazándose una con la otra, hasta que llega el momento en el que no hay marcha atrás posible. La narración es fresca y ágil, se devora en apenas un rato y deja un agradable sabor de boca, incluso mariposas en el estómago diría yo.

Helen es un personaje que me ha encantado. A pesar de comenzar siendo una mujer un tanto reprimida se convierte en algo totalmente distinto al final de la novela. Su vida es un grito por la libertad. Sus decisiones la llevarán por un camino que jamás pensó que iba a tener que recorrer y le harán madurar a marchas forzadas. Es cierto que tendrá también momentos de debilidad pero.. ¿Quién no ha tenido alguno? Roger también es un personaje de lo más pintoresco y entrañable, es imposible no enamorarse de este particular binomio.

El amor por los libros se puede sentir en cada página y en cada letra. Ya no solo por la enorme cantidad de referencias a obras famosas y no tan famosas, ya sea de forma seria o más bien tirando a cómica, si no por esa magia tan especial que rodea a los libros que tratan sobre otros libros.

Le voy a poner una pega un poco tonta... y es que me ha parecido muy corto y hubiera agradecido unas cuantas decenas más de páginas repletas de anécdotas y aventuras, que creo que se podía haber estirado considerablmente. Y hablando de todo un poco, la relación calidad/cantidad/precio también deja un poco que desear. Comprendo que sea una editorial pequeña pero... no nos pasemos, por favor.

Si estáis buscando algo diferente, que os alegre un poco el díam, que os haga soñar y retroceder unos cuantos años atrás en el tiempo, La librería ambulante es un libro más que recomendable.

http://www.book-eater.net/2012/11/res...(less)

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Oct 25, 2010 Gregory rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I'll admit to being sort of torn on how many stars to give this story. At times I feel like I'm a little too liberal with how I fling 5 stars around at book reviews. In this case, the story wasn't anything so complex. It was just a short, simple adventure vaguely reminiscent of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer if Tom Sawyer had really, really loved books. And been a woman. But I had so much fun reading it that I couldn't put the story down. It was short, sweet, and didn't try to be anything other th...more

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Aug 25, 2012 Proustitute rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: american-literature, 2012

In the early years of the twentieth century, a woman who is bored playing housewife to her literary brother purchases Parnassus from a wandering book salesman. Parnassus is "a caravan of culture," a traveling book treasure trove designed to bring books to the masses in more rural and outlying areas.

I found Morley's attention to gender issues really interesting here, plus his mixture of a bibliophile's dream—who wouldn't want to travel for a living with books literally at one's back?—with a socia...more

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May 27, 2012 Karima rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Think of these lyrics from the song "White Christmas".
"May your days be merry and bright..."
Reading this book will actualize this sentiment.

This story, first published in 1917, tells the story of one Mr. Roger Mifflin, who travels the rural countryside of the eastern United States bringing literature to the people. Mr. Mifflin travels about in a horse-drawn wagon called Parnassus, named for Mt. Parnassus of Greek mythology, the center of poetry, music, and learning.
As the story opens, Mr Miffli...more

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Apr 04, 2013 Sherry Fyman rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Written in 1917, this is the story of 39 year old Helen McGill's bold and impulsive decision to walk away from the life she had keeping house for her older farmer brother. Her life changes suddenly one day when Roger Milfin rolls up in his traveling book shop. Roger believes passionately in the power of books to change the lives of the people living isolated lives on farms. Helen catches his enthusiasm not only for his crusade, but of the independent life on the road and decides to buy the horse...more

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Sep 10, 2012 Joy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Great book on tape of the adventure of a spinster who meets a "professor" who sells her his peddler library wagon, horse, and dog. Together they head out to sell 'the joys of literature and books' in the small towns of New England in the late 1800s. Travelling together was just to be s few days until the woman learned how to do the job, but they fell in love with each other, as well as books.
A very good story of love of literature, then romantic love. Happy, slightly eccentric characters -- just...more

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Jul 24, 2009 Wanda rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Everyone

Recommended to Wanda by: Wendy discovered this one!

Shelves: 2009, fiction-and-literature, ebooks, favorites

The name "Parnassus" in literature typically refers to its distinction as the home of poetry, literature, and learning. "Parnassus" is also home to the winged horse, Pegasus.

She was looking for adventure. He was looking to sell his great Parnussus; his horse, Pegasus; and, the entire kit and kaboodle of his life. Together, they made the bargain of a lifetime and found the greatest adventure known to man - love and marriage.

I am on to the next book - The Haunted Bookshop. I wonder what adventur...more

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Feb 16, 2012 Christine rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favourites

Imagine a travelling bookshop: a horse-drawn caravan where the outer walls fold down to reveal shelves lined with books. Imagine the owner: a little man with a red beard, a bald head, and a missionary zeal to bring his own love of reading to American farmers. Now imagine a woman: a large, practical, homely woman, who wants the strange contraption and its even stranger occupant to move off her land as quickly as possible – but ends up buying the whole outfit, and setting off on an adventure which...more

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Feb 13, 2012 Elisabeth rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Parnassus On Wheels is told in first person by Helen McGill, a thirty-nine-year-old spinster who for some years lived happily with her elder brother Andrew on their farm—until, as Helen puts it, Andrew "got the fatal idea of telling everyone how happy we were," and began to write bestselling books on the joys of country living. Fed up with Andrew's neglecting the farm and taking her hard work for granted, Helen is just about ready to have an adventure of her own. So when an unusual traveling sal...more

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Oct 20, 2009 Lilian rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is a delightful book, perfect for a holiday break. The illustrations by Douglas Gorsline are perfect.

First published in 1917, the book was well reviewed by the Boston Evening Transcript:

To read Parnassus on Wheels is to be glad there are books in the world. It is graceful in style, light in substance, merry in its attitude toward life, and entertaining in every aspect of its plot and insight into character.

Yes! This short novel, weighing in at only 160 pages, is written in the robust first...more This is a delightful book, perfect for a holiday break. The illustrations by Douglas Gorsline are perfect.

First published in 1917, the book was well reviewed by the Boston Evening Transcript:

To read Parnassus on Wheels is to be glad there are books in the world. It is graceful in style, light in substance, merry in its attitude toward life, and entertaining in every aspect of its plot and insight into character.

Yes! This short novel, weighing in at only 160 pages, is written in the robust first person voice of Miss McGill, a 39 year old New England spinster who, having baked (by her calculations) 6,000 loaves of bread while looking after her author brother, decides to take off in a horse drawn book mobile. The previous owner, Roger Mifflin, a wiry, feisty, humane purveyor of literature to the countryside, intends to write a book of his own. His philosophy and their friendship is the heart of the book.

Having read it, and smiling while I post, I am heartened now about ebooks for two reasons. First of all, I had to wait for ages to get this book from the library, but if I already had an ereader (which I intend to get soon), I could have downloaded it here. And so ereaders combat the short shelf life of books that should outlast the shelves. Secondly, in thinking about Mifflin's (and presumably Morley's) thoughts on literature, I can see how ereaders and ebooks may bring literature to the far reaches of the globe.

I recently saw a news story about the one laptop per child program, and how much difference it has made in the children's and their families' lives. The representative from the program said that in his experience the best part of the program is that it breaks the isolation that these people suffer from. But it isn't only practical information that is available. So is literature.

To quote Roger Mifflin:

What I say is, who has ever gone out into high roads and hedges to bring literature home to the plain man? To bring it home to his business and bosom, as somebody says? The farther into the country you go, the fewer and worse books you find...[Y]ou've got to go out and visit the people yourself--take the books to them...and then little by little you begin to get good books circulating in the veins of the nation. (p 75)

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Sep 11, 2012 Bettie marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Recommended to Bettie by: wanda

Shelves: 3m-bookshelf-challenge, e-book, gutenberg-project, published-1917

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/5311

Dedication:
To H.B.F. and H.F.M.
"Trusty, dusky, vivid, true"

Opening: I wonder if there isn't a lot of bunkum in higher education? I never found that people who were learned in logarithms and other kinds of poetry were any quicker in washing dishes or darning socks. I've done a good deal of reading when I could, and I don't want to "admit impediments" to the love of books, but I've also seen lots of good, practical folk spoiled by too much fine print. Reading s...more

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Jul 03, 2008 Michelle rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: novels

Well, I just had WAY too much fun with this hilarious and off-the-wall romance. How fun! But I knew I was going to love any book that started out like this:

"I wonder if there isn't a lot of bunkum in higher education? I never found that people who were learned in logarithms and other kinds of poetry were any quicker in washing dishes or darning socks. I've done a good deal of reading when I could, and I don't want to 'admit impediments' to the love of books, but I've also seen lots of good, prac...more

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Oct 02, 2007 LJ rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: novel, new_england, gaslight_edwardian_1901-1914, male_author

PARNASSUS ON WHEELS (Novel, New England, Gaslight) – Ex
Morley, Christopher – Standalone
Wildside Press, Orig. published 1917, US Hardcover – ISBN: 1587155923
First Sentence: I wonder if there isn’t a lot of bunkum in higher education?
*** Helen McGill has been keeping house for her brother, a successful author and less successful farmer. Roger Mifflin shows up with a horse-drawn caravan, or Parnassus, which he has converted into a traveling bookstore. Helen, who has never had an adventure, buys the...more

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Oct 01, 2012 Lora rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: wit-and-wisdom, books-about-books

Excellent short read for someone in a light but thoughtful mood. No Fashionable philosophical grimness here! Hearty philosophical seeches, yes.
This is the story of a woman, a man, and a wagonload of books. It ranges around the New York countryside in the years before WW I, and has a sequel for those who didn't get enough. This small book is chock full of great quotes and thoughts on humanity, literature, and baking bread.
I read this as a middle aged woman who really does bake a lot of bread. I w...more

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About Christopher Morley

Christopher Morley was born in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania while his father was a mathematics professor at Haverford College. Morley graduated from this same school in 1910 as valedictorian. He then went to New College, Oxford University for three years on a Rhodes Scholarship, studying modern history. Arriving home, he headed out to Garden City to begin his life of letters at Doubleday, where he work...more Christopher Morley was born in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania while his father was a mathematics professor at Haverford College. Morley graduated from this same school in 1910 as valedictorian. He then went to New College, Oxford University for three years on a Rhodes Scholarship, studying modern history. Arriving home, he headed out to Garden City to begin his life of letters at Doubleday, where he worked as a publicist and publisher's reader. About this time he married Helen Fairchild, and they lived first in Hempstead, and then in Queens Village. Morley moved to Philadelphia where he got his start as a newspaper reporter and then columnist for various publications. In 1920, he returned to New York City and took a job writing the column The Bowling Green for the New York Evening Post. [1]

He was one of the founders and long-time contributing editor of the Saturday Review of Literature. A highly gregarious man, he was the mainstay of what he dubbed the "Three Hours for Lunch Club". Out of enthusiasm for the Sherlock Holmes stories, he became the founder of the Baker Street Irregulars and wrote the introduction to the standard omnibus edition of The Complete Sherlock Holmes. In 1936 he was appointed to revise and enlarge Bartlett's Familiar Quotations (1937, 1948). He was one of the first judges for the Book-of-the Month Club, serving in that position until the early 1950s.

Author of more than 100 books of essays, poetry, and novels, Morley is probably best known as the author of Kitty Foyle (1939), which was made into an Academy Award-winning movie. Other well known works include Thunder on the Left (1925), and The Haunted Bookshop (1919) and Parnassus on Wheels (1917), his two novels of a fictional bookseller.

For most of his life, he lived in Roslyn Heights, Nassau County, Long Island, commuting to the city on the Long Island Rail Road, about which he wrote affectionately. In 1961, a 98-acre park was named in his honor in Nassau County. This park preserves his studio, the "Knothole", as a point of interest, his furniture and bookcases available to the historically-interested public.
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Duet: Parnassus On Wheels & The Haunted Bookshop

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Quotes from Parnassus On Wheels

“The bicycle, the bicycle surely, should always be the vehicle of novelists and poets.” — 20 people liked it

“That's when a woman finds herself--when she's in love. I don't care if she is old or fat or homely or prosy. She feels that little flutter under her ribs and she drops from the tree like a ripe plum.” — 1 person liked it

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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8696930-parnassus-on-wheels?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1352746412l/8696930.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8696930-parnassus-on-wheels?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Parnassus On Wheels by Christopher Morley[/url]

Parnassus On Wheels

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