Duet: Parnassus On Wheels & The Haunted Bookshop

Parnassus #1 & 2

by Christopher Morley

Morley's "Duet" follows one Roger Mifflin, an itinerant, literate pixie on his mission to bring books to the ordinary and elite alike in his bookstore-on-wheels. But love of books soon turns deeper as he encounters and eventually marries Helen, and fulfills his dream of opening a real bookshop (albeit "haunted") in Brooklyn. Wherein the booksellers become embroiled in a plot to assassinate the President of the United States. A must read for book lovers.

Genres: Fiction, Books About Books, Mystery, Adventure, Book Club, Humor, Historical Fiction

282 pages, Paperback

First published February 27, 2012

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

American writer Christopher Darlington Morley founded the Saturday Review, from 1924 to 1940 edited it, and prolifically, most notably authored popular novels.

Christopher Morley, a journalist, essayist, and poet, also produced on stage for a few years and gave college lectures.

Reviews

[Classic reverie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A delightful & suspenseful duo of two short stories, each story a story onto itself but related in regards to sentiment & characters. Many classic & older book recommendations throughout, that I had to stop and lookup many books. Also being written during and after world war 1, Armistice, you get a feeling of the loss of lives and hopefullness that this would be the war to end all wars. In this regard I found not only a wonderfully written story but something so deep in history unknown of future problems to those of that time. Also silent film was nearing it climax, the thoughts about the new form of entertainment & comparison to reading a good book quite interesting and true. IMO

Both stories have a romance element a la bookstore element. Fun & thrilling. While looking up another book, "Parnassus on Wheels & The Haunted Bookshop" by Christopher Morley was recommended to me. Both these short stories sounded interesting & finding out later, that Morley who wrote "Kitty Foyle", a favorite movie of mine with Ginger Rogers, I was intrigued even more then before. Christopher Morley (5/5/1890-3/28/1957), an American who was a journalist, writer of over 100 short stories, novels, poems & essays. I thought his last message to his friends interesting, "Read, every day, something no one else is reading. Think, every day, something no one else is thinking. Do, every day, something no one else would be silly enough to do. It is bad for the mind to continually be part of unanimity."

Parnassus on Wheels was his first novel, (1917) & The Haunted Bookshop, (1919), both stories which are separate stories which one does not need to read the either to enjoy but complement each other. Parnassus on Wheels is about, Andrew McGill, a writer of country homespun stories & his sister, Helen, who both live on a farm in New York State. Since Andrew became a famous author, his attention to the family farm has declined & his middle age spinster sister has increased responsibilities due to his neglect. When an used book peddler (the professor) comes to see if Andrew wants to buy his traveling bookshop, horse & all, Helen in fear of her brother's response buys the Parnassus on Wheels with money she saved to buy a Ford flivver & takes a holiday from her farm life & as her brother caretaker for an adventure of her own. She learns many things about life on her travels with the Professor while confounding her brother of her whereabouts until she lends him a ride to the train station to Brooklyn, where he will write a book about his traveling bookstore & love of books.

The Haunted Bookshop is not a ghost story by a mystery about a book (Carlyle's Cromwell) that disappears & reappears without rhyme or reason. The Mifflins are an middle age couple who own this used bookshop in Brooklyn. Roger Mifflin likes to talk about many topics which include the desire to make good books to everyone & his thoughts on war and peace. A young advertising man, Aubrey Gilbert is informed about the bookstore & becomes acquainted with the owners & their young lady guest, Titania Chapman whose rich father send her to the Muffin's shop to learn about real life & working in the bookstore. Aubrey soon sees many strange things happening at the bookstore & looks to discover what mystery are all about at the Gissing Street's shop. Suspenseful, thrilling & bit of romance are the gist of the story. Delightful! Throughout both stories many authors & books are mentioned to the reader. I had to stop many times to see what books & authors were all about which did increase my "to read" list at least a dozen more.

The discussions on books ranged from what is a good or bad book, should you dictate what a buyer must read or let the buyer buy what you think is trite & the effect of books changing history. Prohibition movement was mentioned but had not been in effect until a year or so later. The war & Armistice were a topic I thought very profound because of the high cost of lives & hope that Woodrow Wilson's involvement will bring peace to the world. The writer was writing in his time & not seeing what we all know history to have been which would have been their history. Once again fiction brings us some non fiction in that sense.

Other thoughts- I enjoyed the discussion on silent movies which was in its climax at about that time & ending near the late 1920's. Titania comments on Dorothy Gish, being a fan of the Gish sisters, I was wondering how it would be to see those movies first hand. I wonder if one used binoculars as in the book, the screen would have all the lines described by the characters. Mr. Miffen is not a fan of the screen because he thinks it takes away from the person watching & a good book is a better option. I also found the description of Brooklyn compared to the busy NYC, interesting in Brooklyn being more a happy family haven. I also got a kick out of Mr. Miffin naming his dog (Boco) after Boccaccio, the author of my recent read, The Decameron, which Mr. Miffin had not read yet & he has one book that he keeps putting off because if he is about to die, saying that he needs to live to finish that one book, will keep him alive.

Excerpts-"Ah!" he said. "That's just the trouble. New York is Babylon; Brooklyn is the true Holy City. New York is the city of envy, office work, and hustle; Brooklyn is the region of homes and happiness."

"A book is 'good' only when it meets some human hunger or refutes some human error.""Mr. Mifflin can never read Dickens without having something to drink. I think the sale of Dickens will fall off terribly when prohibition comes in."

"The first thing you'll find, when the Peace Conference gets to work, will be that we shall have to help Germany onto her feet against that she can be punished in an orderly way. We shall have to feed her and admit her to commerce so that she can pay her indemnities-- we shall have to police her cities to prevent revolution from burning her up--and the upshot of it all will be men will have fought the most terrible war in history, endure nameless horrors, for the privilege of nursing their enemy back to health. If that isn't an absurdity, what is?"

"You see, books contain the thoughts and dreams of men, their hopes and strivings and all their immortal parts. It's in books that most of us learn how splendidly worth-while life is."

[Janice · Rating 4 out of 5]

This 2 set was a very fun read, and the first one, Parnassus on Wheels, was especially delightful. Written and set around 1917, for the first story, and then just a few years later, after the end of World War I for the second, both are very much about books, and people who love them. There are many great lines about the power of books to change lives. In one section the author describes book stores or libraries as extremely wild places to spend time, with all the differing ideas and points of view floating through the air, zooming toward any people there. I loved that image. This is definitely a duet of stories, with the same lead characters, for book lovers.

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

Helen McGill, later Helen Mifflin, and Roger Mifflin are the two principal characters in the first of the two novels in this volume, Parnassus on Wheels, and two of the central characters in the second novel, The Haunted Bookshop. They are sweet, kind, loving folks who would never hurt anyone. Oh, Helen does open and destroy her brother's mail if that is to her advantage and does say things like "Like most Swedes she had to be watched or she left her work only three quarters done." And Roger, seeking to avoid pursuit, cuts the telephone wires of a kindly family that has fed them extravagantly, leaving the folks in a remote farmhouse alone with no means of communication. (Helen states following Roger's despicable action, "I'm bound to say that now, for the first time, I really admired him.") But they love books, so that, evidently, justifies whatever they may do.

I find this less charming than I suspect Christopher Morley, author of these novels, did. I am also appalled that Roger sells his business to Helen and casually throws in his dog as part of the sale. I don't believe that there is any question that the reader is supposed to find all this behavior justified, if not actually admirable.

Parnassus on Wheels, written in and set in 1917, is narrated by Helen. Helen and her brother own a farm. The brother has become an acclaimed author and is often away from the farm for weeks at a time, leaving all the work for Helen. Roger Mifflin (whose last name is, I would guess, derived from the Houghton Mifflin publishing company) arrives at the farm in a horse-drawn wagon, filled with books to be sold as well as containing living quarters. A sign on the wagon proclaims that it is:

R. MIFFLIN'S
Traveling Parnassus
GOOD BOOKS FOR SALE
SHAKESPEARE, CHARLES LAMB,
R. L. S., HAZLITT, AND ALL OTHERS

(Since I assume that I am not the only reader who did not know what a "Parnassus" is, dictionary.com defines it as:

noun

1. Mount. Modern name Liakoura. a mountain in central Greece, N of the Gulf of Corinth and near Delphi. About 8,000 feet (2,440 meters).

2. a collection of poems or of elegant literature.

3. the world of poetry or poets collectively:
a rhymester striving to enter Parnassus.

4. any center of poetry or artistic activity:
Greenwich Village was once the Parnassus of the U.S.)

Roger has decided that he wants to give up his life as an itinerant bookseller and move to Brooklyn, where his brother lives. He has decided to see if Helen's brother would buy the business. Helen, appalled at the thought of her brother spending even more time away from the farm, buys the business herself. Roger offers to train Helen to sell books and the two ride off together. After a series of generally amusing adventures, Helen and Roger have fallen in love and been married. That is the conclusion of Parnassus on Wheels.

The Haunted Bookshop is a very different story. It is much longer and more complex. Instead of a humorous book-driven love story, this is largely a spy mystery, in which the Mifflins are not the only important characters; Helen especially is much less central in this book. The Haunted Bookshop was published in 1919 and is set shortly after the end of World War I, as President Wilson is preparing to sail to Europe to discuss the Armistice.

The Mifflins now own a used bookstore, "Parnassus at Home," in Brooklyn. A sign states:

THIS SHOP IS HAUNTED by the ghosts
Of all great literature...

A very wealthy friend of Roger's pays them to hire his 18 year old daughter Titania as live-in help at the bookstore, believing that leading the daughter to think that she has a real job and is working for (scanty) wages will remove her temporarily from her life of great privilege. The father also believes that Titania "is very fond of books."

The daughter is delighted at the thought of playing at working. She actually tries to learn something about bookselling, but seems to spend most of her time in tasks like dusting. Roger spends hours deciding what books should be put in the girl's room before she moves in. He asks her later what she thought of his selections; she replies, "In my room? Why, I'm sorry, I never noticed them!"

A young man who works for an agency writing advertising copy has made the acquaintance of the Mifflins. He visits the shop and immediately bacomes enamored of Titania.

A copy of Carlyle's book Oliver Cromwell mysteriously disappears and reappears at the bookshop, at some point acquiring a new cover. Two people of German descent seem increasingly sinister to Aubrey, the advertising man. He begins to think that Roger is in league with them in some nefarious plot; he fears that Titania may be harmed. Now The Haunted Bookshop largely becomes a more traditional mystery novel.

Occasional portions of the book wander far afield. There is, in particular, much discussion of the recent war and of war in general. More appropriately for a story set principally in a bookstore, there is quite a lot of material about the public's lamentable book-buying habits. References to literature abound. Some of this is fascinating; some, a century after this book was originally published, is now more obscure.

The Mifflins are more consistently nice in the second volume; they are more exciting in the earlier one. I did not find either of these novels great, but they are entertaining.

[Carol Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked this book. I have it on my Kindle, but I purchased the softcover because of its cover and format. A delight. Very old-fashioned! It took me back to the days of the Bookmobile and visiting it to borrow old biographies in which the pictures were silhouettes. I was reading it on the plane, and an older lady made the comment that she'd read it years before. It was published in 1917. Quick and comforting.

[Lisa Hathaway · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book lovers books, you can build a reading list from these. Love love love

[Natalie Renick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thumbs Up for Only the First Story

This is a difficult review to write because there are two books, not one. Parnassus on Wheels was delightful, quirky, and fun. It was just the right length, leaving me curious for more. The Haunted Bookstore, however, was wordy and did not keep my attention. While the premise is just as clever and quirky as Parnassus on Wheels, it was so much longer and in my opinion, that killed the story for me. I do wish these books had come separately.

[Timothy Morrow · Rating 3 out of 5]

Parnassus on Wheels -
A charming story about an individual’s discovery of self through a holiday practicing a new hobby. Morley’s argument about the benefits of books and how narratives can transform perspective and identity. Any book lover’s dream to travel the countryside selling books!

The Haunted Bookshop -
The premise of this book is great! And the bibliophile in me finds that I would get along quite well with Morley if he were alive today. That being said, the plot’s pacing and lack of intriguing dialogue made the second half of the book tedious. Also the Aubrey Gilbert character is a stalker, but hey, it was 1919.

[Ryan Ard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Parnassus On Wheels was quite entertaining. The Haunted Bookshop, less so. Bri got it for me as a gift since our local book shop was named after The Haunted Bookshop. It was okay, probably wouldn’t recommend.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Four stars for Parnassus on Wheels, three for The Haunted Bookshop.

Parnassus on Wheels is a short, charming piece of fluff. The idea of a traveling bookshop is fun and I was looking forward to seeing what kind of adventures Roger and Helen would have. Unfortunately, the book ends just where it seems it should start.

The Haunted Bookshop started out promising, but chapter two was the start of a downward spiral that the book never recovered from.
Helen, who helped make the first book so fun, is barely seen or heard from. Roger, unfortunately, is heard from too much ( and he's not even the central character ). All of Roger's mannerisms are dialed up to eleven. If you thought his tendency in the first book to ramble on was charming or just tolerable, you will quickly tire of him in this book.
The main character in The Haunted Bookshop is a rather stupid ad-man who spends all his time mooning over a young woman he barely knows. The plot is barely there and what is there is threadbare. I get the feeling that Parnassus on Wheels must have been written for a magazine, proved popular, and then Morley took a rejected plot outline, added in the Mifflins, and stretched it out into a novel.

Read the Parnassus on Wheels, and if you must, the first chapter of The Haunted Bookshop for a glimpse of where Roger and Helen ended up.

Note: People who really enjoyed the traveling bookshop and everything that came with it when Helen purchased it, should probably skip the last two chapters of The Haunted Bookshop.

[Francine Apollo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just love these two little books. If you are a book lover or a fan of book shops, try these.

Written nearly 100 years ago, there are still many one-liners that are relevant. The characters are revealed slowly and well. Reading about characters who love good literature (and why) was just a romp!

[Rick Bavera · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this 2-in-1 book. The stories, "classics", were actually fun to read.

I find many "classics" uninteresting, or written in such a way that, even if on interesting subjects, or an interesting story, they are difficult to read, or put you to sleep.

If you want to get a glimpse of rural New England (the first story) or Brooklyn from 100 years ago, these are worth your time.

[Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Delightful

These 2 books really help explain what happened in the early 1900. S a kind of slice of life. The creed of books is a little extreme, but the characters are quite fun and the story is good too. Read it

[Theresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read only the first book. It is on Gutenberg , so free and probably out of print. It was a delightful and charming book,albeit pretty small. I think I read it in three hours.
I recommend it.

[Kelly D'avella · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book about books!

Avery different from Parnissius on Wheels! Worthwhile read and interesting. Fun. Sometimes tends to go off on tangent but I loved it. Nonetheless!

[Karen Cowgill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good book! I read the first part, Parnassus on Wheels, then I had to give it back to the library!! Finished it yesterday. Totally wonderful book!!

[Danelley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book! I enjoyed the funny characters and their realizations that stagnation is no fun. You gotta mix things up and gain new skills and perspectives on life.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

These are such sweet old-fashioned stories. This book is actually two books in one: the first is Parnassus on Wheels (first published in 1917) is a short little book / novella about Helen, who gets a bit fed up keeping house and cooking for her brother all day everyday, and on a whim she buys a mobile bookstore from a passing guy who is ready to get rid of it. It's basically a horse-drawn cart that's turned into a tiny bookstore (called "Parnassus on Wheels"). Roger, who sold the cart to Helen, ends up staying with her awhile to show her the ropes and all sorts of little adventures ensue.

The second book within this edition is The Haunted Bookshop (first published in 1919). This follows the same characters to some extent - Roger and Helen have now settled in Brooklyn and run their own bookstore called "Parnassus at Home". They like to say their store is haunted in the sense of "this store is haunted by the ghosts of great literature". A young woman Titania comes to help out at the store and a young man Aubrey gets to know them as well. When a certain book starts disappearing and reappearing strangely, and Aubrey sees some strange things happening around the store, he gets suspicious of what is going on. This turns into a sort of mystery/spy sort of plot, as well as a bit of romance between Titania and Aubrey.

Both of these are fun and a bit light hearted with a sweet old-fashioned sense to them. The first one centers more on the love of books, on writers and readers and about Helen having an adventure and being out on the open road. The second one, as I've said turns more into a mystery in some sense, and a bit darker in terms of trying to build suspense, but you still get a lot of Roger giving speeches about the love of good books as he loves to do. You don't get much of Helen in the second story, because she's off on a trip during most of this time so the second one centers more on Roger and the two new characters.

I wouldn't say these are my favorite ever but they're very enjoyable and definitely fun for anyone who loves books about the love of books.

[Christina · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an omnibus edition of Morley's Parnassus on Wheels (1917) and the sequel, The Haunted Bookshop (1919). I've only read Parnassus on Wheels so far, and wanted to write a review while it's fresh in my mind. I'm also debating whether I'll read The Haunted Bookshop. I'll probably read a little, but not sure that I enjoyed the first book enough to read all of the second.

Of course, the main draw of this short novel is it's about the love of books, though the heroine is a bit unlikely for this type of story. She's a 39-year-old spinster, who is tired of keeping house on her brother's farm. This novel portrays a more modern woman who is rebelling against the traditional role of women. She resents that her brother, a successful author, gets to spend his time as he pleases, traveling about, while she must maintain his home. So when a man shows up to sell a horse-drawn bookmobile to her sibling, our heroine seizes the opportunity for adventure herself.

As a premise, it had so much promise as an early 20th-century tale of feminism, but the author is a man of the time. And so the heroine remains focused on both her lack of appeal to men (she dwells on her age, her weight, her appearance), reconciling her guilt for leaving her role, and is more focused on the man who sold her the Parnassus on Wheels than on the books. She is not a passionate bibliophile so much as a woman fed up and looking for a vacation. The antagonist is her brother, who seems focused on putting her back in her place.

The hero, the owner of the Parnassus, has a tendency to pontificate on books and literacy, and it felt a little like a vehicle for the author to lecture through the character, which gets a bit tedious at times. I was hoping for a bit more of an adventure, but the novel is too short for that. It feels like just when things are getting started, it's time to set up the conclusion and bring the heroine back in line with her traditional role.

It's an interesting read, but not the absorbing adventure I hoped for.

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

5 stars for Parnassus on Wheels, 3 stars for The Haunted Bookshop.

If you’re looking for quotes on the benefits and benediction of books and reading, both of these stories are replete. Roger Mifflin is a bibliophile of the highest order, an evangelist of the gospel of the book. He might be a little snooty about what books are worth reading, but I think in general he would just want folks to be reading - especially if he could use that inclination to point someone in the direction of literary greatness.

The first book is a light, fun read. There’s the littlest bit of danger, but otherwise the setting is serene and much of the action is internal. It’s a fast, delightful story.

The second story took a little longer to get thru, partly because trying to read it during the holidays is its own challenge, partly because it was pretty different from the first. Roger and Helen weren’t the central characters, and I didn’t care as much for Mr. Aubrey, to be honest. It’s also a bit “darker” than the first story in that there is true danger and a nefarious plot to be uncovered, tho the overall tone stayed fairly light. If I hadn’t been expecting a little more of the same kind of story as the first in a different setting, I may have enjoyed it more.

Morley’s writing style is friendly and enjoyable, and even the slower second story read pretty quickly when I was able to sit down with it for a chunk of time. I am definitely likely to seek out further examples of the author’s work, especially if there are more characters like Roger Mifflin hanging about.

[Nola · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's fun to read books about books (at least for me). "Parnassus on Wheels" was published in 1917 and the sequel to it, "The Haunted Bookshop" was published in 1919. I needed a break from some of my other, less uplifting reading and noticed I had these two books waiting for me in my never ending TBR pile. They were just the distraction I needed. I will say that I enjoyed "Parnassus on Wheels" more, but "The Haunted Bookshop" was not disappointing. I smiled at the quotes that the character Mr. Roger Mifflin stated concerning his deep love of sharing books with the world. He said that "books are the answers to all our perplexities". If you are thinking that "The Haunted Bookshop" is about ghosts and other frightening occurrences in a small, used bookshop, you will be disappointed. Mr. Mifflin said that the reason his bookshop is haunted is because of the many books lying around calling to him to be read. I can relate to that. It is interesting to note that due to the time in our history when "The Haunted Bookshop" was written, our country was still reeling from WWI. The honest feelings of those who experienced it come through in the writing. For this reason (and MANY others) is why I love books.

[Cindy Davis- Cindy's Book Corner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Parnassus on Wheels

I was pleasantly surprised by Parnassus on Wheels by Christopher Morley.

"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."

Parnassus on Wheels is a book lover's delight. With a cast of quirky characters, a traveling bookstore, and an angry brother, you get a delightful story with plenty of mishaps.

It is a short read, which makes it harder to review without giving spoilers.

★★★★/5

The Haunted Bookshop

I thought this one was okay, but I didn't enjoy it as much as Parnassus on Wheels. There was a mystery, some of the humor I enjoyed from the first book, I just felt the tone was more serious.

[Valerie · Rating 4 out of 5]

He started as a bookseller in a caravan pulled by a horse, accompanied by Bock, his Irish settler. He sells his business. He is off to Brooklyn to write about his adventures. No! He marries...his buyer! No more van, but a bookshop. Oh my, he is still writing! He tells his wife that a bookseller cannot be a book writer, but still, he tries. A mystery practically slaps him in the face, but he is too busy to see it. Luckily, a young man enamored of his assistant notices. This is a fun read. Sadly, Bock dies.
.

[Donna Collier · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first story in this book was Parnassus on Wheels. It was the reason that I got the book from the library and it was excellent. It was fun and sweet - a wonderful old-time story! The second story The Haunted Bookshop was a bit longer and a little too slow for me. Overall it had more action, but the characters just droned on in between anything happening. Glad I read this, but also glad I am done!

[Lynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick, fun read about a bookseller who finds a kindred soul while going house to how with is bookstore on a wagon named "Parnassus on Wheels." The sequel has the same couple now in a bookstore in Brooklyn selling books and being caught up a mystery that involves a book and the President of the United States.

[Pamela · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVED this novella... Christopher Morley is a genius... written in 1917 the wit is joyful.. the adventures hilarious and the celebration of books and reading is food for the soul of this reader!! PERFECT for a rainy afternoon!!

[Kim]

I got this duo as a Christmas gift and thouroghly enjoyed it. I think I enjoyed The Haunted Bookshop the most. A cute story. I do love the idea of a library or bookstore on wheels however.

[Brenda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Delightful

This book has so many references to classic literature, along with a unique and slightly irrelevant humor. I have been thoroughly delighted with it.

[Sandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first story is quite enjoyable and touching. The second is less interesting with a mystery / thriller plot interspersed with reading recommendations. A lot of immediately post-WWI atmosphere.

[Melanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book lovers dream!! What a truly fun read. I’m surprised the two books aren’t better known. I found my copy at a library used book sale! Glad I did!

[Mary]

I enjoyed the Prequel more than The Haunted Bookshop. Maybe too much chatter about the value of bookselling. Also the villains were Huns--a story from a different era. It was amusing and a glimpse into an old fashioned drama. At times, a comedy.

Purchased for my Kindle app for 99 cents.