Book excerpt: 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.