Nov 15, 2023 I finished “reading” Democracy awakening : notes on the state of America by Heather Cox Richardson recently. I use quotes for read because she, as a historian, tells the story of our democracy from about 1960 onward, which spans my experience, so I was able to skim much of the text while … [Read more…]
Jun 11, 2023 Needed something classic so blew the dust off a 1971 Dell Edition of Christie’s Dead Man’s Mirror including Murder in the Mews and Triangle at Rhodes. Great fun, Poirot is dry and clever, two locked rooms and a love triangle with a twist.
Jun 4, 2023 Read the ebook edition off Hoopla of Roadside Picnic, it is dated 2012 and contains the introduction by Le Guin. She points out that this book is a great example of non-heroic science fiction, no supermen, no geniuses, just a bunch of common people slogging through their reality. And slog they do, … [Read more…]
May 8, 2023 For the second time, I’ve finished “Against the Day” by Thomas Pynchon, (2006). This lengthy romp follows the lives of the two generations of the Traverse family, circa 1860 -> 1920 and their involvement in anarchist causes across the globe. There is a huge cast of characters touched by the family and … [Read more…]
Mar 19, 2023 Speaking of dry, a few years ago I reread 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Verne and recall skipping large chunks of page due to fin de siècle taxonomy, must have been fascinating at the time, but for us 20th C. sophisticates, not so much. More recently, Around the World in 80 … [Read more…]
Feb 1, 2023 Let us not forget “The Lathe of Heaven.”
Jan 10, 2023 One thing mentioned in all the tidying up advice columns around the new year, you are unlikely to reread book from your bookshelf. To disprove that, I’m reviewing my Pynchon collection. Including some interesting book markers and some dust, so far they are holding up well. I reread the last half of … [Read more…]
In praise of failure : four lessons in humility by Costică Brădățan, 2023. I just finished this quirky little book (273 p) and am left with more than a few things to think about – birth, death, humility, human frailty, hubris, genocide, madness, disease, senility, poverty and wealth to name a few. He uses the … [Read more…]
(The events in Moscow unfolded as I wrote this, it isn’t aimed at the current events except tangentially.) I finished this review in the New York Review of Books and wanted to share it. It is a long review, but rather fascinating for someone who knows next to nothing about this history, it filled in … [Read more…]
I checked out “All Systems Red” by Martha Wells, from the library yesterday. I started it after dinner and had finished it by the time I shut off the lights in bed. Granted, it is a short novel, but she can really tell a story. A thread I read on Ars Technica described her creation … [Read more…]