Snow
Europe
The Books Of Jacob
A favorite trope of mine is the sprawling geneological novel, painting a picture of a culture and its transformation over time through the story of a particular family throughout several generations - it is a trope I don’t have many...
Master And Commander
A bit of an odd coincidence, I did not realize when reading His Majesty’s Dragon that it was basically just Master and Commander with dragons. And to be frank, I think the dragons did improve it a bit. I mean,...
Waiting for Godot
I’ve been seeing references to Borges’ story Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote around a bit, for whatever reason (it is the one about Pierre Menard, through diligent scholarship, rewriting and recreating Don Quixote, line for line). And classic Borges...
Great Expectations
Dickens for me stands a bit a part as a master of the weave of a plot. Emblematic and mostly straightforward characters bounce around to surprising and delightful ends. I’m a bit concerned for the future of Dickens though -...
The Master
A sweet and thoughtful novel, a little bit lonely, Henry James looking back on an interesting and humane life and set of relationships, father and sister and artist friends. Contemplative but never (terribly, I suppose it is in the eye...
The Rise And Fall Of The Dinosaurs
Brusatte takes you through an excellent history of both the dinosaurs themselves and the field of paleontology, from a few crazy pioneers (I could stand to learn a bit more about Baron Nopsca, scientist, swashbuckler and spy) to the high-tech...
The Aeneid
Pretty good for self-insert fanfic. Better then the Iliad, better in parts and pieces than the Odyssey.
The Name Of The Rose
I’ve been keeping a little inventory of books that misuse and abuse the word palimpsest. It is, in my opinion, a bit of a trap of a word - arcane yet evocative, strange sounding with a compelling meaning that is...
Rosshalde
I recently reread Rosshalde because I was curious about an alternative to Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow - an author exploring what it means to live as and pursue art in a non-linguistic medium. I found what feels more authentic,...