About stories of all kinds
Even then I already carried the underground in my soul.Notes from Underground I don’t really know what to say about Notes from Underground. I’ve read it twice now. It was my first taste of the great Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoyevsky and it made me want to read more by him. Although it is in translation,… Continue reading The Tenth Day of Christmas: Notes from Underground
Aldous Huxley is of course best known for his heart-chilling vision of a hellish dystopian future in Brave New World. I can’t say I really loved that novel, though I recognise its societal importance “so much the more as we see the day approaching,” so to speak. However, this selection of novellas by Huxley are… Continue reading The Seventh Day of Christmas: After the Fireworks
Since spending one New Year’s Eve reading Sherlock Holmes into the New Year, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle has joined Charles Dickens as seasonal reading for me. I began re-reading the complete Sherlock Holmes in December 2020, and while I haven’t gotten to reading more of it this December, I am reviewing the first collection of… Continue reading The Sixth Day of Christmas: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Though one of the first of the modern fantasy novels, T.H. White’s creations of modern Arthurian myth seem to have been relegated to mere “children’s literature” in a way that even C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia haven’t been. Which designation, aside from being patently inaccurate, does an injustice to the depth and complexity of White’s… Continue reading The First Day of Christmas: The Once and Future King
To all humankind besides, Tess was only a passing thought. Even to friends she was no more than a frequently passing thought. Tess of the D’Urbervilles Ever wondered what other people think about you? Or who thinks about you? Or how often? It’s not really a profitable use of time, but it’s natural to wonder… Continue reading ‘Passing thought’
Having, then, once introduced an element of inconsistency into his system, he was far too consistent not to be inconsistent consistently.The Way of All Flesh From The Way of All Flesh by Samuel Butler I recently saw a post about consistency being key that really resonated with me because I tend to have trouble with… Continue reading ‘Far too consistent’
The "I can't find a blurb because everybody already knows or doesn't care what this book is about" solution: An Encyclopedia Britannica entry on War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy War and Peace, historical novel by Leo Tolstoy, originally published as Voyna i mir in 1865–69. This panoramic study of early 19th-century Russian society, noted for its mastery of realistic… Continue reading It Got Involved: War and Peace Review
Mr. Grewgious in the meantime sat upright, with no expression in his face, and a hard kind of imperturbably polite protest all over him: as though he would have said, in reply to some invitation to discourse; ‘I couldn’t originate the faintest approach to an observation on any subject whatever, I thank you.’The Mystery of… Continue reading ‘Imperturbably polite protest’
Blurb for A Jane Austen Education by William Deresiewicz Before Jane Austen, William Deresiewicz was a very different young man. A sullen and arrogant graduate student, he never thought Austen would have anything to offer him. Then he read Emma—and everything changed. In this unique and lyrical book, Deresiewicz weaves the misadventures of Austen’s characters with… Continue reading Truth Universally Acknowledged: A Jane Austen Education Review
“I feel very strongly about putting questions; it partakes too much of the style of the day of judgment. You start a question, and it’s like starting a stone. You sit quietly on the top of a hill; and away the stone goes, starting others; and presently some bland old bird (the last you would… Continue reading “Like starting a stone”
Fictitiously Yours 