Taking the Temperature of a Society: Fahrenheit 451 Review

A philosophic aside If something is not untrue, is that the same as saying it is true? Let me provide a parallel example: if someone is not wrong, does that mean they are right? I'm fairly confident anyone with the slightest degree of ability to grasp nuance of language would instinctively, if not confidently, say… Continue reading Taking the Temperature of a Society: Fahrenheit 451 Review

Bildungsromanesque: The Green Years Review

This review is on a book called The Green Years. Today is Earth Day. Call it serendipity and on with the review. Blurb for The Green Years by A.J. Cronin The Green Years is a 1944 novel by A. J. Cronin which traces the formative years of an Irish orphan, Robert Shannon, who is sent… Continue reading Bildungsromanesque: The Green Years Review

I Am Writing This Letter: The History of Emily Montague Review

Blurb for The History of Emily Montague by Frances Brooke Set in Quebec City immediately after Wolfe's conquest, this charming love story depicts in intimate detail the life of that city's early English inhabitants. It is a comedy of manners played against a backdrop of the rugged scenery of the New World, a world in… Continue reading I Am Writing This Letter: The History of Emily Montague Review

The Best and the Wisest: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892-1893) Review

It may seem like I have reviewed this collection of Holmes stories before, but I assure you I have not. This second collection of Holmes "Adventures" is also published independently as "The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes." In my complete fascimile 'Strand' edition, these twelve stories are numbered 13-24, as a continuation of the first twelve… Continue reading The Best and the Wisest: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892-1893) Review

The Artist (of Power) Formerly Known As: The Prince Review

The Prince: On the Art of Power by Niccolò Machiavelli is not, as I once thought, a veiled political commentary disguised in a fictional account of a prince. But neither is it solely theoretical philosophizing about a hypothetical ideal state of human governance.

Bird of Prey: The Flight of the Falcon Review

Blurb for The Flight of the Falcon by Daphne du Maurier As a young Italian courier for Sunshine Tours, Armino Fabbio led a pleasant, if humdrum life—until he became circumstantially involved in the murder of an old peasant woman in Rome, a woman who had suddenly and startlingly reminded Armino of someone in his past.… Continue reading Bird of Prey: The Flight of the Falcon Review

This Land Is Your Land: House of Earth Review

I don't really know why I picked this up beyond a sense of curiosity and being in the mood for a bit of folksy literature. I knew of Woody Guthrie as a singer-songwriter... but I had no idea he was also a writer of prose and somewhat of an artist.