-
Archives
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007
- March 2007
- February 2007
- January 2007
- December 2006
- November 2006
- October 2006
- September 2006
- August 2006
- July 2006
- June 2006
- May 2006
- April 2006
- March 2006
- February 2006
- January 2006
- December 2005
- November 2005
- October 2005
- August 2005
- July 2005
- June 2005
- May 2005
- April 2005
- March 2005
- February 2005
- January 2005
- December 2004
- November 2004
- October 2004
- September 2004
- August 2004
- July 2004
-
Meta
Tag Archives: reading log
Reading Log: No Happy Ending (Paco Ignacio Taibo II)
No Happy Ending was one of those fortuitous discoveries made while browsing the used book shelves when I should’ve been working. Previously unknown to me, Paco Ignacio Taibo II appears to be one of Latin America’s most renowned authors. Reading … Continue reading
Posted in reading log
Tagged 101010 challenge, mystery, paco ignacio taibo ii, reading, reading log
Leave a comment
Reading Log: Antigone (Sophocles)
Antigone is a compelling play. Reading it again as an adult I’m struck by themes (and questions) that I never noted before… or that were given to me by a teacher and promptly forgotten. For instance, why does Antigone go … Continue reading
Reading Log: Oedipus the King (Sophocles)
Sophocles’ Oedipus the King (aka Oedipus Rex) is second only to Hamlet in my personal canon of touchstone plays, works that are so "big"– of such archetypal and architectonic importance to my aesthetic apparatus– that it’s hard to write about … Continue reading
Posted in reading log
Tagged 101010 challenge, drama, oedipus, reading log, sophocles
Leave a comment
Reading Log: Bloom (Wil McCarthy)
Bloom is a tale of nanotech gone wild. Seemingly insatiable nanotech spores of unknown and accidental origin– the Mycora– have taken over Earth and the inner solar system, consuming most of humanity and creating what the humans eking out an … Continue reading
Posted in reading log
Tagged 101010 challenge, nanotechnology, reading log, scifi, wil mccarthy
Leave a comment
Reading Log: Hippolytus (Euripides)
[CC Licensed image by Sebastià Giralt] Hippolytus (another work I’d, to my shame, not read before now) is a strange play, at once obviously overt in its "lessons" and quite beautiful. And there are many lessons: worship as many gods … Continue reading
Posted in Art & Life & Politics, reading log
Tagged 101010 challenge, drama, euripides, hippolytus, reading log
Leave a comment
Reading Log: The Oxford Murders (Guillermo Martínez)
While perusing the (only) local used bookstore I came across The Oxford Murders) by Guillermo Martínez, which fit nicely into my 10*10*10 Challenge (in "international mysteries"). Only when searching for the Wikipedia link I just used did I discover it … Continue reading
Posted in Art & Life & Politics, reading log
Tagged 101010 challenge, books, guillermo martinez, mystery, reading, reading log
Leave a comment
Reading Log: Hamlet (William Shakespeare)
[CC licensed photo by Ell Brown] Writing anything about Hamlet is to be a decided amateur, a devoted duffer. The hopelessly amateur golfer likely loves the game, knows the course(s) he plays inside and out, immerses herself in the world … Continue reading
Posted in Art & Life & Politics, reading log
Tagged 101010 challenge, drama, hamlet, reading log, william shakespeare
2 Comments
Reading Log: Roseanna (Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö)
It’s hard not to include the adjectives phlegmatic, tired, and brilliant to describe Inspector Martin Beck, the main character in Roseanna, the first of 10 Swedish detective novels written in the late 60s and early 70s. I get tired and … Continue reading
Posted in Art & Life & Politics, reading log
Tagged 101010 challenge, books, maj sjowall, mystery, per wahloo, reading, reading log
1 Comment
Reading Log: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (Sherman Alexie)
You know all those adjectives people like to use in book blurbs, things like: tender, moving, poignant, and laugh-out-loud-funny? They actually apply to Sherman Alexie’s hilarious and powerful novel The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. Here’s my blurb: … Continue reading
Posted in reading log
Tagged 101010 challenge, books, reading, reading log, sherman alexie, young adult
1 Comment
Reading Log: Every Man Dies Alone (Hans Fallada)
Hans Fallada’s Every Man Dies Alone crashed into my reading life like a bolt from the blue. I came across the book while randomly browsing through the thin selection of “literature” at our only locally owned bookstore (specified not to … Continue reading
Posted in reading log
Tagged 101010 challenge, books, hans fallada, history, nazi, reading, reading log, wwii
1 Comment
Reading Log: “Alcestis” (Euripides)
[Hercules Wrestling with Death for the Body of Alcestis] Alcestis tells the story of King Admetus who, thanks to Apollo (who worked for Admetus while in exile from Olympus), has been granted life beyond his time to die. In … Continue reading
Three Cups of Tea (Greg Mortenson)
[isbn: 9781400102518] Not a book I would have picked up on my own, Three Cups of Tea tells the inspiring story of Greg Mortenson, a mountain climber rescued by Pakistani villagers after a near-fatal failed attempt to climb K2 who then … Continue reading
View from the Seventh Layer (Kevin Brockmeier)
[isbn: 0375425306] Referring to stories as ‘clever’ is often shorthand for "interesting but ultimately shallow," while ‘inventive’ often means "very creative, but not a great piece of art." In both cases the admirable qualities are undercut by a lack of … Continue reading
Reading Log: Complete Stories of Dorothy Sayers
A while back I posed a question about “literate genre fiction” to a list I belong to, specifically in the areas of mystery/suspense and scifi/speculative fiction and one of the people who responded said they “weren’t sure how literate they … Continue reading
Reading Log: The Book on the Bookshelf (Henry Petroski)
Petroski’s The Book on the Bookshelf is a fascinating exploration of the evolution of the form of books and the way that we handle and store them. Much of the history of what eventually became the books we know (scrolls, … Continue reading
Reading Log: Black Cross (Greg Iles)
I picked Black Cross up in the airport bookstore thinking the the author, Greg Iles, was someone else. There’s nothing horribly wrong with this World War II thriller of covert action behind enemy lines– it just seems interchangeable with a … Continue reading
Reading Log: The Trial of Socrates (I. F. Stone)
Like many who have studied philosophy, Socrates has long had an established place in my intellectual pantheon. How could the man who essentially created Western philosophy occupy any lesser place? After reading I. F. Stone’s The Trial of Socrates I … Continue reading
Reading Log: Beowulf
I read two different versions of Beowulf, another on my long-neglected list. The first was an old Norton critical edition with a prose translation by E. Talbot Donaldson, the second also a Norton edition, but this time a verse translation … Continue reading
The Oedipus Cycle (Sophocles)
I revisited the Oedipus plays because I’d never read Oedipus at Colonus and the others were read first when I was too young and then as part of a University death-march through Ancient literature. I was surprised how powerful the … Continue reading