Books
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I had not gotten very far in this re-reading of Kristin before I was willing to pronounce it to be one of the world’s great novels. Nothing that came after weakened that view, but rather strengthened it. This final volume of the trilogy brings Kristin’s story to an end in a way that, for the sake…
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I've only read Pride and Prejudice. Which book should I read next? Sense and Sensibility is a bit ahead of others in the contest because I happen to have a copy of it, but not so far ahead that another couldn't overtake it. In passing: I was surprised to discover that S&S was actually written before P&P. For some…
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…you may have heard that what is supposed to be a very important more-or-less-official biography of him was withdrawn at the moment of publication recently. The reason for this drastic action was that the biographer, Blake Bailey, has been accused of sexual abuse (and of course he must be guilty, or he wouldn't have been…
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And in the course of reading various tributes to him I've been reminded that I may be the only person in the world, or at least the only Dylan fan in the world, who doesn't think Blood on the Tracks is a masterpiece, possibly the best of his many albums. Not that I don't think it's…
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My wife and I listened to the Audible recording of this a couple of weeks ago when we made the five-and-a-half-hour drive up to north Alabama for a wedding. We generally listen to a book on these trips, and my preference is for mysteries and other books that are strong on plot and not overly…
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Years ago when I worked for a software company, I overheard my boss and another manager discussing a programmer who was not making much progress on a large and important project. "He just can't handle large amounts of information," one of them said. I flinched a little at that, because I knew it was true…
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I am for the time being a little obsessed with this novel. A few notes as I make my way through the second book, The Wife: Here's an excellent commentary on the novel from David Warren, a Canadian Catholic writer whose name I've seen here and there in publications like Touchstone (I think). I came across…
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As I approached the end of The Mill on the Floss I was, naturally, thinking about what to read next (what novel, I mean). I think I mentioned in a comment that I was trying to decide between two re-reads, Dostoevsky's Demons and Kristin Lavransdatter. (Interesting that I name the author of the former but not the…
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I like it as much as I like Middlemarch. Which of course is a lot. There seems to be a critical consensus that Middlemarch is George Eliot's great achievement, and a great achievement by any standard. And I wouldn't argue with that as a matter of cool-headed judgment. The introduction (excellent, by the way) to the edition…
Light On Dark Water 