Category Archives: History

Bigamous reading

Posted on March 25, 2016 by

When I haven’t the energy to read Proust, I read something else. In that respect, I’m no different from anyone else. But the other day my daughter commented on how strange it was that I was sitting on the couch reading … Continue reading →

Posted in Adventure, Graphic Novel, History, Humorous, Little Free Library, Mystery, reading, Travel book | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

Temporary obsession: AR

Posted on February 1, 2016 by

My latest obsession started two months ago with Christina Hardyment’s Arthur Ransome and Captain Flint’s Trunk, an excellent study of the sources, both geographic and human, for his famous books, with a satisfying number of illustrations as well. Fans probably … Continue reading →

Posted in Adventure, Artist profile, History, Mystery, reading | Tagged , , | 7 Comments

This and that and some other things

Posted on January 22, 2016 by

For the past 3 weeks, it hasn’t been Radio WTWP (wall-to-wall Proust, with a tip of the hat to Prof. Peter Schickele) on my reading shelf. Here’s some other stuff I’ve been clearing out: Desmond Seward’s The Demon’s Brood, a 300-page bare-bones … Continue reading →

Posted in Adventure, Graphic Novel, Historical fiction, History, reading | Tagged , , , , | 9 Comments

Walkabout in Suffolk

Posted on September 22, 2014 by

W. G. Sebald, The Rings of Saturn (1995/1998), tr. Michael Hulse. Is this book fiction or non-fiction? memoir or history? travelogue or invention? random stream-of-consciousness or carefully constructed exploration of ideas? Each time I read it, I struggle to understand Sebald’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction, History, Travel | Tagged | 2 Comments

Summer omnibus, part 1

Posted on September 14, 2014 by

Once again I find myself with a foot-tall stack of books I’ve read but not yet reviewed for my followers, next to a stack of papers to grade and projects to complete for school, which started 3 weeks ago. Normally, … Continue reading →

Posted in Adventure, Fantasy, Graphic Novel, History, Humorous, London Underground, Newbery Award, YA Lit | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Hodgepodge

Posted on June 1, 2014 by

I’m cheating a bit here, with brief notes on what I’ve been reading, in between packing for summer vacation. For those of you interested in the history of cooking and eating, here’s a book not about food, but about implements: … Continue reading →

Posted in Cooking, Fantasy, History, Memoir | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments