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“It was salutory to remember, I told myself, that writers and other creative artists do not relish other people’s ideas. They usually have more than enough of their own, and well-meant suggestions only add to the burden of their already over-stocked minds.” Miss Read, Farewell to Fairacre (1993)
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Category Archives: Travel book
Super-Tramp!
No, not the 1970s prog-rock group (although their song, “Take the Long Way Home” may be apt for what will become obvious reasons). For this month’s Wales Readathon, Book Jotter has selected William H Davies’ Autobiography of a Super-Tramp as … Continue reading
Posted in Am reading, Dewithon, History, Travel book, Wales Readathon
Tagged William H Davies
4 Comments
“The chosen of All-Muggleton”
Packing for a lengthy trip that includes a great deal of moving on and off trains, buses, boats and trams (not to mention walking) presents a particular challenge for a reader who hopes to travel light: How many books should … Continue reading
Posted in Adventure, Classic, Fiction, Humorous, Travel, Travel book
Tagged Charles Dickens
8 Comments
Bigamous reading
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 Allie Brosh, Donald Culross Peattie, PG Wodehouse, RA Dick, Robin Sloan, Wilbur Bassett
3 Comments
You have to give it time
The Wells Bequest (2013), Polly Shulman. In an unplanned tag-team review, I’m following up on a book Calmgrove reviewed last fall, Polly Shulman’s The Grimm Legacy (the review of which you can read here). That novel introduced us to the New-York Circulating Material … Continue reading
Henry Pulling’s Middle Age Crisis
Graham Greene, Travels with My Aunt (1969) Nestled in a playground near my apartment is a Little Free Library, to which I frequently contribute, and from which I frequently borrow, although I’ve yet to return any of the borrowed books. The other … Continue reading
Mark Twain in Europe
Yesterday I referenced Mark Twain, and so today’s post: The Innocents Abroad, Mark Twain (1869), Grosset & Dunlap, 472 pp. In the first paragraph of Chapter V, Twain notes a lunar rarity. We had the phenomenon of a full moon … Continue reading
Ocean (Dostoyevski) or Cellophane (Vonnegut)?
Breakfast of Champions (1973), Kurt Vonnegut, 303 pp. I have to start with 2 quotes: A sacred picture of Saint Anthony alone is one vertical, unwavering band of light. If a cockroach were near him, or a cocktail waitress, the picture … Continue reading
Pulp-ish Fiction
Laura (1942), Vera Caspary, 194 pp., and Now, Voyager (1941), Olive Higgins Prouty, 263 pp. The term “pulp fiction” always makes me think of Sax Rohmer’s Dr Fu Manchu, or Lester Dent’s Doc Savage. Those characters’ names take me back to the early … Continue reading
Jungle madness
Revived from my earlier blog, another visit south of the equator: State of Wonder (2011), Ann Patchett, 353 pp. About two-thirds of the way through this novel, I came across a review and read it. I’ll never do that again. It … Continue reading
“It’s only me”
A fellow blogger’s post about Charles Kingsley’s The Water-Babies reminded me of Kingsley’s venturesome niece [tip of the hat to Calmgrove for this info], Mary, about whom I blogged in 2010 during a travel writing binge. Here’s that post: Travels … Continue reading
