To be able to say "Noggle," you first must be able to say "Nah."
It took me three weeks to read this book, which means that it’s probably weaned me off of classical literature for the near future, at least until I can get back to reading a couple of hours each night. That said, this is certainly my current favorite Hardy book, but all I’ve read is Tess […]
Hey, sometimes you’re in the mood for a Hardy Boys book, and if that’s the case, don’t make the same mistake I’ve obviously done. Just kidding. I read Tess of the d’Urbervilles in college and saw The Marriage of Bette & Boo that same year, so one has to wonder why I didn’t become a […]
…it is only those who half know a thing that write about it. Those who know it thoroughly don’t take the trouble. Thomas Hardy, A Pair of Blue Eyes It does, however, keep the blogosphere humming along.
Whilst researching my book report for My Ántonia, I cam across a 2004 post about the 99 best books or series of all time that I treated as a quiz as was my wont. In 2004, I’d read 16 of the 99. So how do I do now? I have put in bold the books/series […]
I have often said that I don’t really care for the Teaching Company courses that are in my disciplines–English and Philosophy–but this one was an exception. It covers, well, the development of the novel in England and talks about its themes and whatnot from the 1700s to roughly World War II with the death of […]
Kim du Toit has posted a list of things he encouraged his children to read while homeschooling them. A list of books? That’s a quiz! So how do I do compared to a du Toit? Once again, I will bold the things I’ve read and underline the things I own but have not yet read. […]
You could probably have guessed after I bought a couple books while out of town for the night that I’d pick up the shortest book to read in my hotel. And you would be right. As I mentioned, I saw this play in college. Ah, my senior year: I saw a large number of plays […]
I was having an imaginary conversation the other day, and I was slightly thunderstruck to discover something disquieting about me. Not that I spend a lot of time alone, and I run through a number of imaginary conversations in my head–I have known that about myself for some time. But something more sinister. Well, maybe […]
Yesterday, we hit the Friends of the Springfield-Greene County Library’s semiannual book sale. On a full price day, but we were without children. Since it was not half price day or bag day, I found myself restraining myself and putting down books that I would have picked up in other circumstances. Which is good, because […]
So I sat down to read an English village mystery from the Thatcher era. I think it’s because of brain chemistry changes that occurred when I drank a lot of honeyed tea for a cold. When I was a kid in high school, I read a lot of these since my high school library had […]
I borrowed this book from the library because Springfield’s book fair season is far shorter than St. Louis’s. Well, that’s not the real reason. While I was at the library last week looking for some beading books to browse and review, I saw this book on the hot books shelf, so I got it (along […]
You know, every year I provide a handy little boast list of how much I’ve read in one place. Because of the hiatus, I didn’t get that list out. Until now. Read it and weep (for my lack of a life outside the pages): Friday by Robert Heinlein Star Trek II The Wrath of Khan […]
To brag, here’s the complete list of books I read in the 2007 goal year: Home Improvement:52 Weekend Projects by Dan Ramsay Nature Girl by Carl Hiaasen Dr. Kookie, You’re Right by Mike Royko Grifters & Swindlers Cynthia Manson (ed) Stanyan Street and Other Sorrows by Rod McKuen Kiss by Ed McBain Robert Frost by […]
When I imagined this book report, I was going to make some cracks about how Mr. du Toit once called me a wanker, way back in the old days. I thought perhaps I would make a comment about how polite the book reports are when you know that the author is better armed than you […]
Good Book Hunting: September 22, 2007 This week, we went exclusively to yard sales and the local elementary school PTO rummage sale. Here’s what we got: Click for full size A box of 94 comic books, including a number of Marvel mutant titles and GI Joe issues from the middle 1980s. They were marked a […]
Kim du Toit presents a list of his favorite short stories. While not a true “best of” list, compulsion to convince you, gentle reader, that I have read some things has lead me to reproduce this list with the items I have read highlighted with bold font: Boule de Suif – Guy de Maupassant The […]
Apparently, some British librarians have identified fifty books one should read before dying. I’ve listed the books below and have identified those I have read in bold and those I have on my to-read shelves in italics: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee The Bible The Lord of the Rings Trilogy by JRR Tolkien […]
From Crescat Sententia we have a rebuttal of sorts to the list included here. Crescat lists its top 99 books/series of all time. Here’s how I fared on its enlightened reading, with the books I have read in bold and those I have on my to-read shelf in italics: 1. Pride and Prejudice, by Jane […]
It’s a bit of a shame, gentle reader, that I think of this 19-year-old film as the new The Punisher, but that’s because I am old enough to remember the 1989 Dolph Lundgren movie which was an earlier take on the character. I do not think I’ve seen that film en toto, but I remember […]