In his own words
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The Making of Americans
Review: So utterly awful I can barely contain myself. Utter and total waste of ink, pixels, trees, time, air, space and energy. I, Neilos, made it 26% of the way through, and I feel like suing the estate for damages. Zero stars. Ugh. Barf. Yecch. This book made me want to: open a vein and…
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The Toughest Show on Earth
Review: 5 stars throughout. Could not put this down. I love, love, love opera but there is no way I could do any of the jobs involved in pulling one off. The story of a man married to his Metropolitan. So much more than a book of anecdotes (although it does not lack for those).…
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Waiting for Godot
Review: An extraordinary piece of literature. Challenging, touching, depths of meaning and yet still humorous and readable. Reading the study guide was helpful in supplying context about the play, the author, the background. Wouldn’t add or change a single word. Brilliant This book made me want to: read or see other works by this remarkable…
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Cranford
Review: Charming little portrait of a little English village and circle of ladies, old, widowed or spinsters that live a quiet, polite, genteel existence. Little adventures, little tragedies, little triumphs all play out around the quiet streets and homely firesides of pastoral Cranford village. It’s beautifully written, and it could easily be read in one…
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The Illiad
Review: An eye opener for me, as like most people I assumed it was about the Siege of Troy. It’s not, or more accurately, it’s about one particular event in the Siege of Troy, near the end of the 10 years. Two things made this much easier to read. You can’t rush through this. Took…
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Carl Barks’ Library Set I Vol II
Review: “Volcano Valley” – wow, sleepy Mexicans. Could not get that published today. The essays, good Lord people these are comic books with ducks, not fucking Yeats. Still, learned a great deal and the comics themselves are brilliant and timeless. This book made me want to: own the originals Overall rating: Readability: Plot: n/a Other:…
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Gargantua and Pantagruel
Review: A gargantuan undertaking of Rabelaisian wit! First two books out of five were superb. Next one, not bad. Last two, worse than the last two seasons of MASH. It’s bawdy, gross in parts, but it’s also an extraordinary tour de force. Quotable often, hilarious frequently, and a good insight into the real motivations of…
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Watership Down
Review: A wonderful adventure tale. Could not put it down at times. Long, but not needlessly so. A lot of good sensible material mixed in with the adventure yarn. Charming, with glorious descriptions of the English countryside. 5 stars and earned every one of them. This book made me want to: eat rabbit Overall rating:…
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Carl Barks’ Library Set I Vol I
Review: Finally getting around to reading the complete set. Exhaustive research into every facet of the artist’s life and work. Which can be exhausting. If panel 2 on page 12 of four color 29 was based on plate II from National Geographic in 1940, that’s great. But I don’t really care. Still, I learned a…
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The Rivals
Review: An excellent light-hearted comedy, I can see why Dr. Johnson liked it. Mrs. Malaprop is hilarious. The characters all work well together to bring off a solid comedy. The writing itself is excellent, Mr. R.B. Sheridan was a member of Johnson’s literary club, and you had to be good just to get nominated for…