In his own words
-
Vitals
Review: An excellent, thrilling, spooky, paranoid journey into what was (in 2000) the near future, now the near past. You see this with references to VHS, and the differing formats, as well as “the team set to work with digital cameras.” Like there are other types of camera, still were in 2000. It was fast…
-
The Penguin Book of Ghost Stories
Review: An excellent selection of tales from the mid 19th to the early 20th century, the golden age of spooky stories, séances, and spiritualism. Not horrifying, but terrifying. Mood is created and well created too. Lots of lonely heaths and dark mansions. Excellent! Overall rating: How I discovered or acquired this book: Finishing half-read books…
-
The Wild Frontier
Review: Seven superb stories of characters from Canada’s past. Well researched and with contemporary comparisons to 1978 politics and economics. I couldn’t put it down. You just get sucked in to the history, almost (fortunately) like being there. I say fortunately because its always frozen, knee-deep in snow, and/or starving in the forests and tundra.…
-
Edgar Allan Poe: The Complete Short Stories
Review: Harold Bloom hated Poe. I can understand that now. He has one or two outstanding stories, then you wade through a bunch of oddities, articles, hoaxes, and sub-par parables, analogies and other distractions. It was good to get it all read, so you don’t just listen to the singles, you made it through the…
-
The Mill on the Floss
Review: The remarkable Maggie Tulliver. The unremarkable family from an unremarkable village who have an extraordinary story. Or at least, a story made more remarkable by it being an experience that to varying degrees we all experience: interfamily squabble, intrafamily disputes with our extended relations, money worries, frustrated goals and having to adapt or present…
-
Prisoners of the North
Review: A collection of 5 stories of 5 unique lives, all of whom were shaped and changed by the Canadian north. It was Berton’s 50th and final book, and is an excellent and very readable narrative. I always love when I place I have lived or visited gets mentioned. Like Edmonton, or Athabasca (best burger…
-
Time Regained (Volume 6)
Review: Out of all the volumes, this was the easiest to read. But not easy reading by any means. And World War I was happening in it, so there was some action, something beyond the interminable drawing rooms and endless reflecting and analyzing and… I did it! Done! 4300 pages and it’s “in the books”!…
-
The Captive and the Fugitive (Volume 5)
Review: Proust. Sometimes he writes himself into a corner and then laboriously extricates himself. Leaving the reader puzzling over quadruple negatives and peculiar phrasing. Protagonist finally revealed as “Marcel”. He is still a bone idle pussy, but as always the descriptions of light and sunshine and landscapes and architecture are exquisite. Overall rating: How I…
-
The Secret Agent
Review: Conrad is credited with his introduction of true realism to English literature, and this is a great example of that. Dirty, poverty stricken violent anarchists. Unlikeable protagonists, and everybody dies or wants to by the end. Loved this. Overall rating: How I discovered or acquired this book: Read a quote from it somewhere Noteworthy…
-
The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loanna
Review: An investigation of memory and how our lives and events are largely our own. A beautiful exposition of nostalgia and how it shapes our memories. Very interesting to see war-time memories from an Axis country. Overall rating: How I discovered or acquired this book: Noteworthy experiences while reading this book: Discovering that Kindle illustrations…