In his own words
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Lysistrata
Review: Dick jokes! Overall rating: How I discovered or acquired this book: Referenced in the news with Alyssa Milano Noteworthy experiences while reading this book: Learned what a godemiche is Check out author’s other books? Y Recommend this book? To whom? Ratings (1-10, 10 being exceptional):
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Three Men in a Boat
Review: Funny, charming tale of 3 Holmes & Watson era dudes on a boat trip down the Thames. Humor but also lovely descriptive passages that make you feel as though you were there, and bits of history thrown in for good measure. Overall rating: How I discovered or acquired this book: Rando Noteworthy experiences while…
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Dead Souls
Review: Interesting concept: guy buys up dead peasants to cheat the tax system and get rich quick. It fails and he has misadventures. The manuscript was cobbled together after his death and after he burned parts of it, so the first part is mostly good, but the second part is disjointed and difficult to follow.…
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Ticket to the Opera
Review: Refer back to the excerpt section and download all the recommended library selections. Overall rating: How I discovered or acquired this book: One of my Amazon picks from way back Noteworthy experiences while reading this book: One of the 7 pages a day over ages and ages. The last of the 2 page project.…
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The Return of the Soldier
Review: Amazing book. Heart lifting and heart rending at the same time. What would you do if you lost all memory of the last 15 years? Could you recapture past love? Would you want to/ Life is a bitter draught but you have to drink it to be an adult. 5 stars. Overall rating: How…
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The Home and the World
Review: Sandip might be a metaphor for Gandhi. Tagore’s prose often reads like poetry. Sudden tragic ending. Had to look online to make sure it wasn’t missing pages in the Kindle. Overall rating: How I discovered or acquired this book: Random Kindle choice Noteworthy experiences while reading this book: Tord Gustuvsen in the rain. Ordered…
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The Devil’s Pool
Review: Bumpkins! Nice insight into the life and loves of 19th century French peasants. Overall rating: How I discovered or acquired this book: Random Kindle choice Noteworthy experiences while reading this book: Tord Gustuvsen in the rain. Ordered curry takeaway for the first time in years. Galub jamun! Check out author’s other books? Y Recommend…
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The Return of the Native
Review: Life on Egdon Heath. Learned about trades on the heath: You feel the moonlight, the desolation, the warmth of the firesides. The dialect is spot on. The life must have changed forever with steam power and machinery to reclaim arable land from the heath. Maybe someone wrote about that?? Very good read. Solid classic.…
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Sodom and Gomorrah
Review: Good. Proust always is. But it’s pretty clear that: Characters in this volume are fairly cut and paste: Maybe it’s the translation, but some of the phrasing is so, so convoluted I had to struggle to see what his meaning actually was. Great, but needed a good editor to cut out some stuff and…
