In His Own Words

Category: Review

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  • Madam Bovary

    Madam Bovary

    Review: Lots of rapturous sighs. It was a good read, I can see why it is respected, and the characters are good illustrations of 19th century townspeople. A bit 2-D though. She’s a “fallen woman” and things go downhill and end very badly. He’s a starry-eyed optimist. Everyone dies at the end. Good work, but… Read more

  • The WWI Trivia Book

    The WWI Trivia Book

    Review: Once again, a good book spoiled completely by so many errors and typos as to be a real disappointment. The author is a smart guy, but he needs to get a proofreader and fix the file. I learned a lot, the format is a good effort, with history, then facts, then trivia test questions.… Read more

  • Poetry of the First World War

    Poetry of the First World War

    Review: An excellent anthology. Obviously some of the most notables get lots of space, but there were some lesser knowns, as well as women and civilian poets. A very powerful book of verse from a very terrible period of our human experience. Excellent editing made for an excellent anthology. Overall rating: How I discovered or… Read more

  • Savage Beauty

    Savage Beauty

    Review: It took the author 30 years to write this. It’s less biography and more muckraking and airing of dirty laundry. It’s disappointing. All the bad, dirty details from personal letters inserted for no good reason. Like, I get you want to show the grit, the bad with the good, like Boswell avowedly did. But… Read more

  • The Pilgrim’s Progress

    The Pilgrim’s Progress

    Review: Christian allegory. But… actually very well done, and it’s old, but holds up well. For the time and audience that it was written for it sure got its message across. The first part was more gritty, the second a bit too “okay now we got a dude with superpowers to get this pilgrimage done… Read more

  • Life of Johnson

    Life of Johnson

    Review: 1402 pages of sycophantic twaddle. Johnson was an asshole. It is however an important document on 18th century life, views, prejudices, and attitudes. Also, the most undisputed deep dive into biography ever. Let’s call it a rite of passage, the three plate deadlift of literature. Overall rating: How I discovered or acquired this book:… Read more

  • The Halloween Tree

    The Halloween Tree

    Review: Pipkin! “Joe Pipkin was the greatest boy who ever lived.” An absolute triumph of prose. Makes you cold, and scared and fascinated all at one time. Everyone should read this, especially before Halloween. Overall rating: How I discovered or acquired this book: Noteworthy experiences while reading this book: Rediscovering Dave Brubeck’s Indian Summer album… Read more

  • The Tale of Genji

    The Tale of Genji

    Review: It’s a classic. A masterpiece. It was old when Chaucer picked up his pen. It was difficult to get through as it is a thousand years old and very long. However, the poetry is very good, and it is a unique glimpse into 10th century Japan. Overall rating: How I discovered or acquired this… Read more

  • The Stranger

    The Stranger

    Review: A triumph. A guy that just does not care one way or the other. Some wonderful scene settings, made you feel like you were right there. Calm even in the face of certain death, can’t beat that. It’s good to take some lessons from this book, it’s fiction, but it’s got good philosophical content,… Read more

  • The Scarlet Letter

    The Scarlet Letter

    Review: A great testament about the poison that is religion. Superbly paced, characters are among the best developed in so short a space. It makes one angry, and sad, and passionate, all sorts of emotions. Makes me want to punch a priest in the throat. Superb job Mr. Hawthorne! Overall rating: How I discovered or… Read more