Tag: English literature
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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… Read more
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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:… Read more
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The Heart of Midlothian
Review: A good adventure yarn, lots of daring escapes in the moonlight. Way too long. Waaaaaaay too long. Needed an editor. A good exposition of the Scottish religious fanaticism, the Covenanters, the Cameronians. A terrible waste of lives. Hard going with reading all the dialogues in Scots dialect. A classic, perhaps with flaws, but deservedly… Read more
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Great Expectations
Review: The life and adventures of Pip the Orphan. It made me feel like it was always raining. Always grey, and dismal as can be imagined. Magwitch, Miss Havisham, Mr. Jaggers, Wemmick the Clerk, Pumplechook, the characters are so engaging, all slightly tragic and flawed. Loved this book. Would never read it in the summertime.… Read more
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The Adventures of Roderick Random
Review: A merry romp through 18th century England, France, South America, and the high seas. Good read, well written, solid prose. Needed an editor, but the novel was a new art from and readers craved this kind of long-winded adventure yarn. Like Tom Jones, but with more sailing and battles. This book made me want… Read more
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The Essays of Francis Bacon
Review: An enlightening book for the 21st century. The more things change, the more they remain the same. A collection of little short essays about how people think and operate. A hard read due to the archaic language, like Shakespeare without the rhyme and meter. On kings, on love, on rumors, on youth, on old… Read more
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‘Tis Pity she’s a Whore
Review: Dark! Incest, murder, eyes gouged out, blasphemy, sketchy characters abound doing nefarious deeds. Tough to read the archaic verse, but after a dozen pages you get into the rhythm of it. I’ll have to read it again, maybe after reading a commentary on how it all works together. By that I mean there is… Read more
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Dream Days
Review: A beautiful sequel to The Golden Age. Continuing the adventures of our merry band of children, Harold, Edward, Selina and Charlotte. The Reluctant Dragon is excellent and often printed and sold separately. Again it captures the sweet essence of being a child and looking with sad piteous disbelief on how the grownups waste their… Read more
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The Golden Age
Review: A delightful romp through an English garden childhood. Lots of beautiful introspective moments, even though the protagonists would never admit they are introspective moments. Kaiser Wilhelm II had this book on his bedside table in the imperial yacht. This was the last age of childhood before the world changed forever in 1914. This book… Read more
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Within the Tides
Review: Four novellas/short stories from the master of nautical yarns. “The Planter of Malata” is a dark psychological tale of passion and deception. “The Partner” is an excellent tale of business treachery and scheming. “The Inn of the Two Witches” is very reminiscent of Alamayer’s Folly or even Heart of Darkness. A boat with a… Read more