What does the future hold for this blog? Not long ago I made some noises about shutting it down and concentrating on my new blog, Entering the Enchanted Castle. However, I’ve decided not to do that for the present, so I’ll still be blogging in both places, probably at least till the end of 2019. […]
This is the inaugural post of my buddy read of Part II of Don Quixote, which I’ve been meaning to finish for more than a year. I’m so glad Emma from Words and Peace agreed to read a chapter a day (more or less) along with me! We’ll be taking turns to post about our […]
This was my last month of trying only to read books I already have in the house, and I cheated a little bit. Kristen’s March Magics review made me curious to reread the one DWJ book I don’t own, so I got it from the library. And my son was pleading for more Freddy the […]
Helen Keller, The Story of My Life (1903) Almost everyone must know who Helen Keller is: the girl who became blind and deaf due to illness before she was two years old, enduring several agonizing years of isolation before being reconnected to the light of thought. The play and film “The Miracle Worker” dramatizes this […]
I’ve been meaning to read the second half of Don Quixote, having taken a break after Part One. When I found out Emma from Words and Peace was interested too — a chapter-a-day readalong she’d been following seemed to be defunct — I offered to read along with her. We decided to do alternating posts […]
Terrence Real, I Don’t Want To Talk About It (1997) Terrence Real, How Can I Get Through to You? (2003) Terrence Real, The New Rules of Marriage (2007) After going through a major relationship crisis last summer (now thankfully resolved), I was searching for solace in the used-book section of my favorite bookstore and came […]
A couple of days ago I saw the following tweet by librarian Nancy Pearl: In addition to everything else in the world I’m depressed about, I include the fact that nobody much (outside of Canada, I presume) reads Robertson Davies’ novels and they’re so so good — Nancy Pearl (@Nancy_Pearl) March 1, 2019 Well, […]
On my other blog, Entering the Enchanted Castle, some musings on our apocalyptic times: It’s not the end of the world.
This month I continued to do a fair amount of rereading. I’m making decisions about which books to keep as I prepare to move abroad, and also sticking to my resolution to only read books that are already on my shelves for three months. One more month to go … but even after that, I […]
Richard Adams, Watership Down (1972) Lately I’ve been disappointed that my son’s interest in reading seems to have flagged. He happily reads Tintin comics and my old Cricket magazines for hours, but the sustained attention required by a novel has been elusive. Until I started reading him Watership Down, that is. I thought this 400-page […]