I’ve been reading a chapter a day (on average) of Les Miserables for almost nine months now. In this quarter, the big new development has been the love story of Cosette and Marius. A prime example of the Idealized Romance in its most passionately unrealistic form, this reminded me of some psychological texts I’ve been […]
This question follows on from last month’s about rereading. As I grow older and reread some of my former favorites, I find that some of them have lost their luster. What formerly seemed so powerful and full of insight now shows its limitations. I might find it poorly written, or full of holes and inconsistencies […]
Things continued to be intense this month and I just didn’t have much time for reading. It’s one of those times when I have several books going but haven’t completed most of them… I did manage to fit in rereads of some of my all-time favorites. Some of these are going to be part of […]
During a previous era of my life I became interested in Jungian psychology. I think it started after college when I fell in love with the novels of Robertson Davies, which reflect his own interest in the work of the Swiss psychologist. (One of them, The Manticore, is even based around the main character’s sessions […]
There are two kinds of readers: those who re-read, and those who don’t. The latter group, represented in the extreme by Marie Kondo of The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up fame, feels there is no reason to read a book again once it’s entered your brain. You’ve gotten what there is to glean from […]
As promised, I took along some newer books on vacation recently, and managed to finish three of them. Alas, two were not much fun to read, but the last was as entertaining as I’d hoped! Read on to find out which one… The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter by Theodora Goss had a premise […]
This month I went away on vacation and took along a few newer books in contrast to the abundance of classics and backlist titles I’ve been reading. There was at least one I really loved…look for a review soon to find out which one! Reviews Uncle Silas was a classic (if somewhat flawed) Gothic novel […]
Like some other lovers of literature, I’m a bit too prone to have my nose in a book all the time and forget about the world around me. So when I bought a notebook with blank pages by mistake, instead of my usual ruled journal, I thought it might be a good chance to do […]
J. Sheridan Le Fanu, Uncle Silas (1864) It’s yet another classic book review! I’ve been doing a lot of these lately as I try to plow through my accumulated TBR pile. But while on vacation I took a whole bunch of newer books along with me on the e-reader, so I hope to have something […]
I’m away for a couple of weeks visiting my old haunts in the Pacific Northwest, thus my silence here and elsewhere. I’ll be back to post and catch up with other blogs soon. Hope you’re having a great summer!