Category: Classic

Book Review, Classic, English Literature, Fantasy, featured, Fiction, Novel, Thriller

The House on the Borderland by Willaim Hope Hodgson

I bought this book because of the cover. Not the cover pictured here on the left but a different cover. I get regular posts about retro-science fiction/fantasy book covers on Instagram. A while ago, there was one featuring a cover for William Hope Hodgson’s novella, The House on the Borderland. The cover featured a bunch of nude human figures all reaching for a glowing sphere … Continue reading The House on the Borderland by Willaim Hope Hodgson

james b chester2 Comments
Book Review, Classic, English Literature, featured, Fiction, Novel

Wise Children by Angela Carter

I’m going to come out and say it, I think Angela Carter is one of the most under-rated authors of the 20th century. Up to now, I’ve known her work through her wonderful short stories and their various adaptations. Neil Jordan’s The Company of Wolves based on Ms. Carter’s The Bloody Chamber was rewatched so many times, my VHS copy faded away. Years ago, I … Continue reading Wise Children by Angela Carter

james b chester1 Comment
American Fiction, Book Review, California, Classic, featured, Fiction, Noir, Novel

The Road to Los Angeles by John Fante

The narrator in John Fante’s The Road to Los Angeles kept reminding me of Ignatius J. Riley in John Kennedy Toole’s A Confederacy of Dunces. But without the heart. Both characters are really incapable of functioning in the world. Both live at the bottom of society, relying on the good graces of their mother for support. Both are convinced of their own genius and not … Continue reading The Road to Los Angeles by John Fante

james b chester1 Comment
American Fiction, Book Review, California, Classic, featured, Fiction, Noir, Novel, Thriller

The Expendable Man by Dorothy Hughes

The greatest American crime novelist you’ve never heard of is Dorothy Hughes. Unless, of course, you’ve already heard of her. Ms. Hughes wrote some 14 crime novels in the 1950’s and 60’s, then retired from the scene to become a leading critic of the genre. She’s something of a writer’s writer, long admired by those working in crime fiction but not widely known. You may … Continue reading The Expendable Man by Dorothy Hughes

james b chester1 Comment
Book Review, Classic, European Literature, featured, Fiction, Film, French, French Literature, Noir, Novella

Nazis in the Metro by Didier Daeninckx, translated from the French by Anna Moschovakis

On May 8, 1945, the day Nazi Germany surrendered, the French government began a massacre of Muslim nationalists in Algeria that ended with the deaths of 15,000 to 20,000 civilians. There were soldiers who fought for France in Germany who returned to Algeria only to find the families dead, and their homes destroyed. Not something I expected to learn in a gritty, noir detective novel … Continue reading Nazis in the Metro by Didier Daeninckx, translated from the French by Anna Moschovakis

james b chester
American Fiction, Book Review, Classic, Fiction, Novella

May Day by F. Scott Fitzgerald

May first, 1919. New York City. The first World War has ended. Soldiers of all ranks are returning home via a stop in the big city. Sons of privilege, Yale students all, hold a party in a hotel not too far from a socialist workers printshop and hall. Chaos ensues. Our two main characters, former college pals, meet before the big night. Gordon and Phillip. … Continue reading May Day by F. Scott Fitzgerald

james b chester2 Comments
Book Review, Classic, English Literature, European Literature, Novella

Best Party Ever!! The Vampyre by John Polidori

In 1816 Lord Byron, Percy Shelley, Mary Shelley, Claire Clairmont and John Polidori spend a stormy week together in a villa near Lake Geneva, a party for the ages as they say. Stuck inside due to unseasonal rains and they pass their time together by telling each other scary stories. There was probably some drug-taking involved and everybody was basically lusting after everybody else but … Continue reading Best Party Ever!! The Vampyre by John Polidori

james b chester
Book Review, Classic, Non-fiction, Uncategorized

Be the Water. The Te of Piglet by Benjamin Hoff – DNF

I have been reading Lau-Tzu’s Tao te Ching or Book of the Way for about four years now. I taught Taoism as part of the middle school history curriculum for over 25 years before deciding one day to read its key text cover to cover. I liked what I found so much that I made it a daily exercise for many years, reading one or … Continue reading Be the Water. The Te of Piglet by Benjamin Hoff – DNF

james b chester2 Comments
Book Review, Classic, English Literature

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

Heathcliff is Miss Havisham. I don’t know how many times I have read Wuthering Heights, but it’s been a few.  More than three at least.  I’m a fanboy. I read it again on Monday as my way of celebrating Emily Brontë’s 200th birthday.  I honestly thought there would be more hoopla; maybe a public read-a-loud somewhere. But if it was going to be just me, then … Continue reading Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

james b chester6 Comments
Asian Literature, Book Review, Classic, Fiction, Japanese Literature, Novel, Poetry, Translation

Snow Country by Yasunari Kawabata

A novel that is also a haiku. Snow Country by Yasunari Kawabata takes place on the western coast of northern Japan where geography and climate conspire to create a mountainous landscape that gets more snow than any other place on earth.  The small townships along the railway tracks that cut through the mountains survive on income from the few tourists who visit the local hot springs … Continue reading Snow Country by Yasunari Kawabata

james b chester2 Comments
Book Review, Classic, Poetry

Poetry: Read More/Blog More — Robert Frost

Back in 2012, Regular Rumination hosted a regular poetry event, Poetry: Read More/Blog More.  The premise was simple–write about poetry once a month.  I’m a semi-regular reader of poetry–one or two books a year–so I happily joined in, a couple of times.  Below is a post I wrote for my old blog, Ready When You Are, C.B.  about Robert Frost, who really is much better than you … Continue reading Poetry: Read More/Blog More — Robert Frost

james b chester3 Comments
Book Review, Classic, European Literature, Fiction, Novel, Translation

The Land of Green Plums by Herta Muller

How true is this opening line? When we don’t speak, we become unbearable, and when we do, we make fools of ourselves. Ms. Muller opens and closes her novel, The Land of Green Plums, with this line so she must thinks it’s important.  It must be the key her novel’s theme. What meaning can we find in it?  How different is the thought behind it … Continue reading The Land of Green Plums by Herta Muller

james b chester