I spent this past week, the last of my summer vacation, at the Center for the Book in San Francisco taking a four-course intensive book binding class. We learned how to make the four bindings shown in the picture here; Coptic, flat-back case, limp paper and rounded back case. I’ve been making my own books for many years now, following the directions in various how-to … Continue reading Making Books with Jane Austen
I’m taking a break from my recent stint of Man-Booker Prize Long List books to read Jane Austen’s second published novel Pride and Prejudice for the Jane Austen Read All A-long. You can still sign up for the remaining five books here. I will get to the famous openng sentence later today. I’ll be reading Pride and Prejudice on the ferry boat this week as I go back … Continue reading Jane Austen Read All A-long Book Two (Pride and Prejudice) and Man Booker Longlist Reading
Two impressions: One, I’m surprised by just how much Jane Austen can shock me through effective plotting. I suspect that most of her fans will list her prose, her sense of humour and her characterization as the reasons why they love her, but she’s very good with plotting, too. There was a point in the final part of Sense and Sensibility that had me gasping in shock. … Continue reading Jane Austen Read All-a-long: Sense and Sensibility
There world has been coming to an end since 1956. There has been an explosion of dystopian futures of late. If you wandered around any Scholastic Book Faire this year, you saw that just about one out of ever four titles in the fiction section featured some kind of horrific future. It’s oddly comforting to realize that this is really nothing new. The end of … Continue reading No Blade of Grass by John Christopher
I didn’t really like Naomi Alderman’s novel, Disobedience. I found it kind of annoying. But it has stayed with me for some time, near the surface, too. Maybe I don’t like it because it hits oddly close to home. The characters bothered me. I believed in them; I just wanted to smack some sense into them. The books main character is an adult woman, travelling … Continue reading Disobedience by Naomi Alderman
So I am at seven books for seven days, as planned. Today, we made the obligatory visit to The Strand Bookstore, which you really must see if you visit New York and you love books. The advertize 18 miles of books, which is probably true. Four stories of books, mostly new titles at a slightly reduced price with some used titles at a slight additional … Continue reading New York City Book Buying Total Reaches Seven!
A few weeks ago I asked if anyone would be interested in reading all six of Jane Austen’s novels as a sort of read-a-long. I’ve been thinking about doing this for a few months, collecting paperback editions of all six novels. Since I stick to used paperbacks and insist on editions with cool covers, it’s taken a few months to come up with all six, … Continue reading Announcing The First, and Probably Only, Jane Austen Read All A-long
I’m going to assume you have read this book. Probably in high school. Even if your English teacher was not the best teacher you ever had, you probably got most of what there is to get in Animal Farm. It’s a straightforward book; Mr. Orwell makes sure that everyone understands his point. While the communist revolution may have started well, may have even brought peace, … Continue reading Animal Farm by George Orwell
If you’re a reader but not an English major, or just anyone who’d like to fill in the holes in your knowledge of the subject, you could do worse than John Sutherland’s A Little History of Literature. Divided into 40 short chapters, Mr. Sutherland’s book covers all the greatest hits from Beowulf to Borges and most of the main topics covered in graduate schools from What … Continue reading A Little History of Literature by John Sutherland
This marks the end of my Tournament of Books 2017 reading. It’s been fun. Really. I read a good-sized handful of books from the short list, enjoyed most of them, admired a few, didn’t finish one. I’ve even come away with a few titles sure to make my personal short list of favorite reads for this year. But I’m moving on to other titles now. … Continue reading High Dive by Jonathan Lee
As a reader, I’m kind of a sucker. It’s easy to take me by surprise. I didn’t see any of it coming in Gone Girl. Life of Pi came to me from far out in left field. And I admit it, it never even occurred to me that he would sell his precious pocket watch to buy his wife a beautiful hair pin. My jaw has hit the floor … Continue reading Red Joan by Jennie Rooney
Graeme Macrae Burnet brings multiple voices to life in his historical crime thriller His Bloody Project. Give credit where it is due. I was very impressed by how well he evokes various types of writing and by how well they work together. The novel opens with a first person account, written by the accused, a 17-year-old farmer, or crofter, accused of multiple homicide. Just how did young … Continue reading His Blody Project by Graeme Macrae Burnet
May Contain Spoilers 