Classics Considered

It seems the theme of my life in 2019 is "life gets tougher, books get better."  Well, some books anyway.  I have to say, I haven't been reading as much as I would like, but in spite of that, am pretty pleased overall with the books I have read so far. I've also highly enjoyed reading other's blogs this year and found many new ones to follow.  I've been thinking about doing a post series sharing links to blogs I follow, if that would interest anyone (?). Ok, let's talk about some books. Another one bites the dust... Here's one of those "not so great" reads of the year.  I had every intention of posting a review on The Scapegoat , by Daphne du Maurier.  But after reaching a glorious 44%, I came to a screeching stop.  The plodding repetition of the plot was one thing... the narrator's nauseating "aha!" moment was the cherry on top.  I thought I'd take one for the team, finish the book, and present you with a scathi...

Well, friends...this month's edition of "What I'm Reading" is going to be a bit of a ramble.  You might want to grab something to snack on or drink.  I usually try to abridge, but this time I just feel the need to stream-of-conscious it.... Personal For starters, a personal update. Though work and everything are going fine, I've been feeling very directionless lately and in need of a change.  The thing is, there's so many things I would like to do - from buying a house to changing jobs - but no one thing that especially stands out as "yeah, that makes sense." It feels like a big decision chart with lines going all over the place.   I've been through all the conventional wisdom - focus on others, not yourself; try to find what you're passionate about; make small goals; etc.  But after all of that, I'm still in a maze, with too many ideas and hopes and doubts pulling me in different directions.  And in spite of everything being fine...

Hi readers - hope everyone is doing well!  I've been incredibly busy the last several weeks at work, which seems to be the new normal.  To be honest, I haven't been reading much, but I have watched some interesting films lately which I wanted to share.

It's snowing heartily again, on top of the 2-4 inches from earlier this week that didn't fully melt.  So I came home early and am looking forward to a weekend "snowed in" - which means reading!

Ah, January.  I always find this month to be dreary.  (Anything coming after a glorious Christmas break is bound to be dreary). My reading, as you might expect, has been somewhat sporadic and diverse, as I'm trying to escape the doldrums.  I don't have full reviews yet, just a scattering of thoughts...

It's been an interesting week.  As I shared on my personal Instagram, it's been a rough one, too.  What do I do when I'm having a bad week?  Read, obviously. The last couple of weeks, I've been juggling a veritable carousel of books.  Here's the rundown: The Mosquito Coast by Paul Theroux - I fully expected to finish this one in time for next Monday's podcast episode.  (It didn't happen.)  Basically, this is a dark comedy about a prepper, Allie Fox, who uproots his family from rural Massachusetts and relocates to Central America.  It's as weird as it sounds.  I find a steady diet of cynicism to be a bit much, but there are some genuinely humorous moments.  Be warned, offensive (not funny) language also abounds, as well as racial slurs.  I am curious to see how it ends, though I can't imagine it ends well. When We Were Orphans by Kazuo Ishiguro - On Goodreads, I described this as "Sherlock Holmes meets Empire of the Sun."  ...

Apologies for my two weeks' radio silence...  Work has been intense, so I haven't mustered up the energy to blog until this weekend.  Happily, I've been reading, and there is plenty to catch up on! My current obsession reading focus is an unlikely one: CEO, China: The Rise of Xi Jinping (2016) by Kerry Brown.  I picked this up last Saturday and just ordered my own hard copy - yes, it's that interesting. Brown is a professor at King's College, as well as a contributor to The Diplomat .  This combination of academia and journalism means his writing carries the best of both worlds and is well annotated, particularly for a book geared towards the general public.  (One or two reviewers complained he is too challenging to read... from my perspective, Brown's prose is more digestible than Michael Korda 's, no offense to Korda.) To be sure, the well-written biography is my favorite way to consume history.  There's several reasons for this: Certain individuals...

If it's seemed quiet this past week, I've actually been reading (hee).  I always find this time of year to be trying , for whatever reason, and so I've been indulging myself with two re-reads and a new book that is becoming close to my heart... Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass - I've finally begun reading this sweet little hardcover that my parents got me for Christmas.  It includes both books and Tenniel's illustrations (my favorite).  This may be the topic for my next podcast episode.  I love Alice, and it's just occurred to me what a great protagonist she is, and why.  More on that to come... Crusader Castles - After making it my unofficial mission to become a complete Lawrence nerd , I had to read his research paper about Crusader castle architecture.  It's really quite interesting, and even though I don't understand all of it, I can see the scientific side of him through his diagrams and careful eye for detail...

In college I took a history elective on Britain in the 20th century.  That was when I first read poems from WWI and learned it is considered to be, in essence, its own sub-genre.  Since my more recent fascination with T. E. Lawrence , I'd been wanting to return to WWI poetry, so I decided to read this anthology from Macmillan: Poetry of the First World War . I've been reading it off and on since last fall and am about halfway through.  It's not the kind of subject matter you can simply breeze through.  Right off the bat, there are a couple of cynical, coarse, even insubordinate poems, naturally credited to "Anonymous."  Immediately you get a feeling for the setting, and it is not so neat and tidy as what you see in Downton Abbey , for example.  From there, the collection goes into various poets by name, including such well-known authors as Graves, Kipling, and even Chesterton.  There is no inclusion of Lawrence's "Dedication" poem, but since the focu...