Category: Books & Reviews

Literature, culture, fiction, non-fiction, writers, authors and the craft of writing.

Thoughts on (Re)Reading Fowler’s

Books & Reviews / Musings / Style & usage / What I'm Reading Now5 Comments

Loading

I had all but forgotten how delightful it can be reading Fowler’s Dictionary of Modern English Usage. It gives me the same sort of pleasure as reading at random through Samuel Johnson’s 1755 dictionary. Although I have had a copy of Fowler’s book on my self since the 1970s, I only returned to it recently, while musing on the dog’s breakfast of the town’s recent communications about its boil-water advisory. I was going to write a post about the event, offering whatever sage advice I … click below for more ↓

Knee Replacement Recovery and Doomscrolling, 25

Books & ReviewsLeave a comment

Loading

Are the grackles gone? We’ve hardly seen any these last few days. Around this time of year, they head south. When they are here, they flock around our bird feeder and empty it quickly. Some of them nest in the cedars and pines close to our house (as do some doves). They are noisy, funny, and somewhat aggressive towards other birds, especially predators and competitors, like crows. We’re now seeing blue jays at the feeder, which is a sign that grackles are not near. For … click below for more ↓

The Troubling Lack of Empathy Among Conservatives

MAGA cultists / Psychology & Sociology / Rightwing claptrap / Talibangelists and pseudo-Christians / What I'm Reading Now9 Comments

Loading

Empathy is a nasty word to conservatives. Elon Musk recently showed his contempt for the very notion of considering another’s feelings, calling it “civilizational suicidal empathy.” And then, to make sure everyone knew his views, the technocrat added in an interview with fellow rightwing MAGA cultist Joe Rogan, “The fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy, the empathy exploit.” Which means he sees empathy as a weakness he can exploit. Information-warfare.com noted, “Musk’s perspective on empathy aligns with certain ideological frameworks, particularly technocracy and the … click below for more ↓

No, Elon, We Won’t Be Going to Mars Soon

Behaviour & Psychology / Books & Reviews / Science & Technology / Space and space travel / Technology & Gadgets / What I'm Reading Now12 Comments

Loading

Delusional SpaceNazi and democracy destroyer Elon Musk says his company will launch its first rockets to Mars in 2026, and could have human missions sent to the Red Planet as early as 2029, but for sure by 2031. Well, that’s piffle for a lot of reasons. We won’t see a human flight to Mars for many, many more years and not likely to happen within my remaining lifetime (a couple of decades at least, I hope). But despite the ridiculousness of his posturing, sycophantic media … click below for more ↓

Chaucer’s House of Fame

Chaucer / Musings / Poetry2 Comments

Loading

Recently, while I was reading in bed — as is my nightly habit — I came across some lines (641-660) from Book II of Chaucer’s early poem, House of Fame, in a recently purchased book on his prologue to the Canterbury Tales (a small 1960 reprint of a 1903 original picked up at the local used book store). I’ve seen the 2,158-line poem (Wikipedia says 2,005 but that’s wrong) in my Riverside Chaucer, but never paid it much attention and can’t recall ever reading it … click below for more ↓

The Body Snatchers

Books & Reviews / Bureaucratic malaise / CollingwoodLeave a comment

Loading

I think it’s about time for another remake of the 1956 film, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, this time instead of aliens taking over human bodies, we should have a far-right leader who creates a cult of personality that turns normal people into mindless, worshipping zombies he and his henchmen control. Oh, right: that’s not fiction. It’s actually happened: MAGA is the prominent contemporary example, but we can also turn to other rightwing parties emerging in democracies across the world, which themselves in thrall to … click below for more ↓

Review: The Design of Books

Books & Reviews / Books about books / What I'm Reading NowLeave a comment

Loading

Like with so many other technologies in our lives — computers, cars, bread machines, flushing toilets, DVD players, convection ovens — most consumers don’t know or appreciate how books are made, or why they are made in such familiar shapes and structure. In more than four millennia since humans invented writing, the way that writing has been recorded and shared has evolved from clay tablets to the modern paperback and hardcover. Because we are so used to seeing and reading books, few of us stop … click below for more ↓

A 30-Year-Old Warning About Rising Fascism

Books & Reviews / Canadian Politics / Politics / Rightwing claptrap / US Politics6 Comments

Loading

Convicted felon and insurrection supporter Donald Trump claimed in a media conference after his trial that, because the justice system works, Americans are “living in a fascist state.” It’s not the first time Trump has used the term to describe opponents or their accomplishments. Last month he told donors Biden was “running a Gestapo administration” and added that Biden is “surrounded by fascists around the Oval Office.” But Trump and his supporters have been using the term to describe opponents — including those in his … click below for more ↓

WWCD: What Would Cicero Do?

Canadian Politics / Classics / Politics / Rightwing claptrap / US PoliticsOne Comment

Loading

Throughout his career, Marcus Tullius Cicero fought tyranny, stood up to dictators and bullies, defended the Republic, and paid for his principled stand with his life. He put himself in harm’s way frequently by openly challenging and even suing the elites, the rich, and the powerful who were controlling — or trying to control — Rome and its empire for their own personal benefit and enrichment. I wonder what he would do if he were alive today, facing the same threats to our government and … click below for more ↓

Musings on Grammar, Usage, and Garner’s

Books & Reviews / Language & Grammar / My Writing / Style & usage / What I'm Reading NowOne Comment

Loading

Be honest with me: how serious are you about the serial comma? Do you wade into discussions on language forums and social media brandishing citations from your favourite authorities? Do you dismiss dissenting authorities as heretics? Are there style and usage guides on your bookshelf with sticky notes and bookmarks in them so you can immediately find your references should anyone post a contrary opinion? Do you haughtily refer to it as the Oxford comma instead of the serial — or, the gods of language … click below for more ↓

Tyrant: Shakespeare on Politics

Books & Reviews / Politics / Shakespeare / What I'm Reading NowLeave a comment

Loading

You might think, while reading Henry VI Part 2, that Shakespeare was writing about recent events, the writer merely masking them in archaic historical dress. Okay, even if you have read some of the Bard’s plays, the three Henry VI plays probably aren’t among the ones you read in university or high school. They can be a slog to read in part because they were among his earliest, and the story meanders a lot. But bear with me. They were the lead into Richard III, … click below for more ↓

Accuracy, Licence, and the Death of Stalin

Books & Reviews / Culture / Film & Reviews / History & Biography / PoliticsOne Comment

Loading

One of my favourite movies in my collection — seen three times already on DVD or Blu-ray but likely to be seen more — is the 2017 satire, The Death of Stalin, directed by Armando Iannucci. Wikipedia describes it as depicting: “…the internal social and political power struggle among the members of Council of Ministers following the death of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin in 1953.” That’s a bit vague; it doesn’t include the antics, the scheming, the occasional slapstick moment, the brutality of those members, … click below for more ↓

Reading the Iliad

Books & Reviews / Classics / Translations & translating / What I'm Reading Now4 Comments

Loading

There was a moment when I was reading The Iliad that I thought to myself, “This is it. This is what the epic is really all about.” Somehow it all seemed to come down to one particular scene and all the rest was just leading up to it. Why I had that epiphany, I’ll explain in due course. But what struck me is that the real message of this epic poem was almost hidden by all the thousands of lines that came before it. I … click below for more ↓

Homer’s Odyssey Revisited

Classics / Poetry / Translations & translating2 Comments

Loading

Tell me, O muse, of that ingenious hero who travelled far and wide after he had sacked the famous town of Troy. Thus begins the 1897 translation by Samuel Butler of Homer’s Odyssey. It’s just one of more than 60 translations of the book into English since the first in 1615, including one by T.E. Lawrence (aka Lawrence of Arabia) in 1932. Odysseus — Ulysses in the Latin form — mythical king of Ithaca, is a complex protagonist; sometimes hero, sometimes villain, sometimes noble, other … click below for more ↓

Seven Faces of Marcus Aurelius

Books & Reviews / Classics / Musings / Philosophy / Stoicism & classical philosophy / What I'm Reading NowLeave a comment

Loading

I am going to assume that you, dear reader, already know who Marcus Aurelius Antonius was. I have respect for both the intelligence and education of my readers, enough to feel I can avoid making pedantic explanations and reiterating his biography that is more fluently available on dozens or hundreds of better, more encyclopedic websites. No, this is not a treatise on him, or even on his Stoic philosophy. It’s a look at how six different translators rendered some parts of his book, Meditations. But … click below for more ↓

Back to Top