Category: Books & Reviews

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

The Long Read part 2

Books & Reviews / Classics / Literature / What I'm Reading NowLeave a comment

Loading

In my previous post I wrote about reading during the lockdown, particularly delving into some longer reads like War and Peace. This time gives us ample opportunity to tackle books that may have daunted us before. And, as I previously wrote, some of these are my ‘books-to-read-upon-retirement’ titles. Well, I recently finished War and Peace and still think it’s worth tackling, although I also believe Tolstoy could have benefitted from a more parsimonious editor (speaking as a former book, magazine, and newspaper editor) The story is full of drama, passion, war, and romance, but he all-too-often meandered from the plot ……… click below for more ↓

Social distancing and reading

Books & Reviews / Social Order & Disorder / What I'm Reading NowLeave a comment

Loading

With every responsible, mature adult practicing social distancing and self-isolation these days, it means spending lots of time at home, alone or within the small family unit. Trying for some, but it’s the perfect time to catch up on your reading, to explore new authors, to discover the contentment of a comfortable chair, a cup of tea, and a novel. The social-distancing period can become not just a burden, but a great opportunity for immersing yourself in books. But with so many choices, what should I read, you ask. Blogger/editor Sara Reggiani, writing from Italy in Life in Quarantine, asked, ……… click below for more ↓

I’m Reading as Fast as I Can

Books & Reviews / Daily life / Personal Reminiscences / Reading & Literacy / What I'm Reading NowLeave a comment

Loading

I don’t recall just when I started putting books aside to read, or perhaps just finish, when I retired. I had this naive, romantic idea that upon retirement, at the age of 65 or thereabouts, I would be able to spend my time puttering around the house and garden, carting a bag of books from place to place, to living out my final years in the warm glow of reading and cups of tea. Books have long lives in my library. Putting one aside to reach for another, and then consigning it to an imagined peaceful future where I would ……… click below for more ↓

Johnson’s words

Books & Reviews / Computers & Programming / Language & Grammar / Style & usage / Theme & Coding / What I'm Reading Now / Words & etymologyOne Comment

Loading

I have recently been reading through the David Crystal anthology of words from Samuel Johnson’s dictionary (Penguin, 2006), attempting to cross-reference it with entries in the Jack Lynch anthology (Levenger Press, 2004), comparing how the two editors chose their selections, and to see how the book designers chose to present them. Yes, I know: reading dictionaries isn’t a common pastime, but if you love words, then you do it. In part, I’m doing so for the sheer delight of the reading (Johnson’s wit shines through in so many of the entries), and as a measure of the differences in book ……… click below for more ↓

Books, writers, words, and competencies

Books & Reviews / Media Issues / Typography / What I'm Reading Now / Words & etymologyOne Comment

Loading

I have always believed that any good, competent and credible writer can be judged (if judge people we must, and yet we do) by the books on his or her desk. Yes, books: printed hardcopy, paper and ink. I’ll go into why books are vastly superior to online sources a bit later (although I suspect my readers already know why…). Although I am no longer in the media or much of an active writer these days, I believe I can still determine the craft, the credibility and dedication of a writer simply by a quick glance at their library. That’s ……… click below for more ↓

Of dictionaries, memories, and friends

Books & Reviews / Language & Grammar / Musings / Personal Reminiscences / What I'm Reading Now / Words & etymology / Writing & FictionLeave a comment

Loading

When a copy of this selection from Samuel Johnson’s famous dictionary arrived last week, I was delighted, and immediately reminded of my late, and well-loved friend, Bill. He would have appreciated the book, chuckled over Johnson’s witty definitions, delighted in the words at play. We would have sat around the kitchen counter, alternately reading random definitions from the book, in between sips of wine. Like every good writer I’ve ever known, Bill loved words, puns, wit, and the interplay of language. Sadly, Bill died of esophageal cancer late last year, the same cancer that took my father a few years ……… click below for more ↓

The dictionary of delight

Books & Reviews / Language & Grammar / Style & usage / What I'm Reading Now / Words & etymologyOne Comment

Loading

Mohocks, Samuel Johnson informed us in 1755, was the “name of a cruel nation of America given to ruffians who infested, or rather were imagined to infest, the streets of London.” Moky meant dark, as in weather. Gallimatia was nonsense; talk without meaning. Commination was a threat; a denunciation of punishment, or of vengeance. Tachygraphy was the art of quick writing. Eftsoons meant soon afterwards. Saltinbanco was a quack or a mountebank. A dotard was a man whose age impaired his intellects (no Donald Trump jokes, please). A lexicographer is a “harmless drudge, that busies himself in tracing the original, ……… click below for more ↓

Thoreau and Buddhism

Buddhism / Classics / Classics / Literature / Philosophy2 Comments

Loading

In his introduction to Thoreau: Walden and Other Writings (Bantam Books, 1962-1981), Joseph Wood Krutch described Henry David Thoreau’s writings as having four “distinct subjects”, which I paraphrase somewhat as: The life of quiet desperation most men live; The economic fallacy that is responsible for their condition The delights yielded from a simple life close to Nature, and The higher laws which people intuitively realize from a gentle life in Nature. These appear similar in form to the ‘Four Noble Truths’ of Buddhist philosophy: Life means suffering The origin of suffering is attachment. The cessation of suffering is attainable. The ……… click below for more ↓

Don Quixote times three

Books & Reviews / Classics / Language & Grammar / Translations & translating / What I'm Reading NowOne Comment

Loading

At roughly the same time Shakespeare was writing and performing King Lear, Measure for Measure, Othello and Macbeth (1604-1605), Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra was publishing the first part (52 chapters) of his satiric novel, Don Quixote, or more properly titled (in English), The Ingenious Gentleman Sir Quixote of La Mancha. The second part (another 74 chapters) was published in 1615, roughly two years after Shakespeare’s final play, The Two Noble Kinsmen (co-written with John Fletcher). While it was probably always intended as a single novel, the decade of time between the publication of the two parts has suggested to some ……… click below for more ↓

Cicero, Seneca and Confucius

Books & Reviews / Classics / Confucianism / Philosophy / Stoicism & classical philosophy / Translations & translating / What I'm Reading NowOne Comment

Loading

As I wrote in my last post, I have been reading a lot of the classic philosophers of late, particularly the Stoics. And I’ve been going further afield. My classical readings have included a lot of Seneca and Cicero of late (plus Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius), as well as interpretations of same. While Seneca was a confirmed Stoic, Cicero seems sympathetic if not entirely convinced, and may have had strong sympathies for the Epicureans as well.  My reading also includes what I’ve found is the best single book explaining Confucius and his views: Confucius and Confucianism: The Essentials, by Lee ……… click below for more ↓

Travels with Epicurus

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

Loading

I’m sure it’s not just me who feels this way, but these days I find increasing wisdom and solace in the words of the classical authors: Seneca, Cicero, Epicurus, Marcus Aurelius, Horace, Aristotle, Heraclitus, Epictetus, Diogenes, Plato. The writers of classical Greece and Rome mostly attract my attention right now, although I have also read many classical Chinese, Indian, Hebrew and Japanese philosophers and poets. Wisdom can be found everywhere. It never ceases to amaze me how human emotions, perceptions and sensations have not changed over the millennia, almost in opposition to our rapidly and vastly changing technologies. Not merely ……… click below for more ↓

Stalin’s ghostly influence today

Books & Reviews / International politics / Politics / US Politics / What I'm Reading NowLeave a comment

Loading

I recently finished reading the second volume of Stephen Kotkin’s magisterial biography of Josef Stalin: About 1,700 pages so far, with another 400 or so in small-type notes. Brilliant stuff, but a lot to absorb and consider. A bit of a slog if you’re not at least somewhat familiar with the history – there are many events, places and people to keep track of. Volume one ran from Stalin’s birth to 1928, the year of the first Soviet show trials and when Stalin had fully established himself as undisputed leader. The second volume in the trilogy picks up there with ……… click below for more ↓

Jordan Peterson’s 12 Rules

Books & Reviews / Ethics & morality / Philosophy / What I'm Reading Now5 Comments

Loading

I really wanted to read this book objectively, separating it from the media hype and social media torrents of opinion and abuse that often accompany its author, Jordan Peterson. I wanted to consider it in the company of the vast number of already-published self-help or philosophical books, and the historical context in which they exist. Sadly, I was unable to do so for one simple reason: there’s too much Jordan Peterson in it. You have to wade through far too much of him to get to the rules. He meanders quite a bit, mostly to ramble on about himself. The ……… click below for more ↓

WTF is wrong with people these days?

Aging / Books & Reviews / Critical Thinking / Learning & Education / Memes; Internet & Social / New Age Codswallop / Social Order & DisorderLeave a comment

Loading

Into everyone’s life comes the realization that we are not young and in between the time when we were, the world has changed. Not always for the better, either. In fact, it’s hard not to conclude the whole world has gone to shit since the internet arrived. Aging is not something that, as a culture, we embrace. After all, who wants to be old? Being a senior today is way too often portrayed in the media as being vulnerable, out of touch and cranky, as if we emerged from the chrysalis of middle age into a hunched curmudgeon shuffling along ……… click below for more ↓

Musings on leadership

Books & Reviews / Management & leadership / Political philosophy / PoliticsLeave a comment

Loading

What makes a good leader? Or a bad one, for that matter? That’s a long-standing debate that reaches back into history.* Of late I’ve been reading about and pondering the characteristics of leadership. Some people are promoted, elected or appointed to positions of authority. This makes them leaders by definition or responsibility, but not always by capability, style or attitude. Simply being in a position of authority or having a title doesn’t necessarily mean these people have leadership qualities. We’ve all had the experience of people who were promoted or appointed beyond their ability; people who became martinets, bullies or ……… click below for more ↓

Back to Top