I just finished reading Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage, by Alfred Lansing (1959). Not my usual reading fare, but a truly gripping book. Endurance recounts the story of the 1914 Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, conceived and led by Sir Ernest Shackleton, an … Continued
Despite my affection for Dickens, I’ve never re-visited the first of his novels that I remember reading: Great Expectations, first encountered under the excellent guidance of Meg Hawley in the ninth grade. After my lengthy streak of American literature, the … Continued
Once again I’ve gone off my reading diet. After it was recommended by multiple friends, I decided to read Cloud Atlas, a 2004 novel by British author David Mitchell. Its status as a novel is questionable, as it is really … Continued
In the pantheon of Southern literature, the names of Twain and Faulkner stand matched for first place. Thanks to an enjoyable high school experience with As I Lay Dying and an excellent honors seminar on Faulkner as an undergrad, I … Continued
One can hardly undertake a program of American literature without confronting Moby Dick, the quintessential Great American Novel. Perhaps due to its daunting size, or to a dimly remembered aversion to Billy Budd in high school, I have always put … Continued
Last summer, I read The Whole Five Feet by Christopher R. Beha, an account of that author’s journey through the Harvard Classics. I was struck by the fact that the first work in that series was Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography, so … Continued
As previously noted, my reading plan for 2010 consists of a steady diet of classic Americana. Nevertheless, I could not resist the temptation presented by a new novel from Ian McEwan. While I don’t read a great deal of contemporary … Continued
“Of course I move among miracles. It was all phantasmagoric.” This statement by protagonist Lambert Strether sums up the experience of reading The Ambassadors by Henry James. The book is a bundle of contradictions: simple in plot yet endlessly complex … Continued
I had never heard of Sarah Orne Jewett until my friend Brian included her novella The Country of the Pointed Firs on his impromptu list of recommended American works. I don’t think that this work has attained anything close to … Continued
I’m afraid that my foray into American literature is not off to an auspicious start. I have been defeated by James Fenimore Cooper’s The Last of the Mohicans. It isn’t a terribly long book, and I expected to have the … Continued