I’ve been thinking lately about how little I know about the literature of my own country. Of course I read Huckleberry Finn, Billy Budd, and a few others in high school, and I took a seminar on Faulkner in college, … Continued
I’ve seen their “Libertas”-becrested spines scattered among the classics in used book stores, but had never paid much attention to them. They are the Harvard Classics, and I guess they’re something of a cultural institution, or at least were a … Continued
Folklore is filled with stories of hapless humans who find themselves captives in the Land of Fairy and of their rescue by brave knights and enchanters. But never has such a tale been told like this. Jonathan Strange & Mr … Continued
Inspired both by Harold Bloom and by a couple of excellent local productions I’ve seen recently, I have decided to get serious about Shakespeare. In the past year, I’ve read Lear (for the first time!) and re-visited Hamlet and Midsummer … Continued
I’m a Richard Dawkins fan from way back. When I was a freshman biology major at Florida State, one of my professors recommended The Selfish Gene, which remains one of my favorite science books. (I was not convinced then, nor … Continued
Like most readers, I am frequently troubled by the fact that there are far more books out there that I want to read than I am ever likely to. Consequently, I have a dangerous fascination with “great book” lists, which … Continued
Even by Victorian standards, Our Mutual Friend is a sprawling work. I mean that not only in terms of its size, which is formidable, but also its complexity of plot and its enormous cast of characters. At heart it is … Continued
Some years ago, I decided to try my hand at learning Tibetan. Honestly, I didn’t make it much past the alphabet and a smattering of simple words. But I did learn one interesting thing from my teacher, which is that … Continued
With the resounding success of A Christmas Carol, Dickens apparently thought he had a good thing going and started writing annual Christmas stories. There are five stories total, written from 1843 (A Christmas Carol) to 1848 (The Haunted Man). He … Continued
I know that Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol to cheer the hearts of mankind and to infuse us all with the spirit of the season. (Well, he also wrote it to try to jump start his flagging career—more on that … Continued