In persuading me to read David Copperfield by Charles Dickens this recent autumn, a friend described that book thus: “It’s basically David Copperfield’s whole life story. That’s it. Just his whole life.” Some one thousand plus pages later (depending on which edition you read), it’s a pretty accurate description. Beginning just before his birth, with David telling […]
Review | The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester
2012-12-28 · by ·
The Stars My Destination is one of the more memorable books I’ve read in recent years, as well as one of my favorites. Written by Hugo winner Alfred Bester in the mid-1950s, the short novel, stays away from the technobabble and neologisms that might date it and as a result it retains potency decades after […]
Review | The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein
2012-11-06 · by ·
When a book has stood the test of time, has been deemed a “classic,” reviewing becomes something of a futile effort. Like an art critic reviewing the Mona Lisa or the Sistine Chapel with anything short of awe and respect, reviewing a classic novel feels a little arrogant. How does one critique what is universally […]
Review | Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
2012-10-22 · by ·
Every once in a while I read a book because I’m supposed to, whether because it won the Pulitzer or Nobel or Booker, or some other prestigious prize, or it’s just old enough to have been granted “classic” status. Usually, the book turns out to be just as good, or at least just as notable, […]
Review | Anthem by Ayn Rand
2012-01-11 · by ·
If you’re looking for something from Ayn Rand that’s a tad bit shorter than “Atlas Shrugged,” but can still show you her philosophy in a nutshell, “Anthem,” her novella set in a dystopian world of the future, may be worth the effort. It didn’t take me more than a sitting and a half to flip through it. […]
