A Momentary Taste of Being

I'm not certain that enough good can be said of Kate Grenville.  In this second book of a trilogy devoted to the early history of Australia, she gives us the story of  Daniel Rooke--fashioned loosely after the real-life character of William Dawes.  William Dawes was an early student of the Aboriginal peoples and their language as well as an astronomer and all round polymath.  He was expelled from Australia and went on to join forces with William Wilberforce and, eventually, to open a school for freed-slaves in Antigua. What Ms. Grenville gives us here is a remarkable story of first contact--of trying to forge the bonds of understanding that would bridge a vast gulf between the experiences of two different cultures.  She performs a remarkable feat in being able to show us the darkness of "civilization" as viewed by the aboriginal people.  She also speaks of the tenderness of heart and kindness that can bridge any gap.  She does all of this in language...

It occurred to me the other day, while reading a remarkable study of the figurehead and inspiration behind our latest round of privateering, that we've really missed the mark.  It really occurred after I attempted to watch Atlas Shrugged in its most recent film incarnation, not wishing to subject myself to the turgid prose and rancid philosophizing of the one person most responsible for the progressive decline of anything good to say about the libertarian ideal.  If   The Book of Mormon could spawn a highly successful Broadway appearance, why not Atlas Shrugged: The Musical ,  or better yet, Who is John Galt?: The Musical. It could be paired with a revival of Springtime for Hitler  or Hitler on Ice: The Ice Capades Spectacular (as featured at the end of History of the World: part I). Think of the possible profits--the ability to exploit the poor and downtrodden--the possibility of proselytization. On a more serious note--a more sobering and bracing stud...

I had read about this book last year when there was a huge amount of hype.  I'm highly allergic to hype--I break-out in all sort of unpleasant spots and rashes.  I stayed far, far away for fear of the hype-allergens. Strolling through the Library looking for books to support my son in his study of the civilizations of Peru, I saw this.  The hype had died down, everything was safe for approach, so I grabbed it off the shelf opened it up and fell in. Fell in completely--so much so that midway through reading I went out and purchased the book.  For those of you who as children read the "lost worlds" novels of Arthur Conan Doyle, Edgar Rice Burroughs, and most prominently H. Rider Haggard, this is a treat beyond imagining.  It tells the true story of a Amazon explorer who was dedicated to the task of finding the legendary lost city of Z.  Sometimes called El Dorado, sometimes thought to be completely impossible, the Lost city of Z became the personal o...

The Greatest Hits of the Dictator I think this was from Books Inq.  Tab has been open so long I don't rightly recall.

I had read of Neil Gaiman's tribute to Diana Wynn Jones yesterday but had been unable to find it. Today, thanks to Happy Catholic, I'm pleased to make it available to all.

The Lost City of Z reviewed.

The Road --Vasily Grossman --review of what sounds like a superb book of short pieces.

Yes, a graphic novel edition of Allen Ginsburg's poem "Howl."

An excerpt from The Box A book that seems to have an intriguing premise, if you care that much about Grass personally. I cannot conceive of why so many writers think their own lives make for particularly interesting reading.  On the other hand, I have to admit to being captivated by this beginning.

John Kenneth Galbraith interviewed by Bill Moyers

Allegra Goodman v. Jonathan Franzen Even from the brief description, it appears that I would need to look into the book by Ms. Goodman.  It sounds too good to be missed. When people have sex in Freedom, heads bang on walls. In The Cookbook Collector it's a finger on the chest and then fade out. There are great flights of imagination in The Cookbook Collector – like the scene where George stumbles upon a collection of 17th-century manuscripts in the cabinets and ovens of a musty kitchen: "For a moment, he thought she was searching for the iodine, and then he saw them. Leather-bound, cloth-bound, quartos and folios, books of every size."  I'll spare you the rest of that paragraph.  In all, it sounds to me like Goodman wins hands down.  So why so little acclaim--read the article to find out.

Nadine Gordimer-- The Conservationist I've been trying to figure out a place to start with Nadine Gordimer.  If anyone has suggestions, I would welcome them.

I've come to value my little brother as the treasure he is--he brought this Neil Gaiman note to my attention.

A review of the film of Brighton Rock

Stella Gibbons's Masterwork reviewed

In this House of Brede reviewed Superb film, I haven't gotten to the book yet--at least I don't think so.

The Evolution of Butterflies--Nabokov v. Gould If Nabokov was right was Gould wrong? I would say that Gould was largely responding to the comments of people outside the historical sciences that the historical sciences are not science in the way Physics or Chemistry are.  (Nonsense and chauvinism, of course)  But he probably saw the chief criticism (Paleontologists as "stamp collectors") as fitting Nabokov par excellence.  He might have collected and studied the butterflies, but he didn't contribute anything radically new to understanding them.  Additionally, I would venture to guess that Gould would still support his main point.  Nabokov's work was not radically innovative or ground-breaking in any substantive sense. I am only speculating.  But Gould tended to think of himself as something of a prose artist--and when he's at his artiest his writing and his clarity suffer correspondingly.  When he's producing wildly metaphorical works like "The Sp...

Zero History reviewed

For your consideration-- The Lord of the Flies

"Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard" Thomas Gray