Tuesday, March 31, 2009

John Donne: 1572--March 31, 1631

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John Donne's birth date, aside from the year, is unknown, so I thought that I would post this on the anniversary of his death. If more...
10 comments:
Monday, March 30, 2009

Greg Benford: Across the Sea of Suns, Galactic Center Book II

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Nigel Walmsley is back--just as obstreperous and cranky as before, and still a pain in the bureaucratic backside. This is a bit surprising ...
Thursday, March 26, 2009

Robert Frost: March 26, 1874--January 29, 1963

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THE TUFT OF FLOWERS I WENT to turn the grass once after one Who mowed it in the dew before the sun. The dew was g...
Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Combination Plate 5: CJ Sansom, Steven Saylor, Colin Dexter, TV's Peter Gunn

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C. J. Sansom's Revelation An historical judicial detective tale, The detective: Matthew Shardlake Setting: London, during the reign of...
Friday, March 20, 2009

Kurosawa's _Rashomon_ and Martin Ritt's _The Outrage_

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Warning: I have included considerable information about both films, including the endings. As anyone who has visited Fred's Place mig...
Monday, March 16, 2009

The Rubaiyat: Quatrain VI

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From the first edition of Edward FitzGerald's rendering of The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam : And David's Lips are lock't; but in d...
Sunday, March 15, 2009

Andreas Eschback's The Carpet Makers

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The Carpet Makers is the first novel written by the German author Andreas Eschbach . It just happened to win the SFCD -Literature Prize, o...
Saturday, March 14, 2009

The Burmese Harp and Fires on the Plain

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Recently I viewed two films that were directed by Ichikawa Kon (1915-2008). I hadn't heard of him prior to watching these films and wa...
Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Edmund Crispin The Case of the Gilded Fly

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Edmund Crispin The Case of the Gilded Fly First published in 1944 Type: Talented amateur The Detective: Professor Gervase Fen, Professor ...
Friday, March 6, 2009

Is it a police procedural or a PI or...?

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Several years ago I was scheduled to teach a lit class that focused on mystery works. Unfortunately the class didn't make it, but I did...
Monday, March 2, 2009

Combination Plate 4: Tolstoy's Anna Karenina, SF by Edgar Pangborn, Christopher Priest's The Inverted World, and JM Gregson's Remains To Be Seen

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Got a real mixed bag this time: --first is a BBC production of Tolstoy's domestic romance tragedy Anna Karenina --second work is a coll...
4 comments:
Sunday, March 1, 2009

Little Caesar meets The Public Enemy

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I recently watched two classic "gangster" films, Little Caesar (LC) and The Public Enemy (TPE) . Both appeared in 1931, and bo...
Friday, February 20, 2009

Greg Benford: In the Ocean of Night, Galactic Center Book I

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I've just begun rereading Greg Benford's "Galactic Center" series, which I consider to be one of the best SF series ever ...
Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Combination Plate 3: Thornton Wilder's The Bridge of San Luis Rey, Dickens' A Tale Of Two Cities, and A Matter of Justice by Charles Todd

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Thornton Wilder: The Bridge of San Luis Rey , a book discussion group selection. I had always wanted to read this novel but never got arou...
2 comments:
Monday, February 16, 2009

The Rubaiyat: Quatrain V

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First Edition: Quatrain V Iram indeed is gone with all its Rose, And Jamshyd's Sev'n-ring'd Cup where no one knows; But still th...
Saturday, February 14, 2009

In the Beginning...

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In a recent post I said that a novel written by Thomas H. Cook, Breakheart Hill , had a first line that reminded me of the first line of a ...
2 comments:
Sunday, February 8, 2009

Franz Kafka: A Hunger Artist

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I have read Franz Kafka's "A Hunger Artist" a number of times and have had difficulties in the past trying to make sense of it...
11 comments:
Monday, February 2, 2009

Combination Plate 2

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Daniel Keyes: "Flowers for Algernon" I just finished rereading Daniel Keyes' "Flowers for Algernon." It's s a ...
4 comments: