Sunday, February 27, 2011

Lawrence Durrell: February 27, 1912--November 7, 1990

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A Bowl of Roses 'Spring' says your Alexandrian poet 'Means time of the remission of the rose' Now here at this tattered...
Saturday, February 26, 2011

Theodore Sturgeon: February 26, 1918--May 8. 1985

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I have just discovered great news for those who, like me, think Ted Sturgeon is one of the great American short story writers--regardless of...
2 comments:
Thursday, February 24, 2011

Loren Eiseley: "The Shore Haunters"

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The Shore Haunters Here in this dry, rocky, fired-out place one can still see the subsiding shorelines of a giant lake; one can still ...
Monday, February 21, 2011

Ice, Ice, and More Ice

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Several days ago, I watched a film about a future ice age and its effect on civilization. That reminded me of a novel I had read several we...
2 comments:
Friday, February 18, 2011

Nikos Kazantzakis: Feb. 18, 1885--Oct. 26, 1957

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Unlike some, Kazantzakis tells the reader from the beginning that his biography of Saint Francis is partly a creative or imaginative work. F...
Sunday, February 13, 2011

Three by Bradbury

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I will discuss significant elements and the endings of these stories. These three stories appear in a number of collections and anthologies....
Thursday, February 10, 2011

Kenko: Essays in Idleness

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About two weeks ago, on Jan. 27 to be exact, I quoted Eric Hoffer on the subject of perfection. It took awhile for me to remember a short ...
2 comments:
Tuesday, February 8, 2011

The Rubaiyat: Quatrain XXXVII

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This is a very unusual quatrain, as well as being the last in a series of four linked quatrains featuring a drinking vessel. First Edition: ...
Friday, February 4, 2011

Russell Hoban: February 4, 1925

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My first encounter with Russell Hoban was his post-holocaust novel Riddley Walker , a novel like no other I had read. After finishing this ...
4 comments:
Thursday, February 3, 2011

Robert Frost: "Storm Fear"

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Reading recent weather reports about what is happening in the Midwest brought this poem by Robert Frost to mind: Storm Fear When the wi...
2 comments:
Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Stella Gibbons: Cold Comfort Farm, Pt. 2

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I have finished Stella Gibbons' Cold Comfort Farm, and I don't agree with the reviewer who stated that this was "very probabl...
2 comments:
Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Langston Hughes: Feb 1, 1902--May 22, 1967

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Today is Langston Hughes' birthday: Harlem What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? Or fester like a ...
Sunday, January 30, 2011

Kim Stanley Robinson: The California Troika

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When Kim Stanley Robinson published these three novels-- The Wild Shore (1984), The Gold Coast (1988), and Pacific Edge (1990)-- they w...
4 comments:
Thursday, January 27, 2011

Eric Hoffer: a quotation

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No. 2 There is something unhuman about perfection. The performance of the expert strikes us as instinctual or mechanical. It is a paradox ...
6 comments:
Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Where the Green Ants Dream, a film

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I have a rather long queue on Netflix, so it takes some time for a film to work its way to the top. Frequently, therefore, I'm not exact...
2 comments:
Friday, January 21, 2011

Something to think about

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Friedrich Nietzsche Original Error of the philosopher. All philosophers share this common error: they proceed from contemporary man and thi...
6 comments:
Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Edgar Allan Poe: Jan. 19, 1809--Oct. 7, 1849

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To be honest, I prefer Edgar Allan Poe's short stories to most of his poetry. However, there are some exceptions, and one of them is t...
2 comments:

The Rubaiyat: Quatrain XXXVI

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Quatrain XXXVI is the third in a series of four linked quatrains, all referring to a drinking vessel that has a limited power of speech. ...
2 comments:
Monday, January 17, 2011

Just some comments from long ago

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The following were written down thousands of years ago, yet too many today ignore them in their worship of the past. "Similar actions i...
Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Stella Gibbons: Cold Comfort Farm

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I will begin reading Stella Gibbons' Cold Comfort Farm this weekend. If you are reading along with me and wish to make comments, you ...
4 comments: