Earlier this year it occurred to me that reading more than a dozen books at once wasn't really working out. I don't have long spans of hours for reading every day, so this inevitably means that some books just don't get read. For days and days and sometimes
When I run up against the term 'modernism' I turn the other way. (I don't know why, but I think it has something to do with Ulysses.) But, when I come across the term 'romantic' I turn back. (I know the reason for this: it lies with the epigraph to Possession, which
In eleventh-grade English class, we studied "Oedipus Rex" and I fell in love with the idea that a story so old could still be compelling. But the idea of reading these classic texts outside a classroom seemed unthinkable. You know how some books become all-the-more intimidating the longer you leave
Headline - Review, 2012 The Flying Man opens in 2012, in France; our hero is preparing to die, looking back on his life. He's in Biarritz, but wouldn't it sound better to say that he was in Paris? And wouldn't it sound better to say that he is
House of Anansi, 2011 It's with those proverbial good intentions that Reverend Neil MacKenzie moves to St. Kilda. (Oh, dear: you know the risk here, right?) He is travelling there -- accompanied by his young pregnant wife, Elizabeth -- to bring his faith to the island's residents. (Think
