Starting Fathers and Sons… Is it any good?
Sorry for the week-long hiatus, but we’re back and picking up the next book on the list, Ivan Turgenev’s Fathers and Sons. This is the first non-20th century novel in the Letters Republic project. Admittedly, that was done intentionally as 19th and 18th century novels (Jane Austin almost universally excepted thanks to her perpetual dominance of the … Continue reading
Best and Worst Reads of 2010
As the year comes to a close, here’s a list of my favorites and least-loveds. FAVORITE BOOKS Ovid’s Metamorphoses. How can a long poem about Roman gods, written around the time of the New Testament, be interesting today? Because the language bowls you over time after time. Each myth is small enough to enjoy in … Continue reading
Scheherazade and the Franchise Zombie
A great concept gets slipped into If on a winter’s night a traveler at about halfway through: It is the classic dilemma of the author who is compelled somehow not to finish the story. This is different than ending fatigue, wherein a story is ending but has many, many ending sequences that drag long after … Continue reading
Book 1.3 If on a winter’s night a traveler
Italo Calvino’s writing gets me thinking about the importance of words, how they can, when treated conscientiously, carry great weight both on their own and in the company of their neighbors. Calvino’s writing is bright and he avoids a lot of highfalutin Latinates. Perhaps this is thanks to William Weaver’s translation, perhaps because Italian has a … Continue reading
Letters Republic 