"…history, by reason of human nature, will follow a similar course." Thucydides The mainstream media has recently been revisiting the Covid times with revelations from Anthony Fauci’s diaries, his subsequent appearance in the US Congress, and his eventual charge of contempt of congress. While several participants in that process advocate for leaving the past alone,... Continue Reading →
Stop Reading the News, by Rolf Dobelli. Pub 2019. Translation by Caroline Waight, pub 2020.
The title of this book spoke to me, in light of many conversations this year about the depressing imposition the news represents, and the goal of reclaiming my attention from the whirlpool of online sites. According to Dobelli, the only way is cold turkey - as the title says, stop reading the news – and... Continue Reading →
Dickens and Prince, by Nick Hornby. Pub 2022
Short version: Dickens may not be your cup of tea. Ditto for Prince. So the short version is: I really enjoyed this book, learned a lot, and found the comparison to be a fascinating look back at two artists of different mediums and times. If you are interested, but not so much you want to... Continue Reading →
The Difference Engine, by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling. Pub 1990. 20th anniversary edition, 2011
I chose this book after recently completing Burning Chrome by Gibson. The premise of this intrigued me, and I wanted another sci-fi book for my other book club project. The titular difference engine is a reference to an early computing machine created by Charles Babbage. He subsequently merged the difference engine with the Jacquard machine... Continue Reading →
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and Other Jazz Age Stories, by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Pub 2009
Last year, I listened to an episode of Backlisted (a favourite podcast) about American fiction, where one of the panelists recommended the story, “The Diamond as Big as The Ritz”. I was interested enough that I sought out a collection of 19 Fitzgerald stories that included this story, and was surprised to find that he’d... Continue Reading →
The It Girl, by Ruth Ware. Pub 2022
This was part of my Christmas book bounty, chosen as it kept coming up on reading suggestions from the book shop and elsewhere, and I liked the idea of a modern Agatha Christie-type book, which indeed this was. Hannah and April are fresher roommates at a (fictional) Oxford college. Near the end of their first... Continue Reading →
The Plum Review. Book report #34 (2022)
The Plum Review, from Broken Sleep Books. Edited by Aaron Kent. Pub. 2022 A few years ago, I learned of this poem: This is Just to Say, by William Carlos Williams I have eaten the plums that were in the icebox and which you were probably saving for breakfast Forgive me they were delicious so... Continue Reading →
Big Feelings, by Liz Fosslien and Mollie West Duffy. Book report extra #7 (2022)
Big Feelings, by Liz Fosslien and Mollie West Duffy. Pub 2022 I chose this book based on the social media hype and discussion about it. Many will be familiar with the illustrations and comics by this pair of workplace and development consultants. This is their second book (the first was No Hard Feelings from 2019, which looked... Continue Reading →
Everything in Its Place, by Oliver Sacks. Book report #28 (2021)
Everything in Its Place, by Oliver Sacks. Pub 2019 A now-former work colleague recommended Oliver Sacks as good reading. As this same person had recommended Harari's Sapiens, which was excellent, I took their advice again and was not disappointed. This is the most recent of Sacks' books, a posthumous one. It is a collection of essays... Continue Reading →
Permanent Record, by Edward Snowden. Book report #28 (2020)
Permanent Record, by Edward Snowden. Pub 2019 This was the last of the vacation reads - a gift from my sister at Christmas last year, and long overdue to read. I've stayed up late a few nights this week with this one. Edward Snowden needs no introduction as the whistleblower of the US NSA mass... Continue Reading →
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