![]() Pillow books (Makura no Soshi) were a genre of personal writing of the time, and it wasn’t unusual for court ladies to swap and read them: the one that survives to our time is the one that was most fun to read.Īnd it is fun to read and not just compared to OTHER 1,000-year-old books. ![]() She authored the Pillow Book, a “collection of lists, gossip, poetry, observations, complaints and anything else she found of interest during her years in the court.” In other words, while the anonymous Anglo-Saxon poet was creating Beowulf, Shonagon was writing a blog. ![]() Shonagon (966-1017) was a Lady-In-Waiting serving the Japanese empress Sadako in the peaceful Heian era. Sei Shonagon’s The Pillow Book is one of the strangest and most delightful works of literature in the entire human history. ![]()
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![]() ![]() Quite a few creatures of different varieties abound in this book, but no spoilers here as you will just have to read the book to find out what kind of creatures make an appearance. Harry is back! The first part of the book was a little slow, but I persevered as I knew that it would surely get better and it did, but took a bit to really get going strong. ![]() I loved it and the story just swept me away into the magical world of Harry! Five stars for the first book! ![]() The writing style of the author just flows along and the pace is well kept throughout the whole book. He also has a sense of humor which made me chuckle here and there throughout the book. There is quite a bit of mystery, suspense, magic, and action all mixed up together which drew me in right away. There is quite a bit of funny situations that he gets himself into along with some interesting magical characters that I loved. Harry Dresden, wizard a/k/a private investigator just grabs a hold of you the moment you start reading the first book. ![]() Since I read the omnibus of books one through six, I am breaking it up into book sections on the review: What a diamond in the rough I have found with this author and these books as I am happy that I picked them up to read. This was my first time with this author and series as I kept seeing it flitting through my GR feed from different friends that had read the series. ![]() ![]() ![]() Despite the often graphic violence, The Dead Zone is precise and practically genteel next to some of King’s other novels. I can believe that many of King’s other works were written that way, with frequent deus ex machina and slapdash final conflagrations, but I can’t conceive that The Dead Zone was, since the construction is too perfect, the set-ups too well planned. In his writings about writing, King has always prided himself on working without an outline, the literary equivalent of working without a net (or, as I tend to put it, leaping off a cliff and hoping that a hang-glider will come floating by). ![]() That was the feeling I had when I first read it on its release in 1979, and, on re-reading it for the first time since then, I was pleased to find that it’s aged remarkably well. I was delighted when I was asked to write a guest essay on Stephen King’s The Dead Zone, since I think it’s King’s best written and most well constructed novel (with the possible exception of The Green Mile). ![]() ![]() These book recommendations can be found in various interviews, speeches, and writings by Munger: Here are five book recommendations from Charles Munger. Munger has often attributed his success to his broad-based reading and learning, and he is known to recommend books to others as a way to broaden their horizons and improve their thinking. ![]() Charles Munger, the billionaire investor and Vice Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, is known for his voracious reading habits and his deep knowledge of various disciplines, including psychology, economics, history, and philosophy. ![]() ![]() This week’s list is “5 Book Recommendations From Charles Munger”. Over the past couple of weeks we’ve been compiling our ’10 Of The Best’ lists, including:ġ0 Of The Best Stock Market Investing Books For Beginners (2023)ġ0 Of The Best Investing Podcasts On The Planet (2023)ġ0 Of The Best Books On Stock & Business Valuation (2023)ġ0 Of The Best Books On Financial Fraud (2023) ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Its literary sources are plain enough-Wilder’s The Caballa, South Wind, the early Huxley, together with more than a hint of Firbank. That novel was a modern version precisely of the judgment of Paris, who, in Vidal’s pages, is a young American in Europe tempted in turn by beautiful women representative of power, wisdom, and love respectively. Indeed, despite the complete dissimilarity of ostensible subject, form, period and setting, Julian in a real sense recapitulates the themes and attitudes of The Judgment of Paris, which appeared in 1952. There is no reflection of these activities in Julian instead, it brings together and dramatizes more effectively and with much greater authority than ever before preoccupations that have been present in his fiction almost from its beginnings. Julian is Gore Vidal’s first novel for ten years, during which time he has been writing plays for television and the stage, working in movies, and campaigning in and commenting on politics. ![]() ![]() ![]() Correspondingly, the tools to seek answers to existential questions vary as much as the approaches that have been used-from sacred texts to deep meditation, from philosophical arguments to scientific experiments. Recently, even science has gotten into the business, with an onslaught of technical papers and popular books on happiness and how to achieve it, accompanied by the obligatory brain scans displaying "your brain on…" whatever it is that may increase or decrease your satisfaction with life. The numerous religions and philosophies that have been devised over human history to address these issues offer answers ranging from the mystical to the hyper-rational. ![]() How should we handle life's challenges and vicissitudes? How should we conduct ourselves in the world and treat others? And the ultimate question: how do we best prepare for the final test of our character, the moment when we die? ![]() I N EVERY CULTURE WE KNOW OF, WHETHER IT BE SECULAR or religious, ethnically diverse or not, the question of how to live is central. ![]() D ANTE, T HE D IVINE C OMEDY: I NFERNO, C ANTO I For the straightforward pathway had been lost. ![]() ![]() It also keeps you from holding a book to a standard it never sought to meet. Or “none of the characters were likeable” becomes “all of the characters, at some point or another, did things that I found disagreeable or annoying” which is literally how every book works? For instance, “none of the characters were unique” becomes “all of the characters read like other characters that exist in other media”, which like… okay? That’s not really a critique. ![]() ![]() I think this is really important because a lot of “critiques” people give, if subverted to address what the book does instead of what it doesn’t do, actually read pretty nonsensical. I instead had to say, “the characters in this book acted in ways that often felt misaligned with their characterization as if they were being pulled by the plot.” So, for instance, I couldn’t say “this book didn’t give its characters strong agency or goals”. ![]() I used to work for a trade book reviewer where I got payed to review people’s books, and one of the rules of that review company is one that I think is just super useful to media analysis as a whole, and that is, we were told never to critique media for what it didn’t do but only for what it did. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() The movie is a go, but what's happening back at the dog house with Li'L Petey and his Papa? Yolay adores Dog Man, and loves rubbing his tummy. He introduces Italian actress Yolay Caprese to Dog Man she'll be a star of the film. Is this eccentric cop fit to have a movie honoring him? Chief promises Dog Man will behave, and the director accepts his word for now. Chief is thrilled, but Hamilton has doubts when he sees how unfocused Dog Man can be. Li'L Petey doesn't want to disappoint his Papa, but will he go along with this illegal scheme?Īt the police station, Hollywood director Sam Hamilton proposes an idea for a feature film about Dog Man's adventures. He wants to rig up 80-HD, Li'L Petey's robot programmed to obey the clone cat, and use it as a mega-weapon. ![]() But only Li'L Petey recognizes the sitter's true identity: it's Petey, and he has a plan for vengeance on Dog Man. Suspicionflame" seems harmless, and Li'L Petey is comfortable with her. Dog Man and Cat Kid begins with an elderly cat-sitter offering to take care of Li'L Petey while Dog Man goes to work. Petey the Cat's clone, Li'L Petey, is living with Dog Man as a son, but wonders deep down if he can escape the evil influence of his own genetics. A law officer's work is never done, and Dog Man is back at it in this fourth book of the series. ![]() ![]() He and Basie form a working relationship where Basie teaches Jim survival skills and Jim runs errands for Basie. There he is reunited with Basie, an American he had met at the waterfront. Jim soon is discovered by the Japanese and sent to a detention camp. When he has to leave his neighborhood, Jim sleeps near the Bund, the area around Shanghai’s waterfront. ![]() All of the homes in his neighborhood have been seized by the Japanese government, but he manages to stay in them until Japanese families move in. In the confusion and chaos after this attack, Jim gets separated from his parents and spends several days in Shanghai looking for them and a place to stay. Soon after the Pearl Harbor attack, the Japanese open fire in Shanghai. He admires the Japanese soldiers’ bravery and has a strong fascination with fighter planes. Jim, however, is not afraid of the war, but interested in it. ![]() ![]() Shanghai is already occupied by Japanese forces, concerning many people, including Jim’s parents, about escalating violence. Jim is the only child of a wealthy British couple living in Shanghai for business reasons. It begins on the eve of the Pearl Harbor attacks in 1941. ![]() ![]() ![]() Greer is not one for flowery phrases, but the attraction he has for Saidh hits him like a brick, and he will not ruin the young girl, despite her determination to be ruined.įun and funny: even when Saidh’s life is jeopardized by a surprising corner, the invasion of the Buchanan brothers and one young squire who acts like an elderly parson even as he is wholly loyal to his laird Greer and his new lady. ![]() Together these two are so clever and well-matched: Saidh is plain-spoken and often blunt, with a good heart and a solid sense of who she is. ![]() A former mercenary fighter, Greer is not comfortable with the new position, but an honorable man through and through, he will do his duty and protect those under his roof. Greer is the unexpected heir to the MacDonnell clan, with the death of his cousin Allen. Her cousin Fenella is mourning the death of her fourth husband in four years, and Saidh feels it important to visit and lend support. Saidh Buchanan is the only girl in a family full of men: she’s skilled with a sword and fighting, rides like a man with breeches under her gown, and is determined to not marry. I’ve not read any of this author’s titles, but my love for historicals brought me the opportunity to read The Highlander Takes a Bride and I thoroughly enjoyed the read. I’ve now got to read the earlier books in the series! ![]() |