by Derwood Hunsdale-Talbot on February 17, 2010
Sounding Smart (without being smart)
The most important factor regarding the travels of Gulliver is to be able to fluently recite the names of all the lands to which he voyages – not just Lilliput. Bobdingnag, Laputa, Balnibarbi, Glubbdubdrib, Houyhnhnms, and Japan. You will receive extra-special secret points if, in the same conversation, you mention how [...]
by Derwood Hunsdale-Talbot on February 12, 2010
Dateless for V-Day?
Down in the dumps?
Don’t be. Because while all your friends and family are out cavorting out on the town or in between the sheets, they are not reading. Their fancy dinners will last a few hours and might give them food poisoning. Unlike the book you read. A book knows how to treat you right.
by Derwood Hunsdale-Talbot on February 4, 2010
In 1953 J. D. Salinger published Nine Stories and this week he died. These two occasions represent triumph and tragedy, respectively, and this particular online book review is dedicated to the memory of a brilliant American author.
by Derwood Hunsdale-Talbot on January 8, 2010
Wallace’s 2005 collection of essays is by no means new media, yet worthy of note this month, the half-birthday of DFW’s unfortunate demise.
Consider the Lobster, like all of Wallace’s prose, is hard work to read. These days, where drippy, thin works like Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight and Jodi Picoult’s entire repertoire are widely touted, [...]
by Reviewer on September 25, 2009
Upon finishing this book, you might wonder why a portrait of its subject, Joseph Priestly, isn’t seen on some piece of American currency. He was that important. He was also a good friend of a number of folks who did eventually get their faces on money, such as Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin.