On vacation, I always try to fill a hole in my literary knowledge by bringing along a book I aspired to read. This time it was Nabokov and Alice and Wonderland. The only Nabokov I had was a yellowed, or rather browned, version of a book I’d never heard of, Pnin, 1957 edition. The coverContinue reading “Vladimir Nabokov’s PNIN”
Category Archives: book recommendations
HOW NOT TO KILL YOURSELF, by Clancy Martin
A definitive, comprehensive, ultimately optimistic investigation into the suicidal mind.
How To Write A Family Memoir
Anyone interested in writing a family memoir would be well advised to follow Cherington’s progress in writing the book, as she allows the reader to do.
BOOK REVIEW: Augusta, by Celia Ryker
A rags-to-relative-comfort story with a fairytale ending.
THE SENSITIVE ONE
As I looked at Morris sitting next to me recently, I wondered how she had survived…but after reading her book, I now know.
HOW TO MAKE A LIFE
This saga contains fodder aplenty for the mind to chew on…or maybe you’d just like to read it as a heckuva a good story.
THE DEATH OF A PEOPLE’S DREAM: Two remarkable books, Black Elk Speaks and Born in Tibet
These are cautionary tales in that they suggest that we should “awake, awake, take heed,” as the Buddhist evening mantra goes, and confront the destruction before it swells to flood stage. Failing that, these stories are also an affirmation that all is never lost. There is gold to be woven from the dross of persecution; we’ve seen it over and over again. Look inward to find it.
Review of A MATHEMATICIAN’S APOLOGY, by G. H. Hardy
In assessing his worth, Hardy writes, “A man who sets out to justify his existence and his activities has to distinguish between two different questions. The first is whether the work…is worth doing; and the second is why he does it, whatever its value may be.”
Book Review: Flesh and Blood
Moss’s finesse turns this blood-soaked tale into comedy, or comedia. Life is happy and sad at the same time, or, more accurately, hilarious and heart-breaking.