Throughout middle school, high school, and then college, I read and re-read an old hand-me-down copy of the Edgar Allen Poe collection Tales of Mystery a number of times. Like a lot of teenagers, I loved Poe. He and his work were dark and creepy and fascinating. And though it's been a long time since I read [...]
Tag: Books
A Brief History of the Paradox
With A Brief History of the Paradox, Dr. Roy Sorenson presents a relatively chronological development of the paradox and while the good doctor does his best to punch up the material, the subject matter's inherent dryness overcomes all. As any undergrad will tell you, philosophy can get boring in a hurry. Once you get past [...]
The Kindle Dilemma: Update
I have been defeated. Capitalism has won. I bought a Kindle. All hail technology.
She Is Beautiful
First things first: I highly recommend Michael Chabon's The Mysteries of Pittsburgh. Go. Read it. Oddly enough, my initial response was less rosy. After a few pages I didn't much care for the narrator's voice. By page 50 I was at least comfortable with it. And by page 92 I loved it. At the risk [...]
The Kindle Dilemma
Partly because I'm easily ensnared by shiny new things and partly because I try to be a devout practitioner of efficiency, I'm very tempted to purchase the forthcoming, revamped Amazon Kindle. I've never owned an true e-reader before (though I do own an iPad) and the allure of the Kindle has always been obvious to [...]
Drivel & Dreams
When I came across this review yesterday, I couldn't help but smile. In case you didn't follow that link (which you should), the book being reviewed is Drivel: Deliciously Bad Writing by Your Favorite Authors. It's a collection of early, and decidedly bad, writings from luminaries like Dave Eggers, Chuck Palahniuk, and A.J. Jacobs. Early [...]
The Mirror of Galadriel
I recently finished reading Michael Chabon's The Mysteries of Pittsburgh which has given me plenty to think about, including a consideration of the roles that women are assigned in male-created art. It'll be a few days before I've pulled my thoughts into order regarding Chabon's work though, so in the meantime - and since we've only just passed Hobbit [...]
Editor Me
When I review books on this site, I'm generally reviewing them for my own sake. I'm making myself write a book report, basically, in the hopes that doing so will force/allow me to dig deeper into a given work and therefore learn something that betters me as a reader/writer/person. I'm the only person who works on [...]
The Westing Game
Before I dove into my epic project of annual rereading I decided to make my way, for the first time, through one of Caitlin's favorite books from her childhood: Ellen Raskin's murder mystery The Westing Game. The book's events are set in motion by the will of corporate mogul Sam Westing as Westing's posthumous commands [...]
2001: A Space Odyssey
For more than two years, as a college student, I worked for a public library. The best part of that job was when, every few weeks, I got to empty a giant bin of books into the recycling. These books were damaged or out of date or donations for which space couldn't be found. If you're [...]
Songs & Stories 