John Steinbeck, Travels with Charley: In Search of America (1962, Penguin Books, 277 pp.) John Steinbeck is considered to be one of the foremost authors of the 20th century, keeping company with Hemingway, Faulkner, and Fitzgerald. Most of us make our first (and perhaps only) contact with Steinbeck in Of Mice and Men (1937) in …Continue Reading »
Paper or Plastic? Once again this week we take a break from discussing a particular book to examine other literary topics of interest. This week: printed books vs. the electronic version. Philip Leighton, a consultant on library design, said that “books are for reading and computers are for research.” Without going quite that far, I’ll …Continue Reading »
Giovanni Boccaccio, The Decameron, translated by G.H. McWilliam (Penguin Classics, 1995, 909 pp.) The latest entry in the “100 Greatest Books Ever Written” is Giovanni Boccaccio’s The Decameron. Written between 1349 and 1352, it’s one of the most important works in Renaissance literature. This is a big book, with enormous influence on everything that came …Continue Reading »
John Dickson Carr, The Case of the Constant Suicides (Harper, 1941) in A John Dickson Carr Trio: The Three Coffins, The Crooked Hinge, The Case of the Constant Suicides (Harper & Bros, 1957, 472 pp.) Angus Campbell lived in his family castle in Scotland, with his bedroom on top of a 50-foot tower. One morning his body …Continue Reading »
A Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam, by Neil Sheehan (Random House, 1988, 861 pp.) “Rage — Goddess, sing the rage of Peleus’ son Achilles, murderous, doomed, that cost the Achaeans countless losses, hurling down to the House of Death so many sturdy souls, great fighters’ souls, but made their bodies …Continue Reading »