I’d never have thought to give a mere three stars to a Virginia Woolf book, or to write about its charming qualities, its cuteness, its rather sentimental portrait of dogs, their owners, and poets with strange ailments who languish in … Continue reading →
I used to read references to Saki in long-ago literature classes and yet never actually read him until lately. This novel is short, acerbic, hilarious, sad, and one of the best reads I’ve had in a while. All those fussy, … Continue reading →
When I first encountered Elizabeth Gaskell (Wives and Daughters) I thought that she was one of those writers who ought to get more attention; later I realized my response was indicative of my own ignorance, which is so often the … Continue reading →
This is my first encounter with Nunez and is a remarkable assembly, a meditation about everything, especially the significance of death, and then in the second half something else, the twist of the story. The quiet exit from disease contemplated … Continue reading →
This book is the closing volume of the Beulah Quintet, which I see mentioned on Goodreads as Settle’s best known work. The incidents that are narrated in this novel are mentioned in the introductions to all the previous volumes, the … Continue reading →
The Scapegoat by Mary Lee Settle My rating: 4 of 5 stars This is probably the best of the Beulah Quintet in terms of unity and approach, telling the story of one of the heirs to Beulah who grew rich … Continue reading →
Remembering Babylon by David MaloufMy rating: 4 of 5 stars This novel approaches its subject, the return of a white man raised by indigenous Australians to his community of origin, with a succinctness that almost renders the story slight. But … Continue reading →
Know Nothing by Mary Lee SettleMy rating: 3 of 5 stars I took up this book after having attempted to read it once and failing. I have much respect for Mary Lee Settle but, at times, I have very little … Continue reading →
No Longer at Ease by Chinua AchebeMy rating: 3 of 5 stars The title of this novel is curious, encapsulating the pervasive discomfort of the most modern period of Africa in Achebe’s trilogy. Obi Okonkwo, descendant of the protagonist of … Continue reading →
Arrow of God by Chinua AchebeMy rating: 5 of 5 stars This novel follows Things Fall Apart in time sequence and offers a look at a later period of the history of the Ten Towns, after the British have become … Continue reading →