Monthly Archives: March 2008
Race report
Not only did I finish the race today, but I got 10th place! I’m not sure how many people started the race, but it was something like 20-25. My result isn’t that impressive when you consider that I finished in … Continue reading
Filed under Cycling
Wuthering Heights, second time around
I’ve read Wuthering Heights before, although I can’t remember exactly when — at least 10 and maybe as many as 15 years ago. I have vague memories of a dark, disturbing, confusing book, and that’s about all I remember. This … Continue reading
Reading notes
I have begun a new book of nonfiction, Alan Lightman’s A Sense of the Mysterious, a collection of essays that look at science — what it is, how it works, and what its connection to language and the arts is. … Continue reading
Filed under Books, Fiction, Nonfiction, Teaching
The Uncommon Reader
At the library the other day I couldn’t resist picking up Alan Bennett’s novella The Uncommon Reader, and I devoured it over the course of an afternoon. It tells the story of how the Queen learns to love reading, opening … Continue reading
Anne Enright’s The Gathering
I’ve been trying to figure out why I struggled with Anne Enright’s The Gathering; the best I can come up with is that I started off badly with the book, and that bad start was too much to overcome. I … Continue reading
History and fiction
There’s a very interesting article in The New Yorker by Jill Lepore on the relationship of history and fiction as it has played out over time, touching briefly on the recent scandals over fake memoirs such as the one by … Continue reading
Filed under Books, Fiction, Nonfiction, Reading
Benjamin Black’s The Silver Swan
I enjoyed Benjamin Black’s The Silver Swan (my copy sent to me by the publisher), although I also thought it was a bit strange, most particularly so in its ending, which I won’t describe here. I’ll just say the ending … Continue reading
Till tomorrow …
Well, I was going to post on Benjamin Black’s The Silver Swan tonight, but I got sidetracked by listening to Barack Obama’s amazing speech, and now I need to finish The Gathering so that Hobgoblin has time to read it … Continue reading
The race and the play
My race today got canceled because of snow that never actually materialized (the race promoter had to make a judgment call yesterday and the forecast wasn’t looking good then), but I’m grateful because I developed a sore throat yesterday and … Continue reading
Friday notes
I’m going to see a play this evening called Vigil written by Morris Panych, a man the theater’s website calls “one of Canada’s greatest award-winning playwrights.” It’s described as a black comedy, which sounds great to me. I’ll make sure … Continue reading
Dashiell Hammett’s The Glass Key
I’m relatively new to the mystery/detective/crime novel genre, but Dashiell Hammett’s The Glass Key struck me as different from other examples in a number of ways, most particularly in the way we find out so little about the main character, … Continue reading
Weekend report
What a weekend! I don’t think I’ve quite recovered. First, it turns out I didn’t race on Sunday after all. I got about three, maybe three and a half hours of sleep on Saturday night, and I woke up feeling … Continue reading
Notes
You’ll be happy to know I’ve finished my reading for tonight’s book group meeting and am set to head out soon. We’re discussing Dashiell Hammett’s The Glass Key, and I’m curious to see what everyone else makes of it. It’s … Continue reading
Book groups
I have the chance to participate in a new book group — two new book groups in fact. One of them is a mystery group, whose illustrious members include Emily and Becky from Musings from the Sofa. I’m not starting … Continue reading
Bookshelf guilt
A number of people have linked to Scott McLemee’s interesting article on bookshelves and what they say about us. McLemee writes: For there are, it seems, people who feel stress about owning volumes they haven’t read. Evidently some of them … Continue reading
Race report
The bad news: I didn’t finish the race. The good news: I feel okay about that. It was a cold, blustery day, just what one would expect for March, and it was only at the last minute that I unwillingly … Continue reading
Filed under Cycling
