As part of the Amazing Stories Blog Team, I have completed a book review for a blog tour. The review was published today. I’d like to point out that the first story in the collection I reviewed (called Tomorrow: Apocalyptic Short Stories from Australian publisher Kayelle Press) was penned by
Continue readingTag: books
Scripturient: Blog & Commentary: Putdownable books?
A recent article in The Independent said that J.K. Rowling’s new book and the abysmally-written 50 Shades of Grey were among the books most put down by readers as unfinishable. Putdownable. A description no author or publisher relishes. They joined … Continue reading →
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: Chaucer’s Troilus and Criseyde
After reading the play by Shakespeare last week, I decided to tackle Chaucer’s epic 8,000-line poem about the Trojan lovers, Troilus and Cressida (or Criseyde as Chaucer writes it). It’s a long, somewhat meandering piece that begins, in the Online Medieval … Continue reading →
Continue readingChadwick's Blog & Commentary: Believing is Seeing
“He who permits himself to tell a lie once,” wrote Thomas Jefferson (in a letter to his nephew, Peter Carr, from Paris, France, 1785), “finds it much easier to do it a second and third time, till at length it … Continue reading →
Continue readingChadwick's Blog & Commentary: Troilus and Cressida
I’ve always found Troilus and Cressida a difficult play. The characters all seem jaded, cynical, opportunistic, stuffily sanctimonious, lecherous or simply underhanded. Some are merely unpleasant, others are despicable, reprehensible. All seem self-serving, more concerned with their own gains and … Continue reading →
Continue readingChadwick's Blog & Commentary: Racism and the US Civil Rights movement retold
As I read through Rick Perlstein’s book, Nixonland, about American politics and life in the 1950s and 60s, the Civil Rights movement and the reaction to it by white Americans, the narrative astounds me. Such anger, such violence. Such sadness. … Continue reading →
Continue readingChadwick's Blog & Commentary: Reading, Writing and Memory
“Memory,” he read the headline as he settled into the armchair, resting his elbows on the wide arms to expand the National Post paper to its fullest, “declines much slower in people who read, write throughout life.” Ah. Interesting. He … Continue reading →
Continue readingChadwick's Blog & Commentary: The Game of the Book of Thrones
No, it’s not about that heavyweight book series by George Martin, or the TV series based on it (or even about how you really need to read the books to understand anything that is happening in the TV series). It’s … Continue reading →
Continue readingChristy's Houseful of Chaos politics » Christy's Houseful of Chaos: Review: Adventures of Unemployed Man
The Adventures of Unemployed Man is a comic book about the modern economy. How can an unemployed superhero believe in himself? How can the superheros fight against against the Just Us League who want to hoard all the wealth? Can they rescue the Everyman and revive an attitude of solidarity
Continue readingChadwick's Blog & Commentary: Review: The Life of Pi
We watched Life of Pi last night, a film that has garnered much critical acclaim and won four coveted Oscar awards (although it has not been without controversies). I had struggled somewhat with the book (for reasons given below), but … Continue reading →
Continue readingChadwick's Blog & Commentary: More’s Speech to the Mob
The scene is a riot, on the first day of May, 1517. It would later be known as Evil May Day,or Ill May Day. An angry mob, mostly comprised of apprentices, marched through the streets of London, their passion inflamed … Continue reading →
Continue readingknitnut.net: This is not a post about being sick, although I am
I’ve been sick for 10 days now. I’m tempted to go on and on about my symptoms, but you can only get away with that if you blog regularly about interesting things, and blog only occasionally about being sick. Since I haven’t been blogging much lately, I don’t think I
Continue readingChadwick's Blog & Commentary: What if you’re wrong?
Great visualization of the now-famous response from evolutionary biologist, author, and well-known atheist, Richard Dawkins, when asked in 2006 about his argument that there is no god, “What if you’re wrong?” “Anybody could be wrong, ” he replies. “We could all be … Continue reading →
Continue readingChadwick's Blog & Commentary: What the Future Holds
In researching my latest book, I’ve been reading about predictions for the future: what will happen in technology, science, politics, government and medicine. It’s pretty fascinating what some see coming at us for the next 10 to 100 years. There … Continue reading →
Continue readingChadwick's Blog & Commentary: Notes for a Spring Evening
Late spring, Saturday night, sitting here surrounded by the trees and garden in full bloom, everything lush and full of life, my view from the front porch of verdant trees and garden, everything so very green. Peaceful. Relaxing. Would that … Continue reading →
Continue readingChadwick's Blog & Commentary: Midway in our Life’s Journey…
So begins The Inferno, the first of the three books that comprise Dante’s magnificent and complex work, The Divine Comedy.* It’s a rich, complex and challenging read. I have to admit I have not read it all – all three books … Continue reading →
Continue readingChadwick's Blog & Commentary: Musing on Melville’s Poetry
I came across a poem last night that I had not read in the past (always a pleasant thing to discover something new in one of your books)*. It is by Herman Melville, an author I associate with novels and … Continue reading →
Continue readingArt Threat: Hungry Planet pictures what we eat around the world
Whenever I shop for groceries, I’m reminded of our collective obsession with processed and packaged foods. As someone who makes an reasonable effort to make decisions that are good for both my health and that of the planet, my shopping cart is largely filled with whole foods. I’m certainly no
Continue readingChadwick's Blog & Commentary: Little Dorrit: BBC Drama
We just finished watching the 14-part BBC series of Little Dorrit. As usual with most BBC series, it was superbly cast, acted, paced and filmed. Each episode was a mere 30 minutes, and almost every one of them ended in … Continue reading →
Continue readingChristy's Houseful of Chaos politics » Christy's Houseful of Chaos: Book Review: Letters from Nuremburg
The past week I’ve been reading Letters from Nuremburg: My Father’s Narrative of a Quest for Justice by Senator Christopher J. Dodd. The introduction to the book pulled me in, for Christopher Dodd writes comparing Nuremberg to Guantanamo. Nuremberg was the triumph of choosing law instead of revenge, and Guantanamo
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