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And, in a break from political videos, I should report that I finished Anthony Trollope’s Phineas Finn, which introduces yet another misguided, modestly dissipated youth who doesn’t know his own mind, in this case the title character. There are also three rather wonderful female characters: Lady Laura Kennedy, for whom the plot is a tragedy; [...]

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I continue my Anthony Trollope kick, this time starting the Palliser series of novels. Can You Forgive Her? is a rhetorical question that quite obviously is intended to be answered, “of course.” But I found Alice Vavasor to be tediously headstrong as well as foolish. I suppose it is to be expected when one is [...]

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It was so exciting, the day I met John Scalvi! It was quite by accident. Literally. I was minding my own business when a car came crashing across the sidewalk in front of me and through the window of a convenience store. I’d always heard about those elderly drivers who step on the gas instead [...]

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A book essay at the Atlantic about Becoming Cary Grant is well written and entertainingly clever:
Gorgeousness requires the soul of an old lady.
And, of course, it’s about my favorite actor ever.

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I’ve just finished the last two Anthony Trollope novels set in the ecclesiastical environs of Barsetshire: The Small House at Allington and The Last Chronicle of Barset. Repeating the pattern I found in earlier volumes, these two novels complement one another, although the Last Chronicle, as befits a novel by that name, does bring back [...]

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The Nation has a review of Liberty and the News by Walter Lippmann. It (the book!) was written in 1920, but it sounds like it has a lot to say for today.
“There can be no higher law in journalism than to tell the truth and shame the devil.”

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At long last, Kage Baker’s Company novels are brought to resolution in The Sons of Heaven. Threads of story from throughout the series are picked up. I loved having not only Botanist Mendoza’s story finished, but also those of Preserver Joseph and Literature Preservationist Lewis.
Great as the pleasure of the book was, it was touched [...]

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While in Portland for the UUA’s General Assembly, I of course went shopping at Powell’s City of Books. I’ve been there once before, and what a treat it is. (They also do mail-order of new and used books.) Among the books I bought was a Dover reprint of Karl Mortensen’s 1912 A Handbook of Norse [...]

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Tobias S. Buckell’s debut novel, Crystal Rain, ties together elements of steampunk, hard sf, and fantasy (or religion), all with a distinctive Caribbean flavor.
Set in the far future on another planet, the humans of Crystal Rain have been reduced to non-electronic technology. Flight is possible by blimp, but uncommon. There are a few train lines [...]

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Via Arts & Letters Daily, I discovered a blog written by board members of the National Book Critics Circle. They have a guest post: Morris Dickstein on the Critical Landscape Today. I like some of the points he makes, and I too lament the falling-away of book reviews in major newspapers. I can’t help thinking [...]

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