In the last month I’ve read some very odd books, or an eclectic selection of perfectly normal books, take your pick. I started with “Laura Spinney’s utterly engrossing Proto: How One Ancient Language Went Global [which] tells the story in magnificent detail” of how the Indo-European group of languages got its start. The quote is from the [...]
My post is quite late today! On my vacation I read a book about Texas history called Adelsverein: The Gathering by Celia Hayes. It’s part one of a trilogy she wrote describing a German immigrant scheme from the 1840’s. The scheme, named the Adelsverein or Mainzer Verein, was arranged by various German nobility to relieve [...]
Last week I traveled for a while and read two and a half new books. I also enjoyed leaving my computer alone for five days. ; ) The first book was The Great Passion by James Runcie. It sounds like some regency love story but, no. It is a historical novel about the writing of [...]
I was sent this picture to post if I wanted to. It's a Baltimore Oriole, and I love the photo. Once I was watching a cardinal and wondering idly how such bright red birds were able to vanish. The cardinal turned and I saw how the sudden dull red on its back allowed it to [...]
I was struck by the beauty of Fitzgerald's imagery. ... drawing aquaplanes over cataracts of foam ... It was dawn now on Long Island and we went about opening the rest of the windows downstairs, filling the house with grey-turning, gold-turning light. The shadow of a tree fell abruptly across the dew and ghostly birds [...]
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