The introduction says: “The wealth of historical allusion that it contains may contribute in some measure to the difficulty that English (and even French) readers may experience in coming to terms with the novel.” Yeah.
Review of Les Miserables by Victor Hugo (translated by Charles E. Wilbour) Read More »
I thought I wouldn’t like this book. I didn’t like the first part, which described the spread of the plague. But the plague is not actually the point. What matters is how people react to it.
Review of The Plague by Camus (translated by Robin Buss) Read More »
Quantitative scales are all very well and good. Except that the numbers mean different things to different people.
What do the star ratings mean? Read More »
I really thought this was going to be a dull book. I was wrong!
Review of Don Quixote by Cervantes (translated by P.A. Motteux) Read More »
I was happy with the Garnett translation; not so happy with the Nietzschean philosophy.
Review of Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky (translated by Constance Garnett) Read More »
The main character, Bimala, is an Indian woman caught in a love triangle with her mild, loving husband Nikhil and the charismatic, impetuous nationalist Sandip. She has always had a place in the home, but what is her place in the world?
This is a haunting book. We can’t understand alien intelligence; we can’t even understand each other. We can’t even understand ourselves!
Review of Solaris by Stanislaw Lem (translated by Bill Johnston) Read More »
This “review” contains quotes from the book and explanations for why I chose them.
This “review” consists of some quotes from the book and explanations for why I chose them.
Review of I Am a Cat by Soseki Natsume (translated by Aiko Ito and Graeme Wilson) Read More »
I’d bet far more people have heard of this influential Chinese classic than have read it.
Review of The Art of War by Sun Tzu (translated by Lionel Giles) Read More »
