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I reviewed Tristana by Benito Pérez Galdós about two years ago. The version of the booked I posted on was Tristana: Buñuel’s Film and Galdós’ Novel: A Case Study in the Relation Between Literature and Film by Colin Partridge (New York: The Edwin Mellen Press, 1995). My summary post links to the following posts related […]
Rebel Yell: The Violence, Passion, and Redemption of Stonewall Jackson by S. C. Gwynne ISBN: 978-1451673289 (Scribner, 2014, hardcover) It is a matter of record that, a mere fourteen months earlier [than June 1862], the man everyone from Charlottesville to Washington was so breathlessly concerned about had been an obscure, eccentric, and unpopular college professor […]
Pulgas Water Temple Photo by Dwight Green Another post on a local spot I like… Located in Woodside, California, the Pulgas Water Temple commemorates the completion of the Hetch Hetchy Aqueduct (more on that below). The original temple, erected in 1934, was replaced four years later with the current structure of fluted columns supporting a […]
General Jackson’s “Chancellorsville” portrait (Picture source) Stonewall Jackson, wrapped in his beard and his silence, Cromwell-eyed and ready with Cromwell’s short Bleak remedy for doubters and fools and enemies, Hard on his followers, harder on his foes, An iron sabre vowed to an iron Lord, And yet the only man of those men who pass […]
Come, stack arms, men! Pile on the rails, Stir up the camp-fire bright; No matter if the canteen fails, We’ll make a rousing night! Here Shenandoah brawls along, And burly Blue-Ridge echoes strong, To swell our brigade’s rousing song Of “Stonewall Jackson’s way.” We see him now, – the old slouched hat, Cocked o’er his […]
I’m in the process of finishing Bull Run by Paul Fleischman with my oldest son and we both really enjoyed it. The book covers the first major battle of the U.S. Civil War (and leading up to it) from sixteen different voices. Northern and Southern, male and female, black and white, young and old characters […]
Photo by Dwight Green In my previous post mentioning Saltscapes: The Kite Aerial Photography of Cris Benton, I posted one of Benton’s pictures of Drawbridge, California. I toured the ghost town, located in San Francisco Bay, in 1997. I thought a post on the history of Drawbridge might interest some of this blog’s readers. The […]
Our wonderful local bookstore, BookSmart, had a 20th anniversary sweepstakes recently. I ended up winning a copy of Saltscapes: The Kite Aerial Photography of Cris Benton (Heyday, 2013). It is a fabulous book with beautiful photographs of the south San Francisco Bay area, where some of the industrial salt evaporation ponds are being restored to […]
Last night I was watching 2013’s movie Now You See Me, a film about four magicians/illusionists who pull scams for the benefit of their audiences. After the first job (what appears to be a bank heist), the FBI comes to the illusionists’ suite to arrest them. The character played by Woody Harrelson is on the […]
We finished reading The Wind in the Willows today. Rarely has a book surprised me so much, maybe a result from what I expect to find in “children’s books.” Silly me, I feel like Toad. The last chapter gave a great chance to explain its title to the boys…why the allusion ties into what Odysseus […]
How could I have **not** read this book before now? The boys and I are thoroughly enjoying it. We just read “The Piper at the Gates of Dawn” chapter and it has to be one of the most beautiful chapters I’ve ever read. The willow-wren was twittering his thin little song, hidden himself in the […]
I have felt down about a lot of things lately, and not being able to blog consistently has been a part of that. Fortunately, my wife constantly reminds me (through her actions) of the beneficial power of gratitude. I want to say a word of thanks to all those that have commented here and especially […]
Since one of the reasons I started this blog was to keep notes on what I’ve read, I want to start noting the books I want to read and why they catch my interest. If you’re familiar with any book on the list, feel free to comment about your experience with it! I’m sure I’ll […]
Cynthia Haven, of The Book Haven renown, has helped me in many ways over the past few years of blogging. So when she recommended the René Girard Lecture at Stanford to be given by Roberto Calasso, I arranged to be there. In addition to finally meeting Cynthia (which was great and too short!), I got […]
Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol S. Dweck Ballantine Books (paperback, 277 pages) ISBN 978-0-345-47232-8 I ‘ve rewritten a post on this book several times because I couldn’t get it right. This post doesn’t get it right either, but I want to pass some notes on this book because it has been an […]
I know this is last minute but if you have ever been interested in reading (or re-reading) Herodotus’ The Histories, consider signing up for the Reading Odyssey’s reading group beginning on September 17, 2014, and running through March 2015. I have participated in several of their reading groups and have found them extremely helpful and […]
It’s been a few years since I read Pushkin’s Eugene Onegin but I saw an article today that has me wanting to revisit it again soon. This may be nothing new to many, but I wanted to pass it on. Onegin’s Tatiana Was Only Thirteen? points out the references to Tatiana’s maid’s age in reference […]
I’ve gotten a few questions via email over the years on the curricula we use in homeschooling our two boys. I’m always a little hesitant to answer because we have been trying different approaches to see what is a good fit for the boys and what isn’t. The latter group doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a […]
Maybe I’m back? I hope so…I’ve missed this place. While we’re in the middle of so many -ennials, such as the War of 1812, the Civil War, and World War I, I did want to pass on this article from Simithsonian.com [Note: link no longer available, but parts of the article can be found at […]
In my post on Rambling on: An Apprentice’s Guide to the Gift of the Gab by Bohumil Hrabal I mentioned that Jiří Menzel had directed a movie based on those stories set in the Kresko settlement of Bohemia. I finally watched a copy of the movie with English subtitles and I found it almost as […]