Category Archives: Book Reviews

Further thoughts on Brideshead Revisted

This is a follow-up to my previous post as I felt it was different enough to warrant its own. This will focus on the characters of Rex Mottram and Celia Ryder. I didn’t mention either at all by name in … Continue reading

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Thoughts on Brideshead Revisited

I mentioned a few years ago in a post that I had been intending to re-read Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited along with Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment. After finishing the former late last week, I decided I needed to write something about … Continue reading

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A Most Interesting Man

Simon Leys: Navigator between Worlds by Philippe Paquet (translated by Julie Rose), La Trobe University Press, September 18th, 2017 The name of Simon Leys has appeared a couple of times on this blog. The first quoting portions of his fascinating … Continue reading

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Entering at the Margins of Classic Chinese Literature

The Water Margin (Shuihu Zhuan) is one of what are known as the ‘Four Great Novels of China’ and was originally written by Shi Naian during the Ming Dynasty and published in 1368 AD. Though there is scholarly dispute on … Continue reading

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A Brief Analysis of the Analects

The Analects of Confucius translated by Simon Leys Norton, April 2nd, 1997 Something definitely missing from my endless list of reading material is Chinese literature. This is something I’ve somewhat remedied recently by reading The Analects of Confucius but I … Continue reading

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An Argument Against Self-Publishing

Dan the Destructor: Barbarians of the Storm – Book I by Rob Rimes January 10th, 2022 In beginning this review, I find myself wondering whether I have been overly harsh in previous reviews I’ve written. As I’ve pointed out before, … Continue reading

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A Religious Road Trip

American Pilgrim by Roosh Valizadeh Kings Media, February 16th, 2021 One of the earliest posts I wrote when I started this blog was a review of Roosh’s Free Speech Isn’t Free which chronicles his notorious speaking tour that sparked outrage … Continue reading

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The Origins of Adventure

Over the last few years I’ve been discovering a lot of early fantasy and adventure that I previously had little or no knowledge of. This includes authors such as Lord Dunsany, George MacDonald, Edgar Rice Burroughs and Robert E. Howard. … Continue reading

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A Review of The Penguin Book of Australian Short Stories

The Penguin Book of Australian Short Stories edited by Harry Heseltine, Penguin Books, August 30th, 1976 Earlier this year I wrote a review of Modern Japanese Short Stories which was a collection by a selection of Japanese authors from the … Continue reading

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Sword and Interplanetary

I am still making a slow progression through Robert E. Howard’s oeuvre having already discussed Conan (which I am slowly re-reading and will be returning to), Solomon Kane, Kull, his excellent historical fiction and most recently, the mostly unimpressive film … Continue reading

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