Three days ago, I should note, I finished my 800th book, counting from the time when I started keeping track of such things, back in 2015. You’ve heard of the book, maybe read it, likely seen the movie at least. (I haven’t done the latter yet, having wanted to read the book prior to seeing …
Author Archives: steve
Book List: 700 Books
As I told you almost six months ago, I finished book #700—that is, the 700th book since I began tracking my reading back in June of 2015. At that time I foolishly mused that I’d be getting you the full list and perhaps even an analysis of the books read in a matter of “days” …
Monday Book Report: The Real Middle Earth
I Read It So You Don’t Have To Dept. The Real Middle Earth: Magic and Mystery in the Dark Ages, by Brian Bates Though this book is a muddled cornucopia of flaccid ideas masquerading as history, anthropology, mythology, psychology, and spirituality, I am not going to spend much time outlining just why this book is …
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Monday Book Report: Sir Nigel
Sir Nigel, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Almost all readers know that Arthur Conan Doyle created the immortal Sherlock Holmes, the seminal precursor to all the idiosyncratic detectives which have since become a welcome (mostly) plague upon all our houses and libraries. And those readers more familiar with the creator of the duo of Holmes …
Monday Book Report: Wacko of Delight vs. Wacko in a Whiter Shade of Vile
I Read It So You Don’t Have To Dept. My Opinions: Incest and Illegitimacy, by Alfred JordanThe Negro and the World Crisis, by Charles Lee Magne Sincerity is a casualty of this Ironic Age. We now are surprised to contemplate that perhaps some advocate of this or that position actually believes the things he or …
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Monday Book Report: Wingman
Wingman, by Manus Pinkwater The 3rd book I’ve read in the past week to make me cry. Too short to write too much about, save to say that Daniel Pinkwater (yes, he used his middle name as his first on this book) is an author who can tell a heartwarming tale I can believe in, …
Monday Book Report: R Is For Rocket
R Is For Rocket, by Ray Bradbury The short story collection R Is For Rocket is designed to appeal to young adults (our current nomenclature for children who read), especially young boys growing up in the dawn of the Space Age. Reading it now made this once-young man cry several times, both for the limpid …
Monday Book Report: 3 Civic Voices from the Crepuscule of the Before Time
I Read It So You Don’t Have To Dept. How to Overthrow the Government, by Arianna HuffingtonShrub, by Molly Ivins & Lou DuboseStupid White Men, by Michael Moore I have said before that reading political works years after their publication is an instructional exercise. The intervening years make plainer the ingrained biases of both the …
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Monday Book Report: The Lies That Bind
The Lies That Bind, by Kate Carlisle (A Bibliophile Mystery, #3 in the series) Kate Carlisle is no Raymond Chandler, and her book—The Lies That Bind—is an affront to his project of raising mystery fiction to the level of literature. If anything, the author of this, the third in the series of so-called ‘Bibliophile Mysteries’, …
Monday Book Report: Journey To The Impossible
I Read It So You Don’t Have To Dept. The Banality of Feeble Dept. Journey To The Impossible: Designing an Extraordinary Life, by Scott Jeffrey This is perhaps the worst book I have ever read in my life. I was sorely tempted just to let the above sentence be my entire report upon this piece …
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