by Eddy L. Harris
In his first travel adventure, Harris goes down the Mississippi, from Lake Itasca to the sea, in a canoe. It was very good, although not up to par with his later two books. The style was patchy and the narration overall was barer than Native Stranger's – less description, less musing and philosophical reflection. Nevertheless, an engrossing and exciting book, if only because of the description of the feat itself.
three stars
Tuesday, March 15, 1994
Tuesday, March 8, 1994
The Zap Gun
by Philip K. Dick
1967
This was like a lot of PKD books - many names; many characters, almost all with Dick's education and interests; some bad writing; some good writing; a demented, convoluted plot. This book was even more convoluted than most: (a) there are weapons designers for East and West, who get weapons from trances; (b) the weapons are not real, due to a secret agreement; (c) a real nut, a weapons fanatic (who like all civilians thinks the weapons are real) is appointed to the government; (d) alien satellites begin to take Earth cities; (e) an obscure comic book contains East & West's weapons' sketches (this phenomenon never explained); (f) an ancient "war vet" is found who seems to be from the war with the aliens, which just started. Anyway, I enjoyed it for what it was, familiar as I am with Dick's themes and obsessions. It contained passages clearly the same as some PKD stories: "War Game," "War Vet" and "Beyond Lies the Wub."
two stars
1967
This was like a lot of PKD books - many names; many characters, almost all with Dick's education and interests; some bad writing; some good writing; a demented, convoluted plot. This book was even more convoluted than most: (a) there are weapons designers for East and West, who get weapons from trances; (b) the weapons are not real, due to a secret agreement; (c) a real nut, a weapons fanatic (who like all civilians thinks the weapons are real) is appointed to the government; (d) alien satellites begin to take Earth cities; (e) an obscure comic book contains East & West's weapons' sketches (this phenomenon never explained); (f) an ancient "war vet" is found who seems to be from the war with the aliens, which just started. Anyway, I enjoyed it for what it was, familiar as I am with Dick's themes and obsessions. It contained passages clearly the same as some PKD stories: "War Game," "War Vet" and "Beyond Lies the Wub."
two stars
Sunday, March 6, 1994
Three Men In a Boat
by Jerome K. Jerome
1889
Three rather lackadaisical friends decide to take a boat trip down the Thames, only to run into some rather amusing adventures. I liked this book quite a bit. It started out incredibly funny, a laugh a line, then became anecdotal, only slightly interesting to me. When Jerome started adding in history factoids, seemingly just to show off, it got tiresome. And he didn't follow up on the characters he established at the beginning, just linked one story to another. However, though it bordered on boring at times, the humor and stylish tone lasted. The high-minded yet clueless tone of the narrator clearly influenced P.G. Wodehouse's Bertie.
four stars
1889
Three rather lackadaisical friends decide to take a boat trip down the Thames, only to run into some rather amusing adventures. I liked this book quite a bit. It started out incredibly funny, a laugh a line, then became anecdotal, only slightly interesting to me. When Jerome started adding in history factoids, seemingly just to show off, it got tiresome. And he didn't follow up on the characters he established at the beginning, just linked one story to another. However, though it bordered on boring at times, the humor and stylish tone lasted. The high-minded yet clueless tone of the narrator clearly influenced P.G. Wodehouse's Bertie.
four stars
Tuesday, January 11, 1994
South Of Haunted Dreams
by Eddy L. Harris
Another travel book by Harris, a black author, this time about a motorcycle trip through the U.S. South. I thought it was almost as good as Native Stranger. It was told with the same poetic description, the same raw honesty. He shows great skill as a writer by arranging his experiences and thoughts in such a way as to form a novel-like construction, with buildup, climax and denouement, even though it is (for the most part, certainly) non-fiction. The pure honesty of Harris' presentation & the depth of his thought made this book no disappointment.
four stars
Another travel book by Harris, a black author, this time about a motorcycle trip through the U.S. South. I thought it was almost as good as Native Stranger. It was told with the same poetic description, the same raw honesty. He shows great skill as a writer by arranging his experiences and thoughts in such a way as to form a novel-like construction, with buildup, climax and denouement, even though it is (for the most part, certainly) non-fiction. The pure honesty of Harris' presentation & the depth of his thought made this book no disappointment.
four stars
Monday, December 20, 1993
Confessions Of a Crap Artist
by Philip K. Dick
1975
Possibly Dick's best novel (and I've read about 15 of them). It was intriguing in character development and psychology, and fairly innovative in style – for example, having three narrators. The sympathy of the reader is directed with skill through the course of the novel. Great!
1975
Possibly Dick's best novel (and I've read about 15 of them). It was intriguing in character development and psychology, and fairly innovative in style – for example, having three narrators. The sympathy of the reader is directed with skill through the course of the novel. Great!
Monday, November 29, 1993
The Queen And I
by Sue Townsend
1992
The royal family is made to live like commoners. Rather shoddily written compared to some Townsend books, but very, very funny. The fact that the whole story was the Queen's nightmare was obvious from line one – but then, it couldn't have been anything but a nightmare, and it couldn't have been anything but obvious that it was. The ending was also spotted a mile off, but who cares? It was a fun, funny book. The premise (royals become commoners) wasn't dealt with realistically at all, and that made it all the more enjoyable.
1992
The royal family is made to live like commoners. Rather shoddily written compared to some Townsend books, but very, very funny. The fact that the whole story was the Queen's nightmare was obvious from line one – but then, it couldn't have been anything but a nightmare, and it couldn't have been anything but obvious that it was. The ending was also spotted a mile off, but who cares? It was a fun, funny book. The premise (royals become commoners) wasn't dealt with realistically at all, and that made it all the more enjoyable.
Tuesday, November 23, 1993
Sophocles 1: Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus, Antigone
by Sophocles
440-430 BC
translated by David Grene, Elizabeth Wyckoff, Robert Fitzgerald
"Oedipus the King": Fascinating, and amazingly human, amazingly visual. I could practically picture the emotions flitting over Oedipus' face when Jocasta was telling the story of his birth without realizing what it meant to him. Oedipus blamed himself & everyone else, but took control of his life only when he gouged out his eyes. Creon, meanwhile, started out innocent & obeisant but was eager to give orders at the end. A thrilling psychological drama. One subtle part that really shows Sophocles' talent was how it just hinted that Jocasta knew (or more than suspected) the truth long ago, and just hoped quietly that things would stay the way they were. Now that's brilliant psychological writing.
"Oedipus At Colonus": Another wonderfully modern play. This edition had stage notes (Fitzgerald's?) that were irritatingly superfluous due to the superb and already explicit dialogue. But the play itself was wonderful: not quite as psychologically intense as the first, but as dramatic as the plot (the exile suddenly becomes crucial to his homeland) allowed.
"Antigone": Very good. The conflict arises from hubris (Creon not wanting to obey Antigone, "a girl", or Haemon, "a young boy", or even Teiresias – "to yield is dreadful") opposed to humble piety (Antigone's unlawful but just burial of her brother). Although last in series, Sophocles wrote this one first, & the drama does not have as tense & terribly inevitable a build-up as Oedipus the King.
five stars
440-430 BC
translated by David Grene, Elizabeth Wyckoff, Robert Fitzgerald
"Oedipus the King": Fascinating, and amazingly human, amazingly visual. I could practically picture the emotions flitting over Oedipus' face when Jocasta was telling the story of his birth without realizing what it meant to him. Oedipus blamed himself & everyone else, but took control of his life only when he gouged out his eyes. Creon, meanwhile, started out innocent & obeisant but was eager to give orders at the end. A thrilling psychological drama. One subtle part that really shows Sophocles' talent was how it just hinted that Jocasta knew (or more than suspected) the truth long ago, and just hoped quietly that things would stay the way they were. Now that's brilliant psychological writing.
"Oedipus At Colonus": Another wonderfully modern play. This edition had stage notes (Fitzgerald's?) that were irritatingly superfluous due to the superb and already explicit dialogue. But the play itself was wonderful: not quite as psychologically intense as the first, but as dramatic as the plot (the exile suddenly becomes crucial to his homeland) allowed.
"Antigone": Very good. The conflict arises from hubris (Creon not wanting to obey Antigone, "a girl", or Haemon, "a young boy", or even Teiresias – "to yield is dreadful") opposed to humble piety (Antigone's unlawful but just burial of her brother). Although last in series, Sophocles wrote this one first, & the drama does not have as tense & terribly inevitable a build-up as Oedipus the King.
five stars
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