This is Bukowski at the end of his life sounding the notes that have become all too familiar: he is a hero for living on his own terms and everyone else is a soulless moron. This theme is continued with a few variations page after page until the very end. As Bukowski himself acknowledges, many …
Category: Al
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2009/06/03/the-captain-is-out-to-lunch-and-the-sailors-have-taken-over-the-ship-by-charles-bukowski/
Apr 12 2009
Goodbye to All That by Robert Graves
As a self-serving memoir, I am sure this book was more interesting for Graves to write than it was for me to read. Ostensibly it is a personal account of the Great War, but the author is clearly more interested in himself than in the war. Yet the book is not altogether without interest in …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2009/04/12/goodbye-to-all-that-by-robert-graves/
Apr 12 2009
A History of Ethiopia by Harold Marcus
African history usually depresses me, but the history of Ethiopia is encouraging and inspiring. A lot of people in the West don’t know this, but Ethiopia is a mostly Christian country and has been for most of its history. It is, in fact, one of the oldest continuously Christian countries in the world. Furthermore, even …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2009/04/12/a-history-of-ethiopia-by-harold-marcus/
Mar 20 2009
Genghis Khan: Life, Death, and Resurrection by John Man
The Mongol conquests are certainly impressive, but the Mongols contributed nothing to civilization and in fact destroyed civilization wherever they found it. The author reveals that Europe was spared a Mongol invasion only because the Mongols saw nothing to gain from such a venture, but they did overrun Hungary and Poland to give Europeans a …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2009/03/20/genghis-khan-life-death-and-resurrection-by-john-man/
Mar 14 2009
Post Office by Charles Bukowski
This is a memoir of the soul-killing job that sucked nearly twelve years out of Bukowski’s life, with a lot of booze and women thrown in for good measure. I had read it before, but it was actually funnier the second time around. It does have a certain serious social relevance: what do people with …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2009/03/14/post-office-by-charles-bukowski/
Mar 14 2009
Measure for Measure by William Shakespeare
I found this play strangely moving and thought-provoking. The legally enforced sexual morality that the plot hinges on seems incomprehensible to us today, but more interesting was the way in which Shakespeare pushes the issue of justice vs. mercy. Mercy wins in the end, but only after some improbable twists that suggest that justice in …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2009/03/14/measure-for-measure-by-william-shakespeare/
Feb 03 2009
The Korean War 1950-1953 by Carter Malkasian
This was a more or less conventional history of the Korean War, focusing on Cold War strategies and policies. It notes that the Korean Was the first and only war in which the major powers…the Soviet Union, China, the United States, and its allies…actually engaged in direct armed conflict with each other. MacArthur is given …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2009/02/03/the-korean-war-1950-1953-by-carter-malkasian/
Jan 13 2009
Death on the Installment Plan by Louis-Ferdinand Celine
Celine has a way of writing about perfectly horrible experiences in a way that makes you laugh out loud. This book is a work of genius, although not quite as good as *Journey to the End of Night*. It’s too bad he didn’t write more. He has an uncanny way of finding humor in all …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2009/01/13/death-on-the-installment-plan-by-louis-ferdinand-celine/
Jan 11 2009
The Middle Ages by Morris Bishop
This was a marvellous book, a concise introduction to a vast subject. There are many fascinating aspects to this period, all of which receive their due in this work. Yet I have to say that overall the Middle Ages were a low point in the history of Western Civilization, and I think the tendency to …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2009/01/11/the-middle-ages-by-morris-bishop/
Nov 22 2008
Africa: A Biography of the Continent by John Reader
This book was an extraordinary combination of history, prehistory, geography, geology, and anthropology that greatly illuminated my understanding of this vast continent and its people. But precisely why Africa has failed to develop in pace with the rest of the world is left a mystery.
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2008/11/22/africa-a-biography-of-the-continent-by-john-reader/
Al Singh
Doug Merrill
Doreen Sheridan
John Pitzel
Lars N. Goldschlager
Laura Eilers
Professor X
Robert Maedgen
Sylvere Ap Leanan
The Shire