This book is quite simply the most enthralling work of fiction that I have read in the last twenty years. The building of a cathedral in itself is not terribly interesting; what is interesting is the way in which individuals thrown upon their own resources struggle to survive in a harsh medieval world. And the plot has so many twists and turns and moments of suspense that there is hardly ever a convenient time to put the book down. A friend recommended this book at a time when I wasn’t reading much fiction, but I am glad now that she did. This was an extraordinary story, told in remarkably simple prose but with masterful narrative craftsmanship, and my life has been greatly enriched by it.
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2013/03/11/the-pillars-of-the-earth-by-ken-follett/
Feb 20 2013
The Dark Half by Stephen King
This one of the better books from the period that I tend to think of as the Decline of the Master. Naturally, the bad guy is the most interesting character; the other characters are quite bland and uninteresting. King employs his usual device of supernatural phenomenon without a shred of explanation or plausibility, but we know by now that he is usually able to make this work. It occurred to me while reading this book that the life of a psychopath must be one that is very comfortable and self-satisfied, a life that is untroubled by the thoughts and feelings of other people. Other than this, this was not a book to inspire any deep thoughts or reflections, but it is a reasonably good yarn. As I grow older, more sophisticated, and perhaps more jaded, I grow more conscious of King’s limits as a writer, but he seldom fails to entertain, and this book is as entertaining as one can expect from a writer who self-deprecatingly classifies himself as a “fast food writer.”
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2013/02/20/the-dark-half-by-stephen-king/
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2013/01/05/taking-stock-of-2012/
Dec 10 2012
Burmese Days by George Orwell
This book deals with many important and socially relevant issues, such as racism, imperialism, colonialism, and the White Man’s Burden. Unfortunately, these important issues fail to compensate for the fact that this is an exceedingly dull story. There were parts of this book that made me feel profoundly disgusted, but other than that it left me cold. A disappointing effort from a normally brilliant author.
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2012/12/10/burmese-days-by-george-orwell/
Oct 26 2012
Bag of Bones by Stephen King
This is the WORST Stephen King novel I have ever read. No zombies, no vampires, no demons, just a writer dealing with writer’s block. No doubt this is Stephen King’s worst nightmare, but it hardly makes for an interesting story for the general reader. There are some ghosts and haunting going on, but most of this story revolves around a child custody case, which is hardly the kind of high stakes conflict that we have come to expect from King. I didn’t think it was possible for a Stephen King novel to be boring, but this book was a 500 page snooze. Is the Thrillmaster losing his touch? Say it ain’t so; I’m willing to give him another try, but he had better not disappoint me again.
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2012/10/26/bag-of-bones-by-stephen-king/
Oct 14 2012
Spain: The Root and the Flower by John Crow
The best book on this little-studied corner of Europe I have read so far. The author sees Spanish history mostly as a series of tragedies and disappointments, implying that while the rest of Europe was forging ahead on the path to progress, Spain lagged irremediably behind. But he is full of admiration for the qualities of the Spanish people, although he acknowledges that efficiency and industriousness are not among them. At the risk of sounding bigoted, it seems clear that the preponderant influence of the Catholic Church has had a lot to do with retarding the progress of Spain, but that alone does not sufficiently account for the Spanish debacle. But Spain seems to be finally catching up to modernity, in both good ways and bad, and it appears that its worst days are finally over. It has now taken its place as a member of the European community, and the future looks promising if not spectacular.
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2012/10/14/spain-the-root-and-the-flower-by-john-crow/
Sep 22 2012
A Clergyman’s Daughter by George Orwell
Most of us are familiar with Animal Farm and 1984; this story of a clergyman’s daughter living in 1930’s England is far more grim and depressing than any of Orwell’s totalitarian dystopias. Orwell the freethinker sees the Christian life as nothing but unrelieved hypocrisy, cant, and flummery, a way of making you feel like you are a good person as long as you are making yourself miserable. Perhaps the Anglican Church in prewar England was indeed a discouraging spectacle; certainly the manners and mores of most English people in that period seem to have been less than life-embracing. The characters in this novel are mostly shabby and small; even the better ones are hardly heroic, but I cannot believe that the English were ever such an utterly mean and joyless people as Orwell makes them out to be, and in his scant regard for the established church he misses the spirit of true Christianity. In some ways this was an informative description of English society, but it was not a good story.
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2012/09/22/a-clergymans-daughter-by-george-orwell/
Aug 21 2012
De Anima by Aristotle
I think of “soul” as another word for consciousness, but Aristotle says remarkably little about consciousness in this book. For Aristotle the primary characteristic of the soul is that it moves or animates the body. The secondary characteristic is that it is endowed with perception through the physical sense organs. By the time he comes to the subject of intellect, imagination, and desire, his writing is very confused. There are some intriguing ideas in this work, but I find Aristotle’s writing highly technical and excruciatingly dull, not the sort of thing I would take with me to the beach or on a long flight. And much of his thinking relating to physiology we now know to be flat out wrong. A good early start in Western thought, but one that left much to be improved on.
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2012/08/21/de-anima-by-aristotle/
Aug 04 2012
Six Days of War by Michael Oren
Excellent book. If anyone wants to know how a pitifully small nation, surrounded by implacable enemies, hopelessly outnumbered and outgunned, can resoundingly defeat those enemies in six days, this is the book to read. The author is a card-carrying Israeli Jew, but he gives a thoroughly balanced treatment of the events leading up to the war, the war itself, and the war’s aftermath. The figure of Nasser looms large in this account, portrayed as an inspired leader but ultimately a tragic figure who was destroyed by what for his people was a disastrous and humiliating defeat. But for Israel and for the Jewish people, the war represents a glorious triumph and a historic vindication that their God is still with them. Kola kavod!
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2012/08/04/six-days-of-war-by-michael-oren/
Jul 13 2012
Just After Sunset by Stephen King
Uneven, but some of these stories were pretty good. The scariest story was about an obsessive-compulsive whose condition is contagious. There is more than one story that is basically a revenge fantasy, which makes me wonder what goes on in King’s head these days. And there is more than one story featuring the stock King character of the Mean Rich Old Man of the type that appeared in *Bag of Bones*, something tells me King has come across this type of person more than once in his life. This is the kind of book to pass the time between connecting flights; none of these stories were really memorable, with the exception of “The Cat from Hell,” which is an all-time King classic. But King seems to have an ongoing propensity to churn out short stories as well as novels, which is an enviable talent.
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2012/07/13/just-after-sunset-by-stephen-king/
Al Singh
Doug Merrill
Doreen Sheridan
John Pitzel
Lars N. Goldschlager
Laura Eilers
Professor X
Robert Maedgen
Sylvere Ap Leanan
The Shire