We no longer have the words to describe Richard Feynman. ‘Brilliant’, ‘unique’ and ‘enigmatic’ do not serve him. Even the word ‘genius’ may have lost its power to describe him. Nevertheless, Genius is the title of James Gleick’s biography of the remarkable Richard Feynman. As the power of the word has depreciated through overuse, the…
Some people say life is too short to finish bad books. It’s also too short to read all the books you want to, even if they were all good. It’s also too short to go back to the ones you loved and read them again. Then there are the ones you thought were bad, but…
Only three books purchased?! What’s going on? That’s right; I only bought three books in August. There were no trips to second-hand stalls, no tempting sales, only the books I already intended to purchase. And on that, I am sticking with my recent resolution to get those books I had been avoiding. First up is…
Sea of Poppies, the first novel of Amitav Ghosh’s Ibis Trilogy, has all the credentials of a major literary work. It is an historical novel where disparate characters, trapped by the confines of class, caste, race, religion, gender, addiction or sexuality, fight for the opportunity to escape, transform and find independence. But despite this apparent…
Last month I wrote about shifting my shopping focus to books that I feel I have been neglecting lately – books that are about important contemporary issues or books that might teach me something. True to my resolution, in July I bought 17 Equations that Changed the World by Ian Stewart. For those of us…
JM Roberts’ Ancient History is epic! A book whose impressive physically size is matched by its ambitious scope and illuminating format. This is one of those books where you need to put yourself in the mind of the author. When you do you realise that is simply not possible to cover this subject comprehensively; however…
The Shahnameh, the Persian Book of Kings, is an epic poem composed by Abolqasem Ferdowsi in the late-tenth century, early-eleventh century. It chronicles Persia’s legendary and historical past, through the lives of its kings, from the creation of the world to the seventh-century Arab conquest that brought Islam to Persia. It has been described as…
In mid-June it looked like I wasn’t going to buy any books in the month. I wasn’t feeling ‘it’. No books were jumping out at me, making me feel that it was essential that I have them and read them. No books were making me feel anxious that they may soon be out of print…
Staying On by Paul Scott is a wonderful little novel, a Booker Prize Winner and, having read Scott’s Raj Quartet, a novel that has changed what I thought of Scott’s writing. In the garden of Smith’s Hotel in Pankot, India, Tusker Smalley lies dead from an apparent heart attack. In his hand he still clutches…
Reading book series’ is something I am still relatively new to but I have been thoroughly enjoying. Especially by reading the novels back-to-back (you can see some of the series I have read and reviewed here). It helps that there are no shortage of literary series in addition to the more popular science-fiction, fantasy, crime,…
I can’t believe it is June already! My classic purchase for the month of May was The Good Soldier Švejk by Jaroslav Hašek. I feel like I’ve become obsessed with this book in recent months. I’d been aware of it for some time but lately I keep running into it. First, I found a second-hand…
Sense and Sensibility, Jane Austen’s first published novel, appears to be a straightforward romance. Men and women of contrasting and complimenting character are thrown together, but, the chances of love are thwarted by the social conventions of the period that prevent honesty and openness and instead breed duplicity and secrecy. But, on reflection, Sense and…
