The easy focus in the novel is the love-triangle plot-line; a husband, wife, and a young lover who falls in love with both. In actuality, their story is minimal, and the three only serve as symbols. Quite quickly, the novel goes into various fields of physics; Relativity, Super String Theory, Quantum Theory, and the Grand... Continue Reading →
Books: “Circe” by Madeline Miller
It has been some time since the last entry…it is not for the lack of reading, although Downton Abbey did its best at distracting. Its been a summer of changes; and I should have known, with a comet and meteor showers that filled the night sky this year. Always the literary symbol of change. This... Continue Reading →
Books: “The Infinite Library and Other Stories” by Victor Fernando R. Ocampo
Any reader who has been introduced to Jorge Lewis Borges universe, will see the title and know Ocampo has found his way through his labyrinths. The stories are reborn from the mathematical, and looping universe, ashes of pages turned phoenix. It’s worth noting, there actually isn’t a story called “The Infinite Library,”; I believe the... Continue Reading →
Books: “The Song of Achilles” by Madeline Miller
As a lover of Greek myths, The Song of Achilles is the ultimate indulgence. Miller stretches out the dense Homeric verse of old heroes and of their killing fame, and molds it into beautiful prose of delicacy; the legend’s fragility unsung by wandering bards. We know the story, how it ends: recruited by Greek kingdoms... Continue Reading →
Books: “Most Secret” by Nevil Shute
A WWII story of the sea, intrigue and revenge. This particular novel of Shute’s is one I categorize as “masculine fiction.” If feminist writing is of a woman’s sentiment (of being a woman) and of the woman’s body, the maleist writer offers neither. Rather than expound their souls, these literary characters of the masculine fiction... Continue Reading →
Books: “This Could Be Home” by Pico Iyer
A sweet book on the rich history of the Raffles hotel, of Singapore, and of course, of Somerset Maugham. The book made me long to sit in the hotel’s courtyard and sip on a cool gin drink. Pico Iyer’s prose is beautiful, rhythmical yet carries weight, weaving personal accounts and historical facts seamlessly. I am... Continue Reading →
Books: “Prime Obsession” by John Derbyshire
Birthday book of this year, and a present from the best peeps of @ BooksActually. Judging by the title, I thought it was a fun and crazy way to see where primes creep up in different theorems and calculations. And in essence, it is. But fun…? That depends on what you like to do on... Continue Reading →
Books: “Stranger in a Strange Land” By Robert A. Heinlein
Valentine Michael Smith is a biological human, conceived on a Mars mission, and brought up on Mars as a Martian. Decades later, a second mission brings Smith back to Earth so he can “grok” man. ‘Grok’, is the Martian word that defines a deep understanding, a full incorporation of an idea or person into one’s... Continue Reading →
Books: “Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows,” by Balli Kaur Jaswal
Nikki, a twenty-something modern woman, is seeking her way in life, wanting to be active in the feminist movement, but not knowing how to go about it. She stumbles upon a teaching job at the gurdwara in the Sikh community of Southall England, where she is hired to teach Punjabi widows how to write. Instead,... Continue Reading →
Books: “Dune” by Frank Herbert
Dune was my first introduction into sci-fi at seventeen, even before Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. While I do not think I will reread all six books (I recall dragging through the last two…), the excitement and love for the characters in the story was just as I remembered. Think: Shakespeare’s Hamlet on a Galactic... Continue Reading →
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