COOL LINKS AND ARTICLES FROM THE WEEK These beautiful pieces appeared on Penguin Classics’ twitter feed and lots of nerds (like me) begin having nerdy arguments about which play they represented. See the comments on the left and feel free to weigh in. Outlandish Lit is hosting a Weirdathon. It’s going to be…odd. It’s the…
Anyone with a penchant for the tension between the past traditions and the coming future (a la Lord Grantham in Downton Abbey) and historical nonfiction should pick up Black Diamonds. Catherine Bailey, author of The Secret Rooms, has once again scoured archives private and public looking for the missing links in noted family’s story. Posterity…
A few days off mean more time to read. Right? Even between all the travel, parties and meals, we bibliophiles can usually find a few secret hours to read. Here are my suggestions on what to read (and what to skip) on your winter break. the big black lizard big book of locked-room mysteries Edited…
“The Orient—including present-day Turkey, Greece, the Middle East, and North Africa—exerted its allure on the Western artist’s imagination centuries prior to the turn of the nineteenth century.” Jennifer Meagher, Dept. of European Paintings, The Metropolitan Museum of Art The cover alone appeals to the unrepentant Orientalist in me. I’m fascinated by the archaeology and exploration of…
Today I’d like to highlight a few books that I’ve read recently and can recommend as Christmas gifts for the reader on your list. SHADOW WOMAN: THE EXTRAORDINARY CAREER OF PAULINE BENTON by Grant Hayter-Menzies This is a warm, vivid biography of an unusual circumstance. Born to a wealthy and enlightened family in the late…