The Good Soldier Švejk — Anarchic Humor Against War
Jaroslav Hašek’s The Good Soldier Švejk, ‘a certified idiot,’ tickles us into an anti-war, anti-militarism, anti-bureaucracy mood the more we read. Unlike …
Tag Archives: Books
Easter Island: Object Lesson — but in What?
Last week at one of Long Now Foundation’s ongoing, and always interesting, seminars two archaeologists, Terry Hunt and Carl Lipo, presented evidence …
Drift: The Unmooring of American Military Power: Rachel Madow
Drift, by MSNBC’s popular news show host, Rachel Maddow, combines an easy and difficult read in one volume. Easy because …
Catch-22, Still Catching 52 Years Later
I’ve just finished listening to the Audible reading of Joseph Heller’s famous novel, Catch-22. The reader Jay O. Sanders is wonderful. The …
Paradise of the Blind, a Novel from Vietnam, Duong Thu Huong
Paradise of the Blind (1988) is Duong Thu Huong’s second serious novel, following a series of popular short stories, a novel …
Burmese Days, George Orwell, 1934
Burma was the land of mystery in my youth. Daring men who fought in secret wars in dark green and …
Autumn Landscape, Hồ Xuân Hương, early 19th Century, Vietnam
Begining to think about a trip to South East Asia, including 12 days in Vietnam, I turned to a friend …
The Sorrow of War by Bao Ninh, Vietnam
Bao Ninh’s convention shattering novel of war, The Sorrow of War, (1991/1994) opens at war’s end. Kien is in the …
Cambodia: Through a Thief’s Eyes
The first I ever heard of Angkor Wat’s fabulous temple complex was reading Andre Malraux at a young age, probably …
The Life of Pi: To Believe or Not to Believe
I am trying to understand why I came out grumpy rather than enthused from Ang Lee’s spectacular CGI movie, The …
Girl By the Road at Night: Misery Writ Small
Girl By the Road at Night (2010) by David Rabe, a highly praised playwright and author of several other novels, …
Novel Without A Name: of Vietnam, A Man, A Country and A War
Beginning to prepare for a February trip to South East Asia I do what I always do — read. What …