Magnificent Octopus

There just came a moment when I began to look around me with different eyes and I saw a city that looked strange to me, a pretty city, very ...

Season 5 of Mad Men is off to a fine start. Episode 1 culminates in a surprise birthday party for Don. And it's a fabulous party: drinks...

I'm not sure to what extent it's fair to compare these two books: These Days Are Ours , by Michelle Haimoff , which I read recently ...

I'm not sure what it is that initially drew me to These Days Are Ours , by Michelle Haimoff. The story follows Hailey, a recent college ...

Every time I went to Caen it rained. And I liked the rain of your city. I like it for being fine, gentle and silent; I like it for the halo ...

The Blue Metropolis Literary Foundation this morning held a press conference to announce its line-up for the 2012 Blue Metropolis Montreal I...

Then he smiled into her eyes and asked, in the dry academic tones of an astronomer discussing a theoretical point with a colleague. "Ho...

Yesterday I attended a vernissage — the showing of Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird, illustrated by Claudia Gómez , a friend of mine....

I'd brought plenty of reading material with me, but as a public service to you, I embarked on a bit of research while on vacation. Yes, ...

"Humans," said R. Daneel, "have their own peculiar make-up. They are not as reasonable, in many ways, as we robots, since the...

More quotable bits from of The Doll , by Bolesław Prus, which I'm now done with and which I thoroughly enjoyed. P 208: Izabella loved...

A judge in Utah is sentencing people to read books , like Hugo's Les Misérables , not as a punishment, but as a tool. For example, F...

Eight days in the Carribean, hotel nights and plane flights on either end. Three ports of call, including one major 11-hour excursion. A par...

"It looks to me as if Wokulski is . . . in love, as it were." The doctor stopped dead on the pavement and, leaning on his stick,...

Some quotable bits from the first 205 pages of The Doll , by Bolesław Prus, with a few thoughts. P 10: At eight in the evening they close...

Official site . A bit of background . It's joyful and thought-provoking, beautiful, and even funny at times. It's a "docum...

Finally I'm reading The Doll , by Bolesław Prus. It stands as the Great Polish Novel (according to people who know better about these th...

Wisława Szymborska, 1923–2012 , whose poem "Love at First Sight" was put to song and used to great effect in Trois Couleurs: Rou...

Proud Beggars , by Albert Cossery, is a very funny book, and proved to be a delicious palate cleanser after having read a couple detail-inte...

The thespian side of Elizabeth's soul! Hunger for the awe lighting up visitors' faces when they reached her presence, having passed ...