Collected Miscellany

One of the reasons I don’t write for a living (besides the main reason: that no one would pay me to write for a living) is that I have always been a better reader than a writer. I can be a voracious reader and I rarely get tired of reading anything from literature, science fiction, and fantasy to history, politics, philosophy, and religion. I tend to read for the sake of reading, however, and this often holds me back. As anyone who has tried it will tell you, it is very different reading for pleasure than reading in order to write a review. I have struggled in blogging to straddle that line. I have tried to read for pleasure and then write intelligently about what I had read. This is often difficult as I rarely take notes or organize my thoughts, feelings, and reactions as I read. I usually end up just winging it. I have shared the uneven results with you.

The subject of Winston Churchill has proved no exception from this struggle. Winston Churchill’s life and times is a fascinating subject full of complexity and controversy. After all, many consider Churchill the Man of the Twentieth Century. I recently read two works on Churchill:

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One of the reasons I don’t write for a living (besides the main reason: that no one would pay me to write for a living) is that I have always been a better reader than a writer. I can be a voracious reader and I rarely get tired of reading anything from literature, science fiction, and fantasy to history, politics, philosophy, and religion. I tend to read for the sake of reading, however, and this often holds me back. As anyone who has tried it will tell you, it is very different reading for pleasure than reading in order to write a review. I have struggled in blogging to straddle that line. I have tried to read for pleasure and then write intelligently about what I had read. This is often difficult as I rarely take notes or organize my thoughts, feelings, and reactions as I read. I usually end up just winging it. I have shared the uneven results with you.

The subject of Winston Churchill has proved no exception from this struggle. Winston Churchill’s life and times is a fascinating subject full of complexity and controversy. After all, many consider Churchill the Man of the Twentieth Century. I recently read two works on Churchill:

Continue reading →

If I was ever tempted to self-publish a book I am afraid it would result in something like this! Which is very, very funny unless you are the guy who wrote the book.

*Link via Blog of a Bookslut.

If I was ever tempted to self-publish a book I am afraid it would result in something like this! Which is very, very funny unless you are the guy who wrote the book.

*Link via Blog of a Bookslut.

I am having a hard time deciding what to read. When wrestling with this dilemma I decided to conduct an experiment, what if I ask my readers what book to read? On a lark I decided to go ahead and ask. So, please help me choose between the following books:

A House for Mr. Biswas by V.S. Naipaul: The book that first brought Naipaul worldwide acclaim, this richly comic novel tells the moving story of a man without a single asset who enters a life devoid of opportunity, and whose tumble-down house becomes a potent symbol of the search for identity in a postcolonial world.

Or

The Adventures of Augie March by Saul Bellow: Originally published in 1953, Saul Bellow’s modern picaresque tale grandly illustrates twentieth-century man’s restless pursuit of an elusive meaning. Augie March, a young man growing up in Chicago during the Great Depression, doesn’t understand success on other people’s terms. Fleeing to Mexico in search of something to fill his restless soul and soothe his hunger for adventure, Augie latches on to a wild succession of occupations until his journey brings him full circle. Yet beneath Augie’s carefree nature lies a reflective person with a strong sense of responsibility to both himself and others, who in the end achieves a success of his own making. A modern-day Columbus, Augie March is a man searching not for land but for self and soul and, ultimately, for his place in the world.

I have the beautiful Everyman’s Library Version of each work. They are both award winning novels from world renowned authors. Please post your pick in the comments or send me an email on which book you think I should read. I will read whichever one gets the most votes.

If you were looking for a succinct and well-written primer on traditional American conservatism and the enduring values of the American Founders, you would be hard pressed to do better than
The American Cause by Russell Kirk. Henry Regnery originally published this short work in 1957 during the early days of the Cold War. It was later republished in 1966 in the heart of the revolutionary 1960’s. The Intercollegiate Studies Institute has recently decided to again publish this short but timely work. Kirk scholar, and speech writer for former Michigan Governor John Engler, Gleaves Whitney has edited the volume and provided an introduction and afterword. The original work had a heavy emphasis on communism and the communist threat that was appropriate to its time. Whitney has seen to abbreviate or generalize some of the focus on communism as such. This helps to preserve the meat of the book and to limit the distraction of dated political issues. Much discussion remains about communism as an ideology but Whitney’s editing prevents the work from being seen as merely an anti-communist polemic. The result is a book that is still very pertinent to today’s conflicts. In fact, Kirk’s succinct description of American exceptionalism remains one of the most clearly written and eloquently argued synopses of traditional conservatism around.

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