OK, so this is the first of the alphabetic series where the letter of the alphabet does not represent a key word in the title of the work. I knew I’d have a hard time finding great classics with Q, J, X, and other high-value Scrabble tiles, so I began the exception with the Catcher [...]
I remember listening to the opening of Orson Wells’ radio adaptation of War of the Worlds, but unfathomably do not remember listening to the remainder. So, when I picked up the book by the unrelated Herbert George (or simply “HG”), most of it was still new to me.
I was surprised by the opening chapter’s “humanitarian” [...]
I spent the first half of John Steinbeck’s Tortilla Flat wondering whether or not the unusual story was an affront to Mexican migrant workers. Of course, the classification of “workers” in this story is a stretch as Danny, Pablo, Jesus Maria, Pilon, Big Joe, and the rest of the inhabitants of the shanty town on [...]
Out of the pile of classic novels that I have accumulated over the years, I recently pulled an unread copy of Johann Wyss’ The Swiss Family Robinson that, according to the book’s ink-stamped inside cover, I acquired over two decades ago from my junior high school library. Fortunately, like the Robinson family, it was a [...]
When I first considering reading Joseph Heller’s Catch-22, I had only a vague idea as to what to expect. I knew that one US soldier entrenched in Europe during World War II realized that in order to stop flying bombing missions, he had to be classified as crazy. Of course, the only way he could [...]
OK, it’s finally up.
The first version of our genealogy website is published, technically completing yet another goal of mine this year — what a busy bee I’ve been!
The last time I looked at my genealogy software was almost two and a half years ago. This past week, I’ve revamped all the source data, cleaned up [...]
In contrast to the three months it took me to force myself to complete Anna Karenina, only four days passed before I finished Mark Twain’s classic A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court — and it only took that long because I forced myself to repeatedly put it down so that I wouldn’t finish it [...]
Billed as one of the greatest love stories in world literature, Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina would serve the reader better as two separate novels. The two primary characters — Anna, the beautiful and courtly infidel, and Levin, the introspective recluse — and their supporting cast have such infrequent interaction that I spent the last two-thirds [...]
One of my goals is to release a message in a bottle that is found at least 1,000 miles from its place of release. Today, I released a stoppered glass salsa bottle that I prepared from home in California and that I had taken with me to Maui, Hawaii. From Quicksilver, the boat we took [...]
Word had already spread before we even left the island. I guess it’s OK to talk about it since the cat is already out of the bag — so to speak. I admit it. I participated.
The Travel Channel’s World’s Best program describes Little Beach as “Maui’s unofficial clothing-optional beach” and rates it as Number 10 [...]
