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Under A Lucky Star: A Lifetime Of Adventure by Roy Chapman Andrews
I read this book back in January of 2021 and wrote the following reaction afterwards: This morning I finished reading Under A Lucky Star: A Lifetime Of Adventure by Roy Chapman Andrews. It is a memoir by a man who was famous during the first half of the 20th century as a naturalist, archaeologist, and explorer. It…
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Hippopotamus
This is a fun word…just the sound of it is pleasing, and its etymology interesting. The English name for this large mammal found in the swamps, lakes, and waterways of sub-Saharan Africa comes, like several African animals, from ancient Greek. The hippo segment, ἵππος in Greek, means “horse”. Several other words in English use this…
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Hedda Gabler
I just finished reading Hedda Gabler (1891), a play written by Henrik Ibsen and translated by Una Ellis-Fermor. The play elicited one of the strongest reactions I’ve had in a reading experience in recent memory. I found myself shouting out loud at a few points, so agitated was I by the circumstances of the play…
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Alone, alone, all, all alone, alone on a wide wide sea
I’ve discovered a couple of new-to-me musical works I’ve really enjoyed. It’s as if music like this creates a whole other world, a world one can swim through…tranquilly like a cyclopean whale or darting about like curious minnows among the shadows of sunken driftwood cities, waving aquatic forests, and silent sea meadows. The first is…
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Confessions of an English Opium Eater
I just finished reading Confessions of an English Opium Eater (1821) by Thomas De Quincey. This is a delightful little autobiographical book. A good chunk of it is a memoir of De Quincy’s youth, and includes an interesting description of his time living on the streets of London as a runaway. The remaining segments of…