The Vulgar Eclectic

Tag: reading

  • The Chessmen of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs

    I finished reading The Chessmen of Mars (1922) by Edgar Rice Burroughs, the fifth novel in his Barsoom series. This story focuses on Tara, the daughter of John Carter, Warlord of Mars. I enjoyed this novel more than the one or two that precede it. I found myself getting pleasantly wrapped up in the characters…

  • The Woodlanders by Thomas Hardy

    I finished reading The Woodlanders by Thomas Hardy (1887). This is one of his Wessex novels, stories that take place in a fictionalized county of England during the Victorian era. I just love Hardy’s writing and often find myself smiling in the midst of reading certain passages. His books tend to focus heavily on character,…

  • Argonautica by Apollonius Rhodius

    A book jot from June 2021: I just finished reading the Argonautica (3rd century BC) by Apollonius Rhodius, translated by Peter Green. It is an epic poem that relates the story of the Argonauts and the quest for the Golden Fleece. This edition includes a glossary that, at 67 pages, is full of helpful information.…

  • Downward to the Earth by Robert Silverberg

    I had forgotten to post my book jot for a book a read in May…here it is: I finished reading Downward to the Earth (1970) by Robert Silverberg. It’s a novel set on a distant planet and feels like Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, Burmese Days and Shooting an Elephant by George Orwell, and…

  • Turok!

    Things are looking pretty grim for Turok and Andar in this old Gold Key issue I picked up a while ago. I just love the Gold Key painted covers! I haven’t read it yet, but the cover intrigues me…it looks as if Turok and Andar are actually holding on to the feet of the “flyers”,…

  • From The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg

    (This book jot is from June of 2021) I finished reading From The Mixed-Up Files Of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (1967) by E.L. Konigsburg a few days ago. It’s a children’s novel I remember seeing around when I was a kid but had never read. It was an enjoyable book with some good humor and…

  • Mozart and Salieri by Alexander Pushkin

    I also read a short play by Alexander Pushkin called Mozart and Salieri (1832), translated by A. F. B. Clark.  Despite being a very, very short play it has been influential, and was an inspiration for the play Amadeus (by Peter Schaffer), which in turn was adapted for film.  The play has only two speaking…

  • The Trojan Women by Seneca

    I finished reading The Trojan Women by Seneca (translated by E. F. Watling), a tragedy written in the first century AD. This might be my favorite of Seneca’s plays thus far. It tells the fate of Polyxena and Astyanax after the fall of Troy at the hands of the conquering Greeks. This is a familiar…

  • Eugénie Grandet by Balzac

    I just finished reading Eugénie Grandet; by Honoré de Balzac, a short novel published in 1833 and translated by Marion Ayton Crawford. This is only the second novel I’ve read by Balzac, and I wasn’t feeling deeply enmeshed in the story at first. Thankfully, I stuck with it and ended up loving the book. By…

  • Art and Fiction

    I love these old paperback collections of Robert E. Howard’s Hyborian barbarian. Frazetta’s paintings are to Conan in my mind as Larry Elmore’s paintings are to the Dragonlance characters. Artwork seems particularly important to fantasy and science fiction books, perhaps because the worlds within these works are often meant to be substantially different than the…