What, Why & How do we Know ?
I am at last re-reading Mikhail Bulgakov (1929 / 1966) “The Master and Margarita”. The first time I started (and failed to complete) reading it in April 2017 I said this: All I can say so far is M&M’s seriously weird and compelling. Some cross between Salman Rushdie’s “Satanic Verses” and Neil Gaiman’s “American Gods” … Continue reading “Master and Margarita – Reloaded”
Author Michael Lewis lists “the books that made me” including: The book that changed my life Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig Interesting selection … I did fully read both Cervantes and Tolstoy. With me it was Anna Karenina that gave me many false starts until I read beyond the dysfunctional Karenins … Continue reading “ZMM – The Book that Changed my Life”
When I mentioned Carlo Rovelli’s latest here, I suggested why other priorities might get in the way of my actually needing to read it. I did my usual, opened it Saturday morning intending to skim the front and end materials and cover blurbs to check the scope was as expected, but in fact I started … Continue reading “Mach, Bogdanov, Nagarjuna and Rovelli”
A strange month – more like 6 weeks – with only a single post, thanks to some new exciting work I’ve been getting into, and in which I will continue to be buried for some months if not years to come. I’ll share what I can – confidences permitting. [Aside – Last weekend, Sat and … Continue reading “Rushdie’s Windmills – All Too Real?”
Loved reading Neil Gaiman’s American Gods, the so-called “author’s preferred text” version from 2004 with the extra epilogue chapter. It made a big impression but I never did get round to writing a full review, beyond this passing reference. Never been a fan of fantasy or sci-fi fiction generally, with a few satirical and philosophical … Continue reading “#AmericanGods”
Just started reading a startlingly different book “The Master and Margarita” by Russian author Mikhail Bulgakov. I’d never heard of him or the book before I picked it up from my mother who is doing a University of the Third Age (U3A) course in Russian Literature. She was given the book by an old maths … Continue reading “Mikhail Bulgakov – The Master and Margarita”
I’ve been a fan of Andy Martin’s writing for several years. I also loved his little advertising film recruiting for his home department of modern languages at Cambridge. Here a selection of previous reviews: [Camus / Sartre Fight Club] [Surfing 9/11 USA] [No Students Were Harmed] [Cosmic Man] [Logic as Autism] [And more …] However, … Continue reading “My Lee Child Shaped Hole”
Not really a review, because much has been written already, and given Rushdie’s own high standards, Two Years, Eight Months and Twenty Eight Nights was something of a disappointment. Suffice to say: Definitely playful and ingenious, language and content-wise, and the usual mix of fairy-story and ethnic-religious history, full of cultural references between Bombay and New Amsterdam. … Continue reading “Latest from @SalmanRushdie @neilhimself”
I mentioned Neil Gaiman’s American Gods back here in October. Having lived and travelled n the US over several years, and being a fan of all things Americana, I was looking forward to the read, though I can’t recall where I picked up the reference to the publication of the author’s preferred text of his … Continue reading “American Gods”
A month or so couple of weeks ago, I posted a holding post for a whole collection of posts I need to write. Despite more than a dozen significant posts since then, not to mention Tweets and Facebook posts, I’ve still barely acknowledged those I telegraphed then, even though some of the subject matter clearly … Continue reading “Post of Posts Catch-Up”