The Vulgar Eclectic

Tag: book jots

  • Uncle Vanya by Anton Chekhov

    Here is an old book jot from July 2021: I just finished reading Uncle Vanya by Anton Chekhov (1898), translated by Peter Carson. It is a four-act play and considered one of Chekhov’s major plays. Chekhov has long been one of my favorite authors, and I’ve read many of his short stories over the years.…

  • Childhood’s End by Arthur C. Clarke

    I finished reading Childhood’s End (1953) by Arthur C. Clarke. This science fiction classic opens with humanity’s first encounter with an alien species. Characters come and go and the plot develops primarily through their interactions with each other and the aliens. The writing is brisk and tightly descriptive. There is not much character development; the…

  • The Song of the Lark by Willa Cather

    I finished reading The Song of the Lark (1915) by Willa Cather. It’s a coming of age story and follows Thea, a young girl born and raised in a small town near the sand dunes of Colorado in the last decade of the 19th century. I loved the first half or so of the novel,…

  • L’Assommoir by Emile Zola

    Here is a book jot from July 2021: I finished reading L’Assommoir (1877) by Emile Zola, translated by T. W. Tancock. It’s one of twenty books that make up his Les Rougon-Macquart series. These novels follow two lines of a French family living in the latter half of the 19th century. L’Assommoir chronicles the lives…

  • The Fortune of the Rougons by Émile Zola

    I just finished reading The Fortune of the Rougons (1871) by Émile Zola, translated by Ernest Alfred Vizetelly. This is the first book in Zola’s Les Rougon-Macquart cycle of twenty novels. I have previously read four other books that take place much later in the series, and reading the beginning was quite interesting. Some characters…

  • The Great Brain by John D. Fitzgerald

    A book jot from July 2021: I finished reading The Great Brain (1967) by John D. Fitzgerald with illustrations by Mercer Mayer. It’s a children’s novel that takes place in the late 1890s in Utah. The setting and some of the plotlines seem unusual for children’s literature, and it handles some difficult themes in a…

  • Electra by Euripides

    This is a book jot from June 2021: I just finished reading Electra (c. 420 BC) by Euripides, translated by Philip Vellacott. I’ve enjoyed everything I’ve read by Euripides, and tend to really like stories about the House of Atreus and any connected in some way to the Trojan War. The fate of those who…

  • Athaliah by Jean Racine

    I finished reading Athaliah by Jean Racine (translated by John Cairncross), a play first staged in 1691. Athaliah reads much like a Greco-Roman tragedy, although its subject matter and plot are derived from the Old Testament. I am not as familiar with the stories of the Old Testament as I am with many of the…

  • The Miser by Molière

    I finished reading The Miser by Molière (1668), translated by John Wood. It’s a five-act comedy and felt more farcical than the two comedies by Molière I’ve read previously. There were some very funny scenes and lines that made me laugh out loud. While there is much satire and humorous dialogue, the characters offer insightful…

  • The Vanishing Tower by Michael Moorcock

    I finished reading The Vanishing Tower (1970) by Michael Moorcock. It’s the fourth in the series I’ve read and perhaps my favorite. The pacing is excellent and the book maintains a steady and palpable mood. There are three sections within the book, each focusing on a different but connected adventure. The narrative doesn’t feel episodic…