The Vulgar Eclectic

Tag: book jots

  • Britannicus by Jean Racine

    I finished reading Britannicus by Jean Racine, translated by John Cairncross. It’s a play of five acts and was first performed in 1669. The plot centers on the Roman emperor Nero, his mother Agrippina, his stepbrother Britannicus, and Britannicus’s lover, June. The action takes place over a single day and tracks the characters’ attempts to…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • Phaedra by Seneca

    I read Thyestes by Seneca a couple weeks ago and then decided to try another of his plays, this time reading Phaedra. I’m very pleased I decided to read another one, as I enjoyed Phaedra a great deal. Here is the little reaction to it I wrote: I finished reading Phaedra, a play written around…

  • We Dream of Space by Erin Entrada Kelly

    I just finished reading We Dream of Space (2020) by Erin Entrada Kelly, a young adult novel that follows the lives of three siblings over the course of a month in early 1986. The siblings have a teacher who is closely watching the unfolding of the Challenger mission, and weaves the event into her classroom…