The Vulgar Eclectic

Tag: books

  • “By teaching, we learn”

    After trying for awhile, without a great deal of success, to practice Latin on my own, I decided to start taking weekly Latin lessons from an online teacher. It’s been a little over three months of lessons now, and I am really, really enjoying it. It helps that I have a fantastic teacher. She is…

  • The Boxcar Children

    I happened to walk past a little thrift store earlier today. I was in an area I’ve never visited before and noticed this store tucked away in a little strip mall. I decided to stop in and take a look around. I wasn’t finding much in the way of books I was interested in, but…

  • The Diary of a Superfluous Man and Other Stories by Ivan Turgenev

    Another old book jot…from November 2021. I just finished reading The Diary of a Superfluous Man and Other Stories by Ivan Turgenev, translated by Constance Garnett (translation 1899). I’ve read works by Turgenev translated by various people and think Garnett does a great job with his style and voice. It’s a collection of one novella…

  • Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton by Edward Rice

    Still getting caught up on old book jots; here’s one from October, 2021: I just finished reading Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton by Edward Rice (1990), a biography of the Victorian-era explorer, writer, linguist, and translator. This book is a long and detailed account of his life. One of the most enjoyable aspects of the…

  • Chatsky (or The Misery of Having a Mind) by Alexander Griboyedov

    I finished reading Chatsky (or The Misery of Having a Mind), a play in verse written in 1823 by Alexander Griboyedov (translated by Joshua Cooper). It’s also known as Woe from Wit in some English translations. It is a satirical look at Russian society, especially the prejudices and preoccupations of the aristocracy. Although humorous, there…

  • Holy of Holies

    When I recently retrieved a number of books from storage, I was pleasantly surprised to find an unread copy of Anton Chekhov: A Life in Letters. I had forgotten that I’d bought this book before it got tucked away in a cardboard box. In the past, I’ve read with pleasure a number of letters written…

  • Arthur

    My mom gave me one of her childhood books when I was a kid. It’s one of my favorite books I had while growing up. And I love that it has her name written on the first page in her handwriting! I can remember marveling at the strangeness of some of it, and the beauty…

  • The Birds by Aristophanes

    I just finished reading The Birds (414 BC) by Aristophanes, translated by Alan Sommerstein. I have read many of the surviving Greek tragedies, but this comedy is the first play by Aristophanes I’ve read. It is a fantastical, absurd work. I was surprised at just how different it is from the dramas written by Aeschylus,…

  • Robin Hood, Outlaw of Barnsdale and Sherwood Forest

    With some help a couple of days ago, I got a few boxes of books out of storage. What fun going through them and getting them out on shelves! I came across two books that I am very pleased to have out of the darkness of storage and back into the daylight of a home…

  • Bus Station Mystery (The Boxcar Children #18) by Gertrude Chandler Warner

    Here is an old book jot from September 2021: I finished reading Bus Station Mystery (1974), the 18th book in the Boxcar Children series by Gertrude Chandler Warner. In this story, the four Alden siblings are once again involved in an unanticipated adventure. This time, a bus station, a river, and a paint factory are…