Wolverine May 16th, 2017 @ 6:35 pm PDT
I always liked Logan.
Nikhedonia August 16th, 2016 @ 6:39 am PDT
nikhedonia, noun: The pleasure and satisfaction derived from the anticipation of success. A harmless indulgence, and a prudent one, too, since success comes only to some but nikhedonia is freely available to all. “Off to golf so early, darling? Hadn’t you better have your little nikhedonia session first? You know how badly you play when […]
On Books June 18th, 2016 @ 3:21 pm PDT
The books we think we ought to read are poky, dull, and dry; The books that we would like to read we are ashamed to buy; The books that people talk about we never can recall; And the books that people give us, oh, they’re the worst of all. Carolyn Wells (June 18, 1862 – […]
1984 June 25th, 2015 @ 7:37 am PDT
Happy birthday to Eric Blair — better known as George Orwell — born on this date in 1903, seventy years and one day before yours truly. My dad told me to read Animal Farm when I was seven years old. I thought it was really wild, but that there had to be something that I […]
On Books June 7th, 2015 @ 8:45 am PDT
We have a lot of books in our house. They are our primary decorative motif — books in piles on the coffee table, framed book covers, books sorted into stacks on every available surface, and of course books on shelves along most walls. Besides the visible books, there are the boxes waiting in the wings, […]
On Pride and Prejudice January 28th, 2015 @ 10:38 am PST
Happy birthday to a book I’ve never read: Pride and Prejudice was published for the first time 202 years ago today. “I often want to criticize Jane Austen, but her books madden me so that I can’t conceal my frenzy from the reader; and therefore I have to stop every time I begin. Every time […]
Regret December 16th, 2014 @ 7:11 am PST
There’s no use in regret. You can’t change anything. Your mother died unhappy with the way you turned out. You and your father were not on speaking terms when he died, and you left your wife for no good reason. Well, it’s past. You may as well regret missing out on the conquest of Mexico. […]
The Essex November 20th, 2014 @ 8:42 am PST
On this date in 1820, a sperm whale attacked a whaling ship off the coast of South America. The Essex hailed from Nantucket, Massachusetts, and was captained by George Pollard Jr. Pollard was only 29, the youngest man to ever command a whaling ship; the Essex, by contrast, was pretty old, and she was also […]
On life September 4th, 2014 @ 8:56 am PDT
There are books in which the footnotes or comments scrawled by some reader’s hand in the margin are more interesting than the text. The world is one of these books. George Santayana