Category Archives: Books

“The Life of Pie”

Posted on 15 May 2013 by

In my house, The Life of Pie is “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short”, as Thomas Hobbes would have put it. Well, this was definitely better than the film which had no pie in it at all.

Posted in Books, Films, Food, Philosophy, Photography | Tagged , , , , | 13 Comments

Easily Confused (26) Feminism

Posted on 13 May 2013 by

Feminism, as seen by women: Feminism, as seen by academics: Feminism, as seen by men:

Posted in Books, Feminism, Human Rights | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Charles Ramsey is Burma Jones

Posted on 9 May 2013 by

My most favourite character in literature is Burma Jones. The only black, the only sane, possibly the smartest and yet the funniest person in A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole, he works for “minimal wage” – not his only mispronunciation … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Films, USA | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Sad Things (# 6) Library Books

Posted on 29 March 2013 by

Sad: Buying a book in a library book sale which had been in the stock of the library for several decades but which hasn’t been on loan to a reader even once. Even more sad: Not reading this book in … Continue reading →

Posted in Books | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Did you notice the Irony? (# 1)

Posted on 10 November 2012 by

Quite often when I read something that other people find tragic or outrageous or don’t even notice at all, I find that my first reaction is to think “Look at the irony behind that!” That is why I now start … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Military, USA | Tagged , | 12 Comments

Leaving Books in Public Places

Posted on 21 October 2012 by

I love books. So naturally, I used to collect them. I kept all the books I had ever read, I bought dozens of books that I still wanted to read and I even bought antique books which I would never … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Photography, Travel | Tagged | 8 Comments

Easily Confused, # 10

Posted on 11 October 2012 by

“Big Breasts & Wide Hips”, a book by the Nobel Prize winning Chinese author Mo Yan: Big breasts and wide hips in Malta: Big breasts and wide hips in my imagination:

Posted in Books, James Bond, Malta | Tagged , | 5 Comments

The Mo Yan Poll

Posted on 11 October 2012 by

My empty, questioning stare when I heard that this year’s Nobel Prize for Literature would go to the Chinese author Mo Yan showed me three things: that I don’t read enough books, that I don’t read enough literary supplements of … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, China, Polls | Tagged , | 11 Comments

Book Review: “Grapes of Wrath” by John Steinbeck

Posted on 22 September 2012 by

Since 2008 or 2009, I have heard the expression “worst recession since the Great Depression” more times than banks have asked for another bailout. I got tired and fed up by that constantly repeated statement because as little as I know … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Economics, USA | Tagged | 8 Comments

Book review: “The Revenge of Geography” by Robert Kaplan

Posted on 21 September 2012 by

A book with the subtitle “What the map tells us about coming conflicts and the battle against fate” sounded very interesting to me. Finally a book that focuses on other reasons than oil and Islam in trying to explain recent … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, History, Maps, Poland, Politics | Tagged | 5 Comments