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Author Archives: lfpbe
A Review of Jeanette Winterson’s The Gap of Time (Hogarth Shakespeare Series, Volume 1) (by Bethany)
The Hogarth Shakespeare series is off to a fantastic start: Jeanette Winterson’s The Gap of Time captures the weird intensity of The Winter’s Tale (my thoughts on the original are here and here), mirroring Shakespeare’s plot and characters while also … Continue reading
A Review of William Rosen’s Justinian’s Flea: The First Great Plague and the End of the Roman Empire (by Bethany)
This is the sort of history book I love – multidisciplinary, oriented around synthesis rather than analysis, and not afraid to go into detail about a sex act that a certain former empress of the Eastern Roman Empire liked to … Continue reading
Yarn Along
When I took this photo yesterday morning, I still had a few ends to weave in – and if you look closely you’ll see there was a little inch-long hole on the seam near the neckline. But now the oatmeal sweater … Continue reading
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Thoughts on Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Between the World and Me (by Bethany)
I read this book in spite of its popularity, not because of it. I read it in a day and can’t quite imagine doing otherwise – this isn’t the sort of volume from which one can be easily distracted. In … Continue reading
To Stave Off That Feeling of Helplessness (And, OK, Also Because HAMILTON SOUNDTRACK)
When I started reading The Federalist a couple of nights ago, I didn’t know that it was about to become a blog challenge. I just thought I was expressing my abiding love for THE HAMILTON SOUNDTRACK in a characteristically nerdy … Continue reading
Final Thoughts on Michel Houellebecq’s Submission (by Bethany)
This really isn’t the sort of book that lends itself to worries about “spoilers,” but you should know that I do clearly state the novel’s ending in the second-to-last paragraph. Please avoid this paragraph if you would like to be … Continue reading
A Review of Shilpi Somaya Gowda’s Secret Daughter (by Bethany)
I have a love-hate relationship with book clubs. Officially I am a member of several (oh, all right – about twenty. I am a serial book-club joiner) – I cruise Craigslist and Meetup fairly often and love learning about new … Continue reading
Thoughts on Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, with Digressions (by Bethany)
I think most lifelong readers must have mental lists of the gaps in their reading experience – the books that everyone else has read but that they haven’t. Fahrenheit 451 has been on my list for years – and, actually, … Continue reading
A Review of Brian Morton’s Florence Gordon (by Bethany)
First thing’s first: why would anyone give a novel a title that rhymes with his name? Seriously – try saying it five times fast: Brian Morton Florence Gordon. See the problem? What does that even mean, psychologically speaking? Is it … Continue reading
Thoughts on James Agee’s A Death in the Family (by Bethany)
A while ago, I posted about something called the Countdown to Concision challenge. For the first year and a half we had this blog, my posts typically ran in the 3500-4000-word range, and I wanted to coax myself to get … Continue reading
Postcards From Purgatory 