I will admit now that I did not read all eight collected volumes of what is essentially a daily cultural column.
Animal Farm Review
On its surface, Animal Farm feels rather silly – the idea of animals, led by hyper-intelligent pigs, taking over a farm from humans who are entirely impotent to reclaim the small territory, is difficult to take seriously at times – but the reader must recall that Animal Farm is not so much a traditional novel as we think of the form as it is a fairy tale or a fable.
The Sun Also Rises Review
I found The Sun Also Rises a disappointingly ordinary book from a purportedly extraordinary author.
Paradise Lost Review
Paradise Lost honestly read at points more like genre fiction than like a piece of classic religious literature, and I do not in any way mean that to be construed as an insult.
The tale of Genji Review
I really don't know how to rate this book. On the one hand, it is well-written, well-translated, and culturally interesting. On the other hand, it is incredibly boring.
Cath Maige Tuired Review
In this case, we have a translation of an Irish myth involving a war between the Tuatha Dé Danann and the Fomorians, and it has everything you and I have come to enjoy about these sorts of works: talking swords, gods with a profound weakness for porridge, and sorcerous rap battles to determine the fate of the land.
Satyricon Review
I figured I would learn something about Nero’s Rome, which I suppose I did – I learned that it was remarkably vulgar and fixated on physical pleasures. Rarely have I found a book as discomfiting as I did Satyricon.
Reflections on the Motive Power of Fire Review
From a scientific sense, though, there are far better means by which to learn about thermodynamics and the theory of heat engines.
On the Bondage of the Will Review
This is a piece of philosophy praised for its insight, lauded for its clarity of composition…and quite disappointing to a reader like me.
Two Treatises of Government Review
After spending the first treatise lambasting a proponent of absolute, unlimited monarchy, Locke turns in the second treatise to what I would consider the more productive exercise of defining, deriving, and justifying for himself the source of political power in any commonwealth.
IGC Publishing 