• Monthly Reading, Viewing Report

Scintillating September 2023: Reading, Writing

2 years ago

Greatest hits of September: the charming memoir "Family Lexicon" by Natalia Ginzburg, Luchino Visconti's "The Damned" and then "The Seven…

  • Idle Reflections

Reading Aloud: Ben Lerner’s “The Rescue”

2 years ago

Reading aloud a poem published in the New York Review of Books September 21, 2023 issue.

  • Monthly Reading, Viewing Report

Listless July/August Reading/Writing

2 years ago

Reflecting on these reminds me of how great "Germany Year Zero" and "The Player" really were. Also, "Yoga" and Henry…

  • Monthly Reading, Viewing Report

Dull June 2023: Reading, Watching, No Writing

2 years ago

Greatest reading and watching hits of June 2023 included "Men", "Sword of Doom", "Heat", "Merry Wives of Windsor", and "The…

  • Idle Reflections

“An Ideal Craftsman”: Psychological Horror from Walter de la Mare

2 years ago

"An Ideal Craftsman" follows a young boy down to the larder, happening upon a crime scene.

  • On Literature, Books

Piranesi: The Etchings

2 years ago

Detailing the purchase of a less puerile, more dignified Taschen volume collecting the etchings of Piranesi, the article and exhibit…

  • Monthly Reading, Viewing Report

Sumptuously Reading, Watching, Viewing: May 2023

2 years ago

Reading 15th- and 16th-century lit and watching contemporary, 21st-century film. Greatest hits: Heat (1995), Montaigne, Shakespeare (immer wieder).

  • New Acquisitions

Strata: William Smith’s Geological Maps

2 years ago

Not long ago I ordered "Strata: William Smith's Geological Maps" lighting a fire of memory and reflection

  • Monthly Reading, Viewing Report

April-Showered Reading, Watching

2 years ago

Rereading Shakespeare, Borges; then reading stories by Walter de la Mare. Re-watching two films by David Lynch—neither being "Blue Velvet"…

  • Sub Specie 16-17th Century Aeternitates

Discovering Robert Southwell’s Metaphysical Poetry

2 years ago

A few reflections on the discovery of 16th-century poet Robert Southwell, apparently an exemplar of English Metaphysical Poetry.