Yearly Archives: 2004

an American Slave, Written by Himself: Authoritative Text, Contexts, CriticismThis is the autobiography of a former slave, who freed himself in the 1830s. It has a calm, matter-of-fact tone, that greatly enhances the power of the narrative. He doesn’t try … Continue reading →

This is how to write personal stories into a historical context. All I know about the Jewish, Arabic and Italian historical background of city of Tripoli in Lebanon I learned from this book. It was also a coming of age … Continue reading →

No substantial comment, read it too long ago (6 months). All I recall that it had 6 short stories, all in different settings. And all had an introductory one page background info on what the author wanted to achieve with … Continue reading →

Don’t judge a book by its cover. I did. It was so blue that I had to buy it. Besides it was an action packed sci-fi described as a mixture of William Gibson and Tarantino. I only realized later that … Continue reading →

I have a strong feeling that because I read this book rather hurriedly I didn’t get all its possible levels. I for sure enjoyed the story of Shevek taking a leap of faith an visiting another planet to which his … Continue reading →

This is the single published book of the author, who is a second generation Japanese-American. The book was first published in 1957 and then rediscover a few decades later after the author’s death. The story is covering more or less … Continue reading →