Yes, the newspapers were right: snow was general all over Ireland. It was falling on every part of the dark central plain, on the treeless hills, falling softly upon the Bog of Allen and, farther westward, softly falling into the dark mutinous Shannon waves...His soul swooned slowly as he heard the snow falling faintly through the universe and faintly falling, like the descent of their last end, upon all the living and the dead.
- "The Dead"
"Mostly it's what it says on the tin, it's about Dubliners, people who live in Dublin, many different sorts of people... It certainly does not feel nearly a hundred years old; any of these stories could appear in a modern literary magazine tomorrow and not appear dated. That is rare." Rush-That-Speaks
"And Joyce is excellent at fulfilling those expectations: he gives us the truth of things, and much more than that, beautiful things for us to look at." - about.com
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Audio Book
Friday, 3 February 2012
Thursday, 2 February 2012
Class War? What Americans Really Think about Economic Inequality by Benjamin I. Page and Lawrence R. Jacobs.
University of Chicago Press Free eBook of the Month
"Class War? is the right question, and Page and Jacobs provide the right answer: Americans are more concerned about inequality and less divided over what should be done about it than the pundits presume. Everyone interested in America’s widening income gap—and everyone, including our leaders, should be—needs to read this book."—Jacob S. Hacker
"It should be read, not as a carefully balanced contribution to the literature, but as a polemic, as a challenge, as a call to arms." - John Benson, University of Wolverhampton
Read It!
This book is free only until February 29th 2012
"Class War? is the right question, and Page and Jacobs provide the right answer: Americans are more concerned about inequality and less divided over what should be done about it than the pundits presume. Everyone interested in America’s widening income gap—and everyone, including our leaders, should be—needs to read this book."—Jacob S. Hacker
"It should be read, not as a carefully balanced contribution to the literature, but as a polemic, as a challenge, as a call to arms." - John Benson, University of Wolverhampton
Read It!
This book is free only until February 29th 2012
Wednesday, 1 February 2012
A Negro Explorer at the North Pole by Matthew A. Henson
FIRST PANEL: (two explorers, one black, one white, both with parkas and mustaches)
Black Explorer (Matt Henson): Like I said Peary, here it is.
White Explorer (Robert Peary): At last! It's mine!
SECOND PANEL: (we now see that Peary is strapped to a dog sled)
Peary: Now get me out of this sled so that I may be the FIRST to set foot on the NORTH POLE!!
THIRD PANEL:
Henson: Well, I already did, before we drove you here.
Peary: Oh, Henson, you know what I mean.
FOURTH PANEL: (Henson has a serious look on his face)
Heson: Yes, I see
FIFTH PANEL:
Henson: Man, it sure feels nice, being up here on the North Pole.
Peary: Henson let me out of this sled.
SIXTH PANEL:
Henson: Gonna do some squats.
Peary: HENSON
Henson: On the North Pole. Feels good.
SEVENTH PANEL
Henson: Phew! All those squats, they're making me tired! Who's ready to go home?
EIGHTH PANEL: (the dog sled races away. Henson is grinning ear to ear. Peary looks as mad as hell. )] - Hark! A Vagrant by Kate Beaton
"It is always interesting to note that at the very same time that Canadian immigration was insisting black people couldn't handle the cold, a black man was the first non-native person to set foot on the North Pole. This is such a stupid country sometimes." -Kate Beaton
Read It!
National Geographic Profile of Matthew A. Henson
Tuesday, 31 January 2012
My Double Life by Sarah Bernhardt
"My life, which I had at first expected to be very short, now seemed likely to be very very long; and it gave me great joy to think of the infernal displeasure that would cause my enemies." - Sarah Bernhardt
Sarah Bernhardt (22/23 October 1844 — 26 March 1923) was a French stage and early film actress, and has been referred to as "the most famous actress the world has ever known". Bernhardt made her fame on the stages of France in the 1870s, and was soon in demand in Europe and the Americas. She developed a reputation as a serious dramatic actress, earning the nickname "The Divine Sarah". - Wikipedia
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Sarah Bernhardt (22/23 October 1844 — 26 March 1923) was a French stage and early film actress, and has been referred to as "the most famous actress the world has ever known". Bernhardt made her fame on the stages of France in the 1870s, and was soon in demand in Europe and the Americas. She developed a reputation as a serious dramatic actress, earning the nickname "The Divine Sarah". - Wikipedia
Read It!
Monday, 30 January 2012
A Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne
"Science, my lad, is made up of mistakes, but they are mistakes which it is useful to make, because they lead little by little to the truth."
" Professor Otto Lidenbrock, a rather eccentric geologist, stumbles across ancient runes in a book from the twelfth-century one day. The runes are written ancient Icelandic and once deciphered reveals that to be written by a famous fifteenth-century explorer, Arne Saknussemm, who was declared a heretic. Once the runes are eventually translated, they read:
Go down into the crater of Snaefells Yocul which the shadow of Scartaris caresses before the calends of July, O audacious traveller, and you will reach the centre of the Earth. I did it. Arne Saknussemm. – p. 25
So off Professor Lidenbrock goes, taking (or rather dragging) along his very reluctant nephew, Axel." - madbibliophile review
"One of the oldest themes in storytelling deals with a trip to the
underworld—a plot of such universal appeal that it has even been
given a name: katabasis literature, from the Greek word
signifying descent...Give credit to Jules Verne for taking this
ancient plot and finding a completely new
basis for it—namely the scientific journey
into the underworld." - conceptual fiction review
Read It!
Comic Adaptation
Radio Drama
" Professor Otto Lidenbrock, a rather eccentric geologist, stumbles across ancient runes in a book from the twelfth-century one day. The runes are written ancient Icelandic and once deciphered reveals that to be written by a famous fifteenth-century explorer, Arne Saknussemm, who was declared a heretic. Once the runes are eventually translated, they read:
So off Professor Lidenbrock goes, taking (or rather dragging) along his very reluctant nephew, Axel." - madbibliophile review
"One of the oldest themes in storytelling deals with a trip to the
underworld—a plot of such universal appeal that it has even been
given a name: katabasis literature, from the Greek word
signifying descent...Give credit to Jules Verne for taking this
ancient plot and finding a completely new
basis for it—namely the scientific journey
into the underworld." - conceptual fiction review
Read It!
Comic Adaptation
Radio Drama
Sunday, 29 January 2012
Hero Tales and Legends of the Serbians by Woislav M. Petrovitch
"This beautiful, illustrated book recounts the many heroes and legends of Serbian folklore. Beginning with a historical overview of the country's key characters, themes, and superstitions, it also includes prose translations of many Serbian folk ballads. A treat for fans of mythology and fairy tales, and a glimpse into the poetic soul of a country little known to most westerners.
WOISLAV M. PETROVITCH (1885?-1934) was an attach to the Serbian Royal Legation to the Court of St. James's, and a translator. He also wrote Serbia: Her People, History and Aspirations and Key to the Serbian Conversation Grammar." - Googlebooks
Read it!
WOISLAV M. PETROVITCH (1885?-1934) was an attach to the Serbian Royal Legation to the Court of St. James's, and a translator. He also wrote Serbia: Her People, History and Aspirations and Key to the Serbian Conversation Grammar." - Googlebooks
Read it!
Thursday, 26 January 2012
Beowulf
Beowulf got ready,
donned his war-gear, indifferent to death;
his mighty, hand-forged, fine-webbed mail
would soon meet with the menace underwater.
It would keep the bone-cage of his body safe
- Beowulf 1442-1446
Tv Tropes Page
An informal (and hilarious) recap
The original can be found here. A free translation is available, but personally I prefer the Seamus Heaney one, that I have quoted above.
A note on translation.
A reading by Michael Drout, Professor of English at Wheaton College in Massachusetts.
TL;DR: Read it!
donned his war-gear, indifferent to death;
his mighty, hand-forged, fine-webbed mail
would soon meet with the menace underwater.
It would keep the bone-cage of his body safe
- Beowulf 1442-1446
Tv Tropes Page
An informal (and hilarious) recap
The original can be found here. A free translation is available, but personally I prefer the Seamus Heaney one, that I have quoted above.
A note on translation.
A reading by Michael Drout, Professor of English at Wheaton College in Massachusetts.
TL;DR: Read it!
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