I almost skipped reading "Comanche Moon" because of some critical reviews – and it does have a lot of flaws, which I’ll get into. In the end I decided to read it because it brings back Famous Shoes, the Kickapoo tracker who was practically the best single thing about “Streets of Laredo.” And there is … Continue reading Comanche Moon
Maria didn't believe in hell. If there was a hell it came to you in life."Streets of Laredo," chapter 8 “Streets of Laredo”, the sequel to "Lonesome Dove," is so filled with cruelty and death that paradoxically, it doesn’t feel ultra-realistic; it feels theological and moral – and the environment feels otherworldly. Larry McMurtry once … Continue reading Theology and morality in Laredo
This is a first-rate work of history due to the book’s annotations and Wilder’s nonfiction voice. The editor, Pamela Smith Hill, highlights the process of turning nonfiction into fiction. There is also analysis of the relationship between memories and writing. Wilder was something of a stickler for accuracy, especially in comparison with her daughter-and-editor, Rose … Continue reading Pioneer Girl
I posted Sancho Panza's speech about the earth in the comments section of a YouTube video featuring Carl Sagan's meditations from "Pale Blue Dot." One Youtuber replied that there were similar thoughts in Cicero’s “Scipio’s Dream” and Marcus Aurelius’ “Meditations.” Cicero’s “Scipio’s Dream”, part 3: And as I looked on every side I saw other … Continue reading Pale Blue Dots
October 20, 2020 A few notes on cosmology in "Don Quixote", but I'll let Sancho have the last word. In Vol. I, ch. 20, Burton Raffel's translation speaks of “the fearful sound of that water we have come searching for, which seems to smash down and hurl itself from the lofty mountains of the Moon”. … Continue reading Sancho Panza, cosmologist
August 18, 2020 Comet Neowise had already faded by the time I started watching the BBC’s mini-series of “War and Peace” on July 25, up here in Egremont. I watched the whole series in just two days. Another week, and I had the book in hand – the Anthony Briggs translation from 2005. I’d never … Continue reading A small comet and a very Big Book
