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Lucky Jim, by Kingsley Amis
Let’s begin with the everyman, title character James Dixon. Dixon holds a low-level professorship at an inexpensive provincial university, seeking tenure. He teaches medieval history, which he does not enjoy, and his career rests in the fate of the head of his department, whom he does not respect. He is unlucky in love, attached to a dowdy, ( Read more... ) -
Books, 9/1/09 - 9/1/10
After all the change that came last year, this year seems pretty tame in comparison. K and I celebrated our second wedding anniversary amidst finals week; I made her a hearty meal and she wrote me a thoughtful card, and we sat on the couch reading together. But though our lives are perhaps not the most exciting, there has been quiet, steady ( Read more... ) -
Salesmanship
K and I packed up the car on Friday night and headed north for that celebration of Anacortes culture, Shipwreck Days. The purpose of the event is for everyone to drag their stuff down to the main road and set it on tables, thus having one giant crowded garage sale. The event was being run by my mother’s rotary club, so as a dutiful son I promised ( Read more... ) -
(Untitled)
If in the first act you describe the weather, in the third act it's absolutely imperative that someone be killed by lightning ( Read more... ) -
Why I Am an Atheist
My parents raised me as a lessez-faire Presbyterian throughout my childhood. At age eight I was the youngest member of the hand bell choir. At twelve my pastor thought I would follow in his footsteps some day and go into the seminary. At sixteen I was the only sixteen year-old in my church, as well as the only tenor. I remember going to church ( Read more... ) -
Happiness is Hard Work
Before school:
I line the kids up to go outside. M, an eight year-old sweet, freckled girl begins crying. Two older boys have torn up her picture. My co-worker Darcy drags them over to apologize to her, and one makes a face as though he doesn't understand why he's being punished.
I take the kids outside. There are about twenty of them. One ( Read more... ) -
Final Thoughts on Henry Adams
I bought the Education because it was a Penguin Classic. I read it because it was ranked atop an anonymous list of the century’s greatest non-fiction books. I’d never read any other praise for the man, nor had any clue what the book was actually about. Three months later, I’m not sure what it isn’t about. What follows are a few of the dog-eared ( Read more... ) -
An Evening at the Bellevue Mall
A couple weeks back, my mother came into town for an evening on her way to Palm Springs, and had an afternoon. We wound up heading over to Bellevue, otherwise known as Microsoft Country, so that we could be marketed at by women in tight clothes and tighter smiles. I, of course, had forgotten to bring a book, and the Bellevue Square, of course, ( Read more... ) -
Twitter Reviews (Part One)
(Posted here for the sake of archiving.)
Based on a joke from long, long ago, these reviews condense their respective books into a single sentence. For those with short attention spans, poor time management skills, or who like being described as "droll." Enjoy.
Walden (Henry David Thoreau):
I’d like to commune with nature, too, but I can never ( Read more... ) -
Fun With Gnosticism
For the last couple of months I’ve immersed myself in the life of Henry Adams, through The Education of Henry Adams. Adams (1838-1918) was many things: grandson of a president, Private Secretary to the ambassador to England during the Civil War, historian, novelist, professor, and useless intellectual. He was the right-hand man for the right-hand ( Read more... )