A-Z Books My Parents Enjoyed: D is for the Dramatic Works of William Shakespeare

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Both my parents were fans of Shakespeare. One of our regular stops during cross-country family vacations was the Globe-like theater in Cedar...

All the Ms: Markham to Marlantes

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Beryl Markham: I read the titular story from The Splendid Outcast: African Stories . It is a lovely horse story though the only connection ...

Problems with Utopias: Trends are Still Trends, No Matter How Important They Feel at the Time

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Anne Morrow Lindbergh was a decent woman who said really dumb things. In All the Trouble in the World , while discussing the Supreme Court d...

People Don't Change: History is Short for the Individual

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During the fire, Nero didn't fiddle; he was organized. After, yes, he blamed a  relatively unknown group: Christians. A fascinating prob...

A-Z Books My Parents Enjoyed: C is for Carroll

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For most of my youth, my mother read to me. And generally speaking, I preferred my mother as reader. Unlike my father, my mother understood ...

Stop the Christie Murder: Endless Night

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Stop the Christie Murder posts presuppose detectives who travel through Christie's books, attempting to prevent murders from happening....

2 Nephi 31, Mosiah 18, & 3rd Nephi: Baptism

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Baptism was under debate in the nineteenth century. Was it necessary to salvation (a sacrament or ceremony required for heavenly admittance)...

Old Shows That Weren't What I Expected

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This past summer, I watch two older shows that surprised me--not because I kept watching but because they weren't at all what I expected...

A-Z Books My Parents Enjoyed: B is for Nellie Bly

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As mentioned in my initial post for this list , over a period of several years, I brought my dad books from the South Portland Library every...

All the Ms: Marias to Marion

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Javier Marías: Voyage Along the Horizon is well-written–I always admire easily conveyed descriptive settings–but it has too many devices t...

True Hollywood Icons

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In commentary on one of the Ocean 's movies, George Clooney or Brad Pitt or Matt Damon remarks that while they are the ones who get appr...

Problems of Utopias: Sex

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Every utopia falls apart on the issue of sex. Who should have it? How often? Marriage? No marriage? Polygamy? Abstinence? PJ O'Rourk...

The Strange Anthropomorphizing and Irresponsibility of AI Users: What Might REALLY Happen

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A book! Before I continue, I should make clear: I am writing specifically about AI like ChatGPT: generative AI that depends on sites that al...
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A-Z Books My Parents Enjoyed: A is for Austen

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My mom was a huge Austen fan. She adored Pride & Prejudice , of course, but one of the nicest aspects of my mother is that she appreciat...

A-Z List: Books My Parents Enjoyed

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My mother (Joyce Woodbury, 1930-2026) read to me when I was growing up. That ritual lasted until junior high. It then ended since I started ...

People Don't Change: Psychoanalysis in the Medieval Era

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Self-Help from the Middle Ages: What the Seven Deadly Sins Can Teach Us About Living by Peter Jones is a fascinating book. It combines the ...

Problems of Utopias: Abstract Religion

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  The problem of abstract religion--in which the physical is heavily idealized while being shoved off-stage--is captured by a Christmas roma...

A-Z Characters Who Transform: Z is for Zorro-Type Children

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Literature is awash with children who rush in to save the day.  The stories are mostly maudlin and patently ridiculous. When I was younger, ...

A-Z Characters Who Transform: Y is for Youth

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One of the most common transformations in literature is the transformation of the child to an adult.  Harper Lee captured this transformatio...

1 Nephi, 2 Nephi, Jacob: Grace & Works Continued

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Problem 2 In a previous post , I comment that two problems underlie religious systems--in part because they underlie all human systems:  The...

Big Bang Theory: Comic Books and the Unintentional Sexism of Amy

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One of the ongoing jokes of Big Bang Theory 's early seasons is that the comic book shop is devoid of girls. Not even Lucy comes to the ...