A fun and easy read about a wealthy man’s wager to tour around the world in eighty days through Asia, America and Europe. Verne brilliantly captured the excitement, the drama, the determination and resourcefulness required to complete a tour around the world, although he painted a negative picture of Asian and native American cultures. “Truly, would you not for less than that make the tour around the world?” You bet […]
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“Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea” by Jules Verne
An Eye-opening, Jaw-dropping Book I remember watching a movie production (1954) of the book as a child. I loved it so much that I wished the movie would not end. Listening to the audiobook years later brings back all the wonders and much more. Imagine you can explore the width and depth of all the oceans at will, all the marine species, all the natural wonders that have never been […]
Read more“From the Earth to the Moon” by Jules Verne
Verne’s humor shines brightly all the way through this book. He makes good-humored fun of almost everybody and every nation under the sun. For a while, I thought I was reading a political satire. So funny and yet so true. But of course, it’s no laughing matter to send men to the moon. Verne again impresses me with his detailed scientific knowledge, his prophetic and poetic vision of men’s relation […]
Read more“The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Listened to an audiobook version of the novel, narrated by Alexander Scourby. A story about dashed American dreams and lost love, written in a crisp, wisecracking style. Rich imagery, but vacuous content. “Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter—to-morrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther . . . So we […]
Read more“The Homecoming” by Harold Pinter
When asked what his favorite play was, Harold Pinter would always say it was the Homecoming. “I like the shape of it. It has a kind of authority which I enjoy”. The scene is set in a family house. The family consists of a butcher (father), a boxer (brother), a pimp (brother) and a chauffeur (uncle). The eldest son, a professor of philosophy, comes home for a visit with his […]
Read more“Celebration and The Room” by Harold Pinter
The first (The Room) and the last (Celebration) plays that Harold Pinter wrote. Never a dull moment in them. Celebration is a “savage farce”, as Pinter himself put it. The scene is set in an upscale restaurant, where a middle-aged couple celebrates their wedding anniversary. The dialogues are revealing at times, hilarious at others, engaging throughout. The Room, on the other hand, is somewhat subdued. The scene is set in […]
Read more“Ashes to Ashes” by Harold Pinter
I first read about Ashes to Ashes in Harold Pinter’s Nobel lecture “Art, Truth and Politics“, in which Pinter revealed the origin of the play, an image. “Ashes to Ashes, on the other hand, seems to me to be taking place under water. A drowning woman, her hand reaching up through the waves, dropping down out of sight, reaching for others, but finding nobody there, either above or under the […]
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