BOOK REVIEWS
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Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect. ~ Mark Twain. Read more
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“In my time, Ernest Hemingway wrote a certain kind of story better and more effectively than it had ever been done before. He was properly accepted and acclaimed. He was imitated almost slavishly by every young writer, including me, not only in America but in the world. He wrote a special kind of story out… Read more
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Throwback Thursdays” at ClimbingSky feature posts I wrote over a 15 year period for various blogs. This was first posted on March 11, 2020 In one of my favorite chess quotes, writer Edward Lasker (not to be confused with chess great Emanuel Lasker) once said, “It has been said that man is distinguished from animal in that he… Read more
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One of the truisms of American poetry is that some of the most original poetry written in the 20th century was written by non-professional poets—that is, poets who had their primary careers in fields other than writing or teaching writing. Unencumbered by more traditional poetic relationships and poetic responsibilities, poets like Wallace Stevens and William… Read more
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Throwback Thursdays” at ClimbingSky feature posts I wrote over a 15 year period for various blogs. This was first posted on June 28th, 2011. Billy Collins’ popularity and financial success make him one of those poets it is hard to ignore. The quality of his poetry makes him impossible to forget. Collins’ poem “The First Dream” is… Read more
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Wilkie Collins (01/08/1824 – 09/23/1889) is best known for his detective novels, The Woman in White and The Moonstone. He is often credited with establishing the ground rules of the modern detective story and police procedural. Both The Woman in White and The Moonstone are doorstoppers—huge and unwieldy at times. The Haunted Hotel, on the other hand, is a more manageable size and adds… Read more
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Each time I reread an old favorite, I start with the idea of focusing on some different aspect of the story or a writing technique than I have in the past. Last week, during my annual re-reading of Robert Louis Stevenson’s masterpiece, Treasure Island, I wanted to specifically focus on something that I have noticed before but never spent much time exploring: specifically… Read more
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During February, I re-read the H.G. Wells classic The War of the Worlds. In March, I will be re-reading Hemingway’s “Big Two-Hearted River.” The latter is a story I have re-read every spring now for more than 45 years. I have come to believe that one of the many reasons I re-read books is that returning to them… Read more
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