|
Title
& Author
|
Comments/Quotes |
Links |
|
Classics/Modern Classics |
| The Iliad, by
the Greek (or Illyrian) poet who
wrote The Iliad (who may or may not have been named Homer) |
If I didn't already have trouble sleeping, I would,
like Alexander, sleep with a copy under my pillow. My
favorite work of literature.
"Hateful to me as the gates of Hades is that man who hides
one thing in his heart and speaks another." |
Samuel
Butler Translation
Ian
Johnston Translation
|
| Ivanhoe
by Sir Walter Scott |
Chivalrous Ivanhoe, his curmudgeonly father Cedric,
his beautiful love Rowena, strong-willed Rebecca, a trio of
villainous Norman knights ... these characters captivated me as a
child and have never let me go.
"What
remains?" cried Ivanhoe; "Glory, maiden, glory! which
gilds our sepulchre and embalms our name."
|
Full
text
The
Walter Scott Digital Archive
Best film effort: The
1997
A&E/BBC production (TV miniseries)
Ivanhoe
- The Opera (Arthur Sullivan)
|
Lord of the Rings
by J. R. R. Tolkien |
"A day may come
when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends and
break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day. An hour of
wolves and shattered shields, when the age of men comes crashing
down, but it is not this day. This day we fight! By all that you
hold dear on this good Earth, I bid you stand, Men of the West!" |
The Council of Elrond
(great site with many features, covering both the books and
the films)
|
|
Historical Novels & Mysteries |
Roma sub Rosa series
by
Steven Saylor |
If you like Lindsey Davis's Marcus Didius Falco,
you'll love Saylor's Gordianus the Finder. Set in the Late
Republic, starring all the VIPs of the time: Cicero, Crassus,
Caesar, Antony, Pompey ... plus Gordianus and his
unconventional family. |
Steven
Saylor's website
|
Amelia Peabody mysteries
by Elizabeth Peters (pen
name
of Barbara Mertz -- that would be Dr. Mertz, PhD in
Egyptology) |
"Marriage
should be a balanced stalemate between equal adversaries." --
Amelia Peabody
The adventures of 19th Century
Egyptologists, plucky Amelia Peabody and her dashing husband
Radcliffe Emerson (they call each other "Peabody" and
"Emerson").
|
A
website dedicated to Amelia
The author's page |
| Julian by Gore Vidal |
A riveting account of the Roman Emperor known to
Christian historians as Julian the Apostate, told through the
correspondence of his friends, interspersed with Julian's own
memoirs. |
The
Gore Vidal Index |
Memoirs of Hadrian by
Marguerite Yourcenar |
"For my part I have sought liberty more than
power, and power only because it can lead to freedom." --
Hadrian
While reading, I had to remind myself several times that this
was a work of fiction.
|
Two
brief excerpts
Short
biography of Yourcenar
|
| Pulp fiction at its
finest. Or, as I prefer to call it, vintage genre literature. |
Fu Manchu by
Sax Rohmer (pen name
of
Arthur Henry Sarsfield Ward)
|
"Imagine a person, tall, lean and feline, high-shouldered,
with a brow like Shakespeare and a face like Satan, a close-shaven
skull, and long, magnetic eyes of the true cat-green." |
The
Page of Fu Manchu
Complete text of
The
Insidious Dr. Fu Manchu
|
Conan (and so much
more)
by Robert E. Howard
|
"The
fighting madness of his race was upon him, and with a red mist of
unreasoning fury wavering before his blazing eyes, he cleft
skulls, smashed breasts, severed limbs, ripped out entrails, and
littered the deck like a shambles with a ghastly harvest of brains
and blood." |
A
wonderful REH page
Robert
E. Howard United Press Association
Robert
E. Howard Archive
|
The Rats in the Walls
The Call of Cthulhu
The Dunwich Horror (not to be confused with the execrable film
supposedly based on it)
and many others ...
by H. P. Lovecraft
|
Stephen King said:
"H.P. Lovecraft has yet to be surpassed as the twentieth century’s greatest practitioner of the classic horror tale."
He was right.
"Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn."
("In his house at R'lyeh dead Cthulhu waits dreaming.")
|
H.
P. Lovecraft Archive
Lovecraft
Library
|
|
Fantasy
|
Deryni Series
(3 trilogies to date, plus companion volumes and short stories)
by
Katherine Kurtz
|
The Deryni universe is roughly medieval Europe, but
one in which the Deryni, a race gifted with psi powers, are often
in violent conflict with humans. |
The
Official Deryni/Katherine Kurtz Website
(includes information and reviews of all of her
works) |
|
Adept Series (Katherine Kurtz and Deborah Turner Harris)
|
The Adept -- Sir Adam Sinclair, Scottish lord,
psychologist, and Master Huntsman, leads his Lodge against the
forces of evil. |
|
Nazi Vampires from Hell Series (by Katherine Kurtz with Scott McMillan, a/k/a Mr.
KK)
|
With only two books in the series, I was left
wanting more of the Nazi vampires and their nemesis, Detective
John Drummond. A third volume may eventually appear. |
Lammas Night
by Katherine Kurtz
|
Adolf Hitler was a known occultist and
fan-practitioner of the dark arts. What he didn't know was that
Sir John Graham of British Intelligence was also a witch -- a good
one. |
The Belgariad (5 books)
The Malloreon (5 books)
by David (and Leigh) Eddings
|
About noon, Silk shook himself and looked around,
his eyes finally alert, though still a bit bloodshot. "Did
anybody think to bring something to drink?" he asked.
"Didn't you get enough last night?" Belgarath replied.
"That was for entertainment. What I need now is something
therapeutic."
"Water?" Garion suggested.
"I'm thirsty, Garion, not dirty."
A simple farm boy may hold the fate of the world in his hands.
The concept isn't new, but Eddings does wonderful things with
it.
|
Jack's
David & Leigh Eddings site |
|
Other books I read and enjoyed immensely
... I'll add more when the mood strikes.
|
Waylon: An Autobiography by Waylon Jennings (with
Lenny Kaye)
|
"I still cringe
whenever I hear myself singing Hoyt Axton's 'Never Been to Spain'.
It sounded like I'd never even been to Cleveland."
The story of ol' Waymore from his
impoverished childhood in Texas to Outlaw Legend and Honky Tonk
Hero. Sometimes funny, sometimes tragic, but always honest.
|
The Official Waylon
Jennings Site
The Official Shooter
Jennings Site
|
Meetings with Remarkable Trees and Remarkable
Trees of the World
by Thomas Pakenham |
As remarkable as the trees themselves (giants,
dwarfs, methuselahs, shrines, and so much more) are Pakenham's
color photographs of them. |
"Search
inside" Meetings with Remarkable Trees on Amazon.com
"Search
inside" Remarkable Trees of the World
on Amazon.com
|
| Sherwood by Parke Godwin |
Simply the best telling
of the Robin Hood story I have ever read. No fantasy, no men in
tights, and the Sheriff is not the villain. |
Reviews
of many of Godwin's novels |
| Storming Little
Round Top: the 15th Alabama and Their Fight for the High Ground,
July 2, 1863 by Phillip Thomas Tucker |
Sometimes flawed but engrossing account of the role
of the 15th Alabama in "the most decisive small unit
action" of the War Between the States. |
Others
books by Phillip Thomas Tucker
My
tribute to Co E of the 15th
|
| Zero Tollerance: An
Intimate Memoir by the Man Who Revolutionized Figure Skating
and When Hell Freezes Over (Should I Bring My Skates?) by Toller Cranston |
1976 Olympic Bronze Medallist in Mens Figure
Skating, professional skater in both competitions and shows,
painter, coach, choreographer, commentator, writer, personality. |
Some
of Toller's art for sale at this gallery
|
The Pilgrim's Progress
by John Bunyan |
An allegory peopled by believable characters rather
than stereotypes. In a world increasingly deconstructionist and
postmodernist, Pilgrim's Progress is a reminder to stay the
course. |
Full
text
Also available in a version
"in modern English", which lacks the beauty of the
original.
|
| The Harry Potter series |
"Never
trust anything that can think for itself if you can't see where it
keeps its brain." (Arthur Weasley, Harry Potter
and the Chamber of Secrets)
There's a reason why
these books fly out of stores -- they're that good. Really. |
J.
K. Rowling's fascinating official site
The Leaky
Cauldron: All Things Harry Potter
The Harry Potter Lexicon
(reference materials)
|
