Greetings! Welcome to my reading journey. I am a thirty-something year old husband and father with a quixotic itch for the classics (I make a lot of lists). I created this humble corner of the internet to track a variety of oddball projects, like reading the dialogues of Plato, the complete works of Shakespeare, the Pulitzer Prize-winners, and other projects. In college, a teacher once counseled me that I should be “constantly writing and entering into dialogue with the books I am reading.” And I suppose this website is an attempt at meeting that challenge.
I tend to believe that beneath our vast tyranny of cultural distraction lies a republic of letters where ideas can be discussed, questioned, and examined free from prejudice or penalty. As such, I try to approach the books I am reading as if they have something deeply important to teach me. In addition to writing about books, I also cobble together reviews of old movies, television shows, and other topics of interest. Lately, I have adopted a surprising interest in the lore of various imagined worlds like Star Trek, Star Wars, and James Bond. I guess you could say I am deeply fascinated by the idea of literary canons, or collected bodies of literature. Kindly drop me a line along the way.
-John
PS: All my reviews contain spoilers.
This website is protected under United States Fair Use copyright law, however if you feel I have improperly used certain material, please feel free to contact me and I will humbly address the issue.
“To err is human, to forgive, divine.”
-Alexander Pope, An Essay on Criticism
Recent Posts
- 1997 Pulitzer Prize Review: Martin Dressler: The Tale of an American Dreamer by Steven Millhauser
- 1996 Pulitzer Prize Review: Independence Day by Richard Ford
- Book Review: Chapterhouse: Dune (1985) by Frank Herbert
- Star Trek Book Review: Perry’s Planet (1980) by Jack C. Haldeman II
- Goosebumps Review #21: Go Eat Worms! (1994) by R.L. Stine