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  • Suddenly Last Summer

    Dr “Sugar” Cukrowicz is summoned to Mrs Venable’s house with the jungle garden and elevator. The doctor is a lobotomist and seeking funds for his psychiatric research. Mrs Venable, a rich and eccentric woman, promises to help him out financially if he will do something about her niece, who has been raving about her cousin… Continue reading

  • Kafka’s Blue Octavo Notebooks

    Kafka’s Blue Octavo Notebooks

    I have at this point read all of Kafka’s fiction, or at least all the novels, the Lost Writings, and everything that appears in the Complete Stories collection. It’s now that I turn to his nonfiction, which holds as much interest to me, though of a different flavor. The Blue Octavo Notebooks contain a set… Continue reading

  • A Restless Heart – Augustine’s Confessions

    A Restless Heart – Augustine’s Confessions

    Confessions is one of those monumental works I feel unqualified to review. I read it with as much care as I give any book, especially a nonfiction work, but reading anything written before the 1800s feels like stepping into another galaxy. I don’t feel like I quite belong there or understand everything I see. However,… Continue reading

  • The Brilliance of “Baskervilles”

    The Brilliance of “Baskervilles”

    My first encounter with Doyle’s The Hound of the Baskervilles was in the mid-90s. The children’s public TV show Wishbone aired an episode called “The Slobbery Hound,” of which I remember nothing except the scene with the painting. However, the plucky little Jack Russell terrier helped me fall in love with classic literature, and especially… Continue reading

About Me

Hi, I’m Marian—I talk about classics, history, and other books on this blog, as well as on YouTube.

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