history
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A Life in Books: T. E. Lawrence AKA Lawrence of Arabia
Just chatting about the life, books, and adventures of T. E. Lawrence (1888–1935). Lawrence was the young British officer who, during World War I, became “Lawrence of Arabia” – the face, strategist, and de facto leader of the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Turkish Empire. A complicated person, he battled greatly with conflicted feelings about Continue reading
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Generals and Computers: From Ancient China to Wendell Berry and Andrew Yang
At long last, today I finished Arthur Waley’s translated collection of Chinese poetry. I also read “Why I Am Not Going to Buy a Computer” (1987) by Wendell Berry (a new author to me), from The World-Ending Fire: The Essential Wendell Berry. Though these two readings may appear wildly different in nature, I was struck Continue reading
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Rambling about A History of East Asia – Early Dynasties, Colonialism, and China as a Global Hegemon
Key takeaways: Holcombe’s A History of East Asia is the kind of dry, academic, extremely cautious textbook that gives history as a subject a bad name (and myself some flashbacks to uni). Nonetheless, this book is certainly a serviceable overview of the histories of China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam, which was the minimum I was Continue reading
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What I’m Reading (and More): January edition 2020
[Editor’s note: It seems my blogging is going to consist of this kind of post for the foreseeable future. I’m tentatively putting classics (and the return of the podcast 😦 ) on hold to make a dent in my 2020 reading. There will be classics (primarily for the Japanese Reading Challenge), but most of them Continue reading
About Me
Hi, I’m Marian—I talk about classics, history, and other books on this blog, as well as on YouTube.
Currently Reading
Recent Posts
- What I’m Reading – Morning Coffee Edition
- Oddly Specific Things I Love in Books (and a Few Movies)
- The Tenant of Wildfell Hall – A Long Overdue Review
- My Favorite Films and Music of 2025
- Ten Books I’d Like to Read (and Possibly Own)
Classics Considered 