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   Scrooge's niece played well upon the harp; and played among other tunes a simple little air.... which had been familiar to the child who fetched Scrooge from the boarding-school.... he softened more and more; and thought that if he could have listened to it often, years ago, he might have cultivated the kindnesses of life for his own happiness with his own hands, without resorting to the sexton's spade that buried Jacob Marley.

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

Classic Spy Reads: The IPCRESS File by Len Deighton
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As usual, it wasn’t anything sophisticated that made me glance twice at The IPCRESS File. I’m enough of a sucker for around 90% of book covers to crack them open and hazard the first few pages. This one bared the now classic adjective-noun spy novel title above a silhouette of a handgun against a red background. It was a standard thriller cover, except that it was thinner than most commercial fiction and contained an excerpt of high praise from The New York Times. There was also a non-quote next to author Len Deighton’s name, self proclaiming “The master of fictional espionage.”

The publisher seemed to think its author on par with John le Carré. The “Times” liked it. It’s short enough that I won’t risk chewing on a bad book for over three months. The first few pages are good. IT’S A SPY NOVEL, and apparently a rather important one. I was sold..... READ MORE

Great Quarantine Reads: The Other Shades of Grey Series
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   The youthful station master wore a Blue Spot on his uniform and remonstrated with the driver that the train was a minute late, and that he would have to file a report. The driver retorted that since there could be no material difference between a train that arrived at a station and a station that arrived at a train, it was equally the stationmaster’s fault. The stationmaster replied that he could not be blamed, because he had no control over the speed of the station; to which the engine driver replied that the stationmaster could control its placement, and that if it were only a thousand yards closer to Vermillion, the problem would be solved. To this the stationmaster replied that if the driver didn’t accept the lateness as his fault, he would move the station a thousand yards farther from Vermillion and make him not just late, but demeritably overdue.”

- Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde

Such wonderful writing populates all of Shades of Grey from front to back. The novel’s teen protagonist, Eddie Russett, settles himself into relegation in a new town within Chromatacia. This is the name of the book’s post-apocalyptic society, where class placement is based on the colors one can see.... READ MORE

The Giver, and the Burning of Notre Dame
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This week, Notre Dame Cathedral caught fire and burned for 15 hours.  Despair was universal, making a real life point of the importance of things Community did away with in The Giver....CLICK FOR FULL ARTICLE

The Dark Knight Rises: A Look At The Modern Classic
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The Dark Knight rises, but he is also the least significant of the main characters in The Dark Knight Rises, and that’s OK, sort of....CLICK FOR FULL ARTICLE

22 July: The Dangerous Resurgence of Fascism
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Since hitting his creative stride in 2002 with Bloody Sunday, Paul Greengrass has been making two kinds of films. The first is the kind that is unsettling, conveys realism, exposes important socio-political factors, and entertains. These.... CLICK FOR FULL ARTICLE