Review: Tree of Salvation: Yggdrasil and the Cross in the North

Tree of Salvation: Yggdrasil and the Cross in the North by G. Ronald Murphy
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

scholarly, persuasive, fascinating, one of the very best books I've read in many years. The only drawback is the publisher's failure to reproduce the photographs in way that is anything but embarrassing.

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Review: Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man

Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man by Siegfried Sassoon
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A shallow young man lives in a thoughtless daydream of a world that is about to vanish. His older, more worldly self, tells the story, but allows his past actions to speak for themselves.

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Review: Red Harvest

Red Harvest by Dashiell Hammett
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Often crime fiction has a romantic glamour cast over it, as if there were honor among thieves when all there really can be is a doubtful truce. Red Harvest has no such illusions.

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Review: A Canticle for Leibowitz

A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr.
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a beautifully done book about what fools we human beings are. Our folly defies and defines both faith and reason. The climax of the book, which is melancholy but not without a glimmer of hope, is heartbreaking.

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Review: Wait Till Next Year

Wait Till Next Year by Doris Kearns Goodwin
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A deftly done, clearly written memoir of growing up in an America that seemed idyllic, but was on the crest of change. It's nice to be reminded that memoirs needn't be sopping with narcissism, and the lurid fascinations of shipwrecked lives.

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