Review: Norse Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs

Norse Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs by John Lindow
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A solid work of scholarship. The introduction provides essential background material for the culture of the mythology, and an interesting, if brief, discussion of the nature of time in Norse mythology. Since the body of the book is arranged alphabetically by topic or character, it helps to have some grounding in Norse mythology to start with. So if what you're looking for is a narrative of the tales of the Norse gods, this not the right book.

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Review: Possession

Possession by A.S. Byatt
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

What a wonderful book, both fun and literarily impressive. Byatt weaves together many voices through letters, journals, books, and poems written by the characters, in addition to a third person narrator who sometimes addresses the reader and sometimes shows the reader things that most of the characters will never know. It's a good story well told, and it's even more fun if you know something about literary criticism and the academic world.

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Review: Of Human Bondage

Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A well written, but strange book, though I suppose the same could be said of its author. The first two thirds of the book remind me of a Thomas Hardy novel, with all the grim foreboding that entails, and you reach a point where you think it can only end in two gunshots. Then suddenly, with the turn of the page, a character who could have sprung from the forehead of Dickens appears, complete with an appropriate family, and you know somehow that all will end well.

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Review: American Gods

American Gods by Neil Gaiman
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

This is the fourth book by Neil Gaiman that I've read, and the only one so far that I've found disappointing, very much so in fact. This was quite a surprise to me given how I liked Stardust, and loved both Good Omens and The Ocean at the End of the Lane, and given how many people whose opinion I respected had told me good things about it. I found the basic concept of the book intriguing -- when immigrants bring their gods to a new land, and then stop believing in them, what happens to those gods? -- but was seldom charmed by, and often shook my head at, the execution.

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Review: The Great War and Modern Memory

The Great War and Modern Memory by Paul Fussell
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is one of the very best books of literary criticism I have ever read, and I've read a few. It's not an easy book or a quick read, and it is an old school work of literary criticism that pays more attention to the facts of the text than to theories about the facts. But it is worth the effort, and you will learn a lot. If you're interested in WWI, read this book. If you're interested in the lost generation, read this book. If you're interested in 20th century poetry, read this book. If you're interested in the history of the 20th century and western civilization, read this book. If you're.... Need I go on?

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