Review:Like most of the other English speakers who've heard about this in recent years, I looked this up because it was said to be one of the inspirations behind George RR Martin's Game of Thrones series (yes I know the book series is officially called A Song of Ice and Fire, but seriously...) But the Accursed Kings series is really good and well worth reading in its own right if you like gory and sensational historical fiction. And if like me you aren't from Europe, you can learn a fair bit of Europea... Read more

Review:Paterniti is an excellent writer who seems to have embarked on a very complicated journey. His descriptions of the small Spanish town of Guzman and its eccentric inhabitants take you there as he sits with you at the center of the action. My only complaint is since the story is so convoluted as it unfolds, it takes a long time to reach the conclusion. Read more

Review:The recording offered here by Blackstone Audiobooks is an astonishing bargain. Frederick Davidson's unabridged (13-hour 11-CD) rendition of Jackson-Knight's classic prose translation of the Aeneid is well done and at a price that beggers belief. The only reason I hesitated before giving it a well-deserved five stars is that I personally found Davidson's delivery to be rather camp to my English ear, which did mean I had to listen for a while to tune into the words. Then it was wonderful. Read more

Review:I liked that the main principles of Hermetics were laid out in an organized way. If you are an advanced student of spirituality and understand works like what Neville Giddard wrote about, you can read this and understand how it's all so true. Read more

Review:There have been several excellent translations of Dante in the past few years, all worth reading in their own right. But I retain a special affection for John Ciardi's version, as it's the first one I ever read, at the unprepared & overwhelmed age of 15. I knew of its reputation as a major classic & I was ignorant enough to be unfazed by the prospect of reading it.

Well, to say that I was soon in over my head is an understatement! But Ciardi's fine, lyrical translation, as well as... Read more

Review:Being a philosophy minor in college, I think that I understood about half of this book. Here are some things to know before taking the leap.

1.Nietzsche discusses writers that were around hundred years ago or more that most people today are not familiar with.
2.A few passages in the book are clearly misogynistic.
3.Nietzsche's writing can be long-winded and convoluted at times, though it shows that his work was inspired from deep within him, and is not a bland logical conclusion de... Read more

Review:There have been several excellent translations of Dante in the past few years, all worth reading in their own right. But I retain a special affection for John Ciardi's version, as it's the first one I ever read, at the unprepared & overwhelmed age of 15. I knew of its reputation as a major classic & I was ignorant enough to be unfazed by the prospect of reading it.

Well, to say that I was soon in over my head is an understatement! But Ciardi's fine, lyrical translation, as well as... Read more

Review:Navigation is entirely broken. Several links are missing, many of the existing ones point to the wrong cantos, and even the overall organization is wrong (you begin in Paradise and end in Inferno!). I couldn’t even check the contents, nor will I keep trying anymore. I’m removing this from my digital library altogether. Read more

Review:Very narcissistic.It was all about Isabel A. and next to nothing about Paula.
I did not understand the point of this book when is named Paula and all the author talked about is Isabel's life,Isabel's romances,Isabel's sadness,Isabel leaving her home country ... I mean, i thought i was going to learn more about her daughter Paula and how the family dealt with her illness (Porphyria) and her childhood and so. It is very little mentioned her illness and for those no familiar with it ,it's confus... Read more

Review:I just finished reading L’Amant (The Lover) by Marguerite Duras in the original French. I totally understand why Duras was so disappointed with the 1992 film that was based on her novel, saying she didn’t recognize her story at all. This is NOT a romance novel. It is a novel of self-annihilation, of existential ennui and alienation, of children from a highly dysfunctional home who become broken people, little bits of flotsam adrift on tropical waters between France and Vietnam.

To me, the... Read more