These Great Courses are great! If you're not hearing Tony the Tiger in that line, I don't even know how to talk to you.
Seriously though, I'm really eThese Great Courses are great! If you're not hearing Tony the Tiger in that line, I don't even know how to talk to you.
Seriously though, I'm really enjoying them. When I first discovered them I thought they were on par with those Learning Annex "courses", which do not have a good reputation. However, Great Courses puts together very solid lectures from highly qualified teachers. The dude who did this one, Mark W. Muesse is a Harvard-educated professor.
This lecture is an overview of Hinduism, and I mean overview literally. This is a quick, entry-level course that touches upon the basics: the important philosophies and beliefs, the major gods, etc. That's fine, because it's exactly what I was looking for. Since I'm a Hindu noob, anything deeper would've been right over my head.
Muesse is a good speaker, who clearly conveys his thoughts. Even so, I still felt slightly confused by concepts like the Vata. This is where the value of an intro course like this ends. You get a mere taste of a belief system, not the intricacies. Also, the history and world impact of Hinduism was brief. Little more than Gandhi's movement was touched upon. Again, further research will be necessary, however, this is a solid first step introduction and I highly recommend it for the beginner.
Bond slips into the diamond smuggling market and the American mafia.
Not a bad installment in the Bond series. I don't recall ever seeing the movie veBond slips into the diamond smuggling market and the American mafia.
Not a bad installment in the Bond series. I don't recall ever seeing the movie version, so I can't say if they parallel much or at all, but I can say that Diamonds Are Forever makes for a fine little read.
It's not exactly the most exciting spy thriller ever. In fact, there were a number of spots through out the book that had me ho-humming. It seems like Fleming wanted to flex his prose muscles a bit with this one. There are some nice descriptions of characters and places, but they do tend to slow down the action a bit. Or perhaps there just wasn't all that much action to begin with. I guess there was a shoot out and a tense, butt-clenching moment during a hot mud bath scene, but that didn't really even involve Bond.
There are also some racial issues with Diamonds.... I was listening to this on audiobook and during a moment when I wasn't paying the closest of attention, I thought I heard a distressingly racist passage. Racist dialogue is one thing, but when the writer includes it in the narrative it's an entirely different thing. I don't know, I could be wrong. I didn't bother going back to verify. Maybe I should have, but ya know, I just didn't feel like wallowing in that kind of mire. If I were black, I'd probably just stay away from the Bond series all together. For example, I know "negro" was once acceptable, but its usage comes from an error of an era that ought never to have happened and one that needs to be burned, buried and put in the past forever....more
This is a very strong 3 stars as I quite enjoyed this Agatha Christie quickie!
Having said that, They Do It with Mirrors reads like a Christie-by-numbeThis is a very strong 3 stars as I quite enjoyed this Agatha Christie quickie!
Having said that, They Do It with Mirrors reads like a Christie-by-numbers novel, written by rote like a facsimile of previous work with just a few of the words rearranged. The characters, the setting, the plot and the outcome, it's all been done before.
I haven't read too many Miss Marple's. The old dear and the settings/situations she's placed in are quite quaint and not entirely my cup of tea. Having said that, I wouldn't say no to further Miss Marples. Reading this series is like spending time with a clever granny, and who doesn't need some of that in their lives?!
They Do It with Mirros may not be one of Christie's absolute best, but it works and should satisfy most mystery readers. ...more
I hesitated to use that analogy, because Ohioans and Midwesterners in general are so very Canadian it just seemed rThis is Winesburg, Ohio for Canada.
I hesitated to use that analogy, because Ohioans and Midwesterners in general are so very Canadian it just seemed redundant. However, in Dear Life Alice Munro has written the same kind of truly reflective snippets of life that made Sherwood Anderson's work the well-respected, and frankly, forgettable novel it is.
Stories about everyday events and the less-than-dramatic moments of an average joe's average day do not enthrall me. I do, however, enjoy really well-crafted prose that "gets to the heart of the matter" and that's what we have here. Munro has presented us with a piece of work that flows with the ease of an ancient, flat river. Any turbulence is under the surface. You may not be swept away, but you will be transported comfortably and carefully to an inevitable conclusion.
I will not remember these stories. They tired me with their tedium. But I respect the hell of out the accomplishment that is Dear Life....more
After you're finished with The Call of Cthulhu and you feel as if you still have your senses about you (You think you do, but you don't. Good try thouAfter you're finished with The Call of Cthulhu and you feel as if you still have your senses about you (You think you do, but you don't. Good try though!), give The Dunwich Horror and Other Stories a go. Herein you'll find more possessed people and plenty others driven insane, as per usual.
If nothing else, this is a wonderful foundational work on the Lovecraftian mythos that details in creepy color Cthulhu and that devilish book of magic, The Necronomicon.
The language evoked by Lovecraft is more simplified here than it was in Call... or The Horror at Red Hook.Dunwich... often reads like an old-timey newspaper story. That style tends to distance the reader from the action, but this is an intentional device used to keep up the mystery. Perhaps some might call the writing stiff at times. Maybe a modern reader or two might find this too formal. Well, this was writing about 90 years ago.
The fact is, this is still solidly spooky stuff. I'm thinking I should read Lovecraft every time Halloween comes around, if I dare......more
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