Even with its long history, English writers are always looking to the future. Mary Shelley is sometimes credited with writing the first science fiction novel, and H.G. Wells helped to popularize the genre and make it what it is today.
I’ve read at least four different versions of London’s future, and they’re all thought-provoking adventures with […]

My fifth trip for the The Armchair Traveler Reading Challenge took me to the island of Crete, one of the many treasures of Greece. Since Zorba the Greek was written before the tourist industry started booming in Crete, Nikos Zazantzakis gives us an unspoiled look at the land and the culture. We see beautiful blue […]

My fourth review for the The Armchair Traveler Reading Challenge explores a book of poetry by Robinson Jeffers, poet of Big Sur. Rock and Hawk: A Selection of Shorter Poems gives us a nice look into the poet’s prolific but not always popular career, spanning his life along the California coast with images of Carmel, […]

We took our little dog for a walk in the park last weekend, and as we were leaving, I looked out the window and said, “Golly, are those men playing cricket?” And indeed, they were.
Cricket may have originated in England, but it comes to Dallas/Fort Worth by way of India. Certainly, imperialism has its evils, […]

Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway considers the meaninglessness of gossip and high society gatherings in comparison with all the wars, conquest and politics happening in the world.
Clarissa Dalloway is fluttering about all day worried about the party she is throwing that night, while her former suitor, Peter Walsh, walks around town thinking about how shallow and […]

Nick Hornby’s Fever Pitch is autobiographical, all about his life-long obsession with the Arsenal soccer team. After all, football is life to many Londoners. The book has been made into two different movies, an English version that stays true to Arsenal, and a US version that finds a common truth in Boston Red Sox baseball.
I […]

I suppose my insensitivity is a defense mechanism. I use logic to keep my emotions in check. If I have a loved one who is suicidal, my logical side wonders which is more selfish, for him to put me through the pain of losing him this way, or for me to want him to stay […]

I learned the hard way that when a friend tells me she’s ready to kill herself for real this time, the correct response is not to say, “Oh, okay, so if this is the last time I’m going to see you, I guess I should make the most of the day.” We were shopping at […]

I spent a little time in London this year, an adventure that started on the roof of a “Toppers’ House” on New Year’s Eve, a place where people go to off themselves. A Long Way Down was the first Nick Hornby book I’ve read, but it won’t be the last.
It was a quick, fun read, […]

It took me just under three months to watch The Last King of Scotland. Netflix shipped it to me on July 3, and I mailed it back to them on October 1. As I look back on my journeys here, I found that I started my tour of Africa on July 7. Yes, it really […]