Read More Classics

Christian Smith, Editor of the very fine Englewood Review of Books has an article in the Huffington Post about his desire to focus more on the classics and less on the books of the moment.  He has a pretty broad view of classic (anything that is not a book of the moment) but he is focusing … Read more

Kindle Touch Gets New Software Upgrade

Today Amazon released a new major update to the Kindle Touch software.  (You know the kindle that they stopped supporting when Amazon released the Paperwhite.)  It has many of the best software features of the kindle paperwhite, just without the light and crisper screen. If you have Touch you can wait for it to automatically … Read more

Planet Narnia: The Seven heavens in the Imagination of CS Lewis

Planet Narnia: The Seven Heavens in the Imagination of C. S. LewisDespite being modern classics beloved by children, laymen adults, and critics alike, the Chronicles of Narnia are admittedly somewhat of a literary hodge-podge. Or so most believed. Many have attempted to build a comprehensive interpretive framework for them, but none have received wide acceptance. Michael Ward, Oxford scholar and C.S. Lewis aficionado, presents his own framework, arguing that the classic Ptolemaic solar system (not the modern Copernican) holds the key to understanding the series. Ward’s research of the Chronicles and its author is impressively extensive. He shows how Lewis was steeped in the cosmological mythology of medieval literature, and he illustrates the heavy influence wielded by a particular planet throughout each book.

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Old Man’s War is the January Sword and Laser Book Club Pick

Old Man's War discussion In a previous iteration of my life I spend a lot of time listening to podcasts and one of my favorite was the CNet’s Buzz Out Loud.  When I was listening to it Tom, Molly and Veronica were the main hosts.  Since then Tom Merritt has spun off his own show on the TWiT network, Tech News Today and Veronica Belmont is the  co-host of Tekzilla on Revision3 network.

For the past several years Tom and Veronica have co-hosted a Science Fiction and Fantasy book club podcast, Sword and Laser.

This month they are discussing The Old Man’s War by John Scalzi.  Bookwi.se reviewed the Old Man’s War last fall and I know a few people have read it since then.  You might find the book club discussion interesting.