Mary Catelli's Erraticly Updated and Exceedingly Ill-Organized Journal

An Exaltation of Larks: The Ultimate Edition by James Lipton

A book for people who've mastered such basics as a pride of lions and want to go onward. To a murder of crows, a parliament of owls, or a truelove of doves.

You can have your pick for cats: clowder, cluster, and clutter are all recorded. Though some have distinctions: it is a gaggle of geese on the grounds, but a skein of geese in the air.

Some are more fun than others, and he includes a long section with possibilities for new ones.

The Medieval Kitchen: Recipes from France and Italy by Odile Redon, Françoise Sabban, Silvano Serventi, and Edward Schneider

This book covers the basics of medieval eating, and then plunges into the recipes.  They start with the text they were working with, comment on decyphering it and what substitutes, if any, they had to use, and then they describe it as a modern recipe.  (A lot more detailed.)  I can't tell you how good they are, because I got it as a reference for a character who's a cook in a medieval-ish setting.  Recipes are, unsurprisingly, weighted toward the wealthy.

The Law of Superheroes by James Daily and Ryan Davidson

Two lawyers looking at the comic book world and the law.

( Read more... )

The Art of Fiction: Illustrated from Classic and Modern Texts by David Lodge

A series of themes that feature in fiction.  Starting with "Beginnings" and ending with "Endings."

( Read more... )

Selected Literary Essays by C.S. Lewis

Exactly what it says.  Be forewarned that this is the professional, professor side of his writing.
( Read more... )

The Ladies' Book of Etiquette, and Manual of Politeness; A Complete Handbook for the Use of the Lady in Polite Society by Florence Hartley

Primary source.  Very much primary source.  Which makes that it was published in 1860 noticeably important.
( Read more... )

The Vision of the Anointed: Self-Congratulation as a Basis for Social Policy by Thomas Sowell

An analysis of certain processes in modern day thought.
( Read more... )

The Return of the Shadow by J. R. R. Tolkien and Christopher Tolkien

I can only review this from the point of view of a writer.  Which can find it very interesting indeed.  Knowing The Lord of the Rings is essential.

( Read more... )

As I Please:  The Collected Essays, Journalism, and Letters, vol. 3 1943-1945 by George Orwell.

I think more essays and fewer letters than even the one before, covering up to the tail end of World War II -- it includes an allusion to the atom bomb, namely that the Japanese surrender did much to reconcile the British to it.
( Read more... )
Update:  It occurs to me that I should include a warning about "Benefit of the Clergy", one of the essays.  It's about Dali, and it concludes with observations about saying that a work is a magnificent piece of artistry and should be burned by the public hangman.  It makes it very clear why he thinks of this of Dali, and it's rather revolting stuff.

An Age Like This:  The Collected Essays, Journalism, and Letters, vol. 1 1920-1940 by George Orwell.

This one contains rather more letters than the later volumes.  Provides some interesting insights.
( Read more... )