Antiquarian and Classic Book Reviews
Literary novels.
Literature is a genre.
You can view all genres, or you can search by language/region, editor/translator, era/movement, book authors, or year of edition.
As someone who reads classical literature — a lot of which was around before cameras were common or in some cases existent — instead of photographs, I see a lot of author portraits when I do research. This is a review of The Man of Feeling.
I’m going to admit it right off the bat, Doctor Faustus is not an easy read. For the first three hundred pages it is a difficult slog up an impossible mountain that one cannot see the peak of. This a review of Thomas Mann’s magnum opus.
I spent a lot of time in front of the television as a child. It was part of my regular routine before going to school and after I got home. I used it to define days, hours, and seasons and to keep me company while I did homework or studied. My favourite programs (alongside Bugs Bunny, of course) were crime documentaries. This is a review of Emile Zola’s The Beast Within.
There is no singular process that recommends a book to me or by which I choose what to read when. My reading tastes can change with a given day or even a given hour — which is why I tend to read about eight to ten books at once. This is a review of The Bluest Eye.
I was in high school and The Ring was a horror movie like none that I had ever seen before. From that moment to this, I’ve actively studied literature and film from Japan – with a particular emphasis on horror or psychological thriller. This is a review of Yukio Mishima’s Star.
Two years ago, myself and my spouse moved from an apartment in the city to a house in the middle of a rural community. To say it was an ‘adjustment’ would be putting it mildly. This is a review of The Awkward Age.
After three years I’ve learned that March can be a weird month in the snow belt. This is a review of three short novels from Turgenev.
One of the first things you should know about the wide world of antiquarian and rare books is that, though they may be used, they will not necessarily be cheap. This is a review of Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship.
I’ve never really been one for poetry when it comes down to it. Occasionally there are exceptions to this rule. I enjoy Pushkin and Tennyson, but it’s rare that verses move me the way that novels do. This is a review of The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge.
There are some problems that only happen with antiquarian books. Namely, that sometimes you can collect a single work in bits and pieces. This is a review of Jan Potocki’s The Manuscript Found in Saragossa.
