Category Archives: Classic Books Revisited

Rushing Ahead

Posted on August 28, 2024 by Lee

A paradox: standing around waiting is a kind of rushing ahead. Though the queue barely crawls forward, your mind is rushing ahead to the future, consuming every present moment greedily as if to move more quickly towards the anticipated event. … Continue reading →

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Time to Think Things Over

Posted on August 21, 2024 by Lee

Now that Hans himself has fallen ill, time moves differently. Every day is the same and it’s as if a single day has stretched out to become one impossibly long day. There’s not much difference between day and night when … Continue reading →

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Magic and Reason on the Mountain

Posted on August 14, 2024 by Lee

Here on the magic mountain, the seasons get all mixed up. Hans can’t believe that on the third day of his visit, after days of hot sun, suddenly there is cold and snow. Joachim explains to him: yes the seasons … Continue reading →

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A Cigar is Just a Cigar

Posted on August 7, 2024 by Lee

On the “magic mountain,” what once seemed serious to you will become trivial. Death, for example: Joachim thinks that illness and death might “just be a sort of loafing about” and nothing really to worry about. We’re born, we live … Continue reading →

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Return to the Magic Mountain

Posted on July 30, 2024 by Lee

I’m reading Thomas Mann’s The Magic Mountain again (the translation by H.T. Lowe-Porter). It’s over 700 pages long and I’ll blog about it as I progress slowly through it. Thomas Mann justifies the length of his work by saying: “When … Continue reading →

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Notes on Robin Hobb’s Farseer Trilogy: Royal Assassin

Posted on July 20, 2022 by Lee

What is a life for? This is the question that Fitz is asking again and again, in one form or another, as he tries to find his place in the world and wonders whether it’s all worth it. It’s easy … Continue reading →

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