
This is why Chekhov happened. He was raised on Dostoevsky and Tolstoy, and he said no. The loquacious masters had taken epoch-length self-examination and the quest for meaning as far as it could go, so he went with no definite meaning and definitely no endings. Fair enough.Like Dostoevsky before him and Grossman after, Tolstoy understood […]

“…being on the seat behind Dad, when the words, “We’re going up a hill!” were followed by paternal gluteal bouncing and a ‘floop-floop’ sound.”
“Like a good UN Ambassador, my first instinct was to see the potent aggression and encourage the victim to step aside.”
3 Days in June: 3 Para’s Battle for Mt. Longdon by James O’Connell My rating: 5 of 5 stars The author was motivated by the view that much of what had previously been written about the battle was very off-base, and he wanted to put the record straight. Having read some accounts of the battle […]
An afternoon in St. Helier, Jersey. I look down at the harbour wall and jetty, and across the water to Elizabeth Mount, off St. Helier on the south coast of Jersey. It’s late afternoon, and the causeway to the Mount is covered by the tide. Looking down from my fourth-floor window is a paved area […]