Brendan > Recent Status Updates

03/19: Tom Sawyer, Detective- Another fun and lighthearted Tom Sawyer adventure. Entertaining.

03/17: Tom Sawyer Abroad- This is a fun, lighthearted romp back into the world of Tom Sawyer. Not a lot of substance here, but it’s thoroughly amusing.

03/14: The American Claimant- This is much funnier and lighthearted than its predecessor, an hysterical romp through mistaken identities and crackpot theories of the turn of the century.

03/12: The Gilded Age- An interesting, entertaining novel. Not quite comedy or tragedy.

03/04: Following the Equator: Another brilliant travelogue from Twain. This one leans far more on the serious side of things, with a distinct lack of tall tales and humorous asides, especially towards the end. As a whole, though, it is as informative an entertaining as the rest of his travel writings.

02/26: A Tramp Abroad-- I didn't enjoy this one quite as much as The Innocents Abroad, but Twain's travel writing is, as always, fantastic, mixing his trademark humor and witticism with the joys and annoyances of traveling in a foreign land.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court: This is a fantastic story, a primitive sci-fi/fantasy set in romantic times. Twain's portrayal of the Arthurian world is detailed and excellent.

01/26/2019: The Prince and the Pauper- Lighthearted and entertaining, although definitely different from the watered down childrens' versions I read as a child.

01/18/2019: The Innocents Abroad- A thoroughly entertaining, hysterically funny travelogue. This is the Mark Twain I remained thoroughly unaware of for most of my life.

01/10/2019: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn- This novel is just as whimsical and fun as I remember it being from my childhood. The racism does seem a bit overboard at times when compared to Tom Sawyer, though.

01/07/2019: Life on the Mississippi-- This is a fantastic history and travelogue, giving Twain an opportunity to expound on the history of his beloved river while also spinning a yarn or two in the process.

01/01- The Adventures of Tom Sawyer: A lighthearted and fun novel., about as stereotypically Twainesque as could be.

07/08: Five Ways to Forgiveness- The concepts of slavery and revolution, dealt with on an interplanetary scale. Harrowing and heartfelt.

07/01: Stories- These tales are a great expansion of the Hainish mythology. No writer can create, and then analyze, an alien culture like Le Guin.

06/13: City of Illusions- This is one of the more disjointed and not-quite thought out of Le Guin's novels, but the quasi-post-apocalyptic adventure really isn't half bad

06/10: Planet of Exile- More of an action adventure story than anything else, this is a quick, entertaining read.

06/06: Rocannon's World- For such a short novel, this is a masterful work, an excellent, intelligent fantasy/sci-fi hybrid.

05/30: Malafrena- I cannot lie; I had my doubts about reading LeGuin's historical fiction. Malafrena is, however, as beautiful and revolutionary as the best of her science fiction.

04/07: Falconer- My second time reading this novel, and it is still a fantastic read. A prison story like no other.

04/07: Falconer- My second time reading this, and it is still a phenomenal book. A prison story like no other.

04/05: Bullet Park- Another absolutely fascinating glimpse into the darkness beneath the veneer of suburbia. Cheever knows this world like no other.

04/02: The Wapshot Scandal: Amazing, amazing book. Surreal almost to the point of being hallucinatory, the end of the Wapshots in pure degeneracy is epic dark humor.

04/02: The Wapshot Scandal: Amazing, amazing book. Surreal almost to the point of being hallucinatory, the end of the Wapshots in pure degeneracy is epic dark humor.

03/29: The Wapshot Chronicle: This is a beautiful novel, an entertaining saga of a family that is pure salt-of-the-earth New England stock.

02/26: Hocus Pocus- Another memoir based tale with an end-of-the-world flavor. Moderately more interesting than some of the other ones.

02/22: Bluebeard- A genius book, loving and heartfelt meditations on life an art.

02/15: Deadeye Dick- This is the least impressive of all the Vonnegut I've read. Not particularly interesting, although his dark humor is in full force here.

02/13: Jailbird- This is a decent political satire, perhaps a tad bit unfleshed, if anything.

02/07: Slapstick- Vonnegut is at his absolute best when imagining post apocalyptic worlds. Sadly funny.

02/01: Slaughterhouse-Five- This is a fantastic book. A near-perfect examination of how the horrors of war effect individuals who experience them.