Category Archives: Fine Press Book Reviews

The Day of the Locust by Nathanael West; Published by the Arion Press

Let me just say right off that this was not my favorite novel. It could be because the subject matter isn’t of much interest to me. I’m not much of a movie or television watcher, so Hollywood’s film history doesn’t … Continue reading

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The Lay of the Love and Death of Cornet Christoph Rilke; Published by the Arion Press

Ever since I read Stephen Mitchell’s translation of the Tao Te Ching at just the right time in a critical juncture of my life, I’ve eagerly sought out anything else he’s done. That made finding a copy of the Arion … Continue reading

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Biotherm by Frank O’Hara; Published by the Arion Press

“Ut pictura poesis,” Horace wrote in the first century BC. “As is painting so is poetry.” In his Poetry Foundation blog post “Poets and Painters”, Martin Earl writes “Painters and poets have been wed from the beginning. Language itself has … Continue reading

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The Cats of Copenhagen by James Joyce; Published by the Ithys Press

The Cats of Copenhagen is a cute little children’s “story” that was written by Joyce and sent to his grandson Stephen James Joyce in 1936. According to the Preface, a love of cats was shared between the two, and had … Continue reading

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Norfolk Isle & The Chola Widow by Herman Melville; Published by Nawakum Press

The Chola Widow is one of ten sketches Herman Melville wrote as part of The Encantadas, or Enchanted Isles. As such, it is a short piece that can easily be read in one brief sitting. When a story like this … Continue reading

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Jurgen: A Comedy of Justice by James Branch Cabell; Published by the Limited Editions Club

The Whole Book Experience is all about how a particular book might affect me as I read it. Of course the experience is literary. And with the fine and private press books I concentrate on for this blog, it is … Continue reading

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A Flame in the Heart; Published by Littoral Press

On the first page of A Flame in the Heart: a love/hate anthology we learn that it “is dedicated to those we love with a blazing passion, to those we hope will burn in hell, and ideally, to the future … Continue reading

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The Chimes, a Goblin Drama in Four Quarters, by Charles Dickens et al.; Published by The Barbarian Press

Ah, Christmas! What would it be without a little Dickens. I was all set to read the Cricket on the Hearth, which I have never read, when I realized that I still had the Barbarian Press stage adaptation of The … Continue reading

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The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins; Published by The Arion Press

Wilkie Collins is a well known Victorian era British writer of 30 novels, over 60 short stories, 14 plays, as well as a number of non-fiction articles and other pieces. How much of this enormous output have I read? None. … Continue reading

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Swann’s Way by Marcel Proust; The Limited Editions Club

How to start about a novel like Swann’s Way? How to articulate the feeling of reading Proust? That’s a touch challenge for me even on a second reading. It is definitely easier to dwell on the physical book itself, in … Continue reading

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