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A Common Reader

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Mar 27, 2026
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  1. The Death of Rabelais by Jane Clark Scharl
    Mar 27, 2026 · original
    The Death of Rabelais by J. C. Scharl Wiseblood Books , 2025 Friar : Humor’s a relief! It shows the truth. Every Laugh’s a window on the void— crack jokes with me, and by them crack the world’s facade to show the bedlam underneath! … Rabelais : Humor is no chaos, but the very drip and flow of everything, the sticky fluid carrying life up from stodgy soil to all these many moistening bodies… humor is our unity, our scope, our element, our one and only hope to make disjointed things one whole; to weave from severed threads a spread ‘neath which to cleave and there conceive, with giggles and with wiggles, an unimagined jest; to nimbly wriggle past the facts of life to breathe its farts and still to hug it close—now that is art! (17-18) This is the second play in J.C. Scharl’s planned Rabelais trilogy, the first being Sonnez Les Matines . In a sense, this play is another mystery but instead
  2. Spencer A. Klavan on the Phaenomena of Aratus
    Mar 18, 2026 · original
    I recently read the revised edition of Stanley Lombardo’s translation of the Phaenomena of Aratus (titled The Sky Is Our Song: The “Phaenomena” of Aratus ) and thoroughly enjoyed it. This edition is lovely, too. Spencer A. Klavan has extended comments of the poem in New Criterion titled “A phenomenal poet” and it is currently not behind a paywall. A highly recommended read while it’s freely available. The Phaenomena was a triumph in its day. Cicero translated it into Latin; Virgil paid it the compliment of stealing liberally from it in his book of agricultural didactic poetry, the Georgics . It holds up less well today—the poet Aaron Poochigian made a valiant effort at an English version in 2010, as did the classicist Stanley Lombardo in 2025 [revised and expanded from the 1983 first edition], but a lot of the minutely structured wordplay is simply bound to get lost. Modern readers may f
  3. Sonnez Les Matines by Jane Clark Scharl
    Mar 8, 2026 · original
    Sonnez Les Matines by J. C. Scharl Wiseblood Books , 2023 Love Wisdom, say I, but not with what’s above! She’s a pretty girl, and ripe; lover her with your body, your skin and bones, the gurgle of your gut; love her with your rutting heart. We’re all little pigs, rooting in the dirt after something—the slut, the priest, the lord, magister, mother, student, tenant, doctor, bishop, king, pope—saints and sinners all rooting in the mud… . (page 101) Frère Jacques, Frère Jacques, Dormez-vous ? Dormez-vous ? Sonnez les matines ! Sonnez les matines ! Din, din, don. Din, din, don. (Lyrics to Frère Jacques ) John Calvin, Ignatius of Loyola, and François Rabelais walk into a Parisian bar. No, it’s not the start of a joke but part of the storyline in the play Sonnez Les Matines , the first play in a planned Rabelais trilogy by poet and playwright Jane Clark Scharl. The second play, The Death of Rab
  4. Second half 2025 live music highlights
    Jan 3, 2026 · original
    Before I return to posting on recent reading, I wanted to post a continuation of sorts to my early 2025 live music post . The second half of the year proved to be a bit more challenging to see groups in the area. I ended up seeing some acts I’m not necessarily a big fan of but did want to see. And others (notably the Gang of Four show) I had to miss due to other commitments. As in earlier posts, this is in chronological order and total stream of consciousness. Kurt Vile and the Violators Kurt Vile Regarding Kurt Vile, I’ve been hooked on a few of his songs but I probably listened to his collaborations (especially with Courtney Barnett) the most. Despite that lead-in, he was someone I have wanted to see live and having his previous year’s show in the area canceled due to his bus breaking down just made me want to see him that much more. Much of it is spaced out and focused on the mundane.
  5. UC Press Luminos and other open access books
    Dec 14, 2025 · original
    My apologies for the radio silence. I just stumbled across the University of California Press’ Luminos publishing project . From their FAQ page: “Luminos is UC Press’ new Open Access (OA) monograph publishing program. It will make a version of the digital edition of scholarly monographs available free of charge to anyone around the world. In addition to giving readers access to the work without price barriers, OA monographs will be available for online viewing as well as for download. Print copies will be available for purchase for those who prefer to read in this way.” I’ve already found several books to add to my to-be-read list and I’m only partway through the catalog. I know I’m a little late to the party on this. I knew about MIT Press’ open access program, which has been around for about 30 years, but hadn’t investigated to see how many others there might be out there and was happy
  6. Patriot: A Memoir by Alexei Navalny (updated)
    Nov 4, 2025 · original
    Patriot: A Memoir by Alexei Navalny Knopf, 2024 Update : I didn’t realize my post had been made with an early draft I had made before I finished the book. I’ve added my comments on the last section of the book at the bottom of the post. It doesn’t make for a good flow, but wanted to include all the notes I wrote on the book. If the [Russian] authorities want you to die, there are countless painful ways they can kill you, as Alexei Navalny’s death in February 2024 demonstrates. Under Vladimir Putin, Russia is gradually returning to the repression of the late Soviet era, and so one can add Navalny’s posthumous Patriot: A Memoir to the list of classics above. Is there another culture where prison memoirs are a major literary genre? – Gary Saul Morson, “Sublime Courage,” Claremont Review of Books , Winter 2024/25 (emphasis mine) Morson’s review linked above is for To the Success of Our Hopel
  7. Tastes and Traditions: A Journey through Menu History by Nathalie Cooke
    Oct 1, 2025 · original
    Tastes and Traditions: A Journey through Menu History Reaktion Books , 2025 Menus, by definition, promise to serve as guides for diners, presenting or at times clarifying food choices. But in Tastes and Traditions I have argued that menus are also—and even more so—strategic documents: they shape diners’ choices, guide diners towards particular decisions and enhance their dining experiences. … This exploration was driven by four central questions. What is a menu? What does it contain? What does it do? And why does it matter? (page 165) Restaurant menus are strategic documents, not just a bill of fare. They can be viewed as historical documents, pieces of art in themselves, and/or explore various themes. In this book, Nathalie Cooke looks at menus from different perspectives and explores some of their evolution as well as delving into various themes they have offered. A menu can be what th
  8. The Magician of Tiger Castle by Louis Sachar
    Sep 27, 2025 · original
    The Magician of Tiger Castle by Louis Sachar Penguin Random House , 2025 I have some projects I have been wanting to start but first I’ll share a few books I’ve recently enjoyed, starting with this book. When I was homeschooling my kids I thoroughly enjoyed going through Holes by Louis Sachar with them. The writing was fun, plus the book lent itself to additional assignments tangential to covering the book. We even made ‘sploosh.’ The Magician of Tiger Castle is promoted as Sachar’s first adult book but I found that it worked on both a grown-up level as well as appealing to the kid in me. It’s a fantasy book that has many realistic elements, especially in regard to some human elements. The book is narrated by Anatole, court magician to the king of Esquaveta, an invented kingdom located somewhere between France and Italy in the 16 th -century. Esquaveta has long been at odds with Oxatania
  9. Oxford Ancient Languages Society’s recreation of Euripides’ Orestes
    Sep 19, 2025 · original
    This production, a unique collaborative project led by the Oxford Ancient Languages Society, will stage a complete dramatic recreation of Euripides’ play, demonstrating the vivid dramatic fruits of meticulous, interdisciplinary scholarship. It will be performed entirely in the original Ancient Greek (with English surtitles), with authentic costumes and masks. Crucially, it will restore Euripides’ drama to its full musical glory. All the sections of the play that were originally sung have been set to music, newly composed in the ancient Greek modes, using all available evidence about Euripidean music, and incorporating an ancient fragment of music from the play that may be by Euripides’ own hand. The chorus and our talented solo singers will be accompanied on the aulos (ancient double-pipes) by the renowned aulete Callum Armstrong, resulting in a transformative audience experience, closer
  10. “On the Decline of the Times” by Karel Čapek
    Aug 18, 2025 · original
    Radio Prague International dedicated a podcast to a short story by Karel Čapek titled “On the Decline of the Times.” Čapek’s Apocryphal Tales (1932) is a collection of short pieces such as this that he composed in the 1920s and early 1930s. The translation is by Vít Pohanka, who reads the story, and is followed by some details on Čapek’s life and work. It deals with the recurring belief that “times aren’t what they used to be” — the idea that the present is somehow worse than the past. … A little teaser: you’ll meet old caveman Janeček and his sharp-tongued wife, sitting outside their cave one sunny October day. The hunters are away, the women are gathering berries, and the children are — as always — getting into trouble somewhere nearby. As the couple chats, their complaints tumble out: the younger generation doesn’t know how to make a proper spear, they rush through scraping hides, the

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