Skip to main content

Gilgamesh

December 19, 2009
Book of the Day: Gilgamesh, by Stephen Mitchell
Grade: C-
First published: 2004
1-word review: Repetitive
7-word review: Gilgamesh was kind of a whiny jerk.

Gilgamesh is a mediocre version of a mediocre, but historically important, epic. Mitchell has made a bit of a specialty out of stealing other people's translations of great works, dumbing the story down, and claiming authorship for himself (while crediting some of the translators' works he has stolen). And his introduction is absurd, both in length and quality.

Here are some interesting facts about Idaho:

The official state bird is the mountain bluebird.


The official state fish is the cutthroat trout.


The official state mammal is the white supremacist.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Month in Books (December 2009)

I'm sure you as my massive reading audience greatly enjoyed my month in books (not that I'm suggesting that you, dear reader, are personally massive). This will be my last post until my next Book-a-Day month, at a yet to be determined point in the future. Here are my December awards: Book of the Month Award - Arabian Nights and Days , by Naguib Mahfouz Honorable Mentions - Homage to Catalonia , by George Orwell; The Atom Station , by Halldor Laxness; The Spy Who Came in from the Cold , by John le Carré Worst Book Award - The Museum of Dr. Moses: Tales of Mystery and Suspense , by Joyce Carol Oates Dishonorable Mention - Into the Wild , by Jon Krakauer And here are some of the things I learned over the month of December: If you choose to read a book a day, pick a month other than December to do it, even though you'll be out of school. The holidays really screw with the reading time. Avoid trying to read a short story collection in a single day. Write in your blog immediat...
1 comment
Read more

Freddy the Detective

December 11, 2009 Book of the Day: Freddy the Detective , by Walter R. Brooks Grade: A- First published: 1932 1-word review: Porcine 5-word review: Don't mess with the pig. Freddy the Pig awakes one morning to find Hambone, his best friend and longtime sty-mate, missing. He begins an investigation into the disappearance only to stumble upon the dismembered and eviscerated corpse of Hammy hanging in a meat locker. He proceeds to take revenge on those he deems responsible, doing to them what was done to his buddy. Blood flows as Freddy self-destructs in an orgy of violence. This is all rather surprising to find in a children's book. Warning to my more sensitive readers! Here's a gruesome picture of some of Hammy's remains, shown only in the interest of science. Here we have Idaho.
3 comments
Read more

Grand Re-Opening

I am restarting this blog. Originally, it was for a project of mine where I read a book every day for the month of December 2009. It will continue to follow a similar format, but I will not be reading a book every day, and my posts could be about any book I have read, whether recently or a long time ago. I may even write occasional pieces that are more generally about reading, instead of focusing on specific books. Enjoy.
Post a Comment
Read more