crates | June 30, 2009
Fujiwara Teika (1162-1241) is considered by many to be the preeminent Japanese poet. As a poet, diarist and critic, his influence on premodern Japanese poetry is unsurpasssed. His poetry specialized almost exclusively in the waka, the dominant lyrical form of the Japanese classical period, a five-line poem consisting of thirty-one syllables, arranged in measures of five syllables, then [...]
crates | December 21, 2008
It was with sorrow that I recently read of Tony Hillerman’s death. Mr. Hillerman was of course the author of many fine books, with perhaps the series about the Navajo policemen, Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee, being his most famous. Hillerman presented these mystery stories in the context of the Navajo culture, showing the difficulties that [...]
crates | January 2, 2008
Once again I am reading a novel by Tim Powers. A new Border’s Book Store opened up nearby, and I found two of his novels that I haven’t read before: The Drawing of the Dark and Three Days to Never. A few months ago, I talked about reading another of his recent books, Declare, [...]