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My last Walter Scott post for a while, I promise

Thursday, December 15, 2022

I had high hopes for The Bride of Lammermoor, the sixth novel by Sir Walter Scott that I have read. But it let me down. Though there was some fine Scottish gothic atmosphere — seaside castles, witches, and violent storms — the story really came down to little more than youthful folly and parental cruelty […]

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We’re overdue for a Sir Walter Scott revival

Sunday, August 14, 2022

I’ve written here in the past about how, when I can’t find newer fiction that appeals to me (often the case), I read a classic. It was back in 2013 when I read The Antiquary. Last year I read The Heart of Mid-Lothian, and earlier this year I started (but didn’t finish) Ivanhoe. I found […]

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Sir Walter Scott: a great writer, but oddly Frenchified

Saturday, April 23, 2022

Once again, unable at present to find any newer fiction that seems worthwhile, I have turned to Sir Walter Scott — this time, Ivanhoe. Reading Sir Walter Scott can be hard work for contemporary readers. Even in the early 1800s when his novels were being published, Scott’s style would have been pretty florid, I think. […]

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Sir Walter Scott

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

I have had a heck of a time finding reading material this winter. Though the iPad and the Kindle app make it extremely easy to acquire and sample books, I generally start three or four books for every book I finish, just because most books aren’t worth finishing (to my tastes, at least), and I […]

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Tom Swift

Friday, February 16, 2024

The end sheets of the 1954 editions Starting in 1910, books in the Tom Swift series (written for teenagers) have sold more than 30 million copies, according to the Wikipedia article. And yet I don’t recall ever having seen a Tom Swift book in a (used) bookstore until yesterday. My brother had six or eight […]

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Kenilworth

Sunday, December 31, 2023

I just finished Kenilworth. It’s the ninth of Sir Walter Scott’s twenty-six Waverley novels that I have read. What stands out is his treatment of Elizabeth I. Scott’s Elizabeth I must surely be one of the most terrifying characters in English literature — absolute power and the willingness to use it. I found myself often […]

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A complete set of the Waverley novels, 1876, Edinburgh

Tuesday, December 5, 2023

⬆︎ Click here for high-resolution version. The books were a birthday gift For my 75th birthday, a friend who now lives near Edinburgh brought me a stunning gift that he had carried in his luggage across the Atlantic. It’s a complete 13-volume set of Sir Walter Scott’s Waverley novels, bound in leather, printed in the […]

Filed in Literature | Tagged A Legend of Montrose, Anne of Geierstein, Castle Dangerous, Count Robert of Paris, Guy Mannering, Ivanhoe, Kenilworth, Peveril of the Peak, Quentin Durward, Redgauntlet, Rob Roy, Sir Walter Scott, St. Ronan’s Well, The Abbot, The Antiquary, The Betrothed, The Black Dwarf, The Bride of Lammermoor, The Fair Maid of Perth, The Fortunes of Nigel, The Heart of Mid-Lothian, The Monastery, The Pirate, The Surgeon’s Daughter, The Tale of Old Mortality, The Talisman, Waverley, William P. Nimmo, Woodstock | Comments (5)

A minor repair on a deserving book

Wednesday, November 8, 2023

The injured book A few days ago, I mentioned here that I am very enthusiastic about a five-part BBC series from 2012, Parade’s End. (The series can be streamed on HBO Max.) The series is visually beautiful, perfectly cast, and brilliantly written, with some of the best dialogue I’ve ever encountered. I don’t yet know […]

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Carrot-top pesto

Sunday, October 29, 2023

Pesto The young farmers from whom I bought vegetables this summer are now getting their fall crops. On Friday I picked up carrots, sweet potatoes, and curly kale. The carrots had been pulled that same morning. I’d never before heard of carrots being grown in this area, and I’d never had fresh carrots with the […]

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Nothing could be finer?

Sunday, October 8, 2023

A neighbor’s horse, Pete Yep, I live in Carolina, and it was a very nice Sunday morning — the sun just above the treetops, temperature 42F with a few spots of light frost. For the past couple of weeks, the weather has been cool enough to work on re-establishing the habit of morning walks. But […]

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