Books
HISTORY OF STAR WARS The original Star Wars movie premiered on May 25, 1977. Long ago, in a galaxy far, far away… in Berkeley, in November 1976, I picked up a new science fiction novel called “Star Wars: From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker” by George Lucas. I did not know at the time that…
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HISTORY OF THE KING JAMES BIBLE Four hundred eleven years ago marked the publishing, at the request of the Anglican clergy, of what would become the Authorized Version of the Bible to wide acclaim. But there are three problems with that statement. While it is true that the King James Bible was published in 1611…
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HISTORY OF PETER PAN All of this has happened before, and it will all happen again. So begins my favorite Walt Disney animated movie, Peter Pan, which debuted 69 years ago today on February 5, 1953. The original movie poster said: “It will live in your heart forever” …and indeed it has. Why was…
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History of A Christmas Carol and the impact of Charles Dickens’ classic
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HISTORY OF J.R.R. TOLKIEN: A 100 YEAR LOVE AFFAIR I’m reading J.R.R. Tolkien‘s latest book published in June, Beren and Luthien which he began writing 100 years ago. How is that possible, when he died in 1973? His youngest son and literary executor — Christopher Tolkien who is now 93 — has been publishing his…
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HISTORY OF CHARLES DICKENS Today marks the 200th birthdate of Charles Dickens, considered by many the greatest English writer since Shakespeare — at least he was during his lifetime in the Victorian age. He enjoyed the distinction of fame and a measure of financial success during his lifetime, starting in his 20s. Many of his…
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Perhaps the saddest book I’ve ever read, the first “new” J.R.R. Tolkien book in 30 years is “…long and sad in the telling, as are all tales of Middle Earth.” While it is beautiful in its composition and deep in its scope, it contains in it at all times a sense of “doom” that seems…
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