Thirty Years from Home: A Seaman’s View of the War of 1812 by Samuel Leech My rating: 3 of 5 stars As a reader I came to this autobiography from an historical perspective, not a literary, and thus should most historical accounts of this type be considered. Samuel Leech, originally a sailor aboard a British brig, and later an American, during the Napoleonic and War of 1812, writes from a temperance and religious point of…

The Moor’s Last Sigh by Salman Rushdie My rating: 5 of 5 stars Every time I read one of Rushdie’s novels I come away enlightened and amazed, and certainly reading the literary masterpiece The Moor’s Last Sigh is no exception. Perhaps one of Rushdie’s more accessible novels, the story follows a more conventional narrative, although to call anything Rushdie writes conventional is inaccurate. In this case the story follows a family history, that of the…