Archive - The Common Reader

AI consciousness and fictional characters

some speculations

21 hrs ago • Henry Oliver

A brief reply to Ed West about reading

And a suggestion for Daunt Books Publishing

Oct 22 • Henry Oliver

Nothing is Boring in America

Chocolate gravy, Civil War, Piggly Wiggly. My newfound love of the Mid-South.

Oct 16 • Henry Oliver

Such as she was, such as she would become.

Richmond, Williamsburg, Yorktown, Jamestown

Oct 12 • Henry Oliver

Larkin’s Anthology. An Extract from Dana Gioia’s New Catalogue.

“This book is a disgrace.”

Oct 9 • Henry Oliver and Dana Gioia

James Marriott and the Death of Civilization

The New Dark Ages PLUS Shakespeare

Oct 7 • Henry Oliver

52:52

John Locke: the Playful Philosopher

My new essay for Liberty Fund

Oct 6 • Henry Oliver

Sublimation in Middlemarch

Eros need not be expressed sexually.

Oct 2 • Henry Oliver

September 2026

AI will be much better than you at doing taxes or whatever, but there’s no point in having it read Tolstoy for you

Comments from a recent interview

Sep 29 • Henry Oliver

A Slumber did my Spirit Seal, by William Wordsworth

Poetry by Heart, V

Sep 28 • Henry Oliver

The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny

Repost for paperback release

Sep 27 • Henry Oliver

Rather Better Pasturage for Their Cows

I read Sense and Sensibility again

Sep 24 • Henry Oliver

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