Every year, about the time when fall starts getting very chilly and threatens to turn into winter, I get the urge to tackle a big classic novel. I don’t always give into it. Often when I do it’s a Dickens novel. Last year it was Moby Dick. This year the urge hit, and to my… Continue reading The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Category: book review
The Journey Home by Edward Abbey
After packing up and driving out of Arches National Park, we stopped in Moab, Utah for a bite to eat at the Moab Diner and a quick browse through Back of Beyond Books. It’s a gem of a little bookshop. It has new and used books of all types, but especially focuses on nature, wildlife, adventure stories,… Continue reading The Journey Home by Edward Abbey
Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson
“You’ve got to keep beating the drum for justice.” (page 46) Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson should be required reading for every American. Everyone. I first heard of this book, and its wonderful author, a few weeks ago when we went to a taping of The Daily Show, and Bryan Stevenson was the guest. Bryan… Continue reading Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson
Lost In Translation
I subscribe to The Listserve, a daily email lottery. There are currently about 24,000 subscribers from all over the world, and each day one of them is selected randomly to write an email which gets sent to everyone on the list. It adds a bit of diversion into my inbox each day, and it’s interesting… Continue reading Lost In Translation
Blue Horses by Mary Oliver
It’s hard to review a book of poetry. Mary Oliver is one of my favorite poets, and I discovered her work a few years ago by picking up one of her books in a bookstore and opening to random pages and reading her poems. (That’s how I have discovered most every poet that I like.)… Continue reading Blue Horses by Mary Oliver
Not That Kind of Girl by Lena Dunham
Lena Dunham takes an incredible amount of criticism. I think some of it stems from the burden placed on her by critics and society to supposedly be “speaking on behalf of all young women.” Of course, the idea that she speaks for an entire generation of females is inaccurate, and the burden is a result… Continue reading Not That Kind of Girl by Lena Dunham
VSR: China Dolls by Lisa See
VSR: Very Short Review China Dolls by Lisa See Pages: 376 Published: June 3, 2014 China Dolls begins when three young Asian-American girls, Grace, Helen, and Ruby, meet during a time in each of their lives when they are setting out on their own and trying to define who they are. They are also trying… Continue reading VSR: China Dolls by Lisa See
Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore
Few things are worse for readers than being in a reading slump, so thank goodness for Robin Sloan for writing Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore. It pulled me out of a multi-week long reading slump during the holidays as easily if it were literature’s equivalent of a lifeguard. (Also thanks to pal @gbiv for recommending it… Continue reading Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore
“Hast seen the White Whale?”
I have just finished reading Moby Dick. I think you should read it too, and while you’re at it you may as well listen to the audiobook read by Anthony Heald, because his majestic narration is the only thing that will really do justice to Herman Melville’s masterpiece. It helped me slow down and appreciate… Continue reading “Hast seen the White Whale?”
One Summer by Bill Bryson
I only made it to Book Expo for one day this year, and missed the Bill Bryson event that I most wanted to attend. I thought I was out of luck and wouldn’t be able to get an ARC of his new book, One Summer. Then I met the world’s nicest person at BEA in… Continue reading One Summer by Bill Bryson
The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri
This morning I read The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri. My experience was the very definition of not being about to put a book down. I sat on my couch and drank coffee until I finished it. I ate leftovers for breakfast and ordered lunch on Seamless so that I didn’t have to stop to cook.… Continue reading The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri
Thoughts on Traveling Sprinkler by Nicholson Baker
Traveling Sprinkler was just released last week and is the sequel to one of my favorite novels, The Anthologist. I included it on my list of fall book releases that I’m most excited about, and in my Weekend Reading post. I started it Friday, read it in the hammock on Saturday afternoon, and finished it… Continue reading Thoughts on Traveling Sprinkler by Nicholson Baker