Author post Musings on Proust, Part 2 31 Mar 202031 Mar 2020 Finished Du coté de chez Swann last night.... Okay, I'm beginning to wonder whether I feel about Proust (so far, having read one volume out of seven, each of which…
book review Mini-Review: “River,” by Esther Kinsky 17 Feb 202018 Feb 2020 River, by Esther Kinsky Esther Kinsky's recent book, River, is not easy to categorize. Is it: A novel? A collection of linked short stories? An extended prose poem? A series…
book review Mini-Review: Yiyun Li’s “Where Reasons End” 18 Dec 2019 I just finished Yiyun Li's Where Reasons End, which might be called a conceptual novel, an experimental novel, perhaps an experimental memoir, or perhaps just a heart-wrenching and intellectually-challenging good…
book review Book Review: “Ducks, Newburyport,” by Lucy Ellman 30 Nov 2019 Ducks, Newburyport is a new novel both celebrated and feared for its audacity: a single stream-of-consciousness sentence nearly one thousand pages long, paused but not interrupted by concisely-written chapters of a…
Author post The “American” Novel 8 Sep 20199 Sep 2019 I realized recently that I have been reading a great many novels by British writers lately. This includes, of course, novels by immigrants to the UK, or by indigenous British…
book review Book Review: “Life and Fate,” by Vasily Grossman 7 Jul 20198 Sep 2019 Life and Fate, by Vasily Grossman. It is no surprise that a book with perhaps the most Russian title ever--Life and Fate--weighs in at 871 pages in its English translation.…
book review Mini Review: “Lawn Boy,” by Jonathan Evison 13 Jun 201915 Jun 2019 Lawn Boy, by Jonathan Evison If you threw J. D. Salinger, Oscar Wilde, Jack London, and maybe Gerald Durrell into a blender, added a spoonful of Warhol and a dollop…
book review Mini Review: “Neon in Daylight,” by Hermione Hoby 18 May 201918 May 2019 Neon in Daylight, by Hermione Hoby I'm of two minds about this book. I enjoyed it well enough that I am glad I read it, and I do recommend it.…
Author post Progress Report 2 May 2019 In a recent post, I expressed my relief and amazement at having finished the second draft of my fourth real novel. (I wrote several novels in my twenties, but they…
Announcement Steaming Along 15 Apr 201915 Apr 2019 There is an advantage to habit, or perhaps stubbornness, or perhaps some happy admixture of the two, seasoned with unwarranted optimism: I have finished the second draft of my fourth…
