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…
book review “Just Finished….” (Three Micro-Reviews) 10 Oct 201912 Oct 2019 These are micro-reviews I posted recently on the delightful Facebook readers' group, First Edition, sponsored by the London Times. Just finished The Wallcreeper, by Nell Zink, and enjoyed it thoroughly!…
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…
Author post “Prisoners” Reviewed 19 May 2019 As you may know, I have published three stories in Switchblade: an Anthology of Noir, since early last year. Here's a favorable review of the current issue, Switchblade #9, with this…
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.…
book review Book Review: Anna Burns’s “Milkman” 28 Jan 201929 Jan 2019 Milkman, by Anna Burns This book shares some characteristics with Elena Ferrante's Neapolitan Quartet, which by chance I read just before picking Milkman up at the library: both explore themes…
book review Book Review: “Republic of Drivers,” by Cotton Seiler 5 Oct 2018 If you're interested in the cultural matrices that make up US culture, you can't avoid studying the country's obsession with cars. Here's my review of a well-written and thorough study…
Author post… Quickie Book Review: Salman Rushdie’s “Fury” 24 Mar 201824 Mar 2018 Just finished Salman Rushdie's Fury. This was my first taste of Rushdie, and it disappointed me. The protagonist is the usual brilliant academic undergoing a midlife crisis. (True, he is…
