Category: Blog
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Back In the World by Tobias Wolff – A Book Review
Are you reading Tobias Wolff yet? Are you? If not, you should be. With Back in the World, Wolff gives us yet another outstanding compilation of short stories. As always, Wolff’s stories are brief and absolutely potent, offering all the complexities and awkwardness of the human condition in a direct and entrancing manner. His…
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Close Range: Wyoming Stories by Annie Proulx – A Book Review
I decided to check out Close Range: Wyoming Stories on the recommendation from Stephen King in his memoir, On Writing. Imagine my surprise when I saw that it included the (very) short story “Brokeback Mountain!” You know, the source material for the 2006 Academy Award Best Picture nominee. But, I’ll get more into that later.…
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The Cement Garden by Ian McEwan – A Book Review
This is probably one of the most disturbing books I’ve ever read. I don’t mean disturbing as in thought provoking and edgy, I mean disturbing as in tasteless and barbaric. I found nothing redeeming about this novel whatsoever. McEwan may be a fine writer, but his choice of subject matter and plot, in my eyes,…
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A Model World by Michael Chabon – A Book Review
Michael Chabon once again proves why I believe he is America’s premier living author. In this collection of short stories, he presents many normal circumstances, every day sorts of things, but he gives them to us with such captivating, realistic characters that you must turn the page to find out how everything ends. Now, this…
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The Mysteries of Pittsburgh by Michael Chabon – A Book Review
Michael Chabon’s first novel, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, proves an enticing read. As usual, Chabon’s characters practically jump off the page and his dialogue is both realistic and somehow magical. He captures a manner of speaking through his characters that many of us wish we employed in real life. The plot, while tightly thought-out and…
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Bad Dirt: Wyoming Stories 2 by Annie Proulx – A Book Review
Though this is only the second book I’ve read by Annie Proulx, I can tell that her style and voice will keep me coming back for more and more of her work. Proulx blends the utterly fantastic with the totally mundane so seamlessly that she can pass virtually anything off in her writing and you’ll…
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Goodbye Superman Returns
Over at Newsarama, they’re reporting that Warner Brothers has opted to reboot the Superman franchise, following the lead of dismissing Ang Lee’s Hulk with last summer’s The Incredible Hulk. This means an all new, fresh start, also such as what they did with Batman Begins (which, I’m sure, had little influence on this unexpected decision).…
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The World According to Garp by John Irving – A Book Review
There are some books in existence that are simply must-reads. The World According to Garp is very much one of those books. Irving has written a novel of such simple complexity that it astounds the reader time after time. With this novel the statement is conveyed that all the nuances of life are important; every…
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Haunted: Tales Of the Grotesque by Joyce Carole Oates – A Book Review
I really looked forward to reading this collection of short stories. I love well-crafted, gothic tales, and from what I’d heard, Oates, an author I’d never before read, is something of a master. Sadly, nothing about Haunted indicated as such. First of all, I’m all for leaving a story off in such a manner that…
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Toward the End Of Time by John Updike – A Book Review
John Updike’s Toward the End Of Time proved a bit of an enigma to me. At times I thoroughly enjoyed it and at other times I seriously thought about putting the book down, never to open its contents again. In the novel our protagonist goes by the name of Ben Turnbull, a retired finance expert…
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