Recovering Other Voices, Other Rooms by Truman Capote

One of my sometime hobbies is bookbinding. Over the years I have gotten pretty good at it thanks to many courses at the San Francisco Center for the Book, Kevin Smith’s many volumes on non-adhesive book binding and lots of practice. Last year, one of the instructors at SFCB mentioned that paperback books published in the 1960s and 1970’s were often sewn together rather than … Continue reading Recovering Other Voices, Other Rooms by Truman Capote

james b chesterJuly 20, 2018July 20, 20182 Comments

Austrailian literature, Book Review, Fiction, LGBT, Novel

The Slap by Christos Tsiolka

The Slap by Christos Tsiolka begins at an afternoon barbecue in suburban Australia. Family, friends of family and their children gather together with the usual blend of affection and affectation. Everyone gets along until three-year-old Hugo threatens another child with a cricket bat. The threatened child’s father, Harry, takes the bat away only to be kicked by Hugo whom he then slaps. Once. The other … Continue reading The Slap by Christos Tsiolka

james b chesterOctober 5, 2016October 2, 20166 Comments

Austrailian literature, Book Review

The Farwalker’s Quest by Joni Sensel

The Farwalker’s Quest by Joni Sensel is the second magic-free Young Adult fantasy I’ve read lately. (I wonder if this is a trend or a new sub-genre.) This is not to say that there are no supernatural elements in The Farwalker’s Quest. There are, but they are kept very close to reality, more like extra sensory powers than outright magic. The world of The Farwalker’s … Continue reading The Farwalker’s Quest by Joni Sensel

james b chesterDecember 9, 2014December 9, 20142 Comments