Are you someone who will read a random book you picked up in a thrift store? Such people must exist since there are so many thrift stores still carrying old paperbacks. My copy of Booked to Die has a 1992 copyright way back when the cover price for a paperback was $5.99. It’s already been resold at least once for $4.00 according to the penciled … Continue reading Booked to Die by John Dunning
Begin with this…..The Democrats have been the majority party, by millions of votes, for the presidency, the Senate and the House of Representatives for most of the last seven election cycles. By majority I mean they have received more votes total than the Republicans. Yet they are the minority party in all three. How is this possible? What can be done about it? This is … Continue reading It’s Time to Fight Dirty by David Faris
Contemporary Mexican fiction is the place to be. If we’re still including Roberto Bolano in the category, which I am. Julian Herbert’s new novel Tomb Song, translated by Christina MacSweeney, shares a love for language with much of the contemporary Mexican fiction I have read. What language can do, the way it can excite, anger, frustrate, is something I’ve found to be a common denominator in … Continue reading Tomb Song by Julian Herbert
This book was not what I expected. Even though I had no expectations at all when I started it. I had no idea what it was going to be about. I read it because it’s part of The Summer Reading Challenge at The Morning News. I didn’t even read the inside flap; just started reading. In his introduction Mr. Ball writes about his brother who … Continue reading Census by Jesse Ball
You probably already know all you want to know about Tayari Jones’s novel An American Marriage. It’s an Oprah pick with starred reviews in major publications. It’s even part of this summer’s reading list at The Morning News which is why I read it. You rarely go wrong with The Morning News’s Tournament of Books, so I decided to give their Summer Reading Challenge a go. … Continue reading An American Marriage by Tayari Jones
Why We Read What We Read by Lisa Adams and John Heath is the second book I read for the Dewey Decimal Challenge back in 2009 and the first one I could recommend. Ms. Adams and Mr. Heath have read a wide range of best selling books and come up with an entertaining and enlightening overview of what Americans read most. Why We Read What We Read … Continue reading Why We Read What We Read by Lisa Adams and John Heath and an Interview with the Authors
Shakespeare Wrote for Money is the third collection of the columns Mr. Hornby wrote for Believer magazine about the books he read each month. This is the column that almost got me to subscribe to Believer; a popular author with eclectic reading tastes, writing about the books he’s reading every month–sounds like the perfect thing for every incurable biblioholic to me. Shakespeare Wrote for Money, … Continue reading Shakespeare Wrote for Monday by Nick Hornby
May Contain Spoilers 