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Underworld
Review: I didn’t read this book as much as I experienced this book. What an absolutely brilliant novel. From the first sentence to the last word this was stunning, emotional, captivating. I originally heard of this book when reading an old newspaper piece by Salman Rushdie when he was reviewing some of his favorite reads
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Philosophy for Beginners
Review: Everything I ever learned I learned in elementary school right? Spot on. This is a book geared towards younger readers that taught me more in two days than I have gleaned from 51 years of reading adult tomes on this weighty subject. The idea to read this came from a cartoon that a friend
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Rewired: The Post-Cyberpunk Anthology
Review: Superb. An extraordinary collection of SF stories. At first, I didn’t see how they were post CP and not just straight CP. But after awhile, I saw how they differed, some by a lot, others just a subtle distinction. Gibson and Sterling’s stories were two of their finest, and that’s saying something. The final
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The Making of a Poem
Review: This was great and I learned a lot. Like, a lot. Villanelle, sestina, sonnet, elegy. Words I have heard but would have been hard pressed to define. Now I can! Informative without being condescending. I really like that. ESVM made it in, naturally. Three cheers for Edna! This book made me want to: write
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The House Gun
Review: This was awful. I made it 107 pages and I feel that some sort of prize should be awarded in recognition of my tenacity and determination. It doesn’t have to be a Nobel Prize. I’d be happy with, say, a Rolo. This book made me want to: Re-evaluate my priorities, namely why I would
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Around the World in a Hundred Years
Review: I get more solid information our of young readers books than I can from a stack of textbooks. They’re uncluttered and in plain language. 1421 to 1521, from Henry the Navigator through to Magellan. Just 100 years from sailing within sight of shore to a complete circumnavigation of the globe. Nothing short of incredible.
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Links
Review: 20 years after publication and still contemporary with the new every day. Somalia is a shithole. An inside look at just exactly what it’s like everyday there, which is to say awful. An excellent novel, a brilliant novelist. Dark, disturbing, but an important novel. This book made me want to: read more from this
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British Short Stories – Classics Criticism
Review: From Kipling to Huxley, Conrad through Greene, this collection covered a broad cross-section of early 20th century British short fiction. Wow. Lots of casual, routine racism. All of these stories were excellent. None very happy, some downright depressing. I didn’t “get” all of them, but maybe nobody does, stories hit or miss with each
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Islands in the stream
Review: I bailed on this. Got through about 30% and just had to move on. I wanted to like this. I wanted it to live up to A Farewell to Arms or the short stories. But no. Drinks, bars, descriptions of making drinks, descriptions of bars, descriptions of drinking drinks in bars. I would have
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The Colour of Magic
Review: I really wanted to like this. But I just couldn’t get into it. It’s schlocky 80s comic-fantasy. You know one thing: a troll is about to kill the protagonist but then gets asked why and then delivers a monologue about how life as a troll is hard and how he’s misunderstood, etc. That would
In His Own Words