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Brothers in Arms: The Story of Al-Qa’ida and the Arab Jihadists by Camille Tawil

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“I want you to remember that no bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor, dumb bastard die for his country.” Patton (1970), screenplay by Francis Ford Coppola. “Mubarak has been an ally of ours in a number of things … I would not refer to him as a dictator.” Vice President Joe Biden (2011) “God is the immemorial refuge of the incompetent, the helpless, the miserable. They find not only sanctuary in His arms, but also a kind of superiority, soothing to their macerated egos: He will set them … Continue reading Brothers in Arms: The Story of Al-Qa’ida and the Arab Jihadists by Camille Tawil

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Expiration Date by Sherril Jaffe

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Following what is presumably a supernatural vision, Flora believes she will die.  What follows is Sherril Jaffe’s novel entitled Expiration Date.  Flora finds herself in the Heavenly Court where a verdict is passed.  She will die in twenty-five years.  At the time the announcement is made, Flora is pregnant.  The novel follows Flora’s impending date with doom, alternating chapters with her life and that of her mother, Muriel. Muriel stands in opposition to her daughter’s predetermined death by avoiding a life in a nursing home outside San Francisco.  She takes up with a taciturn gentleman named Wilbur, a former pilot … Continue reading Expiration Date by Sherril Jaffe

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Reservoir Gods by Brian Knight @ Joe Bob Briggs

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Dworshak was a body of water created by the Clearwater River. The dammed river created this reservoir that powers the town of Orofino. This project flooded a previously abandoned town and there are tales of desecrated Indian burial grounds. Amidst this stew of history, legend, and hearsay, Brian Knight brings us a “Big Fish Tale.” Remember the one that got away? Reservoir Gods is one of those stories. The story centers around the lives of various individuals spending their time around Dworshak. There is Commissioner Grant Lang, who enjoys the outdoors, camping with his underlings, and the occasional fourteen-year-old girl. … Continue reading Reservoir Gods by Brian Knight @ Joe Bob Briggs

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The Lime Works by Thomas Bernhard @ Joe Bob Briggs

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Thomas Bernhard (1931 – 1989) was one of the twentieth century’s greatest prose stylists. He belongs to the trinity of novelists who died early, the other two being W.G. Sebald and Roberto Bolano. Along with Sebald and Bolano, Bernhard’s works are experiencing a popular revival coupled with attention from academic and critical circles. To understand Bernhard’s peculiar brand of fiction one has to examine his country of origin. Austria’s intellectual and literary community minted numerous famous names in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. An incomplete list would include the following: journalist-critic Karl Kraus, philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, psychologist Sigmund Freud, Nobel … Continue reading The Lime Works by Thomas Bernhard @ Joe Bob Briggs

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The Evil Garden (1965) by Edward Gorey

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Victorian stock characters get attacked by carnivorous plants and animals. The drawings have a simplicity matched by the rhyming couplets that explain the terrors illustrated for our enjoyment. The poetry conjures up nursery rhymes and like nursery rhymes, they veil the fangs and claws of Nature. Gorey’s slim volume is reminscent of the playful chaos of “Alice in Wonderland” and has a curdled humor like Max Cannon’s “Red Meat.” Continue reading The Evil Garden (1965) by Edward Gorey

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The Ringer by Jenny Shank

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On a mid-March afternoon in Denver, Ed O’Fallon and a DPD SWAT Team enter a run-down building on a no-knock warrant.  He comes upon a sleepy Mexican man who doesn’t respond to his commands.  A gun is drawn (or not?) and Ed fires.  The man is killed.  Ed later finds out that the no-knock warrant had the wrong address and the man had a name, Salvador Santillano. The Ringer by Jenny Shank chronicles the repercussions in Denver’s Latino and law enforcement communities.  While the engine that propels the narrative forward revolves around Santillano’s death, Shank begins the novel with Ed … Continue reading The Ringer by Jenny Shank

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Standing at the Crossroads by Charles Davis

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Strange and short, straddling realism and fable, Standing at the Crossroads by Charles Davis tells the tale of Ishmael, his encounters, his adventures, and, above all, his love for literature.  Employed as “The Walking Librarian,” he cuts a muscular figure from the heavy books he carries from village to village.  For now, his books lay buried in a dry well and he finds himself on a journey with a strident woman named Kate. Ishmael grew up in the harsh land of an unnamed African nation, now a failed state filled with militias sporting anemic acronyms and engaging in atrocities.  One … Continue reading Standing at the Crossroads by Charles Davis

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Oldest Chicago by David Anthony Witter

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David Anthony Witter puts a new spin in the crowded field of travel guides.  Oldest Chicago offers the reader a guide to the oldest places in Chicago and its suburbs.  The guidebook encompasses everything from the commonplace (oldest school building: St. Ignatius College Prep, 1869) to the esoteric (oldest tamale shop: La Guadalupana, 1945).  From the oldest church to the oldest magic shop to the oldest slaughterhouse, they are all in here and much, much more. Witter seamlessly blends the historical, the informative, and the personal into a unique take on the travel guide.  Throughout the guide, the dark undercurrents … Continue reading Oldest Chicago by David Anthony Witter

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Critical Appraisals: Death on the Installment Plan by Louis-Ferdinand Céline

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During the Thirties, Louis-Ferdinand Céline shocked the literary establishment with the release of two novels: Journey to the End of the Night (1932) and Death on the Installment Plan (1936).  Both novels acted as companions to each other, focusing on different parts of re-imagined autobiographical material set within fictional narratives.  Ralph Manheim, the translator of Death on the Installment Plan, dubbed the genre “creative confessions.” The original French title is Mort à crédit, a staccato-sounding title that became translated as Death on Credit by John H. P. Marks.  The book braids together the strands of comedy, despair, and debt, since … Continue reading Critical Appraisals: Death on the Installment Plan by Louis-Ferdinand Céline

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Dead Center by Joanna Higgins

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Joanna Higgins crafts a novel that extends beyond the normal genre boundaries of the murder mystery and courtroom drama.  Dead Center revolves around the Weber family.  Dr. Benjamin Weber is a beloved pediatrician with a practice in Hawaii.  He lives with his wife Karen.  Prior to marrying Ben, Karen had two daughters, Laura and Lin, from a previous marriage.  Ben and Karen also have a daughter of their own, Katherine.  Ben Weber married Karen following the death of her husband, Peter Hyland.  Ben was present when Peter died in Tunley, Michigan.  Was it an accident?  Was it murder?  Now, twenty … Continue reading Dead Center by Joanna Higgins

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