This week Karl Wolff reviews Brian Alan Ellis’s short story collection, “The Mustache He’s Always Wanted but Could Never Grow,” a lowbrow bizarro collection of sex crazed lunatics, professional wrestlers, and other of society’s derelicts. Continue reading CCLaP Fridays: The Mustache He’s Always Wanted But Could Never Grow and Other Stories, by Brian Alan Ellis
“The Burglary shows how a small group of committed individuals performed the bravest act of all, exposing Hoover . . .” – See more at: http://www.nyjournalofbooks.com/book-review/burglary-j-edgar-hoover#sthash.4xcuE9qY.dpuf Continue reading The Burglary, by Betty Medsger @ NYJB
A roundup of events of the past year and what to look forward to next year. Continue reading The Driftless Area Review End of Year Report
This week at CCLaP, I review “Papal Bull,” by Joe Wenke, a humorous take-down of the Holy See’s many flaws and foibles. Continue reading CCLaP Fridays: Papal Bull, by Joe Wenke
In my latest installment of the NSFW Files, I discuss The Piano Teacher, by Elfriede Jelinek, a relentless attack on the human species by the controversial Austrian Nobel Laureate. Continue reading The NSFW Files: The Piano Teacher, by Elfriede Jelinek
I review two new poetry books released by Les Figues Press over at thethepoetryblog. Continue reading Artifice and Authenticity @ thethepoetryblog
This week at CCLaP, I review Anything That Moves: Renegade Chefs, Fearless Eaters, and the Making of a New American Food Culture, by Dana Goodyear, that encompasses everything from anti-FDA crusaders to luxury chefs in Vegas to seekers of illegal whale meat. Continue reading CCLaP Fridays: Anything That Moves, by Dana Goodyear
At the New York Journal of Books I review The Confidence Trap: A History of Democracy in Crisis from World War I to the Present, by David Runciman, a challenging, confounding, but ultimately rewarding political analysis democracy’s ability to weather crises and occasionally get blindsided by the next crisis. Continue reading The Confidence Trap, by David Runciman @ NYJB
This week Karl Wolff continues his essay series, The NSFW Files, with “Ada, or Ardor: a Family Chronicle,” by Vladimir Nabokov, an erotic tale of incest set in an alternate historical timeline. Continue reading The NSFW Files: Ada, or Ardor: a Family Chronicle, by Vladimir Nabokov
Over at the New York Journal of Books, I review Calder Walton’s fascinating Empire of Secrets: British Intelligence, the Cold War, and the Twilight of Empire, all about the UK’s precarious position and its nefarious intelligence practices during the Cold War. Continue reading Empire of Secrets: British Intelligence, the Cold War, and the Twilight of Empire, by Calder Walton @ NYJB
The Driftless Area Review 