Commonplace Book: Jacques Barzun on Criticism
Jacques Barzun on the art of reviewing. Continue reading Commonplace Book: Jacques Barzun on Criticism
Jacques Barzun on the art of reviewing. Continue reading Commonplace Book: Jacques Barzun on Criticism
Drugs are bad. Over at CCLaP, I review The Heroin Chronicles, edited by Jerry Stahl. Continue reading CCLaP Fridays: The Heroin Chronicles, edited by Jerry Stahl
Today’s book review: “The Blue Kind,” a dystopian drug novel by Chicago-area author Kathryn Born, and put out by academic imprint Switchgrass. Says reviewer Karl Wolff, “More novelists writing in science fiction should take these kinds of chances.” Continue reading CCLaP Fridays: The Blue Kind, by Kathryn Born
Nothing Serious, by Daniel Klein is “. . . a rollicking farce . . . a tightly plotted comedic tale with a genuine emotional center and a sharp satirical wit.” Continue reading Nothing Serious, by Daniel Klein @ NYJB
“Gold Rush in the Jungle” is a book of opposites, discovery vs. extinction, economic development vs. environmental devastation . . . Continue reading Gold Rush in the Jungle by Dan Drollette, Jr. @ NYJB
Today at CCLaP, Karl Wolff reviews “Keeping Bedlam at Bay in the Prague Cafe,” by M. Henderson Ellis, a comedic ride through post-communist Prague with John Shirting in his quest to set up a coffee franchise. Says Karl, “Like some madcap mashup of ‘Confederacy of Dunces’ and ‘The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret.'” Continue reading CCLaP Fridays: Keeping Bedlam at Bay in the Prague Cafe, by M. Henderson Ellis
This week at CCLaP I review “The Nazi Seance” by Arthur J. Magida, in which a famous mind reader hides his Jewish identity as he consorts with Nazis. Continue reading CCLaP Fridays: The Nazi Seance, by Arthur J. Magida
Peru not only overturns the notion of nostalgia for childhood but also overturns the very foundations of the novel itself. Continue reading Peru by Gordon Lish @ The New York Journal of Books
I. Burial of the Dead April is the cruelest month, breeding Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing Memory and desire, stirring Dull roots with spring rain. Winter kept us warm, covering Earth in forgetful snow, feeding A little life with dried tubers. Summer surprised us, coming over the Starnbergersee With a shower of rain; we stopped in the colonnade, And went on in sunlight, into the Hofgarden, And drank coffee, and talked for an hour. Bin gar keine Russin, stamm’ aus Litauen, echt deutsch. And when we were children, staying at the archduke’s, My cousin’s, he took me out … Continue reading Commonplace Book: April is the cruelest month …
This week at CCLaP, I investigate Gynecocracy, by Viscount Ladywood for the NSFW Files. In the novel, a wayward aristocratic man gets a stern lesson in forced feminization and the proper wearing of a corset. Who knew the Victorian era was so naughty? Continue reading NSFW Files: Gynecocracy, by Viscount Ladywood