Tag: culture

books, miscellaneous, Permanent Press, The Internet2 Comments

Self-Referential 100th Post

driftlessareareview

Nothing like an arbitrary milestone for the blogosphere. This is the 100th post of the Driftless Area Review.  It’s been a fun experience thus far.  I’ve met new people and started receiving free review copies.  I have enjoyed the works of the Permanent Press and enjoy the publishing philosophy of co-founder Martin Shepard. For those interested, I will continue my two long term essay series: The Art of Reviewing and Essays on Capital.  I am currently half-way through Capital, Volume 2.  The work presents more of a challenge, since the text is more technical, dry, and math-intensive than the first … Continue reading Self-Referential 100th Post

Rate this:

book reviews, books, natureLeave a comment

The Evil Garden (1965) by Edward Gorey

driftlessareareview

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

Rate this:

book reviews, books, Permanent PressLeave a comment

The Ringer by Jenny Shank

driftlessareareview

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

Rate this:

book reviews, books, Permanent PressLeave a comment

Standing at the Crossroads by Charles Davis

driftlessareareview

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

Rate this:

book reviews, books, Critical Appraisals, TV5 Comments

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

driftlessareareview

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

Rate this:

book reviews, books, Joe Bob BriggsLeave a comment

Internecine by David Schow @ Joe Bob Briggs

driftlessareareview

Conrad Maddox is the Vice President in charge of development for Kroeger Concepts, Ltd. He’s an ad man who specializes in selling our dreams and desires back to us a steep price. On his return from a business trip, he discovered a key in his rental car. The key belonged to a locker that contained a Halliburton-style briefcase. The briefcase contained fake IDs, cash, a cell phone and several guns. Conrad calls the number on the cell phone. As they say, hilarity ensues. Internecine is a thriller written by David J. Schow. Schow is the Hollywood scribe who wrote Critters … Continue reading Internecine by David Schow @ Joe Bob Briggs

Rate this:

books, Interviews, Permanent Press1 Comment

Interview with Martin Shepard, co-founder of the Permanent Press

driftlessareareview

The Permanent Press is a small publisher based in Sag Harbor, New York.  With high standards and a small staff, the Permanent Press possesses both the longevity and critical acclaim usually associated with larger publishers.  Martin and Judy Shepard approach the business of publishing with small print runs and putting out only a dozen new titles every year.  Unlike the mainstream conglomerates, the Permanent Press is more of an artisan than an agent of mass production. Martin Shepard, co-founder of the Permanent Press I had the opportunity to ask Martin Shepard, co-founder of Permanent Press, some questions about the book … Continue reading Interview with Martin Shepard, co-founder of the Permanent Press

Rate this:

book reviews, booksLeave a comment

Contracts: the Essential Business Desk Reference by Attorney Richard Stim

driftlessareareview

Contracts are everywhere.  Richard Stim makes this obvious in the introduction to Contracts: the Essential Business Desk Reference. Enumerating everything from employment contracts to those involving insurance, credit cards, toll roads, and music and book downloads, contractual relationships are everywhere and nowhere.  Because of this situation, Contracts is an essential tool for navigating the occasionally intimidating aspect of signing the dotted line.  Following or breaking contracts have real consequences for all involved. The book organizes the various terms associated with contracts in alphabetical order.  Aided by cross-references, it provides easy navigation of topics.  Nolo, the publisher, also boasts dictionary definitions … Continue reading Contracts: the Essential Business Desk Reference by Attorney Richard Stim

Rate this:

5000 Pages of Kissinger, book reviews, books, Critical Appraisals, film2 Comments

Years of Upheaval (1981) by Henry Kissinger

driftlessareareview

A Second Term and a Third-rate Burglary Now Watergate does not bother me Does your conscience bother you? Tell the truth. “Sweet Home Alabama,” Lynyrd Skynyrd (1974)   Years of Upheaval, the second volume of memoirs by Henry Kissinger, continues his personal account of public service, spanning the time of Nixon’s re-election to Nixon’s resignation following the Watergate scandal.  The memoirs record a short span of time although it encompasses a plethora of geopolitical, domestic, and personal events.  In the words of Homer Simpson, this volume has it all, “the terrifying lows, the dizzying highs, the creamy middles.” Riding on … Continue reading Years of Upheaval (1981) by Henry Kissinger

Rate this:

book reviews, books, Permanent Press, TVLeave a comment

To Account for Murder by William C. Whitbeck

driftlessareareview

If Permanent Press had a prestige novel, To Account for Murder by William C. Whitbeck would it.  The novel presents a fictionalized version of real life events that happened in Michigan.  In 1945, Senator Warren G. Hooper was murdered in a gangland-style slaying.  To this day, the murder case has never been solved.  William C. Whitbeck, the author of the novel, also works as Chief Judge of the Michigan Court.  He presents us with the tale of one Charlie Cahill, a disabled vet, prosecutor, and son of an Irish bootlegger. Set in Lansing during 1945 and into 1946, Whitbeck paints … Continue reading To Account for Murder by William C. Whitbeck

Rate this: