Not cool, Michelangelo. Sculpting that schlong onto your statue of David? Not cool at all. Yeah, you got away with it for more than 520 years, probably chortling all the while. But now, boy, you’re in the Free State of Florida. In this bastion of liberty, parents adhere to a strict no-johnson policy when […]
A writer on top
of the short-story game
I’ve talked about George Saunders here before. Love his work. Having just finished his latest collection of short stories, “Liberation Day,” I don’t love it any less. Like most story collections, many of these have appeared earlier in various places. My favorite of the bunch, “A Mom of Bold Action,” first ran in the […]
‘The Passenger’
will please refrain
I’m always conflicted before starting a Cormac McCarthy book. Although he’s one of America’s best writers, his world view tends toward bleakness and nihilism – to an extent that can be off-putting even for a natural-born pessimist like myself. Let’s just say his books have never left me whistling the theme from “Andy Griffith.” […]
Writers gone wrong
What do you hate most in a book? The Washington Post this week ran a piece on that very subject. It was a timely read for me. I had just finished one novel by a favorite female author and am several pages into another novel by another favorite female author. The first I disliked; […]
The cold, hard West
Who’s the most famous writer you’ve never read? I can think of a few offhand, but now I can cross one off the list: Annie Proulx. A good friend sent me a book of her short stories the other day: “Fine Just the Way it Is.” I’m about halfway through it. I love that […]
Mad about Harry
I have not read Spare. Why bother? All the interesting excerpts are already out there. I have read those, for free. Spoiler: Prince Harry once froze his todger. Spending $18 at this point won’t make Harry’s life any better. He’s already pretty well off: $60 million in the bank and a lot more where […]
The ’20s, then and now
History’s a bitch when you’re living through it. Take the last five or six years. But when history hails from before you were born – where the past truly belongs – that old girl can be pretty fascinating. Hey baby, can I buy you a drink? I liked Bill Bryson’s “One Summer: America 1927.” […]
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