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 […]
An audio crush
One little-discussed provision of the pandemic relief bill is that all ad copy and commentary must begin with the words “during these uncertain times.” So. During these uncertain times, I’ve been reading a lot of Agatha Christie. I got the idea after my favorite podcast host, Phoebe Judge, decided to read a chapter a […]
I like Kate Atkinson
My favorite writer these days is Kate Atkinson. I bought “A God in Ruins” on the strength of a favorable mention via NPR, then tried a couple of her detective novels: “Case Histories” and “When Will There be Good News?” All are superb. This woman reminds me a lot of Ruth Rendell: so literate, […]
Potpourri … and Palin
These days I never have strong enough opinions to write a whole blog post, so here’s a grab-bag of stuff that has caught my attention over the past couple of weeks: What I’ve been reading: “The Girl on the Train,” by Paula Hawkins. I liked it a lot. It deserves all the hype it’s […]
A vote for the Nazis
You may have heard that Amazon, in its bid to dominate even more of your life than Facebook, is now soliciting audience opinions on which shows it should develop. Right now there are about a dozen pilots, available here for free. To be honest, most of them look dreadful, but I did take a […]
A murderous crew and their motorhomes
I've been reading Stephen King’s latest novel, Doctor Sleep. It’s about what happens when the paranormal kid in The Shining grows up and discovers that all the supernatural horror of his childhood didn’t burn up with the creepy Overlook Hotel. It’s still out there, in a somewhat different guise, old wine in new bottles. […]