Category: Books & Learning

Unlike Homer, to whom I can lose long nights bound by his captivating cadence, Virgil’s Aeneid took me a full season–nearly six months–to finish. The tricks of the trade that were novel when I saw them in Homer lost some of their luster in Virgil’s derived forms, though there were some passages and stories here [...]

Brief, crystalline linguistic frameworks around essential, sensual experiences characterize this unusually-structured novel by Michael Ondaatje. It reads like a train of thought from start to end, drifting across space and time as they evocative memories of its characters tug at it. It’s a jolting ride sometimes, leaping unapologetically from Anna, Coop and Claire’s family on [...]

I can’t dislike a novel with this first sentence: “We were fractious and overpaid.” I can’t ignore a theme that seems ripped right from my own experience. Did Mr. Ferris follow me around in 2001 and watch my youthful tech entitlement fall disillusioned around me as the economy floundered and the world changed forever? Or–I [...]

I’ve read this twice now, and twice I have thought it amazing that there are people who have not heard about this book. I suppose this is because I am buried in my own perspective: former college graphic design major and current amateur letterpress printer. The re-read was prompted by my recent work of rehabilitating [...]

After Tana French’s first novel, In the Woods, I was left breathless and absolutely committed to buying her sophomore effort. It’s not that I regret it, but it didn’t show the same care and craft. While still displaying some of her hallmark subtleties and qualities, it felt rushed, and lacked both in believability and polish. [...]

Dozens of short essays from prominent scientists about what they “know” but cannot, scientifically, “prove,” at least yet. What could have been an energizing look at possibilities by the sharpest minds in science more often comes off as individual posturing, pessimism and promotion of pet ideas, sadly. There were patterns in the tones of the [...]

This week, David Ebershoff is participating in an author chat on LibraryThing about his just-released novel, The 19th Wife, which I was fortunate enough to read through LibraryThing’s Early Reviewer program a few  months ago. Ebershoff will also be at Powell’s City of Books in Portland, Ore., on Sept. 10, 2008. My question to Mr. [...]

The first time I tried reading this novel–thrust upon me with great exaltation by a writer-friend–I flipped through a dozen pages and then gave up. The time wasn’t right. This time I read it in its entirety in two sittings. Grady Tripp is such a colossal plane crash of humanity that it’s impossible to look [...]

This review is for Sweetsmoke, a novel by David Fuller, published by Hyperion and available in September of 2008. I obtained an advance copy via LibraryThing’s Early Reviewer program. My appreciation to both Hyperion for its participation in the program and LibraryThing for making it possible. You can also visit Sweetsmoke’s Web site. David Fuller’s [...]

I participate in LibraryThing’s Tuesday Thingers group — a weekly blogging exercise. This week’s question: Favorite bookstores. What’s your favorite bookstore? Is it an online store or a bricks-and-mortar store? How often do you go book shopping? Is your favorite bookstore (or bookstores) listed as a favorite in LT? Do you attend events at local [...]