Titles Read = 314
Lake of the Ozarks — Bill Geist
Hey. in 1969 I toured Missouri (don’t ask why I was in Missouri but it had something to do with education) in my new VW avec deux jeunes filles and spent the night in a large sleeping bag beset by a squadron of mosquitos behind a large bush in a less cheesy corner of the Lake of the Ozarks. The Santa Monica Pier was high culture compared to Lake of the Ozarks. I preferred Pomme de Terre despite the snakes.
Monsieur Pamplemousse and the Tangled Web — Michael Bond
That’s the World Wide Web.
Monsieur Pamplemousse and the Carbon Footprint — Michael Bond
Pachinko — Min Jin Lee (+)
Generational. Covers a lot of topics related to Korea and Japan. from Fish Head Stew to the Yakuza .. especially the Japanese treatment of Korean people in country (a relevant parallel to the treatment of immigrants in many Western countries today). Very good.
L’Inondation — Emile Zola
A short story in the R-M series.. The Flood.
The Man Without Qualities — Robert Musil (+)
Worth reading and rereading: a novel of ideas. If you liked Magic Mountain then you’ll love The Man Without Qualities.
Waverley — Walter Scott
The dilemma: Are Scott’s works entertainment and would reach a wider audience if they were modernized and eliminated all that archaic Scots stuff, or are they historical archives of a time and a people that is only preserved in myth and literature?
Shosha — Isaac Bashevis Singer
Barnaby Rudge — Charles Dickens
The Twenty Days of Turin: A Novel — Giorgio De Maria
The Pioneers; or, The Sources of the Susquehanna — James Fenimore Cooper
Natty’s gettin’ old and the country is changing. Sad. But like all 19th Century narratives (apparently) even Natty Bumpo reverts to the trope of mistaken or in some way hidden identification .. wait … Natty Bump? Deerslayer? Hawkeye? Does the postmodern character such as in The Sot-Weed Factor, follow this tradition?
Days of Distraction — Alexandra Chang
What it’s like to be Asian in America.
The Egoist — George Meredith
Two comments. First, the author’s humor is akin to that in Restoration dramas, and second, the author takes far more time and effort to say the same thing that a well-crafted aside would impart on the stage. Still, the theme of ugly male-superiority vs. a woman being qualified to act as herself, is central to the emancipation of women after the confines of Victorianism.
Buddwing — Evan Hunter
Held my interest … for a while.
A Girl Is a Body of Water — Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi
Coming of age in Uganda.
The Hole — Hiroko Oyamada
I think I had this dream myself … wedged a dark hole with something scurrying beneath my feet.
The Silence — Don DeLillo
Short and unwhelming.
The Odd Women — George Gissing (+)
The Feminism of George Gissing: a woman without a man is odd?
The Literary Mind: The Origins of Thought and Language — Mark Turner
I’m a sucker for literary theory and this essay makes me wish I was a young man again, hunched over in my library carrel, tweezing minute meaning from a deceptively simple poem by William Blake or Ted Roethke.
Some Prefer Nettles — Junichiro Tanizaki
Classic.
Bagman — Rachel Maddow
Detailed and fascinating background of a time that is still prominent in my memory. It’s not possible to like Richard Nixon but Spiro Agnew?
The Octopus: A Story of California – Frank Norris
Margery Kempe — Robert Glück (+)
Some texts are entertainments: not this one. Every word or phrase is a testament to the author’s effort and skill. So good. My background as a Medievalist in grad school (before shifting to Restoration drama) made the author’s treatment of the early autobiography that much richer.
Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead — Olga Tokarczuk
Animals fight back? Ask Jupiter and Mars.
Brazzaville Beach: A Novel — William Boyd
Ancient hedges, modern mathematics, and chimpanzee wars. Nice.
The Man With the Golden Arm — Nelson Algren (+)
Algren, like Dos Passos, is a master of exposing the symphony of real life .. not necessarily the life we admire but the life that is real. Here are three authors to read and admire: Nelson Algren, John Dos Passos, and Richard Yates (you can skip Ernest Hemingway).
Andersonville — MacKinley Kantor (+)
Like GWTW, full of history, characters, events. Nicely written and very popular. Author develops many side-narratives that save the text from being just a bleak rendition of life and death in a cruel military “prison.” Not that the novel avoids gore, decay, and the torments of war (ever wonder what more than 27,000 prisoners use for a toilet when they don’t even have shelter from the elements?).
Monsieur Pamplemousse On Probation — Michael Bond
Robert B. Parker’s Damned If You Do — Michael Brandman
Jesse Stone. TV fare.
Fifty Words For Rain — Asha Lemmie
Book Club fare but a welcome respite from more academically inclined books. Note: I saw the rain but where were the 50 words?
Notes From the Fog — Ben Marcus
I am hot and cold with this author but these are pretty good short stories.
The French Revolution — Thomas Carlyle (-)
Reading Carlisle has been continuous pain. The author creates an overly florid admixture of history and poetry which obscures understanding and creates nothing but tedium and confusion. Hated it.
Life On the Mississippi — Mark Twain
The story is that Sam Clemens discovered a much needed source of monetary sustenance with these travel/exposé/potpourri books starting from the Mississippi and later going abroad. You know those books often found in homes, specifically in bathrooms, that are intended to simply provide a few minutes of entertainment while attending to some tedious necessity? These are better. Note: Twain speaks of how things used to be and how they’ve changed with modernization: remember, he’s writing in 1883 .. modernization is relative.
War & War — László Krasznahorkai
Nicolas Nickelby — Charles Dickens
Reading novels like this Dickens allows the mind to escape the follies of the present and experience the follies of the past. I’m certain the cadence of such sublime prose neutralizes, as Mort Saul once said, some of the acid of the day. And as a bonus, all of those characters and events force the little gray cells to pay attention.
Home — Toni Morrison
Mysteries of Winterthurn — Joyce Carol Oates
The new profession of consulting detective comes to Winterthurn and a notable shamus sniffs out three horrific crimes. It’s all fiction, of course. This is the third book in Oates’ Gothic Saga (all well worth the effort).
Mr. Hires Engagement — Georges Simenon
The Lighthouse: A Novel of Terror — Bill Pronzini & Marcia Muller
Straight to Netflix.
The White Peacock — D. H. Lawrence
Lush, evocative language but I stopped to think: why is Lawrence a treat to read and Wolfe a chore?
The Prairie — James Fenimore Cooper
An excellent vision of early American expansion. Imagine being able to not hear the noises of cities and the sites of commercial civilization .. just to be alone and responsible only for yourself. Maybe on Mars, huh?
Felix Holt, The Radical — George Eliot
Radical? Times are different. Note that this one has a lot of misdirected parentage which seems to be common in such literature.
The Moravian Night — Peter Handke
The Son — Andrej Nikolaidis
The Italian — Ann Radcliffe
Italian nobility, spooky monks, naughty bandits, and the Inquisition, not to mention the classic revelation of true identity.
Your Heart Is a Muscle the Size of a Fist – Sunil Yapa
Remember when the WTO went to Seattle, Washington? This is the narrative from the side of the protestors. Strong stuff. One horribly clichéd plot element.
Of Time and the River — Thomas Wolfe
Too many words.
Automated Alice — Jeff Noon
Fun. A new Alice.
Bluebeard: A Novel — Kurt Vonnegut
The Book of the Courtier — Baldassare Castiglione (+)
Fascinating. Don’t let the title fool you, this book is full of thoughts and theories that are just as relevant today as they were in 1528.
Requiem For a Nun — William Faulkner
A play embedded in a novel and the history of Jefferson County to boot.
The Revolt of Angels — Anatole France
Interesting discussion of the Christian Church. So if Satan defeats God and takes over Heaven, he then becomes God. Did I get that right?
The Fox — D. H. Lawrence
Who is the fox? I remember this one from college: it’s shorter and less racy that Lady Chatterley.
The Satanic Verses — Salman Rushdie
Excellent writer but I just don’t have the Rushdie gene I guess. Reading his prose should be joyous, not a chore. I think this one suffered from being read immediately after Vikram Seth: too soon for another immersion into Indian history and culture.
A Suitable Boy — Vikram Seth (+)
A big fascinating story of life and history in India with many characters and many events: politics, shoes, love, food, traditions, English Literature, and a river.
Cathedral — Raymond Carver
Hey, it’s Raymond Carver .. good stories.
The Expedition of Humphry Clinker — Tobias Smollett
Epistolary, Picaresque, Fun: part travelogue, part social commentary: Very informative (à la Pepys) with chuckles galore.
The Once and Future King — T. H. White (+)
Main-Travelled Roads — Hamlin Garland (+)
Stories which realistically present the difficult lives of the early people in the mid-west. Excellent.
Mardi, and a Voyage Thither — Herman Melville (-)
Melville trying to outdo Rabelais (and Swift) but creating a mess: Too much Ooga-Booga and island doggeral.
The Lying Life of Adults — Elena Ferrante
Flee — Evan Dara
The Hungry Tide — Amitav Ghosh
Crocodiles and tigers? … and I worry about raccoons and mosquitos. A whole book and not one mention of a swimming pool service.
The Outsiders — S. E. Hinton
Greasers vs. Socs. I’m all in for Ponyboy or perhaps Eric von Zipper.
The House of the Dead — Fyodor Dostoyevsky (+)
An early look into the Gulag.
Cranford — Elizabeth Gaskell
Green tea? Cranford sounds like the kind of place where Mrs. Peel would stand out.
Saving Agnes — Rachel Cusk
Evelina; or, The History of a Young Lady’s Entrance Into the World — Fanny Burney
The novel in letters as was common at that time. Easily comparable to the better known male author Samuel Richardson.
The Nakano Thrift Shop — Hiromi Kawakami
The Pale Horse — Agatha Christie
Not a pub. Not Miss Marple.
Swamp Thing — David Houston
Movie treatment. If you saw the movie you already had enough fun. Try the Alan Moore originals.
Nietzsche and the Burbs — Lars Iyer
Shuffle European nihilism with British school boys, toss in too many words, and you get a barely satisfying narrative. I prefer the nihilism in Lebowski, the destruction and the despair of Black Sabbath (Nietzsche and the Burbs is a weak Eddie and the Cruisers).
Jazz Owls: A Novel of the Zoot Suit Riots — Margarita Engle
Freeform. Subject of Zoot Suit Riots fascinates me.
The Man In the Iron Mask — Alexander Dumas
We say goodbye to old friends; An interesting conclusion to the D’Artagnon series with Dumas’s version of the man in the iron mask controversy.
The Secret Squad — David Goodis
A great author in the hard-boiled style.
The Plumed Serpent — D. H. Lawrence
Although a good-enough novel on its own it suffered (for me) from being less than Under the Volcano but thankfully more than the cheesy Danish horror movie.
White Jazz — James Ellroy
Same concern: a detailed explanation at the end of the narrative explaining the whys and wherefores of the story. Also, too much of that Hush-Hush exposition.
The Decameron — Giovanni Boccaccio (+)
A wealth of stories, some which I recognize in more recent retellings. But, like any collection this vast, there are many clunkers. Note that much of Boccaccio’s work might be banned in Boston (the horny rascal).
The Hyborian Age — Robert E. Howard
The “historic” background for an extensive fictional series. To crush your enemies, to see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their women.
A Son of the Middle Border — Hamlin Garland
Author’s memories of life on the Middle Border (which itself was migrating to the West). American realism.
A Hazard of New Fortunes — William Dean Howells
The Lapham’s meet Grub Street. Interesting exposures of early New York City.
The Little Girls — Elizabeth Bowen
What we do in our youth. A very strong author.
The Factory — Hiroko Oyamada
Melmoth the Wanderer — Charles Maturin (+)
These old Gothics never seem as scary as they are hyped. But if you lived long before the screams and gore of the cinema, a time when a candle gave scant lighting at night and there was no television, then reading about the undead or the rotting dead might illicit the occasional shiver.
A Handful of Sand — Marinko Koščec
Princess Bari — Sok-yong Hwang
Author uses symbol, myth, and clairvoyance as a narrative tool, with a less-than-seamless integration with the fictional reality. Otherwise, an interesting story going from Korea to England and a side-trip to Afghanistan (albeit only in a vision).
Dirty Work — Larry Brown
L. A. Confidential — James Ellroy
A complex narrative of murder, drugs, pornography, prostitution corruption, scandal, purple Mercs, and 1950s Los Angeles.
The Speed Queen — Stewart O’Nan
The engaging first-person autobiography of a condemned killer. Good stuff.
The Doll — Ismail Kadare
Autobiographical novel or is it all fiction?
The Quiet American — Graham Greene
Deals with the period from the end of the French occupation to the early days of the American war in Vietnam. Not too flattering concerning Americans.
The Unconsoled — Kazuo Ishiguro
Long and complex. Reminded me of a dream I had where I was wearing only pajamas on the way to take the SATs and the bus broke down and I left the cake out in the rain and …
Tokyo Ueno Station — Yu Mari
Lizard Radio — Pat Schmatz
There are deep social themes buried in this dystopian tale of teens away at re-gendering ag-camp .. or is there? Puff meets the Outsiders. Will Danny Trejo play Machete in the movie?
The Golden Bowl — Henry James
Final test: I really don’t enjoy reading James. His vaunted prose style sucks.
The Rise of Silas Lapham — William Dean Howells
The Circle — Dave Eggers
Brave New World in the digital age. Or is it Skynet? Makes you want to run screaming into the woods. Compare the Circle to Apple’s new headquarters building. Coincidence?
Valley of Terror — Zhou Haohui
Mystery? Yes. Suspense? Yes. Demons? Ya lost me. But this is an historical narrative .. so …
Too Late the Phalarope — Alan Paton
The unbelievable evil that was apartheid in South Africa.
The Big Nowhere — James Ellroy
Book 2 of L. A. Quartet. Mickey Cohen, Communists, Sunset Strip.
Kornel Esti — Deszö KosztolIanyi
Lunar Park – Brett Easton Ellis
A meta-mashup of Ellis the author as a character, fictional events from his books (especially American Psycho) come to life, and a good old horror story. Lots of fun and well done.
Lovecraft Country — Matt Ruff (-)
Crap.
The Lost Language of Cranes: A Novel — David Leavitt
A respected husband and father who has carefully hidden his real sexual preference until at 52 years a new world opens for him.
Where the Crawdads Sing — Delia Owens
Huck Finn meets Tammy in an old movie plot. Mild entertainment.
The Grifter’s Club — Sarah Blaskey
If you are afraid national security is being compromised, don’t read this book; however, if you are enchanted by the pettiness of T***p, here is real proof.
Action Park: Fast Times, Wild Rides, and the Untold Story of America’s Most Dangerous Amusement Park — Andy Mulvihill and Jake Rossen
Being a New Jersey resident during the days of Action Park and despite (luckily) never having been a part of the action myself, this was a breezy, eye-opening romp. Fun to read. The HBO documentary, Class Action Park, is not as entertaining but stills tells the story quite well.
Tales of the City — Armistead Maupin
Good, quick stories. I had watched the two series on Netflix (?) so reading these stories had a visual bump.
A Tree Grows In Brooklyn — Betty Smith
Classic. Nostalgic. Soon the children will not even know what a penny was.
Mason & Dixon — Thomas Pynchon (+)
A bear to read but the prose is sublime.
Baltasar and Blimunda – José Saramago
The Automobile Club of Egypt — Alaa Al Aswany
The Man Who Spoke Snakish — Andrew Kivirähk
Folklore breeds civilization; or, talking snakes meet bread and wine. Who knew Estonia was so confusing.
Kalakuta Republic — Chris Abani (+)
Powerful, fearless poetry. Not your average nightingale.
Apocalypse Hotel: A Novel — Ho Anh Thai
Louise de la Vallière— Alexander Dumas
Continuing the D’Artagnon saga. More intrigue than action.
The Brave African Huntress — Amos Tutuola
Great storyteller.
Riven Rock – T. C. Boyle
Messy and convoluted.
The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden — Jonas Jonasson
A rollicking good story. From Black South Africa to Neutral Sweden with a very big package, crossing paths with a lifelong plot against the Swedish monarchy.
The Ordeal of Richard Feveral — George Meredith
The acceptable norms of courtship and marriage well before ERA.
The Sign of the Beast — Joyce Carol Oates
Middle C — William H. Gass
When is artifice (pretending) the reality? Like other Gass works, there is a lot to digest and it requires an effort to take it all in.
Too Much and Never Enough — Mary L. Trump
What a sad loser .. and a monster. Nice job Mary.
A Good Man In Africa — William Boyd
Ghachar Ghochar — Vivek Shanbhag
Glamorama – Brett Easton Ellis
Ellis satirizes the glitteratti but overdoes it so that his novel is worthy itself of satire. This is especially useful if the protagonist is uber-cinematic. I suppose the operative question would be: Is It Real or Is It Memorex .. or Kodak .. or Todd-a-O .. or MTV? An homage to Photoshop?
Elmer Gantry — Sinclair Lewis
Horn-dog preacher makes good. A clear representation of religious bigotry in America. Good stuff.
Last Night at the Lobster — Stewart O’Nan
The Hollywood Knights of chain restaurants. Sweet.
Boswell – Stanley Elkin
Carny Kill — Robert Edmond Alter
Braised Pork — An Yu
The Pathfinder; or, The Inland Sea — James Fenimore Cooper
These are good solid stories with an added glimpse into life in early America.
The Erl-King — Michel Tournier
History, myth, and magic symbols. Pay attention! (title also translated as The Ogre).
The Voyeur’s Motel — Gay Talese
Saw TV special; read book; the special is more than sufficient. Yet, the book does present the position that the United States government is the world’s biggest voyeur.
Cult of Glory — Doug J. Swanson
They created the myth and now we get the truth. Like most early police, the Rangers were effectively slave patrols and functioned to allow white people to steal the land from Mexicans and Native-Americans such as the Comanche.
The 57 Bus: A True Story of Two Teenagers and the Crime That Changed Their Lives — Dashka Slater
A non-fiction novel loaded with extras concerning gender assignment (What are your pronouns?), Juvenile Justice, Restorative Justice, the teenage brain. Fast and informative.
The English Teacher — Durjoy Datta
Short. Well constructed with a twist.
Rage — Zygmunt Miloszewski
If you enjoy gruesome crime novels full of forensics and suspense, try this one. Besides, Ukraine is currently in the news.
My Name Is Asher Lev — Chaim Potok
What happens when Orthodox Judaism collides with the world art and its interpretation of human life and imagination.
The Magnificent Ambersons — Booth Tarkington (+)
I have to admit that I truly enjoy reading classic narratives like this, despite my equally fervent desire to twist my mind with experimental fiction. I blame it all on Buddenbrooks.
Tyll: A Novel — Daniel Kehlmann (+)
European history. Magic and superstition. Shake well.
Dombey and Sons — Charles Dickens
My Life In the Bush of Ghosts — Amos Tutuola
Ghosts everywhere. Reminded me of Flash Gordon (or at least the Mad Magazine parody from the ’50s) … but the theme here is spiritualism, not outer-space adventure.
The Two-Penny Bar — George Simenon
New translation. Maybe read in the VO?
The Yid — Paul Goldberg
Historical fantasy with Jews, Stalin, and some nifty new ways to kill.
Little Siberia — Antti Tuomainen
One night. A hole in the roof. A valuable piece of space rock in the backseat. And a local pastor with a secret.
The Old Wives’ Tale — Arnold Bennett (+)
You’ve heard the very non-academic response “I didn’t want it to end.” Well, this is one of those books where you just might cry at the end. Also, it was pretty good and should be higher on anyone’s reading list.
The Fall of the House of Usher — Edgar Allan Poe
Scary?
Cuddly Holocaust — Carlton Mellick III
Bloody: kapoc and little paws everywhere.
Sex and Death in Television Town — Carlton Mellick III
Shinju — Laura Joh Rowland
Samurai Detective.
The Librarian — Mikhail Elizarov
Literature doping with libraries and reading rooms forming the new social, political, and military functions.
Au Bonheur des Dames — Émile Zola
Very interesting: the adventures of an early department store on the other side of the river from Bon Marché.
Cockroach — Rawi Hage
Fieldwork in Ukrainian Sex — Oksana Zabuzhko (+)
Ukraine, poetry, and sex: a deep colloquy on the nature of being human. Tough, driving prose.
The Hive — Camilo José Cela (+)
Cult X — Fuminori Nakamura
Modern day bio-politics with evolution, terrorism, sex, and religion thrown in. A novel of ideas?
The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner — James Hogg
Interesting structure. Allegory? Preserved scribblings from the grave of a sinner?
History of the Kings of Britain — Geoffrey of Monmouth
History from the Marvel Universe .. but a good read despite all the bloody hacking and hewing.
A Bloodsmoor Romance — Joyce Carol Oates
The Fall of the Stone City — Ismail Kadare
The House On the Borderland — William Hope Hodgson
A contemporary of Lovecraft and writer of similar fantasy fiction. Have you read this author? Definitely worth a try.
The Eighth Girl: A Novel — Maxine Mei-Fung Chung
Careful. Multiple narratives and multiple personalities with gender bias and racism thrown in. Good story.
Balzac’s War — Jeff Vandermeer
White Jacket, or, The World On a Man-of-War — Herman Melville
Everything you’d want to know about serving on an American Man o’War. And you thought Moby Dick explained too much about whales; but unlike Moby Dick, White Jacket is missing a plot or cosmic theme (unless arbitrary cruelty counts).
The Forty Days of Musa Dagh — Franz Werfel (+)
Read this book. It’s long, informative. and very powerful. Between Musa Dagh and Seven Pillars, the Turks don’t receive or deserve much sympathy. Next, Masada.
Group At the Grand Cafe – Georges Simenon
Rebel Publisher: Grove Press and the Revolution of the Word — Loren Glass
Having gone to university and grad school in the ’60s, this treatment of the history of Grove Press and Barney Rosset brings back volumes of memories. I was especially thrilled when my exact copy of a book was illustrated and discussed. I wonder if I have any saved in a box somewhere?
Juneteenth — Ralph Ellison
Powerful. Timely. I wonder about all that text Ellison wrote that didn’t get into the final edited version (but then, we owe a lot to the editor who organized the dead author’s jumbled writings into a coherent novel. We can leave the extra jottings to future scholars.
Breasts and Eggs — Mieko Kawakami
What has breasts and eggs but cannot stand sex?
Slapstick or Lonesome No More! — Kurt Vonnegut
The House of Impossible Beauties — Joseph Cassara
Homosexual sex, cross-dressing, drugs, hustling, AIDS, and a lively intermixture of street language, both in English and in Spanish. Not for the prudish reader.
As a Man Grows Older — Italo Svevo (+)
Sanshiro — Natsume Soseki
Bellefleur — Joyce Carol Oates
First book of Gothic series.
Trans-Sister Radio — Chris Bohjalian
Good themes but pedestrian execution.
Norte — Edmundo Paz Soldan
Go Down, Moses – William Faulkner
The Zig Zag Girl — Elly Griffiths
Only In London — Hanan al-Shaykh
Blue Belle — Andrew Vachss
Stranger In a Strange Land — Robert A. Heinlein
Decent treatment of thoughtful subjects but I was uncomfortable with the nature vs. nurture theme and frankly I just got tired of having to grok everything. Note: This is the full (long) original text, not the popular text that was published in the 1960s. I wonder if the editing of that edition was to soften the free-love theme?
Independent People — Halldór Laxness (+)
Powerful, evocative: definitely deserves the fame and praise it has received. A must read.
Come Rain or Come Shine — Kazuo Ishiguro
Nice short story from Faber series.
Revulsion: Thomas Bernhard in San Salvador — Horacio Castellanos Moya
Moya trashes San Salvador in the best tradition of Thomas Bernhard. Note that history of this piece is quite interesting. I wonder if there is a similar American work that trashes the USA (deservedly).
Flash and Filigree — Terry Southern
Killing Commendatore — Haruki Murakami
Murakami has become a problem for me. This is a good example: an excellent, mind-challenging mystery is set up and, for me, falls flat with a deus ex machina that leads the narrative down a path reminiscent of the old Adventure game or a boring engagement with Dungeons and Dragons.
Fresno Stories — William Saroyan
A few early (and delightful) stories from the author’s youthful impressions of growing up in Fresno, California.
Martin Eden — Jack London
Autobiographical? Too socialist? London is a hot and cold author but some of his works are excellent: this is one. A good one-two is Martin Eden and Iron Heel. What is the final message?
Chinatown Angel — A. E. Roman
The Cockroach — Ian McEwan
A cockroach morphs into the Prime Minister who reverses the British economy so that works must pay for their jobs and the wealth of the richest becomes worthless. Quick fun.
Beowulf’s Return — Tim Hodkinson
Beowulf fights the marauding dead: a short tale in easy, clear modern popular English. Since I studied Beowulf in the original Old English, the incorrect pronouncing of Apple’s speech algorithm brought a smile to join the gore and destruction. Geats Forever!
Can You Kick a Ghost In the Nuts? — Steve Higgs, Gemma Higgs
Short, Breezy.
Seven Pillars of Wisdom — T. E. Lawrence (+)
Powerful, detailed. It’s matter of fact history (memoir) of a part of the war many people forget, if they ever even knew of it. Of course there was the movie, which was very good and followed Lawrence’s book with few modifications for cinematic effect.
The Historian — Elizabeth Kostova
Well done; however, the interleaving of three generations of related characters can become confusing (at least there was no Arcadio or Aureliano) and why do authors in the Age of Dan Brown feel the need to smear a perfectly good and meticulously detailed quasi-realistic narrative with supernatural muck?
A Terrible Thing That Happens — Carlton Mellick III
Supermarket Sweep meets Pacman.
The Wings of the Dove — Henry James
The Pussy — Delicious Tacos (+)
Stream-of-conscious sex addiction with all the naughty bits on display, but also refreshingly real and honest. My rating is strictly personal based on the author’s clear understanding of the effects of gravity on the older man’s balls.
Hard Candy — Andrew Vachss
A Walk On the Wild Side — Nelson Algren (+)
How I Won the War — Patrick Ryan
Fun. Now I want to see the movie with John Lennon. Oh, did i mention that it takes a darkly humorous view of war and destruction?
My Dark Vanessa: A Novel — Kate Elizabeth Russell
Young girl has an affair with a much older teacher who may be a serial molester, but they are in love so it’s okay? Ineffective treatment of the theme of female molestation with added nuances of slut shaming. Good for topic but otherwise unsurprising fiction.
Naked Came the Manatee — Various Authors (-)
Florida and the plot complexity of a Bazooka comic.
Balcony in the Forest — Julian Gracq
An untypical realistic narrative in the author’s treatment of the Phoney War.
A Taste of Honey: Stories — Jabari Asim (+)
Stories like Winesburg, Ohio is stories. Excellent narrative expressing the black experience in St. Louis culminating in the riots which followed the assassination of Dr. King. Having gone to Graduate School in St. Louis the environment was somewhat familiar although I did take a peek at online Maps to refresh my memory. I might even have discovered the ancient apartment building I lived in back in the sixties.
Michael Strogoff; or The Courier of the Csar — Jules Verne
Reading Jules Verne dips your old soul back into the excitement and wonder of the spirit of youth.
The Lucky Star — William T. Vollmann (+)
Vollmann returns to the San Francisco Tenderloin: lesbians, transexuals, prostitutes, addiction, violence, sex, sex, sex. What the author makes clear: these are real people with their own ups and downs, loves and hates, weaknesses and strengths. Like Judy Garland they are tragically forced into a destructive future.
Strange Weather In Tokyo — Hiromi Kawakami
Meh.
Japan Sinks — Sakyo Komatsu
Aside from great special effects, thoughtful depiction of how a government which values the lives of the citizens over any economic or nationalistic concerns should act.
The Crime At Black Dudley — Margery Allingham
The first Campion. Need more.
La Terre — Émile Zola (+)
Seems to be the most openly sexual of the series.: an amalgam of barnyard rutting and societal misogyny. Two things made me think: the plight of the French farmer who once was self-sufficient, and the global effects of such things as American grains flooding the market. Make America rich and destroy the lives of countless peasants around the world.
And Then There Were None — Agatha Christie
The Blackboard Jungle — Evan Hunter
Lady Audley’s Secret — Mary Elizabeth Braddon (+)
I liked this novel. It’s classically dated but with enough twists and turns that it’s interestng and entertaining.
Lost For Words: A Novel — Edward St. Aubyn
A fresh approach to prestigious book awards. Great satire.
Piercing — Ryu Murakami
Competent but disappointing (not enough gore?).
Frog — Stephen Dixon (+)
Until I Find You — John Irving
Tattoo artists, church organs, cross-dressing film stars, penis holding, and multi-generational schtupping: Typical Irving.
Tokyo Decadence — Ryu Murakami
Short stories with an edge. Author tends to weave similar themes throughout the stories. Run Takahashi!
The Story of Lucy Gault — William Trevor (+)
Engaging narrative that for some reason reminded me of the great Giuseppe Lampedusa.
The Man Who Walked Through Walls — Marcel Ayme (+)
Fascinating short stories to try to get your mind around.
Other People — Martin Amis
The Third Rainbow Girl — Emma Copley Eisenberg
The story of a killing in West Virginia. Fictional non-fiction.
The Draining Lake — Arnaldur Indridson
A rapidly draining lake in Iceland uncovers a skeleton and the narrative alternates between the investigation and cold war repression.
Nymphomation — Jeff Noon
If you believe dominoes is the devil’s game then this one’s for you.
Dairy Queen Days: A Novel — Robert Inman
Pleasant Hallmark Special.
Our Mutual Friend — Charles Dickens (+)
Long, leisurely. and very satisfying.
The Book of Disquiet — Fernando Pessoa (+)
Packed with erudition and head-scratchers. Not a traditional novel at all.
When She Was Good — Philip Roth
The Canterbury Tales: A Retelling — Peter Ackroyd
Having specialized in Medieval English Literature in grad school, I naturally read and studied Chaucer in the original Middle English. This was an easy, fun reminder of the stories without the extra demands of the language.
Ice Station Zebra — Alistair MacLean
Exciting. Would make a good movie .. Rock Hudson? .. you don’t say.
Suggested Reading — Dave Connis
YA treatment of fighting suffocating censorship in a private southern school. Commendable although I hesitate to approve of any book that champions reading Catcher In the Rye.
Acceptance: A Novel — Jeff VanderMeer
Third volume of Southern Reach trilogy. Is there something wrong with me? I wasn’t impressed.
Flynn’s World — Gregory Mcdonald
A good series by the author of the Fletch books but this last piece is weak.
Black Rain — Masuji Ibuse (+)
Hiroshima See It Now.
Loitering With Intent — Muriel Spark
The Giant Rat of Sumatra — Richard L. Boyer
Sherlock Holmes and Rodents of Unusual Size.
Judgment Day — James T. Farrell (+)
Final volume of Studs Lonigan trilogy.
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius — Dave Eggers
Entertaining but not great. I wonder if it echos another recent read .. the stable genius one?
Robert B. Parker’s Angel Eyes — Ace Atkins
Spenser takes on Scientology-like grift out in Hollywood (with Z).
Hard Case Crime: Colorado Kid — Stephen King
Moose-Look .. Cabot Cove? Interesting narrative format: sorta Liberty Valance.
Monsieur Pamplemousse Takes the Train — Michael Bond
Blue Movie — Terry Southern
It’s a recurring cliché: let’s make a first-run stdio supported porno movie. I’ve seen it in serious (?) fiction, comic fiction, pulp fiction, and even in the proverbial stroke book. Terry Southern uses the idea for a fun satire.
The Marquise of O — Heinrich von Kleist
Camgirl — Isa Mazzei
Hyper-realistic personal documentary exposing capitalist pornography. Lame.
I Am Charlotte Simmons — Tom Wolfe
One big cliché. It’s interesting how Wolfe creates a completely believable academic world in a total fiction. Avoid the urge to Google DuPont University.
Quo Vadis — Henryk Sienkiewicz (+)
As a non-believer, this story of the early spread of Christianity in the time of Nero was epic but often silly. Treated as historical fiction it is a great book. The depiction of Nero’s Bread and Circus slaughter of the Christians by hungry beasts was very vivid. Crucifixions were reminiscent of a later novel and movie, Spartacus.
Thy Neighbor’s Wife — Gay Talese (+)
Talese provides a highly readable excursion through all the years of the growth of sexual freedom which I lived through. My thought: you cannot bemoan “If I knew then what I know now” because it took a lot of time. pain, and brave people to get where we are now.
At Night, I Become a Monster — Yoru Sumino
The Pilgrim’s Progress — John Bunyan (+)
Plus for historical significance and excellent example of allegory in literature. New editions are easy to read but the subject matter is fading fast.
The Portrait of a Lady — Henry James (+)
A Single Man— Christopher Isherwood
The author in Academia (and Los Angeles) after the war. I really enjoy Isherwood’s writing.
Me & Mr. Cigar — Gibby Haynes
Silly and stoopid, although competently written.
Humbold’s Gift — Saul Bellow (+)
December 6 — Martin Crus Smith
A possible oil scam, a Gaijin in Japan, Tojo in mufti, the Japanese fleet heading for Malasia or Indonesia or Pearl Harbor. Will he get out on-time .. alive?
The Boy In the Earth — Fuminori Nakamura
10 Minutes 38 Seconds In This Strange World — Elif Shafak
The dead body of an Istambul prostitute wonders if anyone will find her. And then to flesh out the novel, her life is recalled. Is this thinking-corpse a Turkish thing?
The Wanderer — Fritz Leiber
Many years ago I was fascinated by disaster narratives like this but a sub-genre which posits that a rogue planet will eat the moon and cause devastating tides and fires is (or in this case will become somewhat tedious. Otherwise fun with some nostalgic historical references (is Der Drump an even greater disaster than the Wanderer and will the WH suggest there is nothing to worry about, trying to preserve their numbers).
Contempt — Alberto Moravia
Saw the film now read the book. Narrative of the film tracks well with text but Moravia is creating an internal viewpoint whereas in the film, the viewer is creating the viewpoint and that makes some factors in the narrative subtly different.
The Curse of Lono — Hunter S. Thompson
Not the best Gonzo narration.
Death Without Company — Craig Johnson
I think I prefer the characterizations in the novel rather than in the cable television series, except possibly that of Walt Longmire.
Bringing Out the Dead — Joe Connelly
The Shooting Party — Anton Chekhov
Robert B. Parker’s Old Black Magic — Ace Atkins
Zinky Boys — Svetlana Alexievich
Written as a collection of Soviet soldiers’ memories of the Afghanistan war. Brutal and eye opening. Although the lack of preparedness of the Soviet troops was emphasized, it didn’t take too much effort to remember the disaster that was and remains the Bush/Cheney war.
Mrs. Fletcher — Tom Perrotta
Light entertainment. HBO series closely follows book but with the advantage of Kathryn Hahn.
The Ugly American — Eugene Burdick (+)
Historical value and shows a view of American diplomacy that makes you wonder, especially in today’s world where we might be seen openly as the bad guys.
The Octopus On My Head — Jim Nisbet
Entertaining: Sex, Drugs, Rock & Roll and Inky Cephalopods. Does get a little bit “Silence of thee Lambs” so bring your own fava beans.
The Haunted Bookshop — Christopher Morley
Daniel Deronda — George Eliot (+)
Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded — Samuel Richardson (+)
Virtue: what a concept! Well written and historically relevant but so many pages and so little happens. Note: Epistolatory design is no hinderance to the narrative.
Stories In the Worst Way — Gary Lutz
Very interesting, mostly short. Author is considered too difficult to translate but I’m thinking Donald Barthelme is more difficult.
The Revisionists — Thomas Mullen
Time travel, corporate espionage, dead bodies, romance, and cheesy American T-shirts. Sometimes fun, sometimes exciting, often confusing.
The Débâcle — Émile Zola (+)
The Franco-Prussian War. Things didn’t go so good for the French.
The Time Invariance of Snow — E. Lily Yu
A narrative in many pieces.
Mother and Child — Carole Maso
The interesting thing with this work is how realism and fantasy, contemporary themes and dystopian projections, are so smoothly intertwined by the author in the narrative. It all works.
The Beautiful Poetry of Donald Trump — Robert Sears
Somewhat clever rearranging of Der Drump’s unfortunate words. Clearly shows that he’s a moron.
The Monkey Link: A Pilgrimage Novel — Andrei Bitov (+)
A novel of ideas in three parts. Lots to think about here … the Big Questions. Needs close reading and plenty of time to think.
The Heart of the Matter — Graham Greene (+)
The Mansion — William Faulkner (+)
The third volume of the Snopes trilogy. This one covers a lot of time and many events and characters. The trilogy is much more traditional than many of Faulkner’s novels.
The Moor’s Last Sigh — Salman Rushdie (+)
The Poet X — Elizabeth Acevedo
A Back-To-School Special but intriguing and not too smarmy. Best, however, is that it is comprised of a chain of prose poems such as a young girl might have written: it’s a novel in poem form .. or is it a series of related poems that read like a novel?
Robert B. Parker’s Little White Lies — Ace Atkins
Shamanspace — Steve Aylett (-)
Silly.
Tribesmen: A Novella of Supernatural Cannibal Horror — Adam Cesare
Castle Rackrent — Maria Edgeworth
House of Incest — Anais Nin
Very poetic.
Maigret’s Holiday — Georges Simenon
A Very Stable Genius — Philip Rucker and Carol Leonig
Everything you already knew or assumed about our worst nightmare.
Severance — Ling Ma
The Designated Mourner — Wallace Shawn (+)
A very evocative one-act play. Shawn is a smart guy.
House of Beauty — Melba Escobar
Strong treatment of societal ills, corruption, and the mistreatment of women centered around a beauty salon in Bogotá.
The Memory Police — Yoko Ogawa
Hard Case Crime: Nobody’s Angel — Jack Clark
A thin novel of crime and detection but chock-full of information about taxis, cabbies, and neighborhoods to avoid in Chicago. Small insights in this story do make you think about how society has created disadvantaged neighborhoods through corruption and racism.
Pow! — Mo Yan (+)
Meat!
Mac’s Problem — Enrique Vila-Matas (+)
Very interesting. Mac (not the bartender) doesn’t like novels; intends to rewrite the short story collection originally written by a local author; documents his efforts in a rambling memoir; and the covering theme is repetition. Erudite and engrossing.
The Dogs of Riga —Henning Mankell
Angle of Repose — Wallace Stegner (+)
History, generations, concrete: an expansive narrative of love, loss, disappointment, triumph. Following the trope of contemporary offspring reconstructing the lives and events of their historical family in a detailed family histry, this novel both engages and satisfies. I have always enjoyed generational novels ever since reading Buddenbrooks as a young man. The structure of this novel compares quite nicely with Byatt’s Possession.
The Ginza Ghost and Other Stories — Leikichi Osaka
Short mini-mysteries.
Growth of the Soil — Knut Hamsun (+)
The Testaments — Margaret Atwood (+)
Chilling and not even outlandish considering the fundamentalist direction of this nation. The situation between Gildead (ex-USA) and Canada (the good guy) was interesting, although the author IS Canadian. Note that Gilead collapses and there is ample historical evidence to incriminate the perpetrators. The two Gilead books are must reads (I did not see the Hulu series).
Palm Beach, Finland — Antti Tuomainen
Inventive concept. Plot not so much.
The Beirut Hellfire Society — Rawi Hage (+)
I’ve read several fictional treatments of the war in Lebanon. This one, centered on a local undertaker, is possibly the most violent and visceral. Pulls no punches. Well done.
Snow Falling On Cedars — David Guterson
Decent novel but predictable subject matter. But please, let’s not diminish of forget the effects of fear and hatred on the mistreatment of a people that does not look, act, or worship like some mythical American patriot … especially today.
The Water Dancer — Ta-Nehisi Coates
Very evocative text but there are many treatments of slavery, the underground railroad, etc. that should also get our attention.
Carter Beats the Devil — Glen David Gold
Fun entertainment but a little too long to maintain interest.
The Topeka School — Ben Lerner
Good but not great. Interesting take on High School Forensics.
The Miller’s Daughter — Emile Zola
Quichotte — Salman Rushdie (+)
Fun and thought provoking romp through Don Quijote, Walt Disney, and a bunch of other highly identifiable trops. One question: At times the author drops an extremely current reference that could easily be totally forgotten in weeks if not days; although this makes the novel more accessible to the contemporary reader, does it also show a disregard for any future consideration? Are we writing for the fast sell and expecting a lingering life on the remainder racks?
Hard Case Crime: Slide — Ken Bruen
Robert B. Parker’s Slow Burn — Ace Atkins
The Children Act — Ian McEwan
Serotonin — Michel Houellebecq (+)
One of my go-to authors, not for the weak or amateur optimist. This is a strong, challenging treatment that investigates the question oft attributed to Peggy Lee (a huge favorite of mine).
Terrorist — John Updike
Not perfect but a very good treatment of adherence to rigid fundamentalism and how a youth without critical thinking skills can be easily influenced. Note that the unstated (and presumably unintended) idea that a religious Muslim can become a mass killing terrorist is unfortunate and dangerous in itself.
A Celebration of Reading 