Stiff
Lots of fun, lots of corpses but a bit a lark, a bit of a laugh.
North America/USA
Our Man
This is a fascinating and insightful biography of both a guy I, an ignoramus, had not heard of, as well as of American foreign policy over the last half-century. Lots of good stuff here, sharply written, my biggest takeaway being...
The Virginian
Good, solid, manly. Wister is clearly the Tolkein of the Western genre, and that caught me a bit by surprise - the seeds and bones of the genre are so clear and well-put, it feels like The Virginian precisely predicts...
The Emperor Of All Maladies
North Woods
The story of a cabin over the centuries and the story of America and the story of some ghosts, cute and sweet. A bit overwrought and maybe a bit fanciful at times, trying too hard to write with styles, but...
Cloud Cuckoo Land
I think a book with these ambitions needs to be warm, organic, feel alive - but it is surprisingly cold and clinical. I’m not really sure what makes it so, maybe the storylines are too flat, maybe the characters lack...
Demon Copperhead
Good, sweet story, a bit trite and maybe a bit patronizing, but mostly empathetic, well put-together and a good modern Dickens.
Medium Raw
The River Of Doubt
In Watermelon Sugar