The Murder At The Vicarage
4
The Savage Detectives
Rules Of Civility
There is something half-full about books by Amor Towles, and I can’t quite place it. Maybe it is just an undue obsession with trappings of wealth? Or maybe they are just without objectionability - feels like most proper literature is...
Sense And Sensibility
In an uncontroversial opinion, I think Jane Austen is quite good.
The Wind Knows My Name
I think Isabelle Allende is a Very Good writer, deep and heartfelt, and the book a topical and compelling story of immigration and the toll it takes, especially at the US border. I don’t think she is a Great writer,...
Teaching To Transgress
As a not-teacher who has lived most of his life outside the humanities academy, this book is perhaps not super relevant - but it’s good. I enjoyed reading about and thinking about what goes into education and Freeing the Mind,...
Waiting for Godot
I’ve been seeing references to Borges’ story Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote around a bit, for whatever reason (it is the one about Pierre Menard, through diligent scholarship, rewriting and recreating Don Quixote, line for line). And classic Borges...
If Beale Street Could Talk
Most books I read which strive to be about the Black experience living in America are ultimately about trauma, for obvious reasons. If Beale Street Could Talk also has its fair share of trauma and no happy ending - but...
Shadow Country
The term shadow cousins refers to family members that are excommunicated, not spoken of and ignored. At least in the parlance of the book; I suppose in real life as well, although I have not heard of it elsewhere. The...
Life Lived Wild
Rick Ridgeway’s writing has a bit of a rough-hewn, simple style that I don’t think will win many awards - and at first, that I didn’t think I liked that much. But there is also a deep, earnest sincerity to...