Nolan Can Read

4

October 01, 2024

The Virginian

By Owen Wister

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...

September 26, 2024

North Woods

By Daniel Mason

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...

September 12, 2024

The Bostonians

By Henry James

I read The Bostonians coming fresh off of reading Cloud Cuckoo Land and I am a bit astonished at the contrast. The latter is a contemporary novel with an obvious underlying ethos which I am predominantly in line with, but...

August 24, 2024

Demon Copperhead

By Barbara Kingsolver

Good, sweet story, a bit trite and maybe a bit patronizing, but mostly empathetic, well put-together and a good modern Dickens.

July 25, 2024

Clarissa

By Samuel Richardson

Just good old fashioned juicy drama, a tragic soap opera, a tale of woe that is as scintillating now as it ever was. I mean, quite long-winded, it could be less long-winded. But brilliant, it sucks you in and surrounds...