The Magic Mountain
As a book, certainly a very good one, although as a Great Book I found it a bit middling. It has a certain uniqueness that is intriguing, a story that wavers and a temporality that wanes - and occasionally waxes...
read
The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle
Fun & funky pursuit of a killer and pursuite of the killt, whodunnit and also just whatdunandwen, little bit of Christie and a little bit of Groundhog day, and a little bit of (frankly, somewhat cumbersome) sci-fi oddity. That frame...
The Very Best of the Best
The Potter of Bones
Ducks
Kate Beaton is great, this book is great, this book is heavy and traumatic and human and occasionally a bit sweet. Should be read.
Murder on the Orient Express
It’s got mystery, it’s got murder, it’s got train travel, it’s got the line “Hercule Poirot addressed himself to the task of keeping his moustaches out of the soup.”
The Art of Flight
Part autobiography, part literary criticism. I was a bit skeptical at first, and maybe to a certain extent throughout the entirety - while most of it is beautifully wrought, there is a tendency for Pitol just to simply start listing...
Jingo
Not Pratchett’s best, not the best Pratchett featuring these characters, but I mean, still Pratchett, still heartfelt and earnest light silly fantasy about racism and war. Good fun, and would recommend, but maybe not for someone’s first experience of Discworld....
Bleeding Edge
Quick (for Pynchon) fun (for Pynchon) jaunt through conspiratorial world of fresh-from-the-dot-com-collapse Silicon Alley, NYC; a modern take on film noir but like in books and also with computer stuff. A good mess to untangle with some snazzy characters and...
The English Understand Wool
The Committed