“We don’t get the family we deserve,” a character says early in A Little Life, Hanya Yanagihara’s hefty, tragic novel. He is being self-effacing: he has had a better family than most, but is trying to show empathy to his friend. The comment, though, is a controlling idea of the sad story. Jude, named afterContinue reading “A Little Life, pt. 1”
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Fearsome Five
I’ve written about my thrice list (authors I’ve read more than twice) and my premiere list (a handful of authors I’ve read ten times). There are a few authors who stand somewhere in the middle. Last time I wrote about my fondness for Ann Hood. Andrew Morton is just a bit behind her. I firstContinue reading “Fearsome Five”
The Magnificent Seven
The more I write about my one and done reading rule, the more the exceptions come to mind. I’ve already written about the quartet of Anne Tyler, Anne Lamott, Armistead Maupin, and Harlan Coben, all of whom have reached premiere status of ten books. It may soon be a quintet, though, with the addition ofContinue reading “The Magnificent Seven”
Dreams of Life
If you read this blog, you know that there is a short list of authors I have read multiple times. With so many books and so little time, I like to fan out and cover as much ground as possible. Call it The Primo list. I’m usually done at one. Armistead Maupin, Anne Tyler, andContinue reading “Dreams of Life”
They Say Bread Is Life
Food is a universal pleasure and necessity, so it should be no surprise that it has been at the center of plenty of books. While few works exclude the subject entirely — it would be a challenge not to include the daily bread — there are a few genres that focus on it centrally. HereContinue reading “They Say Bread Is Life”
Harry Fun Facts
I decided to listen to Spare on audio. In addition to the dramatic A story, there was oodles of trivia. Here’s some of what I learned. 1. Harry is a “Friends” fanatic. He watched every episode in 2013 and decided he was a Chandler. 2. Harry loathes Rupert Murdoch. 3. Harry is not much ofContinue reading “Harry Fun Facts”
Reading Around The Map: Kansas
Armchair travel can take you far and wide. I have read books set in the jungles of the Congo, the mountains of Bhutan, and the languid islands of the South Pacific all without ever having left my apartment. Not all armchair travel is exotic. There can be amazing stories set just about anywhere. All itContinue reading “Reading Around The Map: Kansas”
Best Books of 2022
Every reading year is different. 2022 started out strong for me, with a streak of good books in the spring that made me love reading. Nothing lasts forever, though, and I found myself going through a summer dry spell. The distant memories of slogging through required reading revisited the present and slowed me down. ItContinue reading “Best Books of 2022”
A Few More Questions
Again this week I’m going to answer a few questions as a lifelong reader and intermittent writer. Which writers are egregiously overlooked or underrated? The one that immediately comes to mind is RS Vliet. He wrote excellent literary fiction like Scorpio Rising and the book never found an audience. Some quality writing never finds aContinue reading “A Few More Questions”
A Question or Two
Every week or so, The New York Times runs a delightful interview called By The Book. From a boilerplate of questions, authors and other famous figures talk about how reading has changed their lives. I’ve written about the book before, but I thought it would be fun to answer the questions myself. We’ll see howContinue reading “A Question or Two”
Books Smitten 