Book #19 of 2017: The Victim by Saul Bellow When an antisemitic acquaintance accuses Asa Leventhal of ruining his life, the New York City Jew brushes off the accusation to focus on a recent family tragedy. But the gentiles in his life are quick to take his accuser’s side, to the point where Leventhal begins …
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Book Review: The Princess Diarist by Carrie Fisher
Book #18 of 2017: The Princess Diarist by Carrie Fisher The Princess Diarist is Carrie Fisher’s account of her time filming the first Star Wars movie, along with some reflections on what the franchise’s fame has meant for her over the years. It’s a deeply personal memoir, constantly foregrounding the fact that the actress was …
Continue reading “Book Review: The Princess Diarist by Carrie Fisher”
Book Review: The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan
The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan (The Wheel of Time #1) For the most part this first book in Robert Jordan’s massive Wheel of Time saga feels like a paint-by-numbers retelling of the Star Wars / Lord of the Rings monomyth. There’s some occasional flashes of originality, but it’s mostly just the same …
Continue reading “Book Review: The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan”
Book Review: Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
Book #16 of 2017: Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy As many others have noted, the title Anna Karenina is somewhat misleading, as the novel devotes more space to the story of Anna’s brother-in-law and author stand-in Konstantin Levin than it does to Anna herself. (“Brother-in-law” is a simplification, and suggests a closeness between Anna and …
Continue reading “Book Review: Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy”
Book Review: The Painter of Battles by Arturo Pérez-Reverte
Book #15 of 2017: The Painter of Battles by Arturo Pérez-Reverte This was kind of a strange book, about a former war photographer who gets tracked down in retirement by a soldier he once photographed who now blames the man for ruining his life and says he’s come to kill him. The two men proceed …
Continue reading “Book Review: The Painter of Battles by Arturo Pérez-Reverte”
Book Review: Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake
Book #14 of 2017: Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake (Three Dark Crowns #1) I loved the atmosphere in this book, which is set on a secluded magical island slowly gearing up for its sacrificial rites – a tradition that no one really questions, which is delightfully eerie in a Shirley Jackson kind of way. …
Continue reading “Book Review: Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake”
Movie Review: Howard the Duck (1986)
Movie #1 of 2017: Howard the Duck (1986) Okay, so there’s no denying that this is a bad movie, but it’s definitely one that’s so bad it’s good (especially when watched with a group of friends making jokes throughout about possible connections to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, like how the technology that brings Howard to …
Book Review: A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Book #13 of 2017: A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett The first third of this book is a bit of a bore, as the heroine’s only real character trait is that she is nicer and smarter and with a better relationship to her father than all the other girls at her boarding school. And …
Continue reading “Book Review: A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett”
Book Review: The Big Four by Agatha Christie
Book #12 of 2017: The Big Four by Agatha Christie (Hercule Poirot #5) Agatha Christie at her worst. I could be charitable and say that this book is an homage to Poirot’s literary predecessor Sherlock Holmes, as it involves the Belgian detective going up against an international crime syndicate and faking his own death in …
Continue reading “Book Review: The Big Four by Agatha Christie”
Book Review: The Riddle-Master of Hed by Patricia A. McKillip
Book #11 of 2017: The Riddle-Master of Hed by Patricia A. McKillip (Riddle-Master #1) Like the best of fantasy, The Riddle-Master of Hed reads like a beautiful dream. And the reluctant warrior at its center, fated to be a powerful figure of prophecy despite all his wishes for a quiet life back home, makes for …
Continue reading “Book Review: The Riddle-Master of Hed by Patricia A. McKillip”
The Lesser Joke: book reviews and more 