Lorrie Moore’s Birds of America
Lorrie Moore is good at writing short stories. This surprises no one, I assume. I had read one or two of her stories in anthologies, but never took the time…
Another Straight White Guy Writer-type in New York featuring Cocaine, or Bright Lights, Big City
Jay McInerney’s 1984 novel Bright Lights, Big City has a lot stacked against it. It’s not only a very “New York” story, it’s about a sensitive and artistic yet somehow…
A Wizard of Earthsea, and why books for young people don’t have to be shit
After a few lukewarm readings of her short stories, I hadn't really bothered with Le Guin for a few years, but I'm trying to rectify that. The Lathe of Heaven…
Coin Locker Babies by Ryū Murakami
Ryū Murakami’s novel Coin Locker Babies was published in 1980, a fact that surprised me when I learned it just a few moments ago. It is certainly not timestamped -I…
Dostoyevsky, The Gambler, and all the Big Important Russian Novels
I still have not read any of the Russian behemoths, but my experiences with the novellas of Tolstoy and now Dostoyevsky are making that a rather untenable position. The Gambler…
The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. Le Guin
While I haven’t particularly been a fan of any of the Le Guin short stories I’ve read, I certainly enjoyed this short novel. Briefly, the novel follows a man who’s…
Mother Night -yes, more Vonnegut…
Mother Night is one of Vonnegut’s minor novels, but still a strong entry. With my goal of reading all of his novels, (as well as Palm Sunday and Man Without…
Mary Gaitskill’s Bad Behavior
Mary Gaitskill’s debut story collection is definitely one of the best collections I’ve read this year. It’s a wide range of stories -male and female protagonists, 1st and 3rd person…
Speedboat
Speedboat is a tough book to write about. It’s been written about quite a bit of late -the recent attention drawn by the novel, long out of print, making it…
The Shipping News
-If you have not yet read The Shipping News and you wish to remain ignorant of key plot points, stop reading. You’ve been warned.- I had read Close Range (Proulx’s…