Madeline Miller’s novel, The Song of Achilles, is Patroclus’s story. Miller’s novel reinterprets The Iliad through the lens of Patroclus—Achilles’ companion, friend, and lover—and she anchors the whole thing on their relationship. This book isn’t quite as good as it wants to be. The prose … tries too hard for poeticism, instead of just being […]
You may or may not have read my I-Hate-Mr.-Darcy-Books rant. If you did, bully for you. If you didn’t, you can catch up here. As the moniker I’ve given it implies, I do not like Mr. Darcy books. At all. For various reasons, but mostly because they’re not really very good. Anyway, we’ve been down […]
THIS BOOK IS A SLOG. Do you know when I finally started to get interested in this story (and even then, not super invested, just mildly interested enough feel like I didn’t have to make dying whale noises whenever I picked it up)? Page 245. PAGE TWO HUNDRED AND FORTY FRICKIN’ FIVE!!! And I only […]
Christopher Buckley’s latest novel, They Eat Puppies, Don’t They?, is half brutal satire of Washington politics and half quirky/absurdist indie movie waiting to happen. And it’s even pretty funny. As a basic litmus test for whether you’ll like this book, think about Thank You For Smoking. If you liked it, great, this is very similar […]
Zis book, she is beautiful. No, truly, despite ze cheesy French accent, I’m 100% serious. Sacre Bleu, A Comedy D’Art is funny (Chris Moore’s signature fare), but it’s also sweet, and loving in a way that Moore’s work … isn’t always. I love it. I really, really do. We start with Vincent Van Gogh’s murder. […]
Lyndsay Faye’s book, The Gods of Gotham, is a historical fiction murder mystery. Yeah. You heard me. A Historical Fiction Murder Mystery. Does that not sound like an answered prayer to anyone else? I mean, I’m not usually much for murder mysteries and things (there’s more interesting stuff for me to read, the re-read value […]
Ray Bradbury was an extraordinary writer. He died on June 5th, 2012, at the age of 91 after a lengthy illness. He was one of my favorite contemporary writers. He was a giant of science fiction, and more importantly, of imagination—of thought, creativity, and will. He wrote in almost every form—books, essays, poems, operas, teleplays, […]
There are some books that are plot heavy. You know which ones I mean—the ones that could fuel two seasons worth of soapy opera all by their dark, dramatic, twisted lonesomes. And then there are the books that meander. While the plot-heavy books are racing at breakneck speed to cram everything in, these books give […]