Cowen, Tyler. (2018). Stubborn Attachments. I read Cowen’s blog, Marginal Revolution, regularly. Although read is a misnomer. He is too busy writing and publishing for his academic career so most of his entries are curation of economics related stories: other…
Polysyllabic Spree: January 10, 2019
Cate, Martin. (2016). Smuggler’s Cove: Exotic Cocktails, Rum, and The Cult of Tiki. Berkeley: Ten Speed Press. About a week ago LEO told me about this book she found that would be great to help me plan and execute the…
Polysyllabic Spree: June 2010
Brandon, John. (2010). Citrus county. San Fransisco: McSweeney’s Rectangulars. Gordimer, Nadine. (1982). Six feet of country. NY: Penguin Books. Hartwell, David G., ed. (1989). The world treasury of science fiction. NY: Little, Brown and Company. Haug, Frigga. (1992). Beyond female…
Librarians
Too funny, if only because it is so true… When Mr. Hibma pulled into the lot, he saw a fleet of cars adorned with Citrus Middle School parking stickers. He stepped around a bush and peeked in a window. Librarians.…
Citrus County by John Brandon
This is the first book in The Rumpus’ Book Club. I guess I will be sharing my thoughts as I make my way through it. The back blurb: There shouldn’t be a Citrus County. Teenage romance should be difficult, but…
Polysyllabic Spree
She [the Minerva] floats only because boys mind her pumps all the time, she remains upright and intact only because highly intelligent men never stop watching the sky and the seas around her. Every line and sail decays with visible…
The Rejectionist 2010
A marvelous sentence that needs to be shared. A review of Houllebecq’s HP Lovecraft biography contains this marvelous insight: It doesn’t take a Freud to recognize that a man who writes constantly about decay, pestilence, and a fishy-smelling menace continually…
Elbaum 2002
Image via Wikipedia I finished the Elbaum book and I am still trying to figure out my impression of it. So instead here are a few impression. He knows his stuff. The research strikes me as meticulous and thorough. I…
Vollmann’s Europe Central
I had started this book once before, or so I guess from the marginalia in the first few pages. I have no recollection. I can tell from the first few pages that it is a heady tome and probably untenable…