Beghtol, LD. (2006). 69 Love Songs. NY: Continuum. Bowden, Mark, ed. (2007). The best American crime writing, 2006. NY: Houghton Mifflin. Bunyan, John. (1678). The Pilgrim’s Progress. NY: Penguin Classics. Eagleton, Terry. (1983). Literary theory. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.…
Polysllabic Spree
Image via Wikipedia I had not been to the local used bookstore in a while and since I leave for my first tournament of the season to-morrow I decided it was a good time to hit up the clearance section…
Another one bites the dust
Image via Wikipedia I am giving up on yet another book, Robert Ludlum’s The Prometheus Deception. I made it to page 89 but I feel as though it is written for high schoolers who need help seeing things. First, a…
DeMille 1984
Image via Wikipedia I love Cold War fiction. I mean that very precisely. Some people think I mean espionage literature and that is not the case, because something is lost in the current crop of espionage thrillers. The enemy is…
Polysllabic Spree
Cover of House of Leaves Nate suggested a while ago that I do what Nick Hornby does, or at least did, and each month compose a column listing books bought and books read and then some nonsense hopefully related and…
Pulitzer Prize
Image via Wikipedia I am not sure why, I just know that I cannot help myself. Later to-day, when?, the Pulitzer Prize committee will announce their winners for 2008 publications. I have no horse in this race, but for a…
Bolano 2004
Cover via Amazon Junot Diaz, author of The Brief Wondrous LIfe of Oscar Wao (highly recommended), has an interesting bit about his writing process in an interview (Callaloo, 23, 892-907). He says that in his editing process he will look…
Bolano 2004
I am still working through 2666, still? the tome is only 900 pages long, I will be working on it for quite some time, and I think I know what has taken me by surprise here. There are plenty of…
Bolano 2004
I have just started reading the new Roberto Bolano book, 2666, the very one that is making all kinds of waves for its immanent changing of literature. I will make some comments here as I work through it. It is…
Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky
Chapter 28 is probably my favorite chapter so far. It follows my favorite characters and it seems to be the most honest chapter yet where time’s passage is concerned. Many of the chapters flit about and demonstrate that the book…