The Last Policeman & Countdown City, by Ben H. Winters
The Last Policeman Series To my surprise, I liked both books in “The Last policeman” series rather a lot. IContinue Reading
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Comic books Current events Discussion of author’s portfolio Discussion of lyrics Review of classical fiction
Happy birthday William Shakespeare – 450 years on
It’s the 450th anniversary of the birth of William Shakespeare, who is traditionally believed to have been born today, 23Continue Reading
Homage to Hennie Aucamp
South African author, poet, lyricist and playwright Hennie Aucamp died on 20 March 2014, aged 80 years, from a heartContinue Reading
Horrid but funny – Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk, by David Sedaris
Fables with Fangs Obviously fitting into the genre of Folklore, this collection of cautionary tales, Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modern Bestiary,Continue Reading
A querulous knight on a quest – The 100-Year-Old Man…, by Jonas Jonasson
This book’s wordy title, The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed out the Window and Disappeared (“The 100-Year-old-Man” for short) is partContinue Reading
Backstories Current events Discussion of genre Fairytales Humor Humour Review of modern fiction Review of novel
Easily digestible lessons for modern life – The 100-Year-Old Man and Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk
New spins on old fables The past few years have seen an increase in films and novels that rework andContinue Reading
Milking a franchise – Let Me Off at the Top! by Ron Burgundy
“Ron Burgundy” is of course not the actual author of this book – it was penned by Will Ferrell andContinue Reading
Umbrella, by Will Self – Writing as avant-garde Jazz
(Bloomsbury Publishing, 2012) You have to be determined to finish Umbrella. It’s 379 pages of text with no line breaks.Continue Reading
There’s another “Dear Life” out there – Comparing H.E. Bates and Alice Munro
TWO “DEAR LIFE” TITLES The other day, I was rereading one of my favourite short story compilations, My Uncle Silas,Continue Reading
The Pigoons are going to get you – MaddAddam Trilogy by Margaret Atwood
Man Booker Prize winner Margaret Atwood is famous, celebrated, much awarded, and justly so. One comes to expect that everythingContinue Reading
100 Reviews and counting
Margaret Atwood’s MaddAddam Trilogy – coming up – will be the subject of the 100th book review I’ve written inContinue Reading
The astonishing politics of language – Embassytown, by China Miéville
This is a New Weird novel/thriller/sociological discourse (?) about Linguistics in society, or to be more precise – Semiotics – andContinue Reading
And the Mountains Echoed, by Khaled Hosseini
(Penguin Group, 2013) Introduction Khaled Hosseini’s latest novel has made me cry and made me miss my family. I knew,Continue Reading
Day of the Oprichnik, by Vladimir Sorokin
Day of the Oprichnik gave me nightmares – literally. The cover shows a bear, with a dagger and a watchContinue Reading
Best Wishes for the Season – In the words of Breyten Breytenbach
The best way to express my best wishes to my family, friends, followers and fellow book lovers for the newContinue Reading
Mary Poppins, P.L. Travers’ Hard-Hearted Nanny, the topic of new film
Update on this post: Here is an excellent analysis in the New Yorker of P.L. Travers’ youth, development as anContinue Reading
Art Art-themed Fiction Award-winning novel Discussion of current events Modern fiction Review of modern fiction Review of new novel
The Goldfinch, by Donna Tartt
Update The Goldfinch won the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Amazon selected the novel as the 2013 Best Book ofContinue Reading
The Grass Was Singing – Goodbye Doris Lessing
Doris Lessing, the Zimbabwean-raised author who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2007, died on 17 November 2013. Luckily forContinue Reading
William Shakespeare’s Star Wars – Verily, A New Hope, by Ian Doescher
Skip the poetry, go to the Full review A Review of This Fine Tale, in Blank Verse and A HeroicContinue Reading
Children’s Literature Current events Discussion of author’s portfolio Discussion of genre Review of new book Review of new novel Review of novel
Depicting the minutiae of life – Dear Life, by Alice Munro
– (Penguin Books Canada, 2012) The significant moments in Alice Munro’s latest collection of short stories tend to creep upContinue Reading
Happy birthday Dylan Thomas, you lovely Welshman
Dylan Thomas would’ve been 99 today. Born 27 October 1914, he died 9 November 1953, only 39 years old, muchContinue Reading
The Rosie Project, by Graeme Simsion
Overview I initially liked this novel, written from the point of view of a man who shows quite a fewContinue Reading
Detroit – An American Autopsy, by Charlie LeDuff
An autopsy is an examination to find the cause of death. From the title, you can assume the subject, Detroit,Continue Reading
Enlightenment for biking newbies
Bike Snob – Systematically & Mercilessly Realigning the World of Cycling, by Bike Snob NYC (Chronicle Books, San Francisco, 2010)Continue Reading
SEVEN CIRCUMSTANCES 