“You only live twice: Once when you are born And once when you look death in the face.” Twelve books into Ian Fleming’s James Bond series, the strain to keep things interesting is showing. This is a Bond novel that laughably pretends rock, paper, scissors can be a high stakes game like Bond’s casino showdown with … More You Only Live Twice, by Ian Fleming: Book Review
I’ve been a movie buff for a long time. For a time in my early twenties I actually studied the Oscars. Seriously, I studied them. I got to the point where if you named a year from 1950 to present I could have told you the move that won Best Picture that year and who won … More West of Eden, by Jean Stein: Book Review
The overarching problem of this desperately quirky novel is that is can be summed up thusly: “you were an insanely narcissistic creep who treated me like dirt. That’s why we broke up.” Honey, walk the other way and stop navel-gazing. This boy was never worth your time in the first place. In addition, because this … More Why We Broke Up, by Daniel Handler: Book Review
“The dead could only speak through the mouths of those left behind, and through the signs they left scattered behind them.” Every detective series has to have a memorable detective at its core. To fill this requirement, a writer can either go quirky (like Precious Ramotswe or Stephanie Plum) or gritty (like Harry Bosch, Kinsey … More The Cuckoo’s Calling, by Robert Galbraith: Book Review
“As Hegel said, tragedy was not the conflict between right and wrong but right and right, a dilemma none of us who wanted participate in history could escape.” The Sympathizer boldly promises to redefine the way you think about the Vietnam War. A lot of that simply comes down to its narrator, a Communist spy … More The Sympathizer, by Viet Thanh Nguyen: Book Review
“All must pay the debt of nature.” Annie Proulx’s work up to now has been many things, some of them seemingly contradictory: terse, blunt, sharp, distant, poignant, violent, humane, and more. With Barkskins she claims an entirely new term for her collection: sprawling. Clocking in at more than 700 pages, Barkskins begins with the stories of René … More Barkskins, by Annie Proulx: Book Review
“Who would have thought at this time in our lives that we’d still have something like this. That it turns out we’re not finished with changes and excitements. And not all dried up in body and spirit.” Addie and Louis are quiet, decent people in the beginning of their ‘twilight years.’ Both widowed, they’ve been … More Our Souls at Night, by Kent Haruf: Book Review
“I have lost control over everything, even the places in my head.” To talk too much about The Girl on the Train is to give away its secrets, so I will be as brief as possible. Suffice to say that Rachel, a woman who has recently gone through a painful divorce and whose reliance on alcohol … More The Girl on the Train, by Paula Hawkins: Book Review
“Why not make it for always?” You may remember that I nearly broke up with the James Bond series after the misogynist shit show that was The Spy Who Loved Me. I mean, truth be told, you probably don’t care, but let’s pretend for a moment that you do. To summarize, I had been willing to … More On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, by Ian Fleming: Book Review
“Getting blown up happened in an instant; getting put together took the rest of your life.” Louise Erdrich has made a career out of writing novels about Native American people, usually hinging on a crime of some sort, and with just a sprinkle of magical realism (although Erdrich herself objects to that term). It’s a … More LaRose, by Louise Erdrich: Book Review
