I’m not quite sure how I feel about Tara Westover’s memoir, Educated. Comparisons with Hillbilly Elegy, which I did not like, are inevitable. The stories are actually quite different, as are the attitudes of the narrators. I had referred to J.D. Vance (author of… Read More ›
You’ll notice something strange in this screen shot: the Hitchhiker’s trilogy apparently consists of five books, not three. But of course that’s part of the shtick. What are we supposed to call it? The Hitchhiker’s pentalogy? Nah, the generic word is… Read More ›
“It’s a man, it’s a bird…” OK, stop right there. You know what this is about. But maybe you don’t. The beginning of this thorough biography of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, creators of Superman, does indeed focus on their… Read More ›
This certainly sounds like an exciting exhibit! Here’s a brief description: Tolkien: Maker of Middle-earth explores Tolkien’s amazing legacy from his genius as an artist, poet, linguist, and author to his academic career and private life. The exhibition takes you on… Read More ›
Oddly, I had never read James Gunn’s work of literary criticism, titled Isaac Asimov: The Foundations of Science Fiction, before this week. I say “oddly” because Asimov had absolutely been one of my favorite science fiction authors ever since I was,… Read More ›
What a strange (and disturbing) book! It’s one of those novels that grip my attention and refuse to let go — so I feel compelled to read to the end — and yet I certainly can’t say that I enjoyed… Read More ›
Continuing with the gaming theme that played a major role in Player by Proxy, Ready Player One, and The Chalk Artist, now we need to talk about Felicia Day’s amusing and engaging memoir, You’re Never Weird on the Internet (Almost). As you know… Read More ›
Flashback to two months ago: apparently I was the only living person who hadn’t yet heard of Ernest Cline’s Ready, Player One. Now everyone has heard of it, since Spielberg’s film adaptation has just opened. As I’m not going to be seeing… Read More ›
I know the characters in this novel. Not literally, of course. But it feels as if I know them. Local author Allegra Goodman brings her characters to life as real people. I’m sure it helps that so many of them are like… Read More ›
A cleverly worded summary of The Body in the Casket could easily lead you to think that it was describing an Agatha Christie mystery. As you can tell from the image of the cover, it’s actually a Katherine Hall Page mystery, not… Read More ›
