Annie Bot by Sierra Greer
A few years ago, there was a weird discourse on men and AI sex dolls. I stayed about as far away from it as possible; mostly because I have no opinion but also because I didn’t want to think about the subject. Yet when it came time to read a book on artificial intelligence for a local library’s book challenge, this is the one I picked up. Less a science fiction read and more one about power and gender dynamics, Sierra Greer has crafted an […]
Morning After the Revolution: Dispatches From the Wrong Side of History by Nellie Bowles
I’m going to try and review this book as dispassionately as possible in the beginning. I’ll save my personal comments for the end. Nellie Bowles, a former New York Times writer who now works for The Free Press on Substack, found herself dismayed in the aftermath of lefty uprisings in the wake of George Floyd’s death. She’s a liberal, a woman, a lesbian no less and she suddenly found her words and identity out of step with what she saw as progressive overreach. So she attempted to […]
Rainbow Black by Maggie Thrash
What kind of book is Rainbow Black supposed to be? I speculate here because I finished it three days ago and still don’t know the answer or how I fully feel about it beyond, “I really liked it, loved it in some parts, wish I was moved by others.” It’s such a rigidly unsentimental book from beginning-to-end and I’m not sure if that’s what made me dock it or not because the writing here is so good. The book starts off with a bang. I was enthralled […]
Berlin Game by Len Deighton
My wife and I honeymooned in Berlin. A lot of folks are surprised by this but we’re not beach people. We like to explore histories, interesting cultural icons, the unusual. Berlin was perfect for that. We had a great nine days there and it was a good start to our marriage. Berlin is sort of a Frankenstein’s monster of a city: a pastiche of prewar romanticism, total ruin, capitalist-western occupation and totalitarian communist occupation make up a sort of fascinating urban landscape. It is doing […]
Sweetbitter by Stephanie Danler
During one summer off while in college, I worked as a waiter in a tacky chain Mexican restaurant. And for the first two weeks, I was terrible at it. Just awful. Triage was impossible for me. I wouldn’t have lasted half-a-shift at the restaurant in this book. My manager was very encouraging but one of my co-workers just had it in for me. She berated me, belittled me, basically made my life hell because I was a lousy waiter. I eventually got better and by […]
Tree of Smoke by Denis Johnson
There’s always a risk in going back to a longer book after failing with it the first time. You may invest too much of your time without the payoff you were hoping for. American Psycho is a rare exception that worked for me. Most of them didn’t. Tree of Smoke didn’t work either. This was my third attempt with it and I powered through it because there was enough interest in the characters to see where it was going but no. I don’t want to say it was […]
