You by Caroline Kepnes
Kind of like my review for 2666, this is going to be one where I have to sort of list my uncategorized scattered thoughts. I sat on this for 24 hours and I still don’t know the best way to talk about this book so here it goes… -It took me four tries to read this. Why couldn’t I quit? My wife hate-watches the series. I walked in on her during a viewing and caught maybe fifteen minutes of it. It really helped me to understand […]
Helltown: The Untold Story of Serial Murder on Cape Cod by Casey Sherman
Had mixed feelings on this one, though I ultimately liked it and found it compelling and readable. And I say that as someone who doesn’t care for serial killer stories, fiction or not. The good: Sherman knows how to weave a yarn. He keeps this smooth, while integrating the many historic events happening around the Cape Cod murder case (the moon landing, Chappaquiddick, the Tate-LaBianca murders, good Lord, the 60s were quite the time to be alive). All of this while two world famous writers […]
Pay Dirt Road by Samantha Jayne Allen
This is getting the thinnest of four-star ratings. I’m giving it all the first-time author grace I can. I loved Samantha Jayne Allen’s sense of place. Her Texas is a real one that feels lived in. She’s very good at talking about the struggles of the locals without pandering (unlike, say, Stephen Markley’s Ohio which basically screamed “(Bad thing X happened because the locals were ravaged by the opioid crisis!”on every page). If this series runs long, I could see her building up on it more […]
The Imperial Cruise: A Secret History of Empire and War by James D. Bradley
Like a lot of Americans, I learned the broad strokes about the Pacific theater in World War II. The Japanese attacked us at Pearl Harbor. Attacked us! Obviously, we couldn’t just stand pat. So we warred with them from island-to-island until we had no choice but to drop the atomic bomb and end the war. They were the aggressor and it was all their fault. I’m reluctant to call this narrative propaganda. Japan did attack us. But the history of the war in the Pacific […]
Normal People by Sally Rooney
Like many, I bought into what Sally Rooney was selling here hook, line, and sinker. It’s not just because she tells quite a story in a beautiful way. It’s because, like few writers I’ve read, she engages in the subtleties and nuances of human emotion. It’s hard writing any book but without question, there’s a higher degree of difficulty in telling the “how” of it. Romantic novels are familiar in structure: two lovers, frequently star-crossed, try to find peace amidst the many challenges. But to […]
A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James
As I descend further into dad-hood, I find myself being more patient for longer books and movies. I mean, I recently sat through 3:15 of Barry Lyndon and loved almost every minute of it. So I figured it was finally time to tackle this one, a book which I must’ve started three or four times only to put off due to its length and a lack of patience trying to understand the Jamaican patois. Better late than never ’cause this book is great. I’m finding more and […]
