Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
Let’s get this out of the way, I did not finish Wolf Hall. Not for lack of trying, I promise. But I got 75% of the way through, and was trying to force my way to the end before it was due at the library, when i just realized that I wasn’t enjoying or even absorbing anything I was reading, so what was the point? Anyway, Wolf Hall is about Thomas Cromwell, a somewhat mysterious figure from English history. He rose from humble beginnings to […]
Caught Stealing by Charlie Huston
I’m just getting this in before the soon-to-be-released Darren Arronofsky movie starring Austin Butler and Zoe Kravitz. The story revolves around Henry Thompson, a former baseball star whose life has sort of drifted since a broken leg ended his playing days. He works at a seedy bar and lives in a seedier apartment in New York City. One day, he agrees to cat-sit for a neighbor and that sends his life spinning out of control. He’s attacked by two Russians at his bar, leaving him […]
Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton
It’s always a little rough reading a book after you’ve already seen the movie adaptation, especially when the movie is directed by someone like Steven Spielberg. The movie Jurassic Park is a taut thriller, perfectly calibrated to excite movie audiences. It has one striking image after another, and a score that expertly guides your emotional response. Michael Crichton’s novel does feature some tense, thrilling scenes, and of course he should get a tremendous amount of credit for coming up with such a brilliant premise for […]
The Bangalore Detectives Club by Harini Nagendra
I saw this novel, the first of a series, recommended recently in the New York Times in a feature on cozy mysteries. Cozies aren’t my favorites, but as long as the mystery itself is well-constructed, I can enjoy them just fine. Sadly, this is not the case with The Bangalore Detectives Club, a frankly amateurish effort in which the mystery is a transparent afterthought. Now, I don’t mind authors using genre fiction, especially detective novels, as a vehicle for social commentary, but there are two […]
Long Bright River by Liz Moore
I read Liz Moore’s more recent novel, God of the Woods, earlier this year. That novel captured my attention right from the start with its compelling prose and intriguing cast of characters, but ultimately I felt Moore had let the story get away from her, unable to properly balance the various sideplots and backstories. The ending, too, was a tremendous disappointment. This novel finds Moore focused on a smaller band of characters, but similarly splitting focus between the present and the past. Her protagonist, Mickey […]
I Believe In Miracles: The Remarkable Story of Brian Clough’s European Cup-winning Team by Daniel Taylor
A few years ago, when I was trying to decide on an English Premier League team to commit to, there were a few reasons Nottingham Forest appealed to me. First, and I will not deny this, was the name. I also liked the uniform colors, and the fact that the home crowd sings a version of Paul McCartney’s Mull of Kintyre with altered lyrics. Mainly, I didn’t want to come in and pick one of the big six teams, because that’s not really who I […]
