Milo and the Calf

Author: seanv2

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    Review: Knecht’s Who Is Vera Kelly

    Who Is Vera Kelly Rosalie Knecht A clever spy novel that doubles as a coming out story, while also being an disection of gender and sexuality in 1950-60s American and is an subtle exposition of the catastrophic effects of U.S. involvement in Latin America. Many spy novelists are ostensibly liberals (LeCarre, Steinhauer come to mind)…

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    Review: Holiday’s The Obstacle Is the Way

    The Obstacle if the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph Ryan Holiday When I first heard of Ryan Holiday, and his mini-stoicism inspired empire, I figured he was probably an asshole. It was all a bit too Silicon Valley bro-y for me (and I’m someone with a deep interest in stoicism and…

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    Review: Mackintosh’s I Let You Go

    I Let You Go Clare Mackintosh A thriller about a dead child and a battered woman that has a plot twist that’s almost too clever. The writing is excellent, and the pacing in the first two third of the book feels like a perfect mix of long periods of dread and sorrow punctuated by short…

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    Review: Ehrman’s Triumph of Christianity

    The Triumph of Christianity: How A Forbidden Religion Swept the World Bart D. Ehrman Ehrman is among the world’s leading authorities on Early Christianity, and without a doubt, the most popular, serious, author on the topic. If Early Christian history and theology has a rock star, its Ehrman.  The dude has written over thirty books,…

  • Review: Locke’s Bluebird, Bluebird

    Bluebird, Bluebird Attica Locke A good crime novel is often as much about place as it is about characters and plot. Raymond Chandler is telling us not just about some caper gone wrong, he’s telling us about Los Angeles. Same with Richard Stark and New York City and, in the present case, Attica Locke and…

  • Review: Hutchinson’s Endure

    Endure: Mind, Body and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance Alex Hutchinson Anyone who has followed this site for any length of time knows I’m obsessed with human endurance. Why (and how) do we push through pain, how do we keep getting faster? Why are some people so much better at this, and how…

  • Book Review: Coates’ We Were Eight Years in Power

    We Were Eight Years In Power: An American Tragedy Ta-Nehisi Coates A collection of Coates journalistic pieces and other writings, most of which first appeared in the Atlantic, and many of which I’d read before. The pieces are organized chronologically, and importantly, tied to each year of the Obama presidency. Coates writes a thoughtful introduction…

  • Review: Zomorodi’s Bored and Brilliant

    Bored and Brilliant: How Spacing Out Can Unlock Your Most Productive and Creative Self Manoush Zomorodi Another in a long line of books fretting over our distraction culture, this one focused on the importance of boredom in the creative process. I’ve read far more of these books than I care to admit (yet remain active…

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    Book Review: Westover’s Educated

    Educated Tara Westover The injuries in this book, the real bloody, life changing injuries. I wasn’t ready for that. I was ready for the story on the cover, of a woman raised by Mormon survivalists in the remote west, the story of a woman who didn’t know what the Holocaust was until she went to…

  • Book Review: Sternbergh’s Shovel Ready

    Shovel Ready Adam Sternbergh A crime novel set in post-apocalyptic New York City featuring a hit man with a heart of gold as the hero. New York has been hit with a dirty bomb, and most of the city has fled, or now lives their entire lives jacked into virtual reality. Except our hero, who…