Milo and the Calf

Tag: book reviews

  • Review Le Guin’s Left Hand of Darkness

    Left Hand of Darkness Ursula Le Guin By the time I read Left Hand Of Darkness in the 1990s, science fiction novels addressing issues of gender and sexuality were, if not mainstream, certainly not revolutionary. Not so when Le Guin published this landmark book in 1969. This is the story of Ai, sent to the…

  • Miller’s A Canticle for Leibowitz

    A Canticle for Leibowitz Walter M. Miller Top five novel of the small-group-keeps-knowledge-alive-in-post-apocalyptic world sub genre of science fiction. You either love this kind of novel or you don’t. I love them, and have read scores, A Canticle for Leibowitz is among the best. It spans hundreds of years, and includes scores of characters all…

  • Sjowall and Wahloo’s Laughing Policeman

    The Laughing Policeman, Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo The fourth novel in Sjowall and Wahloo’s Martin Beck series of Marxian police procedurals.  Set in Sweden in the 1960s and 70s, the Beck series are both page turning detective stories, and indictments of what the writers viewed as a society full of liberal promise on the…

  • Pynchon’s Gravity’s Rainbow

    Gravity’s Rainbow, Thomas Pynchon I read it. Cover to cover. I was 19 and people said it was a work of genius, so I gave it a go. Did I understand it? No. Was it pure hubris to think I could understand one of the pivotal works of this difficult author with no background what…

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    Ellison’s Invisible Man

    Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison It always feels a bit absurd to review a classic, especially one with the profound emotional and political resonance of Invisible Man. I could leave it at this – you need to read this book – but I’ll say a little more. I came to Invisible Man with a bit of…

  • McCarthy’s The Road

    The Road, Cormac McCarthy A work of genius and among the top ten best books I have ever read. One of two books to make me cry on the subway (Stone Butch Blues being the other). It is, of course, legendarily, unrelentingly, bleak. The story of a man and his son trying to survive in…

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    Mailer’s Executioners Song

    Executioners Song Norman Mailer Norman Mailer’s best work. Actually, the only work of his I’ve ever thought was worth the time. A painstakingly reported, and near perfectly executed, telling of the life of Gary Gilmore, the troubled drifter who was the first person to be executed in the United States after the reinstatement of the…

  • Shaara’s Killer Angels

    Killer Angels, Michael Shaara The book that really started my obsession with the civil war.  A novel about the battle at Gettysburg told from the perspective of a commanders from both the Union and Confederate sides. A stunning work. I’m generally not a fan of military history, I could care less about troop movements and…

  • Roy’s God of Small Things

    The God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy I read the God of Small Things almost fifteen years ago, so let’s be honest, my memory is a bit hazy. I remember being blown away that it was a first novel, but in hindsight, that may have been naïve. Its complex narrative structure, following twins in two…

  • Kelman’s How Late It Was, How Late

    How Late It Was How Late James Kelman When I was twenty, I lived in Berkeley California and worked as a tele-fundraiser for a number of large nonprofits. Yes, I was the guy calling to ask you to donate to the Sierra Club. My co-workers were an incredibly eclectic mix of punks, artists, ex-cons, and…