Milo and the Calf

Tag: books

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    Review: Carson’s Norma Jean Baker of Troy

    Norma Jean Baker of Troy Anne Carson   Carson is a genius. An actual genius. She’s a Greek scholar, and a gifted poet and novelist. She’s also someone I’ve admired for years. In fact, I have a whole page of this website devoted to her. Sometimes her work, which often mixes the ancient with the…

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    Review: Parker’s Magical Negro

    Magical Negro: Poems Morgan Parker I don’t really follow contemporary poetry, but there a couple of writers who I adore and I pick up their new work whenever it comes out. Parker (of There Are More Beautiful Things Than Beyonce) is one of those writers I follow. Magical Negro is another round of beautiful writing…

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    Review: Winslow’s The Border

    The Border Don Winslow The final book in Don Winslow’s trilogy about the drug war completing the story of a troubled American agent and his series of drug king pin nemesis. While not as stark as Power of the Dog, and (thankfully) not as violent as The Cartel, this was still top-notch crime writing. I…

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    Review: Keefe’s Say Nothing

    Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland Patrick Radden Keefe Where to even start with this book? This is the story of the tragic murder of Jean McConville, a mother of ten who was taken from her home in the middle of the night. It’s also the story of the…

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    Review: Wilkinson’s American Spy

      American Spy Lauren Wilkinson Spy novel written by serious novelist that deals with race, gender, and anti-colonial struggles in Africa? SIGN ME UP. Wilkinson walks the line between literary and page turner here, incorporating very specific and nuanced discussions of African American / Afro-Caribbean Brooklyn, race and policing, and modern African history. To this…

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    Review: Soyinka’s Death and the King’s Horseman

    Death and the Kings Horseman Wole Soyinka I’m a bit embarrassed I never read this classic before, but glad I rectified that this month. This short play is a story of colonialism, western chauvinism and profound cultural divides. It’s about what happens when ancient cultural traditions get disrespected by a new, allegedly more progressive force,…

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    Review: Jame’s Black Leopard, Red Wolf

    Black Leopard, Red Wolf Marlon James Booker award winning novelist Marlon James jumps into the epic fantasy game and produces a book that is gorgeous on the sentence level, well constructed on the paragraph level, but hugely challenging as a book. Perhaps I’m not smart enough, or my attention isn’t focused enough, but I found…

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    Review: Sack’s On The Move

    On the Move: A Life Oliver Sacks I’ve always been interested in Sacks as a person, even if I’ve never been particularly interested in his work as a neurologist. His intelligence, eccentricity and playfulness are on full display in this memoir. From motorcycling across the country and breaking weightlifting records, to discovering his calling as…

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    Review: Harari’s 21 Lessons for the 21st Century

    21 Lessons for the 21st Century Yuval Noah Harari The third in Harari’s trilogy of books and by far his most accessible. If you know Harari through youtube videos and magazine articles, a lot of this will be familiar. Brilliant insights here into how A.I. will change work, how the stories will tell ourselves today…

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    Review: Tegmark’s Life 3.0

    Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence Max Tegmark I’m not an expert in AI, but I dabble, and I found this book to be amongst the best introductions to this complex field for the lay reader. Life 3.0 investigates a world of intelligent machines that may be utopia of life without…