Tag: fiction
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Welch’s Winter in the Blood
Winter in the Blood James Welch Brutal, haunting and beautifully written tale of life over a couple of weeks on a reservation, in Montana, in the 1970s. If you think such a setting would produce a sad tale of heartbreak, death, alcoholism and little hope, you’d be right. Much of this book is brutal in…
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Review: Sinclair’s White Chapel: Scarlet Tracings
White Chapel: Scarlet Tracings Iain Sinclair An odd but of work, this novel by poet, bookseller, novelist and pyscho-geographer Iain Sinclair was one of the main inspirations for Alan Moore’s From Hell. It’s a pretty out-there novel that is part investigation into the Jack the Ripper murders, part fictionalized pseudo memoir of life amongst the…
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Review: Older’s Infomocracy
Infomocracy Malka Older A science fiction political thriller novel about elections. Meaning, a book written precisely for me. In the future, elections are done on a hyper-local level with major parties looking to piece together large numbers of small districts to achieve global parties. The system is run by a disinterested google-like corporation (Information) determined…
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Review: Hamilton’s The Second Life of Nick Mason
The Second Life of Nick Mason Steve Hamilton Another Hamilton book, this one debuting a new series and a new brooding protagonist – Nick Mason: noble petty criminal forced to work for evil organized crime boss while valiantly attempting to hold onto his humanity and save from ruin a whole bunch of innocent people. This…
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Review: Hamilton’s A Cold Day In Paradise
A Cold Day In Paradise Steve Hamilton An above average crime thriller, the first in Steve Hamilton’s series featuring down on his luck, broken detective Alex McKnight. I picked this up because I read somewhere that Hamilton’s an underrated crime writer – I guess that’s true. Certainly better than the Baldacci’s of the world, but…
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Book Review – Diaz’s Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao Junot Diaz I’m late to the Diaz game, so probably you’ve already read this. If not, here goes: this is the story of awkward overweight SF fan Oscar Wao and his family. Its also a lot more than that. Diaz uses the Wao family to tell the story of modern Dominican…
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Review: Brown’s Angels and Demons
Angels & Demons – Movie Tie-In Dan Brown In my attempt to understand America, I read Dan Brown’s Angels and Demons 1. It is terribly written. There, I said it. Now to be fair, I don’t know if I could have written it. For many reasons. I couldn’t sustain the level of cliff hanger chapters,…
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Review: Winslow’s Power of the Dog
The Power of the Dog Don Winslow Wow, what a read. A top-notch crime writer does the research and takes the time to understand the modern origins of the drug war in Mexico, then tells that story through the lives of petty criminals, cartel bosses, DEA agents and regular people caught up in the drug…
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Review: Offill’s Dept of Speculation
Dept. of Speculation Jennifer Offill Beautifully written little gem of a book about marriage, kids, and betrayal. This is basically a book about a privileged Brooklyn intellectuals and their domestic problems. i.e. it is about me and my friends. Generally, I avoid this kind of stuff. As a rule, Brooklyn writers writing about Brooklyn writers…
Milo and the Calf 