Milo and the Calf

Tag: fiction

  • Review: Goodwin’s the Jannisary Tree

    The Janissary Tree Jason GoodwinFrom all the wonderful reviews this got, I have to admit I was expecting more from this mystery set during the waning days of the Ottoman Empire. Goodwin is a skillful writer, and he has an obvious love for Turkey and its culture, but the plot seemed hackneyed and the execution…

  • Review: Buekes’s Broken Monsters

    Broken Monsters (Reading Group Guide) Lauren Buekes Super well-done mystery novel set turned super-natural what-the-fuck. Wonderful characters including sketchy wanna-be youtube stars, troubled ex-cons, teens in over their heads, overworked cops and mentally ill artists all face unknowable something or other in post-industrial Detroit. Good fun. I picked this up not knowing what to expect…

  • Review: Nabokov’s The Defense

    The Defense Vladimir Nabokov This early Nabokov novel is not of the mindbending genius of later works like Pale Fire and Lolita, but it is still better than even the best work by many other writers. Nabokov is a brilliant stylist and imagines the world of his protagonist brillantly. The phrasing is sparse and compelling,…

  • Review: Ignatius’s the Increment

    The Increment: A Novel David Ignatius David Ignatius is a true beltway insider. He writes for the Washington Post and he is a regular guest on Sunday morning talk show. However, unlike most beltway reporters, when he turns his hand to fiction, he can write a better than average spy thriller. By far Ignatius’ best…

  • Review: Cohen’s Book of Numbers

    Book of Numbers: A Novel Joshua Cohen A new addition to the burgeoning genre of MFA writers try their hand at thrillers. A diverting read about a failing young writer (name Joshua Cohen) who is hired to write the biography of a mysterious and eccentric Silicon Valley billionaire (also named Joshua Cohen) whose company may…

  • Review: Mandel’s Station Eleven

    Station Eleven Emily St. John Mandel This is a wonderfully strange, somewhat SF, pretty dystopian, near future novel that’s also about the nature of love, what it means to be a family, and how to stay human, and creative, in a word stacked against you. I loved this book. Science fiction type books that deal…

  • Review: Lynd’s the Last Spymaster

    The Last Spymaster Gayle Lynds A poorly constructed and dreadfully written second rate spy novel. As I have said on many occasions, I have no taste. If a book’s plot moves along at a good clip and is engaging, I’ll overlook clumsy writing. If a book is beautifully written, I’ll overlook a lackluster plot. But…

  • Review: Lippman’s Baltimore Blues

    Baltimore Blues: The First Tess Monaghan Novel Laura Lippman The first book in Lippman’s Tess Monaghan Series of crime novels set in Baltimore. This was a bit of more breezy than I expected, but does what I want a crime novel to do – give me a sense of place, give me characters I believe,…

  • Review: Levy’s Nothing Serious

    This review (and the dozen or so others I’ve posted tonight) are all from a now long defunct livejournal and have been only minimally edited. Nothing Serious Justine Levy Justine Levy is Bernard-Henri Levi’s daughter. This is her novel about life with a famous father she worships and how all her boyfriends both hate and…

  • Review: Twelve Hawks the Traveler

    The Traveler John Twelve Hawks John Twelve Hawks is a pseudonym. Of who, no one knows. This is the first book in trilogy of high tech thrillers with touch of science fiction. Good enough to hold my attention, but now good enough to get me to read the other books in the series. This book…