Joan Didion wrote “The Year of Magical Thinking” after her husband, John Dunne, died of a heart attack at the dinner table, and her daughter, Quintana Roo, collapsed into a serious illness from which no doctor could retrieve her for 20 months. Shortly after The Year of Magical Thinking went to press, Quintana died as…
Category: Book Reviews
sweet salty kate made me do it
1) You are facing an epic journey. You may choose one companion, one tool and one vehicle from any book or film to accompany you. Or just one of the three. It’s up to you. What do you choose? Samwise Gamgee is my companion. But not as played by my buddy Sean Astin, who needed…
Having Faith by Sandra Steingraber
It’s hard for me to review this book, for two reasons. Reason number one – my kid is crying for my attention right now. Reason number two – I’m still trying to figure out what the book means to me, and how I am going to change my life in response to having read it….
Book Review – Guards! Guards!
Terry Pratchett is officially a fantasy writer, but is more a Jonathan Swift than an Anne McCaffrey. Which is to say, his books got BITE. Pratchett’s Discworld series are the only ones I’ve read – they make up the bulk of his body of work – and they are positively delightful. They are the thinking person’s fantasy novel,…
Book Review – The Road
At once beautiful and horrific, The Road by Cormac McCarthy will keep you up at night for two reasons. The first is the nightmare world he sketches. The second is the beautiful relationship between the father and son who are almost the sole living people in that world. Setting aside for a moment the subject…