Author Archives: John Walters

Book Review: Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson

In short, this is one of the best biographies I have read in years. I didn’t expect it to be so because I was somewhat disappointed by Isaacson’s more recent biography of Leonardo da Vinci. My main objection with that … Continue reading

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Book Review: Tibetan Peach Pie: A True Account of an Imaginative Life by Tom Robbins

This is going to be an unusual review, but then, we are dealing with an unusual writer. I first encountered the prose of Tom Robbins when I somehow got hold of and read his first novel Another Roadside Attraction. I … Continue reading

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Book Review: The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi

As I have mentioned before, with the libraries closed, I am searching my shelves for overlooked books that I may have bought sometime in the past but never read. The Windup Girl is one of these. I found it in … Continue reading

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Book Review: Leonardo da Vinci by Walter Isaacson

I bought this book thinking that it was a typical biography – typical, that is, in the sense that it would be an absorbing story of an extraordinary individual set in a fascinating time period of world history. In these … Continue reading

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The Woman Who Fell Backwards and Other Stories

My new short story collection has been published and is now available at multiple booksellers. A woman doomed to fall endlessly backwards in time unexpectedly finds an unusual and enigmatic romance. An elderly homeless man’s debit card becomes a magical … Continue reading

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Book Review: Slow River by Nicola Griffith

This book, Slow River by Nicola Griffith, I’ve had on my shelf for years but never got around to reading. Not that I didn’t want to – it’s a Nebula Award winner and all – but it always seemed that … Continue reading

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The Dark Night of a Writer’s Soul (Revisited in Light of the Pandemic)

Recently I wrote an essay called “The Great Opportunity, or, Turning Lemons into Lemonade During a Pandemic.” In it, I encouraged those who were isolating themselves while avoiding exposure to the coronavirus to develop their creativity by writing, painting, sculpting, … Continue reading

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The Great Opportunity, or, Turning Lemons into Lemonade During a Pandemic

I empathize with those who have lost loved ones, those who fight on the medical front lines or remain at their posts performing other essential jobs, and those who have suffered loss of employment and remain helplessly at home as … Continue reading

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Rereading On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King

In these days of lockdown, with the library and physical bookstores inaccessible and even books delivered by post under suspicion, I find myself groping for reading material, as I relate in my recent post “How to Find Books During a … Continue reading

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Book Review: The Anarchy: The Relentless Rise of the East India Company by William Dalrymple

Until I left my birthplace and took to the road in earnest, seeking adventure and my voice as a writer, I had no idea that the Indian Subcontinent would become so important to me. I hitchhiked up and down the … Continue reading

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