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World Without Pain: The Story of a Search
Adriana’s Family
The Woman Who Fell Backwards and Other Stories
Apocalypse Bluff and Other Stories
The Senescent Nomad Hits the Road
Invasive Procedures: Stories
Heroes and Other Illusions: Stories
Bedlam Battle: An Omnibus of the One Thousand Series
After the Fireflood
Caliban’s Children
The Fantasy Book Murders
Opting Out and Other Departures
Sunflower: A Novel
America Redux: Impressions of the United States After Thirty-Five Years Abroad
Fear or Be Feared: Fantasies
Writing as a Metaphysical Experience
Reviews and Reflections on Books, Literature, and Writing
The One Thousand: A Novella
The One Thousand: Book Two: Team of Seven
The One Thousand: Book Three: Black Magic Bus
The One Thousand: Book Four: Deconstructing the Nightmare
After the Rosy-Fingered Dawn: A Memoir of Greece
The Misadventures of Mama Kitchen: A Novel
Dark Mirrors: Dystopian Tales
Love Children: A Novel
Painsharing and Other Stories
The Dragon Ticket and Other Stories
Category Archives: Book Reviews
Book Review: The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi
Although John Scalzi is a best-selling author in the science fiction field, I have never read any of his novels until now. I remember reading and enjoying the occasional short story or novelette I encountered in an anthology, but that’s … Continue reading
Posted in Book Reviews
Tagged adventure, Godzilla, monsters, parallel world, science fiction
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Book Review: Riverman: An American Odyssey by Ben McGrath
Riverman tells the story of Dick Conant, an itinerant canoeing enthusiast. Self-describing as homeless, he might have been like many other wandering vagabonds, albeit with a preference for waterways rather than dry land, had he not bumped into McGrath, a … Continue reading
Posted in Book Reviews, Travel
Tagged canoeing, homeless, river journey, traveling, vagabond
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Book Review: Stolen Focus: Why You Can’t Pay Attention – and How to Think Deeply Again by Johann Hari
I came across Stolen Focus in the library and was instantly fascinated by its premise. I already had enough books in arms, though, and so I saved it for later. Then I made the mistake of reading the article on … Continue reading
Posted in Book Reviews
Tagged creativity, flow state, focus, mind wandering, surveillance capitalism
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Book Review: Slaughterhouse-Five, or, The Children’s Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
I came to Slaughterhouse-Five in a roundabout way, specifically after reading The Writer’s Crusade: Kurt Vonnegut and the Many Lives of Slaughterhouse-Five by Tom Roston. I happened upon the Roston volume by chance in the new book section of the … Continue reading
Posted in Book Reviews
Tagged Kurt Vonnegut, PTSD, science fiction, time travel, World War 2
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Book Review: The Writer’s Crusade: Kurt Vonnegut and the Many Lives of Slaughterhouse-Five by Tom Roston
Let’s start with the title of this fascinating book, with its reference to the “many lives” of Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut. This is an allusion to the multiple drafts that Vonnegut wrote over two decades before he was satisfied with … Continue reading
Posted in Book Reviews, On Writing
Tagged Kurt Vonnegut, PTSD, Slaughterhouse-Five, The Things They Carried, Tim O'Brien, war trauma
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Book Review: River of the Gods: Genius, Courage, and Betrayal in the Search for the Source of the Nile by Candice Millard
River of the Gods is a powerful, well-written book about some fascinating historical characters on adventurous journeys. Although the central focus is the expedition of Richard Burton, John Hanning Speke, and Sidi Mubarak Bombay through East Africa from Zanzibar to … Continue reading
Posted in Book Reviews, Travel
Tagged adventure, Africa, exploration, history, Nile River, traveling
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Book Review: Brooklyn by Colm Toibin
My interest in the novel Brooklyn stems from seeing the movie a few years ago and considering it one of the best films of the year. I decided to re-watch the movie recently and I came up with the idea … Continue reading
Posted in Book Reviews
Tagged 1950s, Brooklyn, immigrant experience, Jhumpa Lahiri, The Namesake
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Book Review: Rocket Men: The Daring Odyssey of Apollo 8 and the Astronauts Who Made Man’s First Journey to the Moon by Robert Kurson
I have read numerous books about NASA and the space program, and Rocket Men is one of the more interesting and illuminating ones. Before I read this, I was unaware of the extreme danger and urgency of Apollo 8. What … Continue reading
Posted in Book Reviews
Tagged Apollo 8, Apollo program, astronauts, NASA, sixties, spaceflight
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Book Review: Wild Horses of the Summer Sun: A Memoir of Iceland by Tory Bilski
I picked up this book at the library because it struck me as an unusual memoir and travel tale. It concerns a group of women who for over a decade journeyed to Iceland every year to get away from their … Continue reading