Category Archives: Book Reviews

On Rereading The Very Best of Fantasy and Science Fiction Edited by Gordon Van Gelder

Sometimes at odd moments I enjoy looking over the books on my shelves. I don’t have a large collection; there’s probably not more than two or three hundred books in it, but those books hold many precious reading memories. I … Continue reading

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Book Review: River-Horse: The Logbook of a Boat Across America by William Least Heat-Moon

I last met William Least Heat-Moon in the memoir Blue Highways, an account of his journey around the continental United States alone in a small camper van. In River-Horse, he undertakes a boat journey along America’s rivers and lakes from … Continue reading

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Book Review: The Year’s Best Science Fiction Volume 1 Edited by Jonathan Strahan

Even though a lot of the fiction I write, particularly short fiction, is science fiction or fantasy (or sometimes a blend of the two), I don’t read a lot of genre fiction. My reading goes all over the place – … Continue reading

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Book Review: The Typewriter Is Holy: The Complete Uncensored History of the Beat Generation by Bill Morgan

I have to confess to limited exposure to the group of writers that Bill Morgan refers to in this book as the Beat Generation. Whenever I heard the term, I always supposed that it depicted a national or international movement … Continue reading

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Book Review: Mad at the World: A Life of John Steinbeck by William Sounder

Before I start this review, I have to get something off my chest, because it rankles every time I see it. I can’t understand why the author of this biography titled it “A” life of John Steinbeck instead of “The” … Continue reading

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Book Review: Collected Fictions by Jorge Luis Borges; Part 2: Later Writings

Now we come to the heart of Jorge Luis Borges’s work. As he matured as a writer, certain themes and subjects began to emerge. One of these is the concept of the double. Numerous stories deal with two seemingly separate … Continue reading

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Book Review: Collected Fictions by Jorge Luis Borges, translated by Andrew Hurley; Part One: The Early Works

I recently gave a copy of Collected Fictions by Jorge Luis Borges to a young writer as a Christmas present. This is not the same as presenting someone with a more or less standard or normal science fiction or fantasy … Continue reading

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Book Review: The Writer’s Library: The Authors You Love on the Books That Changed Their Lives by Nancy Pearl and Jeff Schwager

From the descriptive material announcing this book, I thought it would be different than it is. I imagined each author elaborating on one book that changed their life. I supposed I would read in-depth evaluations of particular books that would … Continue reading

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Book Review: The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco

The Name of the Rose is a long, complex novel that is not easy to get into. At least it wasn’t for me. First of all, it sat on my shelf for years after I bought it at a library … Continue reading

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Book Review: Chaplin: His Life and Art by David Robinson; Part 2: One Masterpiece After Another

When I wrote the first part of this review, I was about halfway through the text; I closed Part 1 with the creation of Chaplin’s first undeniable film masterpiece: The Kid. He would go on to make several more movies … Continue reading

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