Category Archives: Book Reviews

Book Review: 100 Years of the Best American Short Stories Edited by Lorrie Moore and Heidi Pitlor; Part Two

As I wrote in the first essay about this book, the early entries disappointed me.  There are some great writers, but the selected stories are not among their best.  They read like the stories that you have to read in … Continue reading

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Book Review: 100 Years of the Best American Short Stories Edited by Lorrie Moore and Heidi Pitlor; Part One

I feel disappointed, and the feeling is tenacious; it won’t go away; so rather than stew in my own juices and wait for it to pass, I have to write about it.  Just to clarify, there are other disappointments and … Continue reading

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Book Review: Virtual Unreality: Just Because the Internet Told You, How Do You Know It’s True? by Charles Seife

This short, spare volume reads like an extended Internet article.  Indeed, all the information it contains is easily available online through a search for its topics.  The bibliography in the back, in fact, has very few listings of complete books, … Continue reading

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Book Review: The Best American Short Stories 2015 Edited by T.C. Boyle and Heidi Pitlor; Part Two: Imbalance in Story Anthologies

Today is Sunday, and I do laundry for my son and myself on Sundays.  I make sure that I am in the laundry room with our two loads at eight o’clock in the morning, which is the earliest permissible time … Continue reading

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Book Review: The Best American Short Stories 2015 Edited by T.C. Boyle and Heidi Pitlor; Part One: Subjectivity in Short Story Appreciation

Reading the collection “The Best American Short Stories 2015” edited by T.C. Boyle had a curious effect on me.  Well, to clarify, I haven’t read it all yet.  I’m several stories in.  I’ve been reading modern short stories recently because … Continue reading

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Book Review: Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott

I occasionally like to read books about writing, to see what other writers have to say about it.  I came across this book at a Seattle Friends of the Library book sale.  It was almost free so, since I had … Continue reading

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Book Review: Everything’s Eventual: 14 Dark Tales by Stephen King

I hope it doesn’t sound like a contradiction when I say that I admire much of Stephen King’s work but have read little of it.  For the most part I have seen the films, and that has been good enough … Continue reading

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Book Review: Ragtime by E. L. Doctorow

A quote by Scott Joplin, a famous ragtime musician, at the beginning of this novel, affirming that ragtime can never be played fast, gives away the style and tone.  It starts very slowly, with descriptions of the main characters, where … Continue reading

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Book Review: Seattle City of Literature: Reflections From a Community of Writers, Edited by Ryan Boudinot

This book, though entertaining enough in its own way, disappointed me.  It’s my fault, really.  Too often my appreciation for things depends in a large part on my expectations.  I was on one of my forays to the Amazon physical … Continue reading

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Book Review: Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty by Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson

In my last post I wrote down some thoughts this book inspired in me about how its themes relate to the world of publishing.  Now I want to directly confront what it says about global economics.  The basic premise of … Continue reading

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