Category Archives: Book Reviews

Book Review: Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card

This is one of those books that sat for years on my shelf before I read it.  I don’t know why.  No special reason.  Sometimes there’s just a right time to do things, and I guess this was the time.  … Continue reading

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Book Review: The Radicalism of the American Revolution by Gordon S. Wood

I like history books that read like novels:  full of anecdotes, details, fast-paced narration, fascinating characters.  This book is not like that.  It does not read like a novel at all; it reads more like a university lecture.  You have … Continue reading

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Book Review: The Air-Conditioned Nightmare by Henry Miller

By way of introduction let me emphasize that Henry Miller is one of my favorite writers.  His writings changed my life, changed my attitude towards writing and towards literature.  “Tropic of Cancer” is one of my favorite books of all … Continue reading

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Book Review: Wild Nights!: Stories About the Last Days of Poe, Dickenson, Twain, James, and Hemingway by Joyce Carol Oates

This is a wildly original collection of long short stories, or novelettes, on the last days of famous writers.  I had never heard of it before, but I picked it up at the library on a whim, intrigued by the … Continue reading

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Book Review: Rabindranath Tagore: The Myriad-Minded Man by Krishna Dutta and Andrew Robinson

This is a fairly comprehensive biography on Tagore, starting with a chapter on his grandfather and culminating in his death.  After he won the Nobel prize for literature in 1913 he was an international celebrity, considered one of the two … Continue reading

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Book Review: The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes

I ordered this book as soon as I could after I learned that it had won the 2011 Man Booker Prize and had read some reviews.  The subject matter fascinated me.  I too am aging and am confronted with a sense … Continue reading

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Book Review: The Seventies: The Great Shift in American Culture, Society, and Politics by Bruce J. Schulman; Part Two:The Book Itself

In the first post about this book I recounted what the seventies mean to me personally.  Heady times they were, to be sure, and integral to my development as a writer.  Now I will go into an analysis of the … Continue reading

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Book Review: The Seventies: The Great Shift in American Culture, Society, and Politics by Bruce J. Schulman; Part 1: What the Seventies Mean To Me

I graduated high school in the class of 1970, having just turned 17 years old.  After a few months of drinking and carousing I was off to university in California.  At the time I hadn’t a clue about what anything … Continue reading

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Book Review: The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volume Five Edited by Jonathan Strahan

Last year I reviewed a volume of best science fiction of the year edited by Gardner Dozois.  There were good stories and mediocre stories, but overall it was a good read.  This volume, however, was even more enjoyable.  I think … Continue reading

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Short Story Author Highlight: Cordwainer Smith

Cordwainer Smith was the pseudonym of Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger, a military officer who specialized in East Asia and psychological warfare.  He wrote non-fiction and spy thrillers, but he is best known for the science fiction he produced in the … Continue reading

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