Tag: reviews

• In Which Both Émile Zola and Elsa Morante Kick My Ass

  Jun 17

  With apologies to Refused, sometimes the classics don’t go out of style Émile Zola (translated by Elinor Dorday), La Débâcle We all have gaps in our reading history. In the… more ›

• Fragments b/w Perception

  May 31

  Thoughts on two (or five) books and a general update Cesare Pavese, The Selected Works of Cesare Pavese (translated by R. W. Flint) Sometimes the internet is good. I was… more ›

• Hallucination Cities

  May 15

  Quick thoughts on two very strange, very compelling books in translation.  The Twenty Days of Turin by Giorgio De Maria; translated by Ramon Glazov The Twenty Days of Turin messed… more ›

• Showing My Work

  Apr 24

  It began with a podcast. Specifically, an episode of Reading Writers in which guest Nicholas Russell discussed several authors of uncanny fiction whose work he admired. One of them was… more ›

• Looking for Stories, Finding Something New

  Apr 8

  I can’t say precisely why, but I’ve been on a short story collection kick lately. Maybe it’s been Aaron Burch’s story-centric newsletter; maybe it’s because I’m looking to write more… more ›

• Quick Thoughts on a Jazz Trio (of Books)

  Mar 9

  I’m back from this year’s AWP, which was an excellent time. And I have brief thoughts on three books with one big element in common. William Melvin Kelley, A Drop… more ›

• Watching “A Cure for Wellness” With Politics on the Brain

  Mar 5

  A few weeks ago I ventured out to a local multiplex and watched the Gore Verbinski-directed Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die. I liked it a lot – possibly more… more ›

• How’d We Get to the End of the World?

  Aug 4

  Sometimes, by complete coincidence, you end up watching two different movies set after the end of the world. Sometimes those two movies, though stylistically very different, are weirdly complementary. And… more ›

• A Digression I’m almost certainly cutting from a review of Tara Isabella Burton’s “Here in Avalon”

  Nov 29

  As the subject suggests: (Digression: Caleb is the worst. There’s an Achewood strip from 2003 wherein one character describes himself as follows: “I feel like I should be in some… more ›