Freedom by Jonathan Franzen My rating: 4 of 5 stars I almost gave this five stars, but the widespread praise made me pull back a bit. I don’t want to be lumped in with the other reviewers who have been so quick to shout ‘genius!’ and ‘masterpiece!’ and ‘Oprah!’ But the fact is, I quite …
The Last Samurai by Helen DeWitt My rating: 5 of 5 stars Let me start off by saying, because I’ll be posting this to my blog, that this book has nothing to do with the film starring Tom Cruise. The film was fine, I don’t have anything against it, but the stories could not be …
The Pregnant Widow by Martin Amis My rating: 4 of 5 stars I can seen why some reviewers had a problem with this book. It’s talky, and there doesn’t seem to be much going on. But that’s also kind of what I loved about it. It was just what the doctor ordered for the start …
Await Your Reply: A Novel by Dan Chaon My rating: 5 of 5 stars I defy anyone to read the first page of this novel and not be compelled to finish it. Await Your Reply is about identity theft and high-tech criminal enterprises. Think Tom Ripley, if he were alive and at large in today’s …
Instapaper is a godsend for Kindle users. I’ve written a couple posts about my search for an application that would make moving web content to the Kindle a simpler process. I have found that application. With Instapaper, you get a little “bookmarklet” (a little button that goes on your browser’s bookmark toolbar or in your …
Consider Phlebas by Iain M. Banks My rating: 4 of 5 stars If you’re looking for some hard-edged, well-written science fiction, you’ll like Iain M. Banks. This was my first Banks novel. He showed up on my radar when I read a particularly favorable cover blurb on his latest book, Transition, from William Gibson. So …
The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game by Michael Lewis My rating: 4 of 5 stars Michael Lewis is one of my favorite non-fiction writers: a great storyteller and a great “explainer.” He’s written several books about the business world (Liar’s Poker), and he’s also written about sports. The Blind Side is obviously in the …
I’m on one of my occasional short fiction kicks. I’ve discovered a great podcast, the New Yorker fiction podcast in which one of the magazine’s current fiction contributors reads one of their favorite stories from the archives. It’s a great way to sample some of the classics. I’ve also been dipping into Richard Ford’s A …
The Zenith Angle by Bruce Sterling My rating: 3 of 5 stars The Zenith Angle was disappointing. I ignored other reviews that said as much because I’m a fan of Bruce Sterling’s work. Ah, well. The ingredients of a good Sterling novel are here, but he over-seasoned the dish. Perhaps in an attempt at satire, …
