Tag: fiction

The Cellist Of Sarajevo

by Steven Galloway I have morbid curiosity for what evil deeds humans can do to each other. The siege of Sarajevo was easily one of the most brutal wars of the late 20th century, almost as horrific as the Rawandan genocide. This small novel puts one in that terrifying time and place and asks how could one retain one’s humanity amid senseless cruelty and murder? I assume it is essentially historically accurate.  …

The Sunlight Dialogs

By John Gardner Did anyone write more dense and intense novels than John Gardner? Novels that got into more inextricable, painful knotted pathways of emotion and fateful consequence? I never did finish this book.  I think of it as on a par with V by Thomas Pynchon.…

Moby Dick

by Herman Melville My brother Steve gave me this book for a present years ago. I think he loved Melville, and what’s more he loved the woodcut illustrations by Rockwell Kent. It is a wonderful book, very raw and powerful and weird.…

Homage to Czerny

by Gert Jonke My sweetheart gave me this for a present and I started reading it aloud to my 16 year old son. It soon had us both rolling around laughing on the couch. This is delightful, absurd, existential comedy.…

Moving On

by Larry McMurtry I’m surprised that I finished such a long and boring novel. I’ve dumped far more exciting stuff than this after a few chapters. I think it was the excruciating realism of Moving On that kept me going. A better book in this style would be Freedom, by Jonathan Franzen. McMurtry’s best book is Lonesome Dove, by far.…

Plexus

by Henry Miller I was traveling in Australia or maybe Hong Kong when I picked up Plexus in a youth hostel, and I was thrilled. Its one of the greatest beatnik novels ever.  If you read about fifty pages in, and get to the scene in the Italian restaurant, you’ll get the picture, and know if you want to finish this very long crazy ride. I didn’t know at the time that Miller was most well known for his frank and off handed telling of his sexual conquests.…