When I was growing up in the Philippines, every guy in my neighborhood played basketball. As a writer one is trained not to use absolute terms like “every” or “all,” but this is surely a statement of empirical fact. Maybe those guys were too busy now, or their knees, like mine, had given way...
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On Rafe Bartholomew’s “Pacific Rims” (2010).
On Arthur Phillips, “The Song Is You” (2009).
No, it’s not a proper review (I leave that up to the experts), but more of an extended observation, which can perhaps be best illustrated with an example of Arthur Phillips’ prose, with our protagonist Julian listening...
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On Andrew Ross Sorkin’s “Too Big to Fail” (2009).
I always used to say that life was too short for bad movies or cheap beer, but with books I had an ironclad and perhaps foolish rule: you make a commitment to read it all the way...
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On William Vollmann’s “Argall” (2001).
Weighing only a little less than last year’s book Imperial, Argall is Vollmann’s 746-page retelling of the “true story of Pocahontas and Captain John...
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On Brian Selznick’s “The Invention of Hugo Cabret” (2007).
Engrossing and thrilling and wonderfully evocative of 1930s Paris. Best part: how the book nails the magical aspect of cinema (though there...
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On Tiffany Potter and C.W. Marshall’s “The Wire: Urban Decay and American Television” (2009).
I rarely give out five stars, especially to an essay collection (where the quality can be uneven). But this is just fantastic:...
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