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 to the end. Not so with Too Big to Fail; for...
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On Andrew Ross Sorkin’s “Too Big to Fail” (2009).
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 Smith — though by “true” Vollmann refers to what he calls a “Symbolic History”, and that the facts contained within are “often untrue based on...
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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 are many other movies that do this better, for obvious reasons). Don’t be daunted by the length; I finished it in three hours — but...
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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: a highly readable selection of scholarly essays — mostly from professors of English, actually, but the essays are written from a more sociological perspective. Doubtless...
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On Lionel Davidson’s “Kolymsky Heights” (1994).
Exceptional offbeat minimalist thriller, with an unlikely hero — a “Native Canadian” linguistic anthropologist! (Actually, I think the proper term is “First Nations”.) The book didn’t quite suit my purposes at the time — I was about to board a plane, so I wanted a relatively mindless airport novel — but...
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On Dennis Lehane’s “Shutter Island” (2003).
VERY MILD SPOILERS CONTAINED INSIDE (you’ll have read the same in the book’s blurbs, anyway): I love a good page-turner every now and then, and this novel — locked-room mystery, ghost story, haunted-house flick, cop thriller, in various amounts — definitely didn’t disappoint. (Especially when you’re on a plane.) But the...
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Upcoming Book Talk, Thursday, 3/12/2009, SFSU.
For those of you in the Bay Area — I have a book talk (more like a short reading plus introduction and Q&A) at SF State this coming Thursday. ———- The Asian American Studies Department Presents: “Pinoy Capital: The Filipino Nation in Daly City” By Dr. Benito M. Vergara Jr. Date: Thursday, March 12,...
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Thinking about Television.
So this has been one of those great weeks for me: the book finally in my hands, four sweet long days with my little daughter Izzy in Austin, Inauguration Day, and tonight, in an hour or so, the premiere of the fifth season of Lost. Lost (and also The Wire) has been one of...
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Fetch… The Comfy Chair!
From “The Michael Chabon Interview: Special Sarah Palin Edition”, on TheAtlantic.com: Jeffrey Goldberg: Isn’t it great that Michael Palin’s sister is running for vice president? Michael Chabon: Jeffrey, I fear it might actually be kind of sad that I had exactly the same thought when I first heard her name. At least we can...
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New American Pop Entry: Unfunny.
I’m in a crabby mood, so be forewarned: a new American Pop entry on the rather dreadful Esther Ku, some petty infighting, and what happens when satire runs off the rails, called “Unfunny“.
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