Verity by Colleen Hoover Read for free on Kindle Unlimited, just to see what the excitement over Hoover is about. And I still don't get it. The sex scenes were ridiculous bordering on Brazzers territory. The characters were flat and lifeless ciphers. The tortured attempt at a twist made zero sense. There was no tension in the story at all. It's entire propulsion was from the desire to know where it all was going, and the answer was incredibly frustrating. The so-called epilogue was longer than the final chapter. It's a terrible pastiche of Jane Eyre and Gone Girl, both of which were done much, much better than this. I'll not be wasting any more time on Hoover's work.
The central thesis is that the Exodus from Egypt was indeed historical, but with a relatively small group of Levites, rather than the entire Israel nation. Israel as a nation was established in Canaan prior to the arrival of the Levites, who introduced the god Yahweh and became Israel's priests. Good read if you like biblical scholarship and history.
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold by John le Carre The novel that made John le Carre a household name. Published in 1963 at the height of the Cold War, this is an intriguing look at the day to day lives of spies. Le Carre worked for both MI5 and MI6. Because of his extensive knowledge of their inner workings, his novels required security clearance before publication. The first chapter culminates with an asset being killed by East German police at a border crossing. But don’t think this novel is a high octane thriller with Bond-like action sequences. It focuses on the aftermath of that event and how the West and East intelligence agencies respond. I can see how it was so popular at the time. It really reaches into the depths of amorality. Full of double crosses, triple crosses, and people who have to be sacrificed for knowing too much. This is the first le Carre novel I’ve read and I was struck by how dialogue heavy it was. I doubt this novel would be published by a major publisher today. Some pinhead editor would say cut the dialogue by 50% and make more stuff blow up.
I enjoyed the novel when I read it many years ago, and I've seen the terrific film with Richard Burton a number of times. The spycraft seems very realistic (and Le Carre would certainly have known about that) and the ruthless calculation in the spy game is on full display. And, wow, endings don't get much more cynical than that!
Space Opera - Catherynne M. Valente Decibel Jones and the Absolute Zeros, a flash-in-the-pan electro-funk glamgrind group, must reunite and rock out at Galactic Eurovision to prove the sentience of the inhabitants of a small, watery, excitable planet . . . or seven billion people will die. Oh, and the most important band member is dead. This is entertaining and fun for the most part. But the jam-packed paragraph-long sentences are a bit of a chore, and everything else tends to be jam-packed too. I thought maybe the author was just excited to be writing a Hitchhiker's riff, but no, this is apparently how she always writes. I can't be too judgemental because this is like the high-quality version of how teenage me would write a Hitchhiker's knockoff. It is also fun and imaginative, with wild aliens and goofy puns and moderate social commentary. And the prose got more easily readable once the plot started prodding it along. So I enjoyed it, but it's the kind of book you'll want to read a page or two of before heading to the checkout. New words: munted, allsorts
My mother had a friend she put on a pedestal and tried to be like, and that shitty friend said her favorite author was Hemingway. My mom powered through everything by fucking Hemingway for a whole goddamned summer even though she fucking loathed the experience. Her shitty friend couldn't converse about anything in the fucking books. She was a lying fucking illiterate. I often wonder how many big authors sit on the shelves of lying illiterates going unread. Like a fucking Lambo that goes undriven, or a Stradivarius that goes unplayed.
Hemingway is a great author (by measures of critical evaluation, influence, and sustained affection by a wide audience) but no one's obligated to love his writing. I'm always suspicious when someone lists their favorite movies and it's a list of high-brow films that only critics liked. It immediately strikes me as pretentious. I forget who it was (Edgar Wright?) who was asked what his favorite films were and he responded (paraphrase) "Should I say what sounds good or be honest?" Definitely be honest.
If asked to list my favorite authors, Hemingway would be up there. Others, in no particular order: Stephen King (pre-car accident. After that he's very hit or miss, no pun intended) Jack Ketchum Edgar Allan Poe Michael Crichton Tom Perotta John Lindqvist William Shakespeare Dean Koontz (Earlier stuff. Pre-Seize The Night) As I always tell my lit students, never apologize or be ashamed of what you like.
I don't read a lot of fiction, and so seldom read multiple works by the same author. I like Stephen King, though Cell was the last thing of his I read. I really like Agatha Christie, though came to her books very late (loved films based on her work my whole life, though). I really enjoyed James Ellroy's American Tabloid and The Cold Six Thousand, though that's going back many years. I'm currently reading Bram Stoker's Dracula in Russian, but it's tough going. Love the English original, though. I always enjoy something by John Le Carre or Tom Clancy. I loved Andy Weir's The Martian and Project Hail Mary. I remember laughing my ass off at a couple of Carl Hiaasen's books. I like Arthur C. Clarke's work; The Hammer of God is a personal fave. Harry Turtledove's alternate history books--like The Guns of the South--have been entertaining. Truman Capote's In Cold Blood might be the best novel I've ever read. Gripping, powerful, chilling. I like Shakespeare, but much prefer seeing him performed over reading him. I saw the Royal Shakespeare Company perform A Midsummer Night's Dream in Stratford-on-Avon in '99 and it was amazing.
The Verge: Reformation, Renaissance, and Forty Years that Shook the World by Patrick Wyman Patrick Wyman is responsible for the "Tides of History" podcast, which after reading this, I will definitely be checking out. It's an exploration of the years 1490-1530, considered pivotal in the rise of European power. Consisting of multiple interlinked chapters, each takes on a different topic - the creation of unitary states, the rise of capitalism, Martin Luther and the printing press, exploration and conquest, developments in warfare and so on. What emerges is a confluence of events that set the stage for world dominance in subsequent centuries. Despite making it into the title, the word "Renaissance" is nowhere to be seen in the text, and everything is portrayed as an evolution from medieval institutions, rather than the outdated notion that there was some sort of sudden intellectual revolution. There is much to be appalled by. From the ravaging mercenaries (commonly used in warfare) who sack Rome when they are not paid, to the mass executions of defeated soldiers, to the pauperisation of tenants by the rising merchant class to the extermination of the natives of the Americas. It seems offensive to consider this as creative destruction but in a long-term historical sense, that is what it was. Managing to be rigorous and academic without becoming tiresome, this is highly recommended.
That reminded me of.. Q: Have you read [Bonfire of the Vanities]? Trump: I did not. Q: What’s the best book you’ve read besides Art of the Deal? Trump: I really like Tom Wolfe’s last book. And I think he’s a great author. He’s done a beautiful job.
https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/kim_02_24/ Isabel J. Kim's justifiably award-winning exploration of the question, "Why Don't We Just Kill The Kid In The Omelas Hole".
When I was taking architecture years ago, I pointed out that while Frank Lloyd Wright designed buildings that looked good to many and had a distinct style. His buildings themselves were failures in several ways. Many were designed with flat or very low slopes that caused frequent leaks and had poor drainage causing water damage. His user of cantilevered roofs and floors would sag over time needing expensive and extensive repairs. The doors and windows he designed were also prone to leaks, drafts, and causing damage to the interior of the buildings. His use of materials coupled with the issues of leaks and poor drainage were prone to damage more than other materials based on aesthetic choices instead of durability and practical design. Even interior aesthetic choices were made over function and use, small kitchens, bathrooms, narrow hallways, limited how well the buildings could be used. The professor that I had got really really pissed off at me. He went on a rant about how I didn't understand architecture or design. I asked if Wright should be considered a designer instead of an architect based on the function and how well his buildings could be used. So in that way, can a writer be considered an entertainer, educator or philosopher? Or somewhere in between? That professor never got over my thoughts on Wright. He would have gladly sucked him off while gushing on about Falling Water while fingering his own butthole. I also agree with a lot of your choices on favorite authors/writers.
Okay, I finally got thru with Unlikely General: "Mad" Anthony Wayne and the Battle for America by Mary Stockwell. Wayne doesn't get a lot of notice as a founder . . . and he kinda wasn't one . . . but he was a significant general during and after the Revolutionary War. He consistently was able to take questionable troops and win major battles with them. Both during the Revolution and in a confrontation with the native Americans afterward as the British avoided leaving their forts along the frontier as they'd agreed to do in the Treaty of Paris that ended the war. They also heavily encouraged the natives to fight the encroaching Americans. Wayne was sent to deal with this as the third leader of the American army after the Revolution who was tasked with that mission, two previous armies having met disastrous defeats. Wayne was probably what we'd call manic-depressive these days, oscillating between supreme confidence and black despair every time he faced battle. George Washington found him to be a supremely reliable field commander, tho, able to achieve any mission laid out for him. Wayne was also a bit of a fuckhead when it came to his family, tho, basically abandoning his wife when duty called and cavorting with any women who caught his eye when away from home. This included Caty Greene, General Greene's wife. I found the style of this one to be uneven. The text jumps around the timeline a lot, going from describing Wayne's campaign against the natives to earlier episodes that informed his approach to the arts of war. Still a good read, tho, and much like the bio I read of Ethan Allen it gives life to a man not really emphasized in the modern public awareness.
Blackshirts and Reds by Michael Parenti Having died quite recently, quite a lot of people were lionising Michael Parenti's work so I decided to check it out. This is essentially his defense of the Soviet Union and its system. It's short and I read it quickly. He makes various points. Firstly, that fascism and Nazism were the creation of capitalism, only to be defeated by the Red Army. Secondly, that despite their serious flaws, the "communist" states made enormous material progress and for their people were overall a huge positive. Thirdly, that many of their flaws were the result of the state of seige imposed on them. Fourthly, that propaganda exaggerated some of these flaws. (He does not engage substantially with the Holdomor, but the prospects are that he views it as exaggerated and non-deliberate.) Fifthly, that the anti-Soviet left is absurdly idealist. I could agree with him some of the time. Unfortunately it reads more like a polemic than history. History is complex but the assertions here, while often containing some truth, often ignore this or omit other relevant detail. It's certainly dated as well. Written in 1997 when the full outworkings of the collapse of the Soviet Union were not yet apparent, Parenti indicates that the effects had been universally disastrous. Three decades later we can see that things worked out better for some in the long-term. Additionally, the view that China was on the same path has proven wrong as its own state-directed model looks more and more successful. I think it's good to read works from people you don't agree with from time to time, to clarify your own views. But this is hardly a classic.
The Phantom Tollbooth - Norman Juster A lad named Milo who is bored with life is gifted a car and a magical tollbooth to drive it through. On the other side he finds fantastical realms full of words, sounds, numbers, and sideways logic, and the princesses of Rhyme and Reason whom only a motivated outsider can rescue. It's considered a classic and rightly so. The plot moves nicely, the conversations draw out details without being full of themselves, and of course the wordplay, abstract ideas made manifest, and attacks from Ignorance make the book memorable.
Mark it on your calendar. October 6 2026. Stephen King & Peter Straub: Talisman 3: Other Worlds Than These.
The Pun Also Rises - John Pollack A brief, rather superficial, but interesting look at the recently humble pun in all its variants. Once, such wordplay based on ambiguity of meaning or similarity of form was noble, sophisticated, meant to rouse attention and convey maximum information rather than elicit a laugh or groan. Puns appear in the Bible, in Gilgamesh, in Hawaii's Kumulipo. Babylonians and Hawaiians engaged in pun duels to prove superiority. And into the twenty-first century, puns continue to be a subversive weapon to avoid censorship or speak your mind amid a repressive culture. But puns have less lofty appeal too. In fact, such wordplay (or visual double meaning) causes the brain to operate a bit differently. One study showed that people preferred products with punny names. The author also suggests that puns are helpful for children's developing minds, and that parsing their ambiguity is related to the creative process of bringing two different systems together to create something new. So when did the pun lose its glory? Wouldn't you know it, the author pinpoints 1600s-1700s England. The rise of rationalism, which wanted unambiguous meanings, looked down on religion and its rhetorical devices. The rise of coffeehouses, where all social classes mingled together, meant that wordplay lost its appeal for the upper classes once the poor people started doing it in their presence. And so the haters got enough support to make their feelings felt. New words: prolix, atrabilious, paronomasia
He cranked out the idea and some notes before he went. Here you go; I ain't making it up https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Other_Worlds_Than_These
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde The only full novel written by Wilde, this is set among well-to-do Londoners in the Victorian era. It's a reputed classic and is well-named, concerning as it does a picture of its lead character. Through some undefined mechanism and under the influence of his hedonistic friend Lord Henry, he manages to transfer the effects of his ageing and of his immorality to the painting, himself retaining indefinite youth. There's some striking imagery and interesting ruminations on the passing nature of beauty. But I find it hard to believe that the story of a man essentially selling his soul was original at the time. And apparently things were toned down due to censorship, but the homoeroticism is fairly overt. Lord Henry bugged me - not so much a rounded character as a mouthpiece for Wilde's aphorisms. So I found it overdone. Wilde was part of a movement that exalted aestheticism or art for arts sake - on the evidence of this, I'm not sure I agree.
The Murder on the Links by Agatha Christie This is another early Christie novel and the second Poirot novel. It doesn’t have anything to do with golf except a murder is committed and the body is disposed of on a nearby golf course. I felt this one was a step back from Mysterious Affair at Styles. In that one I was attempting to pick up on the clues and determine the murderer. This one was too convoluted and required perfect timing for all the events to fall into place. It also features the tropes of identical twins and people attempting to divert attention from the real criminal (which I can’t stand). I’m getting the sense Poirot has Gary Stu qualities and only he can solve these crimes. Hopefully that abates in future books. Hastings as a narrator and sidekick is uneven to say the least.
Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin - Unsurprisingly, a more nuanced and layered story than the film. A good read, full of dread, and lots of interesting questions about feminism, toxic masculinity, the nature of evil, etc. The idea that part of the reason Rosemary is isolated is because her family is resentful she married a noncatholic is, perhaps understandably, not touched on in the film. But the film does do a good job of covering the basics of the plot. A great read, and i can see how it made such a compelling book.
Another re-read: Roger Zelazny The Great Book of Amber / The Complete Amber Chronicles, 1-10 Solid story-telling, characters, and scene conjuring that draws readers into the world of Amber at a pace that's captivating without that sudden plunge into surrealism that most fantasy novels have to overcome. Whole-heartedly recommended for fans of the genre.
