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Author Archives: lfpbe
A Review of Orson Scott Card’s Magic Street
Reading this book last week sounded like such a great idea at the time. I was away at a writing residency, living by myself in a tiny cottage on a hilltop (it was wonderful!!), and I was reading two very … Continue reading
A Review of Khaled Hosseini’s And The Mountains Echoed
When I ranted a few weeks ago against Gods without Men and against the use of multiple points of view in general, part of my touchiness had to do with the fact that at the time I was reading And the … Continue reading
A Review of Hari Kunzru’s Gods Without Men
This book begins with a short chapter entitled “In the time when animals were men.” This is the only chapter in the book that has a title. This chapter is clearly meant to allude to Native American mythology, but with … Continue reading
A Review of James Romm’s Dying Every Day: Seneca at the Court of Nero
Is it just me or is everyone talking about the Stoics lately? One of the adult students I tutor works them into conversation at least once per session, and somehow or other I am part of a Facebook group called … Continue reading
A Review of Dave Eggers’ A Hologram for the King
In this novel, protagonist Alan Clay is a salesman facing bankruptcy and ruin who travels to Saudi Arabia with the goal of selling a hologram (and the larger business package that goes with it) to King Abdullah. This novel is … Continue reading
A Review of J.D. Vance’s Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis
On the one hand, reacting to the Trump victory by immediately reading a bunch of books about poor people is a condescending and despicable thing to do. I feel a little dirty about it, honestly. On the other hand, the … Continue reading
Yarn Along
It’s official: no one cares about book blogs in Trump’s America. I’m exaggerating a little, of course. After all, you’re here. But the fact is that our daily page views are lower than they’ve been since the pre-Outlander years. For … Continue reading
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Yarn Along
I’m just a few chapters into Hari Kunzru’s Gods Without Men, and I’m loving it. I’ve wanted to read this novel ever since it was published four-ish years ago, but the first chapter is sort of a meditation on some … Continue reading
A Review of Laurie R. King’s The Beekeeper’s Apprentice; Or, On the Segregation of the Queen
This is the first installment in a series about a young woman who becomes Sherlock Holmes’ apprentice and, later, his lover and wife. The fact that Sherlock Holmes is a fictional character is pooh-poohed at the beginning of the novel, … Continue reading
Yarn Along
Here’s a quick photo of the folded-up Obnoxiously Orange scarf, which is getting so long it’s hard to fit the whole thing into a photo. The book in the photo is oversized as well. In addition to some silliness on … Continue reading
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Postcards From Purgatory 