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Tag Archives: booklog
Reading log: Flash Fiction Forward (ed James Thomas & Robert Shapard)
The stories in Flash Fiction Forward can generally be divided into a few basic categories: miniaturized conventional stories absurdist stories along the lines of James Tate or Russell Edson’s prose poems (the former is represented here) extended prose poems clever … Continue reading
Reading Log: And the Dance Most of All (Jack Gilbert)
I’ve held off reading the last few poems in Jack Gilbert’s latest (The Dance Most of All) for months. Literally. Gilbert is one of those rare touchstone authors I was just ruminating about (finishing this book, in fact, inspired those … Continue reading
Reading log- The World Doesn’t End: Prose Poems (Charles Simic)
As I wrote about a few years ago, Charles Simic is a poet that hip poets love to hate. But I returned to The World Doesn’t End anticipating a pleasurable read and I wasn’t disappointed. Simic is often labeled a … Continue reading
Reading Log: On Being Blue (William Gass)
I don’t remember the chain of events that brought me to this extended rumination on "blue"– as color, characteristic and quality– but it wasn’t, as a I first suspected, a treatise on depression. Rather, Gass’ short (91pp) book considers blue … Continue reading
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Tagged booklog, color, criticism, essay, language, nonfiction, Philosophy, william gass
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Reading Log: Ficciones (Jorge Luis Borges)
I can’t say enough about this collection. Borges was a master at weaving compelling, Escher-like verbal tapestries with threads of obsessions I’ve grown to share in: time, memory, eternity, infinity, fiction and evocation and vocation… the least of these stories … Continue reading
Booklog: Inspector Imanishi Investigates (Seicho Matsumoto)
My only disappointment with Inspector Imanishi Investigates was discovering that it’s the only novel in the late Seicho Matsumoto’s Imanishi series (at least one blurb implies there is a series) that has been translated into English. Close on the heels … Continue reading
Booklog: Diamond Solitaire (Peter Lovesey)
Peter Lovesey’s second entry in the (ex)-Detective Peter Diamond series won’t win any awards for plausibility—Diamond, no longer a member of the Bath police force due to a (bogus) charge of unlawful force, has been reduced to working as a … Continue reading
Booklog: The Last Detective (Peter Lovesey)
[I’m going to have a difficult time catching up with my 999 Challenge reading if I keep reading books that even I can’t creatively fit into one of my categories. Nonetheless, I do keep reading, though I have fallen off … Continue reading
Booklog: The Tears of Autumn (Charles McCarry)
It turns out Charles McCarry was one of the best spy novelists I’d never heard of. After too many recommendations from those in the know, I finally picked up the earliest locally available example of his work– The Tears of … Continue reading
Posted in Art & Life & Politics
Tagged 999 challenge, booklog, charles mccarry, espionage, fiction, novels
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Booklog: A Small Town in Germany (John le Carre)
A Small Town in Germany is my least favorite John le Carre novel. The setting is Bonn and the British Embassy there, in the years after World War II. Leo Harting, a former German Army officer who is now a … Continue reading
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Tagged 999 challenge, booklog, books, espionage, john lecarre, reading
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Booklog: The Number Devil (Hans Magus Enzensberger)
Ostensibly a children’s book, but one most adults will enjoy, The Number Devil tells the story of Robert, a boy who doesn’t like math, who is befriended by the number devil, a little red, bearded, man who—through simple demonstrations and … Continue reading
Booklog: A Coffin for Dimitrios (Eric Ambler)
When I asked around about spy fiction—particularly older work—everyone told me I had to read Eric Ambler. I wasn’t disappointed. A Coffin for Dimitrios was a fun, fascinating read. Set in the years after World War I, but before Hitler … Continue reading
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Tagged 999 challenge, booklog, books, eric ambler, espionage, reading
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Booklog: A Man Called Intrepid (William Stevenson)
Recommended to me by Bruce Bentzman, A Man Called Intrepid is a historical account that reads like great spy fiction. The book documents how William Stephenson (code name: Intrepid) and Wild Bill Donovan created and ran a spy network well … Continue reading
Posted in Art & Life & Politics
Tagged 999 challenge, biography, booklog, books, espionage, history, intrepid, reading, william stephenson, william stevenson, world war ii
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Booklog: The Billion Dollar Brain (Len Deighton)
I picked up Len Deighton‘s Billion-Dollar Brain because his name came up so consistently as a master of the spy novel. I was surprised to learn that he’s still alive and published a book as recently as 2006. Written in … Continue reading
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Tagged 999 challenge, booklog, books, len deighton, reading
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Booklog: The Constant Gardener (John LeCarre)
I’m a huge fan of John LeCarre‘s Cold War era spy fiction. His best novels of this kind are not just among the best espionage fiction, but among the best fiction of any kind. LeCarre has a fine ear for … Continue reading
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Tagged 999 challenge, booklog, books, john lecarre, reading
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Booklog: In Secret Service (Mitch Silver)
I picked this up on a whim, intrigued by the description of a plot that wove together quite a few true events and historical figures so well that some are convinced the book isn’t fiction at all. That part of … Continue reading
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Tagged 999 challenge, booklog, books, espionage, mitch silver, reading
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Booklog: The Watchmen (Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons)
Continuing my exploration of the graphic novel (and the 999 challenge), I recently read Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. Watchmen is one of those titles that even I had heard a lot about and it was a practically … Continue reading
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Tagged 999 challenge, alan moore, booklog, books, dave gibbons, graphic novels, reading
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Booklog: 2666 (Robert Bolano)
On one hand, it would be fair to say I can’t say enough good things about this mammoth book. On the other hand, it left me stunned and I still can’t put a coherent frame around the book or my … Continue reading
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Tagged 999 challenge, booklog, books, literary fiction, reading, robert bolano
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Booklog: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (Junot Diaz)
I’d ignored Diaz’s practically universally acclaimed book because of my allergy to hype. But it fit perfectly into the “Recommendations I’d Usually Ignore” category of the 999 Challenge, and once again I was shown the folly of my ways… it … Continue reading
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Tagged 999 challenge, booklog, books, junot diaz, reading
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