Category Archives: Literary or Genre Fiction

(Love of) The Last Tycoon, by F. Scott Fitzgerald (this ed. 1995, orig. 1940)

Posted on August 10, 2013 by

Reading F. Scott Fitzgerald’s penultimate novel, “Tender is the Night,” saddened me, because it showed a once-great man struggling—and failing—to write a novel worthy of his prodigious talent and storied past. Reading “The Last Tycoon” saddens me, because he found … Continue reading →

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Tampa, by Alissa Nutting (2013)

Posted on August 9, 2013 by

If you have a fourteen-year-old son, you just might want to home-school him after reading Alissa Nutting’s chilling novel, “Tampa.” For it is upon fourteen-year-old boys that Celeste Price preys, and she’s quite good at it. Celeste is a middle-school … Continue reading →

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Jenny Rat, by Martin Simons (2013)

Posted on July 31, 2013 by

Redeeming Each Other (nb: I received a review copy of this title from the publisher via NetGalley) Last summer, I had an abscess. It kept swelling and hurting until I finally went to the doctor. He had to cut into … Continue reading →

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William Shakespeare’s Star Wars, by Ian Doescher (2013)

Posted on July 27, 2013 by

(nb: I received a review copy from the publisher via Edelweiss) Yes, “William Shakespeare’s Star Wars” is precisely what the title implies, and it is exquisite. Author Ian Doescher has taken the familiar story of the original “Star Wars,” and … Continue reading →

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Interstate, by Stephen Dixon (orig. 1994; e-book published 2013)

Posted on July 24, 2013 by

(nb: I received a review copy of this title from the publisher via NetGalley) Stephen Dixon’s “Interstate” takes eight different passes at the same story, and each of them is remarkable in its own vision. Imagine you’re a father, driving … Continue reading →

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The Panopticon, by Jenni Fagan (2013)

Posted on July 23, 2013 by

“The Panopticon” is one of the best-written, saddest, most-moving and triumphant coming-of-age novels I’ve ever read—easily one of the best books of 2013—and I have absolutely no damned idea how to review it. I love books like that, books that … Continue reading →

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One Man’s Initiation: 1917, by John Dos Passos

Posted on June 11, 2013 by

One thing I noticed while reading John Dos Passos’s “One Man’s Initiation: 1917” is how much I know about World War 2. And how much I know about Vietnam. Even about the Korean War. All I know about World War … Continue reading →

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