Thursday, September 25, 2025

2025.Book32 - The Plot (Korelitz)

 Horror but you don't know it. For a writer-focused book, some infelicities of language. Just OK.

Friday, September 19, 2025

2025.Book31 - Inventing the Renaissance (Palmer)

 Very interesting. Sometimes bogs down in dates. 

  • spiritual organization recapitulating political organization. 
  • Virtue Politics

Thursday, August 14, 2025

2025.Book30 - The Tiger and The Wolf (Tchaikovsky)

 Pretty good, too long and samey. Metaphors for mental illness?

Friday, July 04, 2025

2025.Book29 - The Prodigal God (Keller)

 Pretty weak. Trying to cram his theology into Jesus' story. 

 Couple of howlers: "no one had ever taught anything like this before" (except the prophets), and bringing in Cain & Abel to move responsibility from the father to the elder brother (explaining God's inaction).  

2025.Book28 - The President (Simenon)

 Pretty good; a little plot, not too much

Friday, June 20, 2025

2025.Book27 - Hotel Splendide (Bemelmans)

 Pretty boring. Slightly interesting story at the end

2025.Book26 - The Will of the Many (Islington)

 Excellent epic fantasy. Good characters, tons of plot, interesting world

Monday, June 09, 2025

2025.Book25 - Paul Among Jews and Gentiles (Stendahl)

 Very good. Love vs integrity, guilt and the introspective conscience as Augustinian and Lutheran innovations.

Saturday, May 31, 2025

2025.Book24 - The Incident Report (Baillie)

 TPL or "Public Libraries of Toronto"? Nice and oblique. Honestly not sure how the Rigoletto plot concluded; red herring or critical? Librarians as front-line social workers.

2025.Book23 - Dungeon Crawler Carl (Dinniman)

 More game transcript than novel; last quarter got better. Don't feel any need to continue the series.

2025.Book22 - It Gets Me Home, This Curving Track (Penman)

Music criticism without music; sociology instead. (Writes off actual music as "algebra" in the Parker section).

Thursday, May 08, 2025

2025.Book19 - Terms of Endearment (McMurtry)

 Good fun, entertaining. Sad ending.

Thursday, May 01, 2025

2025.Book18 - My Dining Hell (Rayner)

 Very good. It's true; bad experiences are funnier than good ones.

2025.Book17 - A Pyramid of Mud (Camilleri)

 Excellent. Leaning on humour a bit more, I think.

2025.Book16 - Orbital (Harvey)

 Very good, poetic, scientific. Not quite as beautifully written as I expected, but what's being communicated was.

2025.Book15 - Nest of Vipers (Camilleri)

 Solid mystery, good to jump back often.

Wednesday, April 23, 2025

2025.Book14 - Good Material (Alderton)

 Low quality Hornby-core. One funny part ("I can't look at the sea any more!")

2025.Book13 - Days of Shattered Faith (Tchaikovsky)

 Another excellent installment. Good characters. End of the trilogy?