Conservatives deal with facts and reach conclusions; liberals have conclusions and sell them as facts.
With word out that TV pundits are buying books by the yard, I thought I’d better confirm my book bona fides. If I’d kept all the books I’ve bought over the years, I guesstimate that I would have two or three thousand books. I didn’t keep them, though. Books are
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Kurt Vonnegut wrote brilliant short stories, in turn wise, sweet, funny, and prophetic — and his collected short stories are on sale today at Amazon. I never enjoyed Kurt Vonnegut’s novels and I eventually didn’t agree with his politics. Having said that, I firmly believe that he was one of
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Akhmed and the Atomic Matzo Balls is a delightfully funny novel that, though written some time ago, perfectly captures the craziness of 2019 in America. For the sheer pleasure of it, I was reading a couple of travel short stories by my friend, author Gary Buslik. He really is an
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Two bestseller lists — one local and one national — hint that there may be, if not a red wave, at least a reddish wave nationwide in November. My local paper ran an article with bestsellers for Northern California and for the nation as a whole. As the article explains,
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I am beyond excited to introduce you to Ido Kedar’s In Two Worlds, a beautifully written, powerful novel about life with non-verbal autism. Some months ago, I teased you by telling you that I was helping edit an extraordinary novel and that I would let you know as soon as the
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Those who think Gone With The Wind is a love letter to the Old South are wrong; it is, instead, a savage indictment of a deeply corrupt society. I first read Gone With The Wind when I was 12. I remember vividly what a brilliant emotional ride it was. Of
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I’ve had for several days day a few reading recommendations (both books and blogs) I wanted to pass on to you. Without further ado, here they are: Ray Zacek, whom I met through my blog, has been a friend of mine for a long time. He’s a wonderful writer who
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A very special novel — exquisitely written and plotted, and fascinating in its subject matter — will be published in a few months. I mentioned several posts ago that I spent part of a weekend doing a gentle edit (typos, punctuation, etc.) on a manuscript that, when published, everyone, from
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Eric Cline’s “1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed,” about the Bronze Age collapse, is only $5.98 in the Kindle Edition. I can’t wait to read it. I haven’t yet read Eric Cline’s 1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed, but I have heard about the practically simultaneous collapse of the great
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A decade ago, I spent almost ten hours, many of which occurred when I should have been sleeping, reading Paullina Simons’ debut novel, The Bronze Horseman. It’s a historical romance novel, about a young Russian woman and a soldier during the Siege of Leningrad. Although Simons’ approach to the romance is a
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The strong symbolism behind Trump’s Les Deplorables appearance. Back in the mid- to late-ish 1980s, I saw the San Francisco premiere of Les Misérables. I am sorry to report that it was entirely wasted on me. I’d never read Hugo’s book (still haven’t) and I’d actually never even heard of
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One of the best things about discovering a writer you like early in that writer’s career is to watch him mature as a writer from good (he must have been good because you liked him from the get-go) to very good. Dennis Koller has followed exactly that trajectory. I discovered
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I’m back, and still playing beat the clock when I blog, so let me get right down to business: Just one thing about Target’s preexisting open bathroom policy. You may not have known about Target’s long-standing open-access bathroom policy (all gender identities welcome wherever they want), but it appears that
Continue readingSome years ago, I wrote about the difficulty I had finding “wholesome” romances. In reply to that post, I got an email from one of my readers, Judith Lown, saying that she writes “traditional” or “sweet” Regency romances that follow in the Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer mode: interesting, sophisticated
Continue readingI’ve long held that, no matter J.K. Rowling’s political leanings, her artistic truth comes down on the side of right and justice: In the wake of Voldemort’s perverted resurrection, The Order of the Phoenix centers on Harry’s desperate efforts to convince the Powers That Be that evil once again walks
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