"When I do not want to say things in real life I often say them here." — Mimi Smartypants
Unsolicited opinions on books, movies, TV shows, consumer products
You Can’t Read That! is a periodic column featuring banned book reviews and news roundups. YCRT! News A federal judge has ruled that Arizona’s ban on ethnic studies classes (and the associated wholesale banning of books in the Tucson Unified School District) was motivated by racial discrimination, a potentially lethal blow to the ban. I say “potentially” because as […]
Then it started to rain, so she went inside and made some coffee and did what she had never done in her life: tried the newspaper crossword. “What a stupid exercise,” said her dæmon after five minutes. “Words belong in contexts, not pegged out like biological specimens.” — Philip Pullman, La Belle Sauvage La Belle […]
This is collection of reviews previously posted on Paul’s Thing: these are the books, old and new, that I most enjoyed reading this year. I’m about to embark on Philip Pullman’s “The Book of Dust,” a potential contender, but doubt I’ll finish it before the end of the year (also, I’m sometimes disappointed with long-delayed […]
Remorse, yes; major-sin remorse, no. More like mild feelings of guilt for neglecting the blog, and you, my reader. I knew this would happen when I took on a competing writing task, my memoir, which creeps along in the background, one painfully-extracted sentence at a time. The day before yesterday I sent out a Paulgram newsletter. One of the […]
In this edition of Paul’s Book Reviews: a disturbing memoir, a Cold War spy novel, untaught history, escapist thrillers, a political expose that doesn’t live up to the hype. “When Kiri added the graphic quote she claimed came from David—’Jeannine Bunds had the type of pussy that really hangs onto my dick’—Bill McCollum’s prim mouth […]
My niece Rebecca takes National Novel Writing Month seriously. I think the world of her, so I’m taking it seriously too. She sent a Google Doc link to her work in progress. I reciprocated with a link to mine, a chapter of a planned memoir. I was happy with it when I finished it a couple of months ago, but am less […]
“It wasn’t for trash, my bookshelves would be mostly empty.” —Paul Woodford, unpublished memoir The Great Passage by Shion Miura Clearly, I’ve been reading too many mysteries and thrillers, where every new object or action introduced into the story comes back later in some significant way. In real life … and Japanese novels … the […]
Yesterday, two guys from Off the Wall disassembled and removed the wall unit & Murphy bed we had in the office. That’s it, along with other office stuff, sitting in our living room. Another guy is here now, repairing water-damaged parts of the office wall. Later today they’re taking out the carpet and pad. The only […]