Paul’s Book Reviews

“Always read something that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it.” — P.J. O’Rourke The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation: Volume !: The Pox Party, by M.T. Anderson An astonishingly rich historical novel, right up there with the Aubrey/Maturin series by Patrick O’Brian. I am […]

Paul’s Book Reviews: I’ll Quit When I Need Glasses . . . Oh, Wait

The Garden of Last Days, by Andre Dubus III. A novel about people at the ends of their ropes. The characters are well-developed, the story line vividly gritty and believable, but I felt let down and sleazy afterward, because apart from a secondary older-cop character no one is happy or good or has any real […]

Paul’s Book Reviews: Page Turners & Midnight Oil Burners

Army of the Republic, by Stuart Archer Cohen For the past two years I’ve been seriously thinking about what American working people might do if the government allows employers to destroy labor unions and cancel pension obligations. I’ve been entertaining fantasies of assassination teams, composed of unemployed and retired auto workers, picking off high-profile CEOs […]

Paul’s Book & DVD Reviews: Three Stinkers

Two books and one movie I hated. Your mileage, as they say, may vary. Trojan Odyssey by Clive Cussler. Four sentences, pulled at random from different chapters, should tell you all you need to know: Now as their objective stood before them it became obvious that unlike the others towns and cities they had sacked, […]

Paul’s Book Reviews: Selections from 2008

Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex.  I enjoyed Mary Roach’s writing in Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, so I bought Bonk on CD to listen to on long drives. Turns out there’s quite a bit about sex I didn’t know (imagine that). Honestly, you’ll want to experience this work in private […]

Banned Books Week

In honor of which, I challenge you to list which of the American Library Association’s 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books you’ve read. I’ll start.  Here are the ones I’ve read: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck Harry Potter (Series) by J.K. Rowling The Catcher in the […]