On the Goodreads scale of 1 to 5, where 5 is as great as it can get, I give The Gene an 8. It’s not merely that Mukherjee makes an incredibly complex subject simple enough that even I can understand what he’s saying; it’s that he does it in so many interesting ways. He tells compelling Read More …
Category: Book Reviews
These are my reflections on books immediately after I’ve finished reading them.
Review of Nobody’s Fool by Richard Russo
Richard Russo is one of my favorite contemporary writers, mostly for Empire Falls and Bridge of Sighs, though I’ve loved everything of his that I’ve read. So, I suppose it’s a little odd that I’m just getting around to this, one of his earlier books, now. But be that as it may, I’m sure Nobody’s Fool would have Read More …
Review of God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater
I had a bit of a fright reading Rosewater; for, at some point, I found it comparable in approach to the worst novel in the English, or perhaps any, language, Atlas Shrugged. Like those of Ayn Rand, Vonnegut’s characters are one-dimensional caricatures, and the universe in which he places them resembles reality only to the degree that he Read More …
Review of “The Warmth of Other Suns” by Isabel Wilkerson
Isabel Wilkerson here blends narratives of the lives of three distinct Southern blacks with historical sociology to do two things at once – describe and chart what she calls “The Great Migration” of African Americans from the South to the North and West and vividly demonstrate the effects of the migration in human terms. It Read More …
Review: The Tunnels: Escapes Under the Berlin Wall-and the Historic Films the JFK White House Tried to Kill by Greg Mitchell
The deepest impression this book had on me was the reminder, perhaps the confrontation with the reality, of the soulless repression of Soviet-style communism in the mid-20th century. Mitchell’s narration and his description are not particularly enthralling, but his matter-of-fact manner of laying out the details of the tunnel missions of the early 1960s makes Read More …
Review of ‘Breakfast of Champions’ by Kurt Vonnegut
Breakfast of Champions has long been one of my favorite Vonnegut books, if only for the lovely eloquence about Armistice Day and Veteran’s Day in the preface. But it’s also been decades since I read it, and I’ve wanted for a long time to jump back in and enjoy it again. And, boy, did I. Read More …
Review: Barkskins by Annie Proulx
I hardly know where to begin in talking about Barkskins. For the concept, imagination and construction, pick your superlative. It’s a masterpiece. The way Proulx weaves through the centuries of the lumber industry with depth and insight while simultaneously interweaving poignant human and historical stories is an achievement almost beyond description. I certainly can’t think of Read More …
Review of The Bassoon King by Rainn Wilson
This is one of those delightful surprises you run across occasionally when you defy your instincts and take up a book that seems entirely outside your general interest. I know Rainn Wilson only faintly, as a quirky character from the television series The Office, which I liked a lot in the beginning but drifted away from after Read More …
Review: Dead Presidents – An American Adventure into the Strange Deaths and Surprising Afterlives of Our Nation’s Leaders
The best way I can think of to describe this book is as a frequently clever, always engaging collection of presidential trivia roughly linked to, as the title promises, the many strange deaths and sometimes surprising legacies of several American presidents. In my reading of presidents’ biographies, I’ve often been intrigued by the torments many Read More …
Review: Pathologies by William Walsh
At various times I had mixed feelings about the short stories in this book. Frequently, especially early on, I thought the author was in love with his clever word play, but didn’t really know where his stories were going or what their purpose was. But on the whole, it was enjoyable reading. Very imaginative. Not Read More …