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 …
Category: Blog
These are random thoughts about topics that interest me — including books, rock and roll, philosophy, culture and daily life. I update it whenever the mood strikes me, shooting for at least once a week but often more frequently than that. I welcome your comments on anything I may discuss here and, when appropriate, will reply as promptly as possible.
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 …
Every day brings some news to soften the hardest heart
It does seem, doesn’t it?, that until some period of calamity, we humans are disinclined to step back and recall that, as poet Max Ehrmann famously declared, “with all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.” Our own modern day of thanksgiving was born out of the nation’s most horrendous 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 …
Mainstream, if you insist, but proud, whatever you call us
I think I’m a member of the Mainstream Media. At least red-faced people keep pointing their fingers in my face and telling me that I am. And I think I’m supposed to feel chastened today. A presidential candidate who collected, by some estimates, more than a billion dollars in free MSM coverage has been bellowing 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 …
Why, even in an age of negativity, kids can have reason to be hopeful
If you were to ask some of the suburbs’ most politically engaged young people to describe the state of Illinois in a single word, what do you suppose it would be? I attended a program Wednesday at Ela Area Public Library in Lake Zurich at which individual groups from about 30 such high school students Read More …
The Queen of the Night by Alexander Chee
As a historical romance novel, The Queen of the Night is engaging and serious. As literature in a historical setting, it is somewhat less appealing, though certainly interesting enough to provide some insights into the period – European high society in the late 19th century era of the Franco-Prussian War – and stir interest in the Read More …
It bears repeating: Beware the polls
Read at Daily Herald website Some random thoughts, briefly stated: I read a poll yesterday showing Donald Trump holds a slight lead over Hillary Clinton. Over the weekend, I read one saying Clinton was clinging to a slight lead over Trump. A week ago, nearly every political commentator, even the Trump supporters and sympathizers, was Read More …