Man, Elmore Leonard is such a badass. And he’s got a credit line, both literary and cinematic, that rivals about anyone. This book was a merger for me. A merger of films and reads. It explained a few things and … Read More
Read: The Lost Book Of The Grail
Literature. History. The Grail. What’s not to like. Charlie Lovett delivers all three in “The Lost Book of the Grail.” I am a total sucker for books like this. Give me some Europe, some old and some history mixed with … Read More
Read: The Moth and the Mountain
Loved, loved, loved it. A quick read. Just when you go thinking you have done something adventurous in your life you learn about someone who has taken what you have done and gone so far beyond you lost sight as … Read More
Read: Eat the Buddha
Tibet is a fascinating place. I’ve not been. But I’ve spent the better part of the last thirty years, on and off, reading about the place. I even went to the Richard Gere exhibition while living in Los Angeles. (I … Read More
Read: The Universe Speaks in Numbers
I keep reading books like this because they make me feel like a total dumbass, of which I am, mostly. The universe, something I car barely comprehend. Math, something I can barely comprehend. Add them together and you get me … Read More
Read: The Fourth Turning
Okay, to be fair. There is NO WAY someone can intake this book in one reading. Maybe if you spent a year dissecting the data, researching out from what the book details and you had a team working for you. … Read More
Read: Where the Crawdads Sing
I am a total sucker for any book that details life in the swamp or marsh. Any book or any movie. Heck, I’ve seen the modern remake of Great Expectations about a hundred times just because of the scenes from … Read More
Read: Confederacy of Dunces
Did not love this book. I know, it won the Pulitzer but I’ve seen plenty of things I didn’t think deserving of the prize especially when it comes to photography. But, I included this book here because I know so … Read More
Read: Missionaries
I found Phil Klay a few years ago when he landed with a boom from his book “Redeployment.” This time around he returns with another boom while delivering “Missionaries,” a tale about the connected world of killing. Klay is an … Read More
Read: Zen Seeing, Zen Drawing
Okay, at the moment there two things that feel slightly beyond my capability. Drawing and guitar. Now, I COULD do both of these things but life feels so booked that the idea of adding in the challenge of either of … Read More
Read: Red Pill
My second Hari Kunzru book and my second blast of slowly rotting enjoyment. A writer slowly losing himself while on a fellowship in Germany where he accomplishes next to nothing. What’s real and what’s not begin to merge as history … Read More
Read: The Glass Kingdom
I’ve only been to the airport in Bangkok. Was never there long enough to get in any real trouble. But oh do I have friends who have. Lawrence Osborn’s “The Glass Kingdom” takes place in Thailand but almost the entire … Read More
Read: The Elephanta Suite
Enjoyed this one. Paul Theroux has written so many books covering so many topics it’s a bit difficult to really place him in any one category. If I had to might be travel but then again that isn’t the perfect … Read More
Read: Down the Long Hills
Don’t judge me. I know what you literally snobs are thinking. “I would NEVER read something like this.” “How ghastly.” Ya, okay, whatever. Good guys, bad guys, Native Americas, gold, rivers, great land, corrupt people, coffee over a campfire, and … Read More
Read: Cup of Gold
I’ve got a thing for Steinbeck. Time, place, subject matter. But I tend to like the fringe books from Steinbeck. The Sea of Cortez journals and something like this, like Cup of Gold. Written when he was twenty-seven. And who … Read More
Read: One River
I simply cannot express to you how much I love this book. If you have ANY interest in botany, Latin America, the Amazon and all the tributaries then please, please, please buy two copies of this book. The first, for … Read More
Read: Wolf Boys
Sometimes I get accused of reading too many books like this. People ask me what I am reading, I tell them, and they make some comments about not wanting to read this kind of book because they find them too … Read More
Read: The River
The thing about a Peter Heller book is that from the first paragraph you FEEL like you are IN the book. And then you get a gut check knowing that the ideal world you want to exist in probably doesn’t. … Read More