This is quite a book. Unique in my mind. I’m not really sure how to describe it, other than it snaps you off with precision, twisting and turning with a single paragraph. One chapter, toward the back, is all diagrams. … Read More
Read: Hard Rain Falling
Just before I read this book I read a blockbuster crime novel by a famous author I had never read. It was almost 600 pages. Although I get why this author is so successful I kinda felt like I was … Read More
Read: The Lifeboat
There was one thing I took away from this book. Anytime I read something like this, which is very much what the title suggests, I always do the “What would I do?” thing. Most of the time the answer isn’t … Read More
Read: Cruising Paradise
I really enjoyed this book, my fourth Sam Shepard in the past few weeks. This felt the most personal of the books I’ve read, and there are several things I found appealing. First, the chapters have the location where each … Read More
Read: Buried Child
I can’t remember reading a play. Well, at least on my own. In school, ya sure, they forced us to read all kinds of things, but as an adult my willingness to read plays hasn’t always been keen. Like going … Read More
Read: Great Dream of Heaven
I read this book in one day. Half on the beach in Newport and half in the Las Vegas airport. Not something I would recommend but it was what it was. And Jesus Christo the Vegas airport broke me. It … Read More
Read: Sam Shepard, A Life
I used to see Sam Shepard in Santa Fe. From time to time. At a bar or in a pickup heading the other way. Never met him, never talked to him, but was always somewhat intrigued by him. So when … Read More
Read: The Hidden Half of Nature
The full title of this book is “The Hidden Half of Nature: The Microbial Roots of Life and Health.” I was originally turned on to this book because it talks about soil health and about how microbes are a huge … Read More
Read: Fencing the Sky
Okay, I doubled down on Galvin, just like I have with various other authors, but unlike various other authors Galvin’s work is so painfully close to home. Fencing the Sky is a beautiful book filled with not so beautiful things. … Read More
Read: The Meadow
I didn’t believe this book existed. A friend in Laramie said “You know, someone wrote a book about the original ranch property your family had?” So to learn this book existed was a shock to say the least. Not to … Read More
Read: State of Wonder
This was a beautiful book. Certain writers are so smooth you can hardly believe the prose. This was my first Ann Patchett book but won’t be the last. State of Wonder follows a doctor into the depths of the Brazilian … Read More
Read: Rust and Bone
Craig Davidson’s Rust and Bone brings sex addicts, dog fights, whale bites and prizefights. Do I really need to say anything more? Short stories. Sick. Really sick. Good and sick. Sick, sick. Loved this book. Writer has style and the … Read More
Read: The Forever War
This is the first sci-fi book I’ve ever read. Loved it. Written by a vet, the book is a space reflection on the Vietnam war. Joe Haldeman’s The Forever War is a scary look at a potential future. The imagined … Read More
Read: All the Wrong Places
I finished this book at 4AM on the morning I hiked Santa Fe Baldy. I closed the book then sat in silence with an open window at my back, cool air reminding me of my current elevation. I was so … Read More
Read: Cities of Gold
Any author crazy enough to retrace Coronado’s route across the Southwest is okay in my book. Having traveled some of this same country, via truck and on foot, I can attest-to some tiny degree-just how insane this little voyage actually … Read More
Read: The Age of Missing Information
This is a fantastic book. I almost didn’t reread this. I thought “This book is old and will feel dated.” I dove in anyway and I’m glad I did. Yes, this book is mostly centered on television, but all you … Read More
Read: Bull Mountain
Bull Mountain was a recommendation from my friend Andrew. There are at least three Andrews who frequent this site, so which one is it? You have to guess. I was trying to figure out how to describe this book other … Read More
Read: The Outpost
In 1990 I bought Ed Grazda’s book “Afghanistan” in Half-Price Books in Austin. I could have bought a first edition “Telex Iran,” a book that has gone on to become a collectors item, but that is another story.(I also got … Read More