Slake’s Limbo, by Felice Holman
Mr Pye, by Mervyn Peake
The Gospel According to the Simpsons, by Mark I. Pinsky
This month takes us on three spiritual quests, ranging from an unsubtle thematic exploration on the rocks and under the tracks, to a sort of allegorical cocktail, to–screw it–non-fiction straight from the bottle. Slake’s Limbo, although it’s […]

A Primer on CO2 and Climate, by Howard C. Hayden
Shadows of the Mind, by Roger Penrose
These are two science-oriented books that that I paired for their controversial viewpoints. Each looks at their respective field from somewhere opposite the consensus, and I’ve found it interesting to contrast their styles and content. In particular, I […]

Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates, by Tom Robbins
The Metamorphosis, by Franz Kafka
Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card
The unifying theme of these three novels is the embodiment of contradictions. It’s not exactly a rare theme in literature, and I’m no doubt committing certain literary sins by sitting Franz Kafka down at the same table […]

The Great Democracies, by Winston Churchill
Our Kind, by Marvin Harris
Here, as the title suggests, are two very different takes on historical non-fiction. It’s a stretch to pair them, but I suppose they can be united thematically as something other than the usual American style of political mythology or narrative, and both books aim for […]

Claudine in School, by Colette
Sandbag Shuffle, by Kevin Marc Fournier
Ward No. 6 and Other Stories, by Anton Chekhov
Two months ago, I hosted a game of Diplomacy. I am sure I wasn’t the ideal moderator in a lot of respects (especially for letting the whole game lapse when players disappeared), but I tried to provide […]

I Don’t Know How She Does It, by Allison Pearson (A-)
No Place Like Home, by Barbara Samuel (B)
In A Lonely Place, by Dorothy Hughes (B+)
It always makes sense to expand your horizons, and this month (this month and then some–sorry) I thought I’d look at contemporary women authors. Not talking canonical stuff here, but […]

Earth: An Intimate History, by Richard Fortey
Punctuated Equilibrium, by Stephen Jay Gould
Here are two long discursions on natural history, reviewed for the local koraxophiles. They are more “books for buds”: I’d originally planned to read three or four non-fiction monsters in a row, but these took me a long enough as it was. […]

Gulliver’s Travels, by Jonathon Swift: B
Candide, by Voltaire: B+
Here are two classic satires, both good, both from the eighteenth century, and both inspired by two of my favorite bloggers, both of whom deserved better than my first drafts of these reviews. (You can find out more about my ‘project’ at my own blog, but […]

The Iron Dragon’s Daughter by Michael Swanwick: A
The Story of the Stone by Barry Hughart: A
The King Must Die by Mary Renault: B
Here are three novels that satisfied, more or less, this month’s eagerness for re-imagined myths. The settings range from creepily realistic version of a human trapped in a fairy world to a […]

There Are Doors by Gene Wolfe: A+
Mythago Wood by Robert Holdstock: B+
Ysabel by Guy Gavriel Kay: B-
Ægypt by John Crowley: A
The aim of every storyteller, even those who purport to write non-fiction, is to transport the reader to another world. There’s a lot to be said about putting them together believably, and even the […]