If I’ve read a more elegant and absorbing a tale of the danse macabre between morality and mortality than M. L. Stedman’s The Light Between Oceans, I don’t remember it.
George Saunders’ 10th of December: Warmly Exhausting
If this review seems languid, it’s because my brain and I are cuddling—having just concluded a taxing but gratifying bout of intellectual intercourse with George Saunders’ 10th of December.
Tessa Hadley’s The London Train–Stiff Upper Life
Tessa Hadley’s fourth novel, 2011’s The London Train, is sneaky, and beyond satisfying. (Congratulations, CapRadio Reads, on a swell second selection.)
Sloan’s “Mr. Penumbra:” GEEKS RULE!
Our local National Public Radio affiliate, Capitol Public Radio, inaugurated its “CapRadio Reads” book club with a launch party Tuesday evening for first-time novelist Robin Sloan’s Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore. What a splendid evening it was.
Write In “Sam’l. L. Clemens”
We interrupt this skein of seriousness to advise that–despite the estimated $2+ billion that will be spent this campaign season on advertising, the content of which is the intellectual equivalent of a slap fight at third grade recess–Mr. Twain reminds us that not all that much has changed in a century, at least in terms of content.
The Canary is Coughing
Mike Lofgren was mad as Hell and wasn’t going to take it anymore.
Xenodu: End of the Republic?
Will the outcome of the November 7 election foreordain the end of our Republic? In 2008, someone in my writers’ group dared me to do something “fantastical.”
Four-legged, Bi-winged Karma
If you’re anywhere near Face in a Book bookstore in El Dorado Hills tonight, before 8 PM, do drop in for the book launch party of The Dog with the Old Soul.
Go Get You Some ‘Sun’
Interested in access< to the greatest, single mental decongestant I’ve ever come across? Subscribe to The Sun.