Turns out I am very bad about learning much about the book I am going to read. There have been two books so far this year that I assumed would be novels, only to learn a handful of pages in that they were in fact nonfiction. Then there’s The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane, which I thought would be nonfiction and was, go figure, a novel. In my defense, it was one of two books recommended simultaneously by my mother and the other, Killers of the Flower […]
Outdated gender dynamics, But Topically Dated Politcal Stuff
Bingo Square Round 2: Home, Something, Home (John Jakes was born in Illinois) When I was in elementary school in Germany, one of the local channels aired Fackeln im Sturm, the TV mini series about two families and best friends on opposing sides of the Civil War. Between this show and Dirty Dancing, Patrick Swayze quickly became an important cornerstone in my early tween crushes. My parents had seen the mini series when we were still in the States, and I am pretty sure we […]
A Quick, Intense, Faulted Read
I don’t know why “my kid is evil” books terrify me so much, since I’m never having kids anyway. But they do. We Need to Talk About Kevin FUCKED. ME. UP. when I read it. I suppose the true terror is being in an untenable situation without any way to get out: it’s not like you can return your kid at the New Kid Store and get a replacement, so the stress the protagonists feel in these types of stories feels inescapable and horrifying. Knowing […]
Can’t teach a Road Dog new tricks
What’s with you, kid? You think the death of Raymond Chandler left an opening in the Rat Pack? Im amused that my pick for Home Sweet Home’s bingo square, Bloomfield Hills Michigan’s own Elmore Leonard, spends about two lines on Detroit before moving the action to California, in this apparent sequel to Out of Sight. I dunno. It was a buck and I needed that home square space, I saw the movie when I was in middle school, but I remember the plot points neatly […]