I have one word: DAMN! I noticed this cover. It was very odd. But lately people are trying to go with more “artistic” covers and things that “have not been done before.” Of course, by doing that, they have already done it, therefore it is not new. I still gave it a more careful look. Noticed it was Jack Gantos (SCORE!) and then saw the title. A Suicide Bomber Sits in the Library Well, that’s a bit of light reading isn’t it? I picked it […]
Not my idea, was it yours?
Not My Idea: A Book about Whiteness (Ordinary Terrible Things) is one of those books you will love or hate. You will think every piece is a gem or the worst bull you have ever heard. And I am not just talking about “liberals” will like and “conservatives” will not. I am not talking about “racists” will dislike it and “non-racists” will like. There is a lot going on and it will bring up a lot of thoughts, feelings and discussions. Not all of which […]
So bad it made me make up a bad metaphor
So I thought this was going to be Craig Ferguson’s biography. I know it says “a novel” but I still thought it was semi-biographical at least. I was wrong, it appears. This is not good. It bounces around and rambles. Everyone seems to have miserable lives. Some of the background characters have interesting stories, but as others have mentioned, women are not portrayed well. I didn’t hate it as much as other people, but I didn’t like it either. We follow certain people around, […]
Not-very good men do not very good things
In Ferguson’s reading guide to this novel he mentions that he was heartbroken while writing this novel and this statement both surprised me and not surprised me. It starts out as a simple tale of two friends, an incident at a river and then drifting apart. Then there’s two Americans who start a religion and it seems destined that all the tales will intertwine. They do, but not in any satisfactory way. This is not a pleasant novel. It is filled with not-very good men […]