The first time I read The Princess Bride was in 2010 as an ebook on a small 1st generation smartphone during my down time at work. I had grown up with the movie, and as with most people, could quote it in its entirety. This remains one of the few instances where I truly, honestly love both the book … [Read more]
Why are we born, if not to help each other?
Cry, the beloved country, for the unborn child that is the inheritor of our fear. Let him not love the earth too deeply. Let him not laugh too gladly when the water runs through his fingers, nor stand too silent when the setting sun makes red the veld with fire. Let him not be too moved when the … [Read more]
This was America. No One was Lost in America
The whole time I was listening to the audio version of Drew Magary's The Hike, I wasn't sure why I was listening, and yet I could not stop. It was a weird mix of my thing and so not my thing. When I was finished, I wasn't sure what the point was, but weeks later, I'm still thinking about it. I … [Read more]
Nothing more than a conjuror of cheap tricks
How would you live your life if you knew when you were going to die? That’s the high-concept idea behind Chloe Benjamin’s The Immortalists, which opens in 1969 Brooklyn with the four Gold children, aged 7 to 13, visiting a fortune teller who gives each the exact date of his or her death. Three of … [Read more]