Do you love the show Intervention, but find it too glossy and upbeat? Do you feel the problem with Charles Bukowski is that he was just a bit too cheerful? Then this might just be the book for you. Ablutions is narrated by an unnamed Barman (I’d say he’s our protagonist but I’m not entirely sure that is the case) working in a deeply depressing, lowest-of-lowbrow Hollywood bar. Imagine all the magnificent wealth, glamour, and luxury of Hollywood. Cool, now imagine the polar opposite of […]
TNG through J.J. Abrams, an oral history.
This was a hefty brick of a book. It follows the creation of Star Trek: The Next Generation through the 2016 release of Star Trek: Beyond, but because there was so much more Star Trek content created in the second twenty-five years of the franchise, this sucker clocks in at a whopping 843 pages. I read the first volume in a day and a half. This one took me six. Of course, this was also partially because this book not only had more content, but […]
I’m a fastidious bookman and have never liked reading books with library markings or other messy defects.
As you can see, I’m on a bit of a Larry McMurtry kick: The Literary Life – 4/5 Stars Like his previous memoir that I also recently reviewed, The Literary Life, is hyper-focused on his writing career. For the most part, he doesn’t repeat any important stories, though he does trace over a few events and ideas that have come up before. I think to enjoy this one — which reviews of the other books suggest — you have to be interested in the publishing […]
“Don’t ignore half of me so you can fit me into a box.”
Really, really glad I suggested this one for my IRL book club. I’d heard great things, and wasn’t disappointed. It’s historical fiction, and it plays with some weighty themes, but it never stops being a fun read. It’s this great mix of serious historical fiction (with a focus that feels totally fresh) and trashy beach read. I say “trashy” not because the book itself is trashy, but its subject matter–Old Hollywood–can’t help but evoke that gossipy, tell-all feeling. Especially since the premise of the book […]