It was a dark and stormy night. Well, actually it wasn’t, but it was a kinda cloudy overcast day in Amsterdam, a little on the cool side because it was October, dreary but not as unpleasant as a dark and stormy night would be. I was walking along the Prinzengrachet, or Prince’s Canal, doing some […]
I recently heard a radio interview with author Jack Reid, who has written a new book entitled Roadside Americans: The Rise and Fall of Hitchhiking in a Changing Nation. He was saying how, with particular respect to the Covid-19 pandemic, hitchhiking is decidedly out of fashion. Yup. But I was reminded of two significant hitchhiking experiences […]
I reviewed this engaging novel and posted my review here at JackBoston and also on Goodreads. Amazon wouldn’t permit my publishing it. The message was, “We apologize but Amazon is not accepting reviews on this product from this account. If you would like to contact us about this decision, please email community-help@amazon.com. Of course there was […]
It’s been a while since I’ve read a novel I enjoyed as much as Delia Owen’s Where the Crawdads Sing. It’s a masterpiece of classic storytelling, although its plot is in most respects undistinguished. It’s a foundling story, a girl-meets-boy story, a broken-heart story, a coming of age story. All of which proves it’s all […]
Listening to the Audible version of Nick Hornby’s novel, A Long Way Down, is a highly entertaining way to appreciate this otherwise rather dour novel. Yet what shines through is Hornby’s comedic genius, his Existential Angst, and his ability to plumb deeply into the psyche of four losers who have climbed to the top of […]
Harry Mulisch (1927-2010) bit off more than he could chew with The Discovery of Heaven, his 730-page not-a-magnum opus. After 543 pages of a somewhat interesting plot, the story takes a turn into sheer mundanity. I struggled to finish it. Let me say I relish reading long novels, but they have to be good long […]
Cooped up inside my house by the Covid-19 pandemic, I’ve found myself preoccupied with dystopian movies and books. We know we live in an alt-world of dystopian fiction, but have you thought to look the word up in the dictionary? Dystopian characterizes “an imagined state or society where there is great suffering or injustice.” All […]