Tag Archives: books

textolatry

Posted on February 29, 2016 by blaise
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thickness

Posted on May 15, 2013 by blaise

“Sorel’s basic char­ac­ter flaws had all cement­ed by the age of fif­teen, a fact which fur­ther elicit­ed my sym­pa­thy.  To have all the build­ing blocks of your life in place by that age was, by any stan­dard, a tragedy.  It … Con­tin­ue read­ing →

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the sense that the booker prize sucks

Posted on October 18, 2012 by blaise

There are two book reviews I’d like to post, by way of com­par­ing great writ­ing with crap writ­ing.  My orig­i­nal thought was to inter­leave snip­pets from these two books, allow­ing one to make its own case and the oth­er to … Con­tin­ue read­ing →

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hyperforeignism

Posted on October 13, 2012 by blaise

I drove into Boul­der, Col­orado at mid­night on Wednes­day, my impulse to eat a late din­ner near­ly over­bal­anced by my need to declare the long day over.  It turns out that, even with throngs of kids boozi­ly wan­der­ing from bar … Con­tin­ue read­ing →

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where’d you go, bernadette?

Posted on July 22, 2012 by blaise

Our friend Maria Sem­ple mailed us an advance copy of her new nov­el, Where’d You Go, Bernadette? a few weeks ago.  Adri­enne took the first nib­ble, then qui­et­ly devoured it in a few hours, a sphin­xy smile on her face.  … Con­tin­ue read­ing →

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escape from camp 14

Posted on February 16, 2012 by blaise

Our good friend Blaine is gear­ing up for the pub­li­ca­tion of his new book, Escape From Camp 14. It’s about a young man who has man­aged to escape from the most bru­tal of North Korea’s giant con­cen­tra­tion camps, even­tu­al­ly mak­ing … Con­tin­ue read­ing →

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treasure hunt

Posted on November 22, 2011 by blaise

Over the past year I’ve set the kids a num­ber of trea­sure hunts, which are both fun to make and always in demand.  Like any­thing one tries a few times, it’s got­ten quick­er.  This morning’s was assem­bled in record time … Con­tin­ue read­ing →

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death letter

Posted on December 22, 2010 by blaise

Maybe it’s the recent demise of the great Cap­tain Beef­heart, which is a reminder of the way music, 30 years ago still a medi­um for rev­o­lu­tion, no longer has a past or a future, but has con­gealed into a time­less­ly … Con­tin­ue read­ing →

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solar/freedom

Posted on November 23, 2010 by blaise

Per­verse­ly, or per­haps guilti­ly, after putting a knife in Ian McE­wan in a pre­vi­ous post, I felt com­pelled to read his new book, Solar.  Pol­ished it off recent­ly while wait­ing for my new note­book to sync doc­u­ments.  This comes on … Con­tin­ue read­ing →

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zero history

Posted on October 30, 2010 by blaise

Recent­ly fin­ished William Gib­son’s new nov­el, Zero His­to­ry, dur­ing the no-elec­tron­ics phase of a plane’s ascent to 30,000 feet.  It feels like I’ve read half of this book dur­ing take­offs and land­ings. I have a soft spot for Gib­son.  A … Con­tin­ue read­ing →

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