Drunk Guy Dies in Mexico Lowry, Malcolm. (1947). Under the Volcano. New York: Harper & Row. It’s intimidating to read an iconic novel like this, one universally acclaimed as a “towering achievement in 20th century literature,” and so forth. It’s as … Continue reading
A Study in Narratology Eugenides, Jeffrey. (2002). Middlesex. New York: Farrar, Strauss & Giroux. This Pulitzer Prize winner is actually two novels in one, which accounts for its 530 pages. Either story might have made a good novel. Concatenating them suggests, … Continue reading
An Imperfect Exercise Rachman, Tom. (2010). The Imperfectionists. New York: Random House/Dial. This New York Times “Notable Book” has an interesting marketing angle. Its cover and first few inside pages contain hyperbolic praise from newspaper book reviewers, while the book itself … Continue reading
Horror Stories from Hollywood Hanson, Peter & Herman, Paul Robert (Eds.) (2010) Tales From the Script: 50 Hollywood Screenwriters Share Their Stories. New York: Harper Collins. I’m not a screenwriter or even an aspiring one, but I picked this book up because … Continue reading
Sex Without Feeling Hawkes, John (1974). Death, Sleep, & the Traveler. New York: New Directions. I ran across several references to Hawkes’ novels as “literary mysteries,” and I’m interested in that, so I took a look at two of his short … Continue reading
Dream Your Way Inside Butler, Robert Olen. (1983). Countrymen of Bones. New York: Holt. There are two protagonists in this story set in the New Mexico desert at the end of World War II. Darrell is an archeologist digging up the … Continue reading
Adams, W. A. (2007). Innate Intersubjectivity and the Science of Mind-Reading [Review of the book, On Being Moved: From Mirror Neurons to Empathy]. PsycCRITIQUES—Contemporary Psychology: APA Review of Books, October 24, 2007, Vol. 52, Release 43, Article 2. Retrieved October 24, … Continue reading
A Mild Kidnap Kerrigan, Gene. (2005). Little Criminals. New York: Europa Editions This straightforward cops vs. baddies story mostly focuses on the criminal characters, a gang of Dublin lowlife men who kidnap the wife of a wealthy lawyer. The kidnappers are … Continue reading
The workshop I went to recently was called “advanced” because you needed product. You couldn’t walk in with just an idea or an outline. I went with 75,000 words, the ninth revision of a suspense novel. What I learned at this workshop was … Continue reading
A Gentle Crime Novel Abu-jaber, Diane. (2007). Origin. New York: W.W. Norton This novel is in the rarified category of “literary” crime novel, which means the characters are well-developed and the writing is above average (that’s the literary part) AND, it … Continue reading