Category Archives: books
Duty and sacredness and mysterious-God-like-darknesses, factors of writing or reading a damn story
In Kurt Vonnegut’s novel Slaughterhouse-Five, Billy Pilgrim is abducted by aliens from the planet Tralfamador. The Tralfamadorians ask him if he has any questions and Billy says, Why me? The aliens reply by saying, “There is no why.” Which to … Continue reading
Filed under art, books, literature, writing
Without great solitude, no serious work is possible
If our ideas seem smaller nowadays, it’s not because we are dumber than our forebears but because we just don’t care as much about ideas as they did. In effect, we are living in an increasingly post-idea world — a … Continue reading
Filed under art, books, literature, writing
Philip Roth Just Wants you to Read the Damn Book
Philip Roth is my favorite author. In this feature he says he doesn’t read fiction anymore. And he discusses writing about events twenty years after they happen. His most recent novel Nemesis, is about a polio epidemic in 1944: It is … Continue reading
Why Sri Lankans Don’t Get PTSD and Forcing Amy Grant to Apologize
Part of the problem (my personal problem) with blogging is that I don’t always (for various reason) go into as much depth as I’d like about subjects. For instance, I’ve read numerous articles about a variety of subjects and I’d … Continue reading
For Writers Readers and Everyone Else 011
I’ve always wondered how presidential candidates picked their running mates. Here’s how Obama picked his. I thought I invented the faux hawk. I guess this photographer gets all the credit. At least I invented TMI. Most people don’t believe I invented the acronym TMI (too … Continue reading
Indignation by Philip Roth
Indignation by Philip Roth is set in the early 50′s with the Korean War waging across the sea and the threat of the draft looming over young men like Marcus Messner, the son of the kosher-buthcher in Newark, New Jersey, … Continue reading
Elsewhere, Perhaps by Amoz Oz
Amoz Oz wrote Elsewhere, Perhaps when he was 27. It was his second novel. Set in the fictional town of Metsudat Ram, an Israeli Kibbutz, in a valley near a disputed border. If the desert heat doesn’t threaten their way … Continue reading
Filed under books, fiction, literature, review
