John Steinbeck traveled to the Soviet Union not once, but twice. Did you guys know that? I found a reference to it while researching ballerina Maya Plisetskaya for The Dante Deception. A single sentence in one of the articles about her mentioned meeting Steinbeck in Moscow, and I did a double take. I don’t know much about Steinbeck, but being …
East of Eden: The Final Frontier
Eat my dust, Oprah. I finished East of Eden last night at 11:21 pm. This book was way more engaging and entertaining than I expected. That being said, I’d give it four stars, not five. It would have been five stars with a couple hundred fewer pages. Lop off 200-300 pages and it still would have been epic. But it …
East of Eden: Collected Thoughts, Part Deux
I‘m about 300 pages through East of Eden. There are some serious shenanigans going on. This book is the strangest combination of soap opera plot points and philosophical musings disguised as fireside chats. Anyhoo, here are a few more random thoughts to keep you guys in the loop while it’s fresh in my mind. I forgot a couple of points …
East of Eden: A Few Collected Thoughts
I‘m about a hundred and thirty pages into East of Eden. These are just a few quick thoughts to keep you guys in the loop while it’s fresh in my mind. 1. The beginning had me worried. Several dour, humorless, religious wives. The men are all charming, of course. Steinbeck, you’re on the verge of pissing me off here. 2. …
Book Review: Night Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko
In Night Watch, the first in the urban-noir fantasy series by Russian author Sergei Lukyanenko, low-grade White Magician Anton Gorodetsky finds himself caught up in a plot orchestrated by higher-grade magicians to change the course of human history. No pressure, right? I don’t normally read fantasy. In fact, I never read fantasy. Why? Because of Flannery O’Connor. She once said …
Book Review: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
My mom and dad always used to get me a box of See’s Candy for Valentine’s Day. Some years, it was the big white variety box. Others, it was the smaller golden box of truffles. Why did they always select the smaller box for the truffles? Because they are rich. (The truffles, not my parents.) They’re not meant to be …