They broke the mold after Dumas wrote “The Count of Monte Cristo.” There will never be a revenge plot as ambitious, as smooth, as Rube Goldbergian, as violent, as tense, or as passionate as this. This is the Ur Revenge Plot. I devoured this book. Inhaled it. And it’s partly because my brain melted a bit after the election, and then I was doggedly rebuilding my spirits with Solnit’s “Hope in the Dark” (TBR) (GET OFF MY BACK), and then it was Thanksgiving, and I […]
Starring Kojak, formerly known as Big Steve, a Very Good Dog
My blossoming love affair with Stephen King continues, with yet another behemoth of awesomeness: The Stand. This particular edition was released in 1990, twelve years after the first release. It was updated and expanded, and I have no reference to the first edition but, according to “Publisher’s Weekly,” at least as quoted on amazon.com, “The same excellent tale of the walking dude, the chemical warfare weapon called superflu and the confrontation between its survivors has been updated to 1990, so references to Teenage Mutant Ninja […]
A Beginner’s Guide to Atheism
I always prefer to listen to an audiobook narrated by the author. I think there is an element of authenticity that is not present otherwise. Hitch is an excellent orator but this book was poorly read. The sound goes in and out and becomes difficult to hear at times. It was thoroughly distracting from the essays. God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything is a collection of essays written by one of the paragons of modern atheism, Christopher Hitchens. Hitch discusses his own childhood […]