Timeline by Michael Crichton
Michael Crichton used to be my favorite author. Then I read State of Fear. That’s not really an exaggeration, State of Fear is so bad it changed my whole opinion on the author. It’s a breathless screed against climate science wrapped in the barest wrapper of a story. It’s one of those “why even did you write this” things that doesn’t feel at all out of place in 2023, the age of Matt Walsh’s What is a Woman and Elon Musk demanding a renowned vaccine […]
Rising Sun by Michael Crichton
There is a place way down in Los Angeles they call the Nakamota Tower! And it been the ruin of one woman, and now I can’t think of a rhyme. Anyway, Michael Crichton is a moralizing asshole a lot of the time. It would be one thing if the novels would just speak for themselves. They’re incredibly one note already, but he often ends them with a chiding epilogue that tsks tsks us into taking a problem he sees seriously. In this novel it’s […]
Disclosure by Michael Crichton
Have you seen the movie Disclosure? I watched it when I was a teenager. I would be lying if I told you I watched it for almost any reason than I really hoped there would be nudity. I was 13. I liked Michael Crichton and loved Jurassic Park, and still think the book is miles better than the movie, as fun as the movie is. I also recorded HBO presenting Rising Sun at some point, a book I plan to read soon, and well, guess […]
Binary by Michael Crichton
Grave Descend by Michael Crichton
Tales of German Imagination by Various
Claudia and the Phantom Phone Calls by Ann M Martin
Amazon Shorts by Rainbow Rowell; Suzanne Redfearn; Chimamanda Adichie; Chandler Baker
Southern Belle Insults by Keke Palmer; Jasmine Guillory
Nothing Like What I Imagined by Mindy Kaling
Currency by Jia Tolentino; Cristina Henriquez; Tom Perrotta; Curtis Sittenfeld; Yiyun Li; Justin Torres; Emma Cline; Kiley Reid
Binary 2/5 Stars A thriller written by Michael Crichton in the early 1970s. Even though this is a John Lange book, it feels very much like a Michael Crichton book, and even more like an Ira Levin or Thomas Harris book. It’s a terrorist thriller wherein our protagonist is sent to spy on a known provocoteur who is making weird moves in his public and private experiences. What we come to understand is that he is planning to either kill a bunch of people, assassinate […]
Airframe by Michael Crichton
This is the epitome of a three star read. I liked it overall, but it was very dated, and has that signature Crichton lack of character development in favor of extreme technical detail. About 200 pages from the end, though, the tension really picked up, and I did end up enjoying it. This is essentially a book about the aftermath of an airplane disaster in which there are fifty-six casualties, and three deaths. The incident comes at a very bad time for Norton Aircraft, who […]
Samarkand by Amin Maalouf
Shiloh by Shelby Foote
Blind Willow Sleeping Woman by Haruki Murakami
The Great Train Robbery by Michael Crichton
CivilWarLand in Bad Decline by George Saunders
Save Me the Plums by Ruth Reichl
Samarkand – 4/5 Stars This book immediately wonder how many novels have Omar Khayyam as a major or main characters. So in this way, being shown in careful detail and with loving care how and why Omar Khayyam is such an important person, cultural touchstone, and inspiration to such a huge part of the world is itself a gift that this novel offers. In addition to this, the sense of adventure in this novel that is created in the opening sections, and then carried over […]
