Category Archives: books

Arizona Is Burning, and We're Breathing It

Posted on June 7, 2011 by williamjcobb

Smoke from the Bear Wallow Fire in Arizona—several hundred miles away but over 233,000 acres in size—is so thick here we can’t see the valley floor from our hillside home, just a mile or so away. We’re all coughing and … Continue reading →

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S.C. Gwynne’s "Empire of the Summer Moon"—Great Comanche History

Posted on May 25, 2011 by williamjcobb

So if you’re interested in Native American history, S.C. Gwynne’s Empire of the Summer Moon (Scribner 2010) is a great read. Most of it concerns the Comanches, who essentially ruled and terrorized the Great Plains of Texas/Oklahoma areas during the … Continue reading →

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Review of Lori Roy's "Bent Road," Text Version

Posted on May 12, 2011 by williamjcobb

Now that the Dallas Morning News is charging to view their content I realize when I post a book review here you can’t read it unless you pay, so since it’s a few days old, I’ll post the text here. … Continue reading →

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Review of Lori Roy's debut novel, "Bent Road"

Posted on May 8, 2011 by williamjcobb

My review of Lori Roy’s debut novel, Bent Road, appears in today’s Dallas Morning News here: http://www.dallasnews.com/entertainment/books/20110506-book-review-bent-road-by-lori-roy.ece I call it Kansas Gothic, which I think is kind of a fun/gruesome idea. There’s a braided pattern of badness and the ramifications … Continue reading →

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On Finishing a Novel, Softly

Posted on April 2, 2011 by williamjcobb

So I haven’t been posting anything of late as I’ve been plunged into my own writing—specifically, finishing a novel. I’m usually amused at depictions of writers in movies, how cornball they often are: Usually the writer begins a novel by … Continue reading →

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Review of Karen Russell's "Swamplandia!"

Posted on February 28, 2011 by williamjcobb

Here’s a url to my review of Karen Russell’s debut novel, Swamplandia! that appeared in today’s Dallas Morning News. It’s a good, fun read, not a great literary book, closer to a Young Adult novel than most reviews are acknowledging, … Continue reading →

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Aimee Bender reads "The Fake Nazi" & Timothy Egan Sees Through the Facebook Craze

Posted on February 26, 2011 by williamjcobb

So Thursday night I’m in the (not quite final, as I’m still feeling it) throes of a sinus infection, weak and tired and congested, home in my cold Pennsylvania house, shivering and threadbare, listening to the mice scrabble in the … Continue reading →

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Supercomputer Cheats on "Jeopardy," Ray Kurzweil and "The Singularity Is Near"

Posted on February 18, 2011 by williamjcobb

So I actually watched a bit of “Watson” the computer on Jeopardy, and it was obvious the computer seemed to have a huge advantage in timing, that he wasn’t pressing that buzzer gadget that slowed the humans down, particularly noticeable … Continue reading →

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J. D. Salinger Bio Sounds Good, and a Writers Party in Austin, circa 2006

Posted on February 11, 2011 by williamjcobb

So back in 2006 I was at an opulent writers’ party, a post-event thing at the Texas Book Festival, standing next to Frank McCourt and Maureen Down, Richard Ford and Jay McInerny, who today is reviewing a new biography of … Continue reading →

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In the Footsteps of Richard Alley: Mark Hertsgaard's "Hot: Living Through the Next Fifty Years on Earth"

Posted on February 6, 2011 by williamjcobb

So today’s NY Times Sunday Book Review has a review of what sounds like a good book in the climate change library, HOT: Living Through the Next Fifty Years on Earth, by Mark Hertsgaard, here: I asked Richard Alley, in our parking … Continue reading →

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