Category Archives: books

Andrew Ross Sorkin's "Too Big To Fail" = Too Big To Read?

All summer I’ve been trying to get through Andrew Ross Sorkin’s terrific book about the financial meltdown (or as I like to call it, The Big Fall) of 2007-8, Too Big To Fail, and I think I’m going to have … Continue reading

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Review of Rick Moody's "The Four Fingers of Death"

Here’s a url to my review of Rick Moody’s new novel, The Four Fingers of Death, which appears in today’s Dallas Morning News. TFFOD is awfully long, but I was sucked into the vortex of the middle of the book, … Continue reading

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Kent Haruf, One of Our Finest Writers, Close to Completing a New Novel

So I’m loathe to do any literary name-dropping but in this case I think it’s worthy: Yesterday I had lunch with Kent Haruf, author of Plainsong (1999, a finalist for and should have won the National Book Award), andĀ Eventide (2004, … Continue reading

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On Rick Moody's new novel, "The Four Fingers of Death"

So I’m reviewing Rick Moody’s new novel, The Four Fingers of Death, which, after a rocky start, is turning out to be a fun read. A couple quick observations: It’s 700 plus pages, as in Infinite Jest long long long. … Continue reading

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On Nathaniel Philbrick's "The Last Stand," in Memory of George Armstrong Custer

Writing a book about Custer’s Last Stand is a bit tricky, considering you have stiff competition from Evan S. Connell’s masterpiece Son of the Morning Star (1986), but Nathaniel Philbrick’s new book, The Last Stand, just published, is an immediate … Continue reading

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Review of Nic Pizzolatto's "Galveston," a Knockout Crime Novel

I was camping in the mountains west of Cottonwood Pass, Colorado this weekend, but on Sunday the following review of mine appeared in the Dallas Morning News: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/ent/books/stories/DN-bk_galveston_0620gd.ART.State.Bulldog.2951729.html Galveston is a terrific book, and whenever I get a chance I’m … Continue reading

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