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Category Archives: The West
Review of Kent Haruf's "Our Souls at Night" as Tribute to the New Film Version Starring Jane Fonda and Robert Redford
So two years ago Kent Haruf published his last terrific novel, Our Souls at Night, which I reviewed for the Dallas Morning News, and as a tie-in and tribute of sorts, the DMN has republished my review today, which can … Continue reading
Posted in books, books/film, The West, Uncategorized
Tagged Book Reviewing, Film, Good Fiction, Kent Haruf, Our Souls at Night, The Bird Saviors, The West
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Review of Gabriel Tallent's "My Absolute Darling" in the Dallas Morning News
So my review of Gabriel Tallent’s debut novel, My Absolute Darling, appears in the Dallas Morning News today, and can be found here. The marketing of this novel seems odd: The combination of its sweet title, the brightly colored branches … Continue reading
Posted in books, The West
Tagged Book Reviewing, Gabriel Tallent's My Absolute Darling, The West
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Hurricane Harvey Hits Home Town, Like I Predicted in "Goodnight, Texas"
So my misspent years in high school were dithered away in the Texas coastal town of Rockport, which appears to have been the epicenter of Hurricane Harvey’s landfall last night. Back in 2006 Unbridled Books published my novel Goodnight, Texas … Continue reading
Posted in books, books/film, Climate Change, The West
Tagged Climate Change, Fiction Writing, Goodnight, Texas, The Bird Saviors, The West
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In the Country of "No Country for Old Men" and On the Trail of Cormac McCarthy's "Blood Meridian": What I Did for My Summer Vacation
So late July found me (and my family) in (mythical) Cormac McCarthy country, at the Three River Petroglyph site near Three Rivers, New Mexico, which is a cool (and hot) place to be. We camped there for three days, watching … Continue reading
Kayaking the Flathead River, Glacier National Park, Montana: What I Did for My Summer Vacation
So I feel sorry for my lonely blog in the summer months, as I’m scrambling around the country and doing various other things than spending time on the computer, but I’m back at work (and on my laptop) once again … Continue reading
Review of Jack E. Davis's "The Gulf: The Making of an American Sea" in the Dallas Morning News
So last Sunday my review of Jack E. Davis’s The Gulf: The Making of an American Sea appeared in the Dallas Morning News, and can be found here. It’s a terrific book about the Gulf of Mexico, on the shores … Continue reading
"Captain Fantastic": Matt Ross's Ode to Life Off the Grid
So I caught the indie-hit Captain Fantastic (2016) recently, and after my post not long ago about adventure stories gone wrong, this is a paean to adventure as a lifestyle choice. It’s also something of a genre mixer: adventure tale … Continue reading
Posted in books/film, Good TV, The West
Tagged Captain Fantastic, The Bird Saviors, The West, Viggo Mortensen
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"The Sailor's Gift": Short Essay in the Dallas Morning News
So as I noted in my previous post (The Goodwill Genius: On Discovering Vladimir Nabokov’s Bend Sinister) I actually wrote the “wrong” essay for my editor at the Dallas Morning News, remembering it only to be about a book that … Continue reading
On Adventures Gone Wrong: Stephane Gerson's "Disaster Falls" and Jason Kersten's "Journal of the Dead"
So I stumbled upon a book that touches close to home for me, as a naturalist who drags his young daughter with him to various outdoor locales seething with both beauty and danger, filled with the confidence and aplomb that … Continue reading
On HBO's Westworld: Where Humans Go for Fun, Known to the Hosts as Hell
So out of pity for my poor blog that never gets attention, I’ll download myself out of the iCloud in which I reside to report that I’m jazzed about the new HBO series Westworld. For one thing it takes me … Continue reading
Posted in books/film, Horror Films, The West
Tagged Film, HBO's Westworld, Horror Movies, The Bird Saviors, The West
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