The Knockout Queen This book is so wild. When I was a freshman in college, second semester I took an English course entitled “The Picaresque Novel.” Now if you look up “picaresque” in the Oxford dictionary, it says “relating to an episodic style of fiction dealing with the adventures of a rough and dishonest but […]

Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family This book is utterly astounding. Turns out book sales are down in the Covid-19 era. Digital more than physical. Seems inexplicable to me, then again, readers are a subset of the public, which may explain the adherence to the physical. However, those who do not […]

Writers & Lovers: A Novel An author is trying to give you an immersive adventure. The protagonist is a writer. But don’t let that turn you off. It’s kinda like a musician. They’ve got their whole life to write their first album, but less than a year for the second and at some point in […]

She’s nobody from nowhere. You’ve got to listen to this podcast “The Big Steal” It’s all about Putin’s kleptocracy. A reader recommended it. It’s about the transition in Russia from communism to autocracy, with a bit of supposed democracy in between. We keep reading about Putin’s crimes, but they never get any traction. I remember […]