Albert Murray, The Hero and the Blues
The Hero And the Blues by Albert Murray My rating: 5 of 5 stars Albert Murray is, as the fashion journalists say, having a moment. His collected non-fiction and fiction/poetry … Continue reading
Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood My rating: 3 of 5 stars Some books are so famous, so ubiquitous in the culture, that you feel you have read them well … Continue reading
Hart Crane, The Bridge
The Bridge by Hart Crane My rating: 4 of 5 stars The Bridge (1930) is a long poem seven years in the making. It was written under several varieties of … Continue reading
Ishmael Reed, Mumbo Jumbo
Mumbo Jumbo by Ishmael Reed My rating: 4 of 5 stars Thomas Pynchon’s freewheeling narrator of Gravity’s Rainbow (1973) tells us, “Well, and keep in mind where those Masonic Mysteries came … Continue reading
Richard Rorty, Achieving Our Country
Achieving Our Country: Leftist Thought in Twentieth-Century America by Richard M. Rorty My rating: 2 of 5 stars Richard Rorty is a Pragmatist philosopher: he believes that ideas and actions … Continue reading
J. D. Bernal, The World, the Flesh, and the Devil
The World, the Flesh and the Devil: An Enquiry Into the Future of the Three Enemies of the Rational Soul by J.D. Bernal My rating: 3 of 5 stars When … Continue reading
Grant Morrison, The Invisibles
The Invisibles by Grant Morrison My rating: 4 of 5 stars This will be a pitch. You should read The Invisibles. Certainly those of you who have been reading some … Continue reading
Tracy K. Smith, Life on Mars
Life on Mars by Tracy K. Smith My rating: 4 of 5 stars This celebrated 2011 volume from the current U.S. poet laureate is her elegy for her father, a … Continue reading
Maggie Nelson, The Argonauts
The Argonauts by Maggie Nelson My rating: 2 of 5 stars This theory-inflected memoir of “(queer) family making,” to quote the jacket copy, so assiduously defends itself that there is … Continue reading
Louise Erdrich, The Plague of Doves
The Plague of Doves by Louise Erdrich My rating: 4 of 5 stars The Plague of Doves was acclaimed by many as Louise Erdrich’s masterpiece when it was published a … Continue reading
