The author of Angelopolis talks about her new book, her favourite characters in the book, her writing schedule, her dream book club, her hobbies, her research, her relationship to Russia and Eastern Europe, her ideal reader, and lots more. Which of…
A review of Opportunity: Optimizing Life’s Chances by Donald Morris
These are opportunities which alter the present and shape the future. The author further contends that if one is trained to recognize opportunities in a timely fashion, one can then recognize rich and productive opportunities while dismissing the trivial, short-lived…
A review of The Book by Jessica Bell
The Book reads very quickly. This is not just because it’s only 154 pages of reasonably spaced text, but also because Bonnie’s voice drives the story along as we try to understand, from her perspective, the multiple relationships that surround her…
A review of By the Book: A Reader’s Guide to Life by Ramona Koval
By the Book brings the reader into the story right from the start, and envelopes us in a kind of shared conversation about ourselves. By the Book is all about conversation – and as we ‘converse’ with Koval through her own history, and…
A review of Welcome to the Multiverse* by Ira Nayman
There are many other Nayman hilarities. The sentient kitchen, for example, is so possessive that if a human tries to boil an egg ‘it turns the heat up so much you could melt a pavement.’ Science too gets the treatment.…
A review of My Last Summer With You: No Fanfare for a Withered Rose by Fidelis O. Mkparu
The author brings to light many important issues within this novel that were not only prevalent in 1977 and 1978 but in the present too. My Last Summer with You is a story that envelops the reader from the beginning. This story…
A review of Earthmasters by Clive Hamilton
Of particular concern is that, regardless of any potential damaging impacts, geoengineering solutions – the “quick-fix” appears to be politically easier to handle than emissions cutting and other much safer mitigations. In addition, our efforts to find an “easy” solution…
A review of Revelation: Book One of the Revelation Trilogy by M. J. Mancini
Revelation is a unique intellectual thriller. It is violent, torturous, intriguing, and downright scary. The reader will be transported into this dark world of the Cavalieri. It is a nasty place indeed. How could such a good man end up there?…
Polymorphous Perversity, for a Laugh: Richard Linklater’s Bernie, a true-life comedy feature about friendship, death, and gossip
In Richard Linklater’s Bernie, the people who lived in Carthage, Texas, and knew Bernie Tiede and his friend and patron Marjorie Nugent, are presented, their testimony that of witnesses, full of fact, gossip, insight, and wit. Genuine observation is mixed with criticism and delusion.
Pride, Determination, Resilience: Self, Community, and Competition in the film Pride, starring Terrence Howard, Bernie Mac, Kimberly Elise, Kevin Phillips, Evan Ross, and Nate Parker
Obviously, a film such as Pride, intended as inspiring entertainment based on a true story set in the early 1970s, arrives against a context of expectation and common disappointment and remembered excellence: it can be dismissed with inattention, or evaluated with exacting rigor.