Book Reviews Stories 1 to 10 of 67  
6/25/2014
Book Reviews: Artificial Cherry, Over Our Dead Bodies
Artificial Cherry by Billeh Nickerson Arsenal Pulp Press, $14.95, 96 pages   A little of this and a little of that.  It’s the way conversation flows when you’re with a friend. You mosey from subject to subject, you touch upon a funny story which leads to another topic you can both gnaw on before you move to something totally different.  That’s a glue that holds you together. It’s the stuff of friendship. And in ...
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6/25/2014
Book Reviews: Queerly Beloved, The Secret Life of Sleep
Queerly Beloved: A Love Story Across Genders by Diane and Jacob Anderson-MinshallBold Strokes Books, $16.95, Canada, 235 pages Why do you stay with the one you love? You can count the ways: he makes you laugh. She’s tender, kind, and generous. You love being in his arms. He’s a good dancer. She’s hot. There a million reasons to love, each as individual as the lovers. But what if your partner changed? What if it ...
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5/19/2014
Book Reviews: Run Don't Walk, Body Counts
Run, Don’t Walk by Adele Levine, P.T. 2014, Avery, $26.00, 278 pages   It all starts with baby steps.  Baby steps, with arm-waving balance and shaky testing of foot on floor. You held onto the fingers of someone bigger and more experienced at that sort of thing, one foot in front of the other before you finally got the hang of it all.  You probably don’t remember your first steps – unless it’s ...
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4/24/2014
Book Reviews: Dog Gone, Back Too Soon & A Wanted Woman
Dog Gone, Back Soon by Nick TroutHyperion, $15.00, 325 pages You were sure that everyone was in awe. There you were, poised, confident, and in control. You had a handle on things and you were workin’ it. All eyes were on you, watching, and you were sure they were impressed with the razzle-dazzle you displayed. And then things went wrong. Horribly, publicly wrong and you went from great to goat in two-point-four seconds. But ...
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4/8/2014
Book Reviews: Frog Music, The Mayo Clinic Guide to Stress-Free Living
Frog Music by Emma Donoghue Little, Brown, $27.00, 416 pages   Once, it was the most natural question in the world: why?  With a child’s usual curiosity, you asked it incessantly. Why are dogs black? Why’s the sun hot? Why do birds fly away?  Why? You drove your mother nuts.  But as you aged, answers came easier and “Why?” grew faint. You didn’t need to ask “why” so much, except, as in the ...
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3/25/2014
Book Reviews: Teaching the Cat to Sit, Kitty Genovese
Teaching the Cat to Sit: A Memoir by Michelle TheallGallery Books, $24.99, 288 pages Sometimes, you feel so adrift.Unmoored, unanchored, you feel as though you ride each wave alone, emotions and events washing over you until you can’t weather the storm any longer and you need an anchor. That’s when you reach for your family or your God.But what if both were denied to you?  In Teaching the Cat to Sit, Michelle Theall ...
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3/10/2014
Book Reviews: Writing God's Obituary, Pee Shy: A Memoir
Writing God’s Obituary: How a Good Methodist Became a Better Atheist by Anthony B. Pinn Prometheus Books,  $18.95, 241 pages   Your second home is a grand one.  It’s much bigger than the house you live in during the week. No, your second home has huge windows to let in the light, fine linens, and it’s usually filled with music. The furniture might be sparse, the chairs hard and the temperature uncomfortable, but there’s ...
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2/24/2014
Book Reviews: The Orphan Choir, The Marriage Act
The Orphan Choir by Sophie Hannah Picador, $25.00, 277 pages   Your neighbor loves heavy rock 'n' roll.  He has all the CDs of all the major metal bands. It’s impressive, really, the determination he used to find them, starting with the earliest and the heaviest. He listens to them every weekend. Over and over, loudly.  Which would be nice, except you hate heavy metal.  So, aside from buying a boxful of earplugs, what can ...
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2/10/2014
Book Reviews: Confessions of a Wild Child, Don't Be So Gay
Confessions of a Wild Child by Jackie Collins St. Martin’s Press, $26.99, 294 pages   Oh, the things you got away with when you were a teen!  Cutting classes and hanging out in the school parking lot. Sneaking out of the house when your parents thought you were asleep, parties when they weren’t home, “borrowing” their car, busting curfew—stupid stuff you hope your kids never do.  You got away with a lot. It’s ...
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1/27/2014
Book Reviews: Ham: Slices of a Life, Growing A Feast
Ham: Slices of a Life by Sam HarrisGallery Books, $26.00, 304 pages OK, pay attention.   Sometimes, that’s all you need—just someone to watch you, to hear what you’re saying or understand your feelings. A little attention can be a bad-mood squasher, a good-mood enhancer, or just validation.  Yes, a minute in the spotlight can do wonders. And as you’ll see in Ham: Slices of a Life by Sam Harris, hogging that spotlight ...
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