So it’s been over a month now since R.E.M., one of my favorite bands, maybe the favorite band, has split up. And I still feel deeply gloomy about the whole thing. People who mourn celebrities like a friend or a brother are a bit self-indulgent.… Read the rest
Auditioning the New R.E.M. Read More »
R.E.M. was is one of my favorite bands of all time. They are without question some of the wisest, most prescient, and transcendent voices I’ve ever heard from the wider world. And, thanks to their maturity and creative commitment, they’ve been in my life for practically as long as I have been.… Read the rest
10 Best Underappreciated R.E.M. Songs of All Time Read More »
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All children’s books do not age equally.
In some cases, like the nature stories of Eric Carle or the epics of Margaret Wise Brown, the date of the story is almost invisible, because the subject is so universal and well-told.… Read the rest
The Little Fire Engine, by Lois Lenski Read More »
My World, by Margaret Wise Brown Read More »
If you enter Chicago from the east along I-94 or I-90 you would cross city limits at the Indiana-Illinois border or at the Calumet River. According to this book, however, you would seemingly not enter Chicago until you reached Roosevelt Road after another dozen-or-so miles.… Read the rest
Monday Review: Lonely Planet Chicago City Guide, by Karla Zimmerman Read More »
I’m not going to give a plot synopsis; there are some great reviews already posted online that already do just that! I’m going to talk instead about what surprised and impressed me most about Sales’ wonderful debut:
This book is a bona-fide page-turner.… Read the rest
Monday Review: Mostly Good Girls, by Leila Sales Read More »
Unfortunately, some things are inescapable.
If you’ve read a “haunted house” story written in the 52 years since Shirley Jackson’s catastrophically fragile novel, The Haunting of Hill House, came out, then some of its revolutionary appeal is lost to you. … Read the rest
Monday Review: The Haunting of Hill House, by Shirley Jackson Read More »
Is the film Donnie Darko Gothic?
Post your opinion as a comment!
Check back tomorrow for my own interpretation.… Read the rest
“Is This Gothic?” #8 Read More »
This past week I finished The Italian by Ann Radcliffe, meaning that I’ve finally read the Big Three of her novels, the other two being The Mysteries of Udolpho and The Romance of the Forest.
At some point, I’d like to talk about these three in comparison, as well as the consider The Italian alongside more contemporary writing, but I thought it would make sense to start out with a brief review.… Read the rest
The Italian, by Ann Radcliffe. Read More »
This past weekend, when I was touring my book in Michigan, I had the first opportunity in a couple years to visit Detroit.
Of course, the city’s national and international reputation has been legendary for most of its existence, and most recently by its bizarre status as a sort of non-America within America; a disempowered place with almost a million residents, terrible statistics for crime, poverty, and abandonment, and so on.… Read the rest
Gothic Detroit, Part 1 Read More »