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Jess’s Book Club Pick for May: Dubliners by James Joyce

11. May 2008

Jess’s Book Club Pick for May: Dubliners by James Joyce

If you are groaning, just wait. Let me begin by ...more

Features

Latest

Featured Book Review: Taken by Daphne Marlatt

May 7, 2008, 10:07 GMT

Featured Book Review: Taken by Daphne Marlatt
A difficult and brilliant novel of daring distortions, Daphne Marlatt's Taken is one of a select few true-blue modernist masterpieces. ... more

Featured Book Review: Everyman Library by Irene Nemirovsky

May 5, 2008, 10:16 GMT

Featured Book Review: Everyman Library by Irene Nemirovsky
Generally I find it a good rule of thumb that if one is searching for book reviews regarding a literary “classic” writer or even a “rediscovered classic” writer like Irene Nemirovsky, one can pretty much forget finding any reasonable criticism. Why? Because people have it so ingrained into their heads that if a writer lived a long time ago and has maintained his or her name in print, then the public just assumes that writer is great. ... more

Featured Book Review: Dubliners by James Joyce

Apr 30, 2008, 10:54 GMT

Featured Book Review: Dubliners by James Joyce
Many years ago I got into an argument with a drunken professor over James Joyce. My contention was that no scholars had ever looked into the role that Joyce’s syphilis had in the breakdown of his narrative abilities. Most have taken for granted that all of the dashing of Joyce’s style from Dubliners, his first published fiction, through Finnegans Wake, his last, was by choice. ... more

Original Writing

Latest

Short Story: Maps of the Bible by Jason Sanford

Apr 25, 2008, 14:56 GMT

A dead man's Bible. My Bible. Jedediah holds it to his nose as if the acid paper crisp and saddle-stitched decay still keeps me alive. 
... more

Short Story: Little Pixie by Seamus Kearney

Jan 31, 2008, 10:07 GMT

When Thomas arrived at his usual place on the café terrace, he still hadn’t decided whether to say anything to the others about the death of his wife. Why didn’t I ever bring her here? Would it have been such a big effort? My darling, impossible Valerie... ... more

'PROLOGUE,' Adagios Quartet by Judith Fitzgerald

Jan 28, 2008, 10:33 GMT

Palest full moon in the window,
muted blue-grey shadows, smoke coiling within
variegated scintillae of light...
... more

News

Peter Matthiessen’s Shadow Country

Peter Matthiessen’s Shadow Country

The Modern Library has released a large work by Peter Matthiessen called Shadow Country. ....more

Latest

Memoir by daughter about famous father

May 11, 2008, 12:50 GMT

Memoir by daughter about famous father
Honor Moore has written The Bishop's Daughter: A Memoir, telling all about her father, Paul Moore. ... more

Nixonland

May 11, 2008, 10:47 GMT

Nixonland
The title says it all: Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America. ... more

1948: A History of the First Arab-Israeli War

May 10, 2008, 12:52 GMT

1948: A History of the First Arab-Israeli War
Benny Morris has written a book with the above title. ... more

New novel set during Cultural Revolution

May 10, 2008, 10:45 GMT

New novel set during Cultural Revolution
The latest novel by Jiang Rong is called Wolf Totem, and it is what the NYT describes as, “Set during the Cultural Revolution, “Wolf Totem” describes the education of an intellectual from China’s majority Han community living with nomadic herders in the grasslands of Inner Mongolia.” ... more

Interview with Jimmy Buffett

May 9, 2008, 14:36 GMT

Interview with Jimmy Buffett
USA Today has a five question interview with the “novelist” and “singer” Jimmy Buffett. ... more

Another contrived book about dysfunction

May 9, 2008, 12:27 GMT

Another contrived book about dysfunction
Theresa Rebeck has written Three Girls and Their Brother, which USA Today describes as, “The novel, despite its pretensions of wit and satire, coupled with a look at an atypical New York scenester family, remains firmly grounded in the phony and superficial.”
... more

Man loves China and a whole lot more

May 9, 2008, 10:22 GMT

Man loves China and a whole lot more
The Man Who Loved China: The Fantastic Story of the Eccentric Scientist Who Unlocked the Mysteries of the Middle Kingdom is the title of the latest book by Simon Winchester.
... more

New book will depress you

May 8, 2008, 15:35 GMT

New book will depress you
Well, I can’t say that for sure, but judging by the title, The Song of Everlasting Sorrow, it is a good guess. ... more

Boris Yeltsin’s life
Author/gang member gets 6 years in jail
Stephenie Meyer’s The Host
The Post-American World
Prince is working on book
Serve the People!
Hot shot guy from Random House will step down
New Barbara Walters memoir with “secrets”

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Interviews

Latest

Jess’s Book Club Pick for March: Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse

Mar 1, 2008, 4:39 GMT

Jess’s Book Club Pick for March: Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
It’s that time again. This month I’ve decided to go with Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse. The book is readily available (you can probably find it at any new or used bookstore), yet I’ve chosen the specific Dover Thrift Edition.
... more

Jess’s Book Club Pick For February: Betty Smith by Valerie Raleigh Yow

Feb 1, 2008, 5:42 GMT

Jess’s Book Club Pick For February: Betty Smith by Valerie Raleigh Yow
M&C has recently featured both a book review of Betty Smith: Life of the Author of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn as well as an interview with the author Valerie Raleigh Yow. ... more

Jess’s Book Club Pick for January: Ward No. 6 and Other Stories by Anton Chekhov

Jan 1, 2008, 5:02 GMT

Jess’s Book Club Pick for January:  Ward No. 6 and Other Stories by Anton Chekhov
Let us start off the New Year with a return to the Classics. Most know him as a playwright, but he is actually a great short sorry writer as well. I picked up this collection a while back at a local Barnes and Noble and found the tales to be surprisingly Modern and ahead of its time. ... more

Comics/Graphic Novels

Latest

Ron Lim's Anita Blake Zombie variant revealed!

Oct 22, 2007, 19:01 GMT

Ron Lims Anita Blake Zombie variant revealed!
Marvel is proud to unveil fan favorite artist Ron Lim's exciting new Zombie variant cover to Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake: The First Death #2 (of 2). This not only marks the first time that Anita Blake has appeared with other Marvel characters, but also introduces the first piece of published Anita Blake art by Ron Lim! ... more

Blood runs again this January when Youngblood returns as an ongoing series

Oct 22, 2007, 18:55 GMT

Blood runs again this January when Youngblood returns as an ongoing series
Rob Liefeld's return to Image dominated the buzz this past summer and now you can finally see the results in this January's Youngblood #1! ... more

Captain Marvel returns to action

Oct 22, 2007, 18:38 GMT

Captain Marvel returns to action
Spinning straight out of his shocking return in Civil War, Captain Marvel's new life begins in Captain Marvel #1 (of 5)! He's been plucked out of time before his death, but can the Kree soldier known as Mar-Vell make a difference with the scant time he's got left? ... more

Reviews

Latest

Book Review: Willie Nelson: An Epic Life

May 5, 2008, 17:01 GMT

Book Review: Willie Nelson: An Epic Life
One needn’t be a fan of his music to appreciate this engrossing, meticulously researched chronicle of an American legend although Willie’s fans will certainly enjoy the insights and background behind his many... ... more

Book Review: Everyday Cat Excuses

May 5, 2008, 16:56 GMT

Book Review: Everyday Cat Excuses
Enter the delightfully demented world of cat lover and cartoonist Molly Brandenburg as she explores the many reasons cats can’t be bothered to pay attention to their owners. Anyone who has ever been owned by a cat is well aware... ... more

Book Review: Blood Bank

May 5, 2008, 16:51 GMT

Book Review: Blood Bank
Fans of Tanya Huff’s popular Blood Ties series, either the books or the Lifetime channel renditions, will enjoy this collection of all the short stories based upon her three main characters. Vicki Nelson was... ... more

Book Review: The Whole Truth

May 5, 2008, 16:46 GMT

Book Review: The Whole Truth
Multimillionaire Nickolas Creel, head of a defense conglomerate known as the Ares Corporation, is looking to create the impression that an armed conflict is imminent in order to further his own agenda. No one is better suited to the task then...

... more

Book Review: The Mother Factor

May 5, 2008, 16:40 GMT

Book Review: The Mother Factor
Stymied in your personal or professional relationships? According to clinical psychologist Poulter, chances are you are suffering fallout from the Mother Factor. Although fathers play a significant role in a child’s well-being, the author argues...

... more

Book Review: The Seventh Tower by Garth Nix

May 1, 2008, 17:07 GMT

Book Review: The Seventh Tower by Garth Nix
Tal lives in a Dark World where sunlight is unknown. He is fortunate to be one of the Chosen, a potential keeper of the magical sunstones. His world changes when his father fails to return after a journey during which the family sunstone has been lost. ... more

Book Review: The Templar, The Queen and Her Lover: A Knights Templar Mystery by Michael Jecks

Apr 30, 2008, 17:04 GMT

Book Review: The Templar, The Queen and Her Lover: A Knights Templar Mystery by Michael Jecks
Queen Isabella has been sent to France to negotiate peace with the French king.  ... more

Book Review: The Adversary by Michael Walters

Apr 30, 2008, 16:59 GMT

Book Review: The Adversary by Michael Walters
A police procedural located in the unusual setting of Mongolia. ... more

Book Review: The Seventh Tower by Garth Nix
Book Review: The Templar, The Queen and Her Lover: A Knights Templar Mystery by Michael Jecks
Book Review: The Adversary by Michael Walters
Book Review: Panda by Heather Angel
Book Review: The Chicago Way by Michael Harvey
Book Review: Frida Kahlo: The Still Lifes
Book Review: Lamplighter
Book Review: A Kiss Before the Apocalypse

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