Another Ho Hum: Surprise! The New York Times Hates Bret Easton Ellis
It seems like every other day, someone in our bookish blogging world offers a theory for why major media book coverage is shrinking. Generally, these concepts involve the economy, the proliferation of blogs, the short attention spans of today’s consumers, and a few little green martians. But today, I’m going to offer another, admittedly outlandish,…
continue readingWhy AC/DC Matters, Matters
In bestselling author Anthony Bozza’s new book, Why AC/DC Matters we get the kind of impassioned art criticism that is normally relegated to websites, fanzines, and independent publishers. Now, in the sake of full disclosure, Bozza is a friend and business colleague of mine. So take these comments with a grain of salt if you…
continue readingInteresting Review and Great Last Line
Dinitia Smith wrote an interesting review of A Happy Marriage by Rafael Yglesias. I’m generally not keen on books dealing with the slow decline of someone facing terminal illness, but this review piqued my interest. And the last line of the piece is a pretty cool encapsulation of the book and it’s achievement: “in the…
continue readingA Detailed Look at Collecting Obsession
I spent a good deal of time wrapped up in Tony Bacon’s Million Dollar Les Paul: In Search of the Most Valuable Guitar in the World this past weekend. It’s an engaging read that is an exhaustive look into the roots of a collecting craze involving 1958 to 1960 Gibson Les Paul guitars. Bacon points…
continue readingBondurant Reviewed on Salon.com
Louis Bayard reviewed Matt Bondurant’s new novel, The Wettest County in the World for Salon.com. The novel, based on Bondurant’s grandfather, deals with crime, corruption, and moonshine in the hills of rural Virginia. “Bondurant’s bootleggers are eminently touchable and, even in their worst moments, touching,” Bayard writes. “This is a lyrical and riveting book about…
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