Trash Fiction Corner!: Should I buy Lee Child’s latest Jack Reacher novel?
Book: A Wanted Man, by Lee ChildHero: Jack Reacher
View ArticleDo cops still have to investigate murders? That’s the brilliant conceit of...
The perpetuating and solving of murders has been one of humankind’s greatest entertainments since the beginning of narrative, from the killing of Hermengyld in The Canterbury Tales to the nightly...
View ArticleWho needs Comic-Con when two more superstar-accessible conventions can...
It’s really quiet at the Hard Rock Hotel. You could walk by the convention hall entrance and not even notice a comic event happening, let alone know the guests paid $500-$700 to be here. No, there’s...
View ArticleBook review: Battleborn, by Claire Vaye Watkins
Reading Battleborn, by Claire Vaye Watkins, is a pleasure for the way her stories coolly observe what one character calls “the love of destruction” in the human heart. We see this hunger for...
View ArticleLive-tweeting Lolita: A classic novel, shared in small, delicious bites
I’m going to live-tweet my first-ever reading of Vladimir Nabakov’s Lolita this week, as an experiment. And maybe an assignment.@Cappattack: just finished [it] today!
View ArticleThe wit and wisdom of writer Dave Hickey
Maverick art critic Dave Hickey, for years a Las Vegan before moving to New Mexico, returns for a sure-to-be-raucous panel at the Vegas Valley Book Festival. We spoke to the author of the classic essay...
View ArticleLas Vegas slam poet Kari O’Connor found her signature style by chance
“Do you want to be a judge? Don’t worry, it’ll be fine. If necessary, I’ll walk you out to your car after the performance.”Those words were Kari O’Connor’s introduction to slam poetry.
View ArticleReview: More good than bad in Neil Young’s unfiltered memoir
In the annals of rock, Neil Young is the bridge spanning the mystic poetry of Bob Dylan and the existential storytelling of Bruce Springsteen. In a career spanning six decades, Young has seesawed...
View ArticleA user’s guide to Brian Evenson, a writer you should know
During the first week of April, a book that originated as Twilight fan fiction was released by Random House. It was called Fifty Shades of Grey. Perhaps you’ve heard of it. If not, it’s supposedly a...
View ArticleReview: Florence Williams’ book is a good place to start learning about breasts
After doing 50 or so radio interviews, author Florence Williams has become a pro at saying “breast.” It requires more technique than you’d think, in making sure that the “st” sound is articulated extra...
View ArticleTrash Fiction Corner: ‘The Forgotten’
BOOK: The Forgotten, by David BaldacciSTATUS: As of this writing, No. 4 on the New York Times’ combined e-book and print best-seller list
View ArticleDamn good reads: Our critics pick their faves from 2012
PANORAMA CITY, BY ANTOINE WILSONAfter the death of his father, Oppen Porter is forced out of the pastoral hometown where everyone knows him and the air smells of roasting almonds and fermenting grapes,...
View ArticleA few minutes with writer and Found magazine honcho Davy Rothbart
When Davy Rothbart applied for a job at National Public Radio’s This American Life program, he was honest about his previous job experience: pizza delivery guy, ticket scalper, marijuana salesman. Ira...
View ArticleReview: Nick Tosches’ new vampire novel is ruined by misogyny and empty shock
Nick Tosches is a very fine journalist. His biography of the boxer Sonny Liston, The Devil and Sonny Liston, has lived on my bookcase for years, and I’ve returned to it over and over again as a kind of...
View ArticleReview: George Saunders shows his mastery of the short story
Strange things happen in the jungle. George Saunders entered a devotee of Ernest Hemingway. He left a fan of Kurt Vonnegut.The late ironist/fabulist does not immediately come to mind when you read...
View ArticleReview: ‘Law & Order’ creator Dick Wolf trips up on first novel
It’s highly unusual for a novel to have a cast of guest stars — usually, readers are simply treated to a host of normal (if fictional) people going about their lives. However, in Dick Wolf’s...
View ArticleFour random tidbits from the new book ‘Showgirls of Las Vegas’
• Dancing girls arrived on the Strip with the El Rancho Vegas, the very first hotel: “These proto-showgirls spent mere minutes on stage, and with contracts lasting only two weeks, they appeared to be a...
View ArticleAuthor Cory Doctorow on teen imagination, paranoia and writing
In Cory Doctorow’s novels for young adults, teenage “techno-ninjas” do battle with the powers that be, often represented by the Department of Homeland Security. Little Brother (2008) depicted a...
View ArticleReview: ‘Going Clear’ offers harrowing look at Church of Scientology
In No Man Knows My History, Fawn Brodie’s excellent biography of Joseph Smith, founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, she observes that Smith’s boundless imagination would have...
View ArticleReview: ‘How Literature Saved My Life’ finds its author desperate to escape...
After I got over my irritation with David Shields’ new meditation/memoir, How Literature Saved My Life, I discovered that he’d written a very sad, very lonely book. Shields seems to see himself as...
View Article
