Category Archives: Book and film reviews

For recent leisure reading lately I read four novels/novellas/collections/YA. China Miéville, The Census Taker.  While I did not enjoy the novella, it was like a good workout, following along with an excellent writer a concept, “What would a novel be … Continue reading →

I occasionally read young adult fiction, sometimes because my kids are reading something, sometimes because I like to imagine what such fiction would be like for French West African readers.  I finished Every Day by David Levithan over a couple … Continue reading →

I actually enjoyed, somewhat Anathem by Neal Stephenson, but Seveneves was flat out bad after about 300 pages… and it continued until 800 something.  I slogged, skimming.  Burst out laughing at the explanation for genetic engineering of Neanderthals in cramped … Continue reading →

“Never Let Me Go” is an amazing novel.  Poignant and urgent.  From The New York Times: Mr. Ishiguro, 62, is best known for his novels “The Remains of the Day,” about a butler serving an English lord in the years … Continue reading →

On the flight back from Burkina Faso I got to read three short stories from old issues of The New Yorker that I found in the FAVL office, leftovers from 2014! “Story with Bird” by Kevin Canty is an amazing … Continue reading →

Last year I start to read Wasp Factory by Iain Banks but I could not finish it: too bleak, too violent, too disturbing.  But I saw a mention of Feersum Endjinn somewhere, and so requested it through interlibrary loan.  What … Continue reading →

Arcadia, by Iain Pears.  Superb sci-fi/fantasy novel.  If you liked The Magicians by Lev Grossman, or Jo Walton’s Among Others, then good news: this is much better!  It really is almost perfect.  And it deliberately mashes in As You Like … Continue reading →

On Netflix.  Interesting.  I think OK to fast-forward through the beginning, which indeed is very slow. On his way home, the unexpected happens. At the train station, on the other side of the tracks, a distinguished looking man in glasses … Continue reading →

“Save a Horse Ride a Cowgirl” by Ann Beattie appeared in the November 23, 2015 issue of The New Yorker.  Another story about growing older. This one with a deliberate nod to Chekhov and the seagull… Does Bree destroy Ryall, … Continue reading →

While on vacation last week I read a bunch of short stories from the past couple years from The New Yorker.  Sorry to say that many were not very good.  I don’t expect perfection, and it is nice to read … Continue reading →

Saw La Larga Noche de Francisco Sanctis by Argentinean directors Andrea Testa and Francisco Marquez, on the flight back form Mexico.  Very little dialogue.  Long stretches of Francisco walking through the streets, but it is short.  You need to know … Continue reading →

Saw this movie on flight back from Mexico.  Tremendous. Very quiet.  Let’s say it is the opposite of triumphalism, fascism, inyourfaceism, and instead embodies every virtue related to empathy, caring, and grace.  Of course watching a movie like this on … Continue reading →

The comments from The Mookse and the Gripes are spot on. I read the story last night, and at the end just put the magazine down, muttering, “Treisman….really?” I’m a fan of Lanchester, both his novels and his essays (I … Continue reading →

Read this a couple of months ago.  Do not have much to say. It won the Hugo. Characters were well-drawn.  In general, I do not like fantasy-sci fi “mixes” where magic and science co-exist.  The underlying premise, that the scientists … Continue reading →

The Greatship by Robert Reed is a collection of twelve stories or novellas set in or on the Greatship, a Uranus-sized ship making its way through the Milky Way.  Humans were first to find the ship, and so by the … Continue reading →

Well, it is too long. But Andreas Eschbach’s science fiction novel, Lord of All Things, is nevertheless a good read.  The basic premise is pretty standard: What if someone could discover a technology that would end the need for technology.  … Continue reading →

I enjoyed it. A time-loop movie that is fairly clever about the loop and how to end the film.

Went with S. to see this Israeli movie.  Quite a good drama (OK verging on melodrama).  But since it is about holocaust survivors and their secrets, the melodramatic is actually real.  Some really awful things happened.  The film is self-conscious … Continue reading →

I was reading The Carpet Makers by Andreas Eschbach, and realized is is a good example of the concept of persistence in economic development.  In this case, the emperor sets thousands of worlds on a persistent path of economic activity … Continue reading →