Category Archives: Book and film reviews

I checked out Gardner Dozois “The Year’s Best Science Fiction” (16th annual, including stories published in 1998).  A smattering of really good reads, but this was one of the first volumes in this series where I was disappointed.  Among the … Continue reading →

Deborah Treisman (the fiction editor at The New Yorker) basically only seems to want to publish stories about the small, emotion-laden, identity crises of people whose choices involve their feelings.  Should I feel good about that person, or bad about … Continue reading →

Windup Girl Tana French

“Deaf and Blind” by Lara Vapnyar, short story in April 24, 2017 The New Yorker.  As usual, the blog Mookse and the Gripes has great comments with reader reactions to the story.  I found it very readable though a little … Continue reading →

Sukie, Leslie and I all liked it.  There is nothing to say about it because you just have to go and enjoy it.  Then afterwards you will have plenty to talk about!

I could not agree more with Tinkoo Valia’s very positive appreciation.  Great speculative fiction (in the form of a non-fiction reportage). Ted Chiang’s “Liking What You See: A Documentary” (novella, thought experiment): What if we could switch off perception of … Continue reading →

I went with my daughter to see Your Name a couple weeks ago, and we both liked it.  Somewhat flawed, and not close to Miyazaki-quality, but still plenty good.

Golden Sun and Gold Rising by Pierce Brown.  Leslie picked these up at the library.  Brown has mastered the genre.  Excellent writing and especially dialogue.  Lots of intriguing ideas.  The whole thing has been carefully “lifted” from the best of … Continue reading →

Over the last few weeks I’ve been reading short stories and novellas collected in the annual anthology by Gardner Dozois (for 2013 and 1995).  Here’s a few recommendations: 2013 Indraparamit Das, “Weep for a Day” A really nice “classical” tale … Continue reading →

I enjoyed The OA immensely, even if at times the show is unsatisfying.  It is like Netflix had carefully analyzed my viewing profile and said, “Let’s make a series that mixes Lost, Arrival, Lars von Trier, I see dead people, … Continue reading →

Quartey’s detective series, now in its third title, featuring Darko Dawson is pretty good.  I enjoyed Murder at Cape Three Points.  The mystery here is a double-murder that involves the nascent offshore oil industry.  Lots of nice description of Takoradi, … Continue reading →

Have been very busy teaching introductory econometrics and associated lab to my Econ 41-42 students. Fun, but a lot of work. So many little glitches in R-Markdown. Great, useful program, but bringing students up to speed, and being the one … Continue reading →

Elliot for Christmas got Kill My Mother by Jules Feiffer, an interesting noir homage graphic novel, set in the 1940s Hollywood and Pacific Theater.  If you are my age and a certain  income class you probably read a lot of … Continue reading →

Whitehead’s novel is good.  The central device of the “real” underground railroad is imaginative and deftly deployed.  The horrors of slavery, the perversity of “benign” slavery, the tenuous freedoms of Indiana, and the interior life of the main character, Cora, … Continue reading →

At a colleague’s Christmas party I had met the Stanford University economic historian Avner Grief, and he chatted with me for a long time about the role of clans in China and how that kin culture led to different institutional … Continue reading →

The refuge from a depressing present (Roch Marc Christian Kaboré since winning the election last year has done almost nothing, and Burkina Faso’s prospects for a vibrant economy and polity seem to fade with each passing week ) is in … Continue reading →

I have read Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga three times now, and on each reading the novel seems to get better!  The writing is really very good, and every few pages the narrator, Tambudzai, offers some clear and sharp insight … Continue reading →

Marlon James A Brief History of Seven Killings I finally got around to reading this and am almost over. It is a hard book to read. Multiple narration, Jamaican patois (with a lot of vocabulary that has to be inferred … Continue reading →