Wednesday, May 30 2012
Damn Right, He’s Got the Blues: Buddy Guy’s ‘When I Left Home’
This is exactly what it promises to be: the recollections of a 74-year-old blues maestro who paid his dues, grew up poor, gigged a lot and rubbed elbows with some of the most remarkable musicians of his time, even as he himself developed into another of that elite group.
The Multi-Stranded Tale, ‘The Witch’s Daughter’, Can’t Quite Leave Genre Conventions Behind
Part historical novel, part family drama, part supernatural thriller, Paula Brackston's debut novel strives to be taken seriously. To a large degree, it succeeds.
Tuesday, May 29 2012
‘Is That a Fish in Your Ear?’ Is Not Exactly Light Reading, but It’s Engaging, Nonetheless
David Bellos playfully includes examples from poetry, from comics, from movie subtitles and the United Nations to illustrate the diversity of translation in everyday life.
‘Bring Up the Bodies’ Is a Wonderful, Terrible Sequel to ‘Wolf Hall’
"God takes out your heart of flesh, and gives you a heart of stone."
Friday, May 25 2012
Jonathan Franzen and the Problem of Sympathy in ‘Farther Away’
Farther Away celebrates the moments when we retreat from technology and the personas we cultivate through social media, when artifice is stripped, and we are left with arguments, empathy, imperfection and humility—the raw materiality of being.
This Biography Ensures the Continuity of Mancini’s Legacy: ‘Henry Mancini: Reinventing Film Music’
"Mancini's music will, in its own cool way, keep reaching out, find the next generation, and the next and the next" (244).
Thursday, May 24 2012
How She Left the Russian Forest: ‘Enchantments’
If you had no idea that Russian mystic / charlatan / healer / pretender Grigory Yefimovich Rasputin, aka the Mad Monk, had a wife and two daughters, you are not alone.
Clashing Coincidences: ‘The Accidental City: Improvising New Orleans’
Weaving together events that range from international politics to the socio-cultural development of poor American families, Lawrence Powell’s comprehensive glimpse of New Orleans' past is particularly important today.
Wednesday, May 23 2012
America’s Funny Book Filter: ‘Comic Books and American Cultural History: An Anthology’
The comics medium has long been as broad as fiction, a mode of expression which reflects the deepest parts of an artist’s self to a corporation cashing in on a trend.
In ‘‘Rain Dragon’, a Couple Move Together but Drift Apart
Rain Dragon strikes me as true lad lit: It’s the story of a relationship in crisis, told from the point of a view of a guy who doesn’t think like a girl. At all.
Tuesday, May 22 2012
If You Take Film Noir Seriously, You’ll Want ‘Film Noir: The Directors’
Film Noir: The Directors offers two great pleasures: the chance to discover new films and directors, and the chance to see films you already know, but through new eyes.
Moviemaking Insights: Conversations at the American Film Institute With the Great Moviemakers
Pieces of history — capturing moments and moviemakers in time — is exactly what this book does best, creating a treasure-trove to flip through and savor.
Monday, May 21 2012
‘Exit Music’ Starts Strong, But Punts on Radiohead’s Later Music
A revised edition of Randall's history of Radiohead provides an excellent summary of the band's genesis in Oxford, but provides diminishing returns when it comes to examining the quintet's most recent releases.
‘The Superhero Book’ Makes for an Entertaining but Spotty Overview
This isn't a bad book. It's nicely designed and laid out, and there are plenty of full-color movie stills and comics covers. For a reader who can get over what isn't included, there are plenty of trivia nuggets to be had.
Friday, May 18 2012
‘People’s Pornography’: The Mundanities of Pornography and Surveillance Culture
People's Pornography attempts to situate a new Chinese subject amidst the proliferation of DIY porn videos and sexual expression on the internet.
Thursday, May 17 2012
Fat, Drunk, and Stupid: by Matty Simmons
"In Chicago that night, Lampoon editor John Hughes sat alone in a jammed movie theater watching the film. He’s stood in line for a half hour or so to get in. When the picture ended, he later told me, 'I said to myself, I’m going to make movies.'"
In ‘My Cross to Bear’, Gregg Allman Recalls Fame and Shame
The book’s tone is so open and engaging, My Cross to Bear could appeal even to readers whose knowledge of the band begins and ends with “Ramblin’ Man”.
Wednesday, May 16 2012
What Was She Without Charles Dickens? ‘The Other Dickens: A Life of Catherine Hogarth’
The Other Dickens: A Life of Catherine Hogarth -- it’s definitely not what Charles Dickens would have wanted us to be reading on the 200th anniversary of his birth.
An Enigma, Wrapped in Glitter: ‘Prince: The Making of a Pop Music Phenomenon’
A philosophical collection of essays dissecting the works and poses of Prince proves simultaneously fascinating and frustrating: their points are evocative, but the authors' personal weight in the matter breaks down subjectivity in the long run, hurting their cause.
Tuesday, May 15 2012
Brief and Bizarre Encounters Come Knocking In Etgar Keret’s ‘Suddenly, a Knock on the Door’
Etgar Keret’s satire may be local, but his ironies are global; this is a master storyteller, creating deep, tragic, funny, painful tales with scarcely more words than you’ve read in this review.
