Books
The Sex Pistols and the Beating of an Exceptionally Dead Horse
Sometimes the best thing about a book is its cover.
Magdalen Jenne
03 May 2017
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Recent
Books
'Rachel's Blue' Left Me Perplexed
There are times when a reviewer and book simply do not jibe.
11 Jul 2016
Books
'Meathooked' Gets Hung-Up on Its Own Problems
Beneath a thin veneer of science journalism lies a vegetarian manifesto.
17 Apr 2016
Books
'LEGO Star Wars' Is a Photographic Wonderland
Vesa Lehtimäki's collection of photographs featuring LEGO toys in inventive situations is an inspiring and innovative collection.
23 Dec 2015
Books
Rehashing 'Becoming a Marihuana User'
A short and pleasant little tour with Howard S. Becker into the world of marihuana.
Alice Mills
16 Nov 2015
Books
What Can a Book Really Tell You About Whiskey?
If you're old enough to drink whiskey, you're too old for scratch n' sniff.
23 Oct 2015
Books
From Manuscripts to Pop Culture, Dante Endures
Dante's English Public glances at current adaptations of Dante's work, from the comic Nightcrawler's Inferno to Mark Danielewski's House of Leaves.
15 Jul 2015
Books
A New Edition of Sandra Cisneros's Poetry Looks at the "Girl Grief Decade"
Few of us can wring art from our grief as Sandra Cisneros has, here.
05 Jun 2015
Books
'Epitaph' Dispels Hollywood Myths About the Gunfight at O.K. Corral
Doria Russell finds heroes in the errant in Epitaph, a novel that captures the realities of the famous gunfight at the O.K. Corral, and much more.
03 Jun 2015
Books
Why Novelist Richard Price Doesn't Need a Pseudonym
The language and dialogue in his latest novel, The Whites, gives away his identity -- and that's a good thing.
05 May 2015
Books
Brad Gooch's Memoir, 'Smash Cut', Is That of a Literary Connoisseur
Gooch traces the life of '70s and '80s New York with his partner, Howard Brookner, with humour and poignancy.
28 Apr 2015
Books
'Get in Trouble' Doesn't Trouble Itself With Literary Convention
Kelly Link's imaginative, sometimes challenging, stories follow their own rules but they never take the easy way out.
23 Apr 2015
Books
I Was Poisoned by Arnold Lobel's Children's Fable, 'Frog and Toad'
Lobel could have done his little gay readers an immeasurable and un-parallelled service. Instead, he set us up for perpetual disappointment.
Leo Warner
28 Jul 2014
Books
'Cornbread Nation 7: The Best of Southern Food Writing' Is American Regionalism at Its Finest
A splendid collection of tales of Southerners traveling abroad and children of immigrants living in the South and reflecting on their heritage.
Shyam K. Sriram
20 Jul 2014
Books
Robert Louis Stevenson's Monster Inches a Little Closer
Daniel Levine finds the unique in what we thought was very familiar.
08 Jun 2014
Books
Walter Mondale's 'Good Fight'
Walter Mondale is remarkably engaged and up-to-date for a man who held the Vice Presidency more than 33 years ago.
18 May 2014
Books
'Videogames and Art' Is Missing the Art
For a medium that prides itself on pushing the visual edges, here we find exposition rather than fancy, and monochrome in place of color, words, yes, but no images.
31 Mar 2014
Books
'100 Things Beatles Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die '
This is intended to appeal to Beatle fanatics, though it offers little in the way of new insights, facts, and stories.
14 Aug 2013
Books
Of Selflessness and Commiseration: Nelson Mandela’s 'Conversations With Myself'
Conversations With Myself is a collage of important moments that provide an intensely realistic portrayal of an amazing man.
19 Jul 2013
Books
Facing It: Living with Disfigurement in Marc Dugain's 'The Officer's Ward'
Marc Dugain's novella about a soldier wounded in WWI has probably never been more relevant than now.
18 Jun 2013
Books
A Painful Pleasure: Peter Trachtenberg's 'The Book of Calamities'
Sometimes the value of a book is far more than the price of the book.
14 Jun 2013
Books
Charles Yu. Stories. Please Read.
Charles Yu creates a world so strange in 'Sorry. Please. Thank You. Stories.' that it just might be real.
13 Jun 2013
Books
In Wonderland: Surrealist Adventures of Women Artists
“Surrealism led to feminism and after that nothing was ever the same.”
Leigh Cuen
28 May 2013
Books
Sea Monkeys: A Memory Book
This story takes the California dream and tears it apart, only to reassemble it into a dangerous patchwork totem, where the taboo and the sacred jostle for space.
Jennifer Breukelaar
12 Nov 2012
Books
The Sound His Head Makes: ‘On and Off Bass’
Although it reads at times as a kind of existential travelogue, the book is firmly rooted in the Los Angeles port city of San Pedro, where bassist Mike Watt grew up and still lives.
Claire Shefchik
06 Nov 2012
Technology
The iPad Release of T.S.Eliot's 'The Waste Land' Is Adequate, But Could Be Better
The Waste Land as an iPad app demonstrates how we might re-imagine the book, but it also illustrates how editorial choices can limit value.
15 Oct 2012
Books
Mislead by Rock 'n' Roll: Brian Johnson's 'Rockers and Rollers'
I realize Brian Johnson is not a writer: his book got published because he’s AC/DC’s lead singer.
14 Aug 2012
Books
Mickey Mouse and Uncle Scrooge: Disney Comics' Classics Resonate In Our Times
From a tough little rodent fighting bandits and corrupt politicians to the tale of a rich, greedy old duck, these classic comics characters ring true in these times.
13 Jul 2012
Books
Steve Hughes, Washed in Dirt
For a decade and a half, Steve Hughes has published Stupor, a zine that chronicles life in the age of diminished expectations. The newest issue was done in collaboration with international art star (and Björk main squeeze) Matthew Barney.
14 May 2012
Books
Is That a Boy or a Girl? Jo B. Paoletti's 'Pink and Blue'
When did pink become the de facto girls’ color, anyway?
05 Apr 2012
Books
Klegg the Drunk: John Updike on Raymond Carver
John Updike the East Coast moral aesthete and Raymond Carver the West Coast drunken Everyman had more in common than met the eye.
08 Mar 2012
Books
In Mark Kurlansky's 'What', It's All About the Journey, Not the Destination
Mark Kurlansky’s curious, sliver-like investigation asks, What’s more important, the question or the answer?
23 Jun 2011
Books
'The Mall': A Dark Mirror of Reality
The Mall is not so much a horror story as it is a reflection of the darker side of humanity.
21 Jun 2011
Film
Somewhere Over the Technicolour Rainbow Lies the Weirdest Book I Own
Two brief, random glimpses -- cautionary or otherwise -- into what happens when celebrity gets too close to the ragged edge of reality.
14 Jun 2011
Books
Save the World from Evil Math
On 'proofiness', 'randumbness' statistical boo-boos and other high-level mathematical theories.
05 May 2011
Books
Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse: "Race to Death Valley"
Floyd Gottfredson's strip was a fluid, rubber-limbed, sassy, slangy, breathless, seamless mix of absurdity and adventure.
04 May 2011
Books
Reflecting on Sex: Sasha Grey's Neü Sex and Her Uphill Battle
Candid style photos make Grey's book a very personal work. She urges mainstream media to “send a positive image. Don’t just give the image of sex. Talk about it."
PopMatters Staff
14 Apr 2011
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