Blogroll

Book Review: Mike’s Election Guide 2008 and The Do-It-Yourself Constitutional Amendment Kit

With the Bush presidency coming to an end and the Obama-McCain campaigns ready to kick into overdrive, American political satire is in no danger of dying out. Although two new releases — Michael Moore’s Mike’s Election Guide 2008 and Nathaniel Whitten’s The Do-It-Yourself Constitutional Amendment Kit — have different aims, they share a trait not […]

Stealing horses a popular pasttime

No, the title doesn’t have anything to do with South Dakota and horse thieves. Rather, it’s about the interest Per Petterson’s book Out Stealing Horses is generating.

Still ranking as one of the best books I’ve read this year, my review of it has prompted an increasing amount of traffic. Here’s just a few statistics […]

Book Review: The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry

My recent off the cuff decision to read some of the books on this year’s longlist for the Man Booker Prize paid dividends with the second book. Sebastian Barry’s The Secret Scripture is one of the best novels I’ve read this year.

The sectarian and religious politics of 20th century Ireland are the backdrop for […]

Russian history fixation sets in

I knew going to St. Petersburg and reading War and Peace would probably resurrect a long interest in Russian and Soviet history. I didn’t realize until last night or so that the mania may have set in.

I didn’t find it odd that I read a quite good biography of Catherine the Great a week […]

He’d get my vote any day

I missed it when it was published last Friday but the NYT gave Jon Stewart some well-deserved love in a lengthy article asking, Is Jon Stewart the Most Trusted Man in America?. He is in my book and the article makes clear I’m not alone.

It notes that in a 2007 poll by the Pew […]