Another Wonder

Skinny Legs and All by Tom Robbins
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

****First off..forget Formatting...this one is Free Form, all the way***


5 Stars: This book held my interest for over a month (I'm a slow reader, okay!)....like Gravity's Rainbow it's about Everything..and No One Thing, and it's never boring...Then there's the Wordplay..the lovely English language the most versatile of toys. Mr Robbins spins that top for all it's worth..in his hands it's worth a lot. Zany, crazy, surreal..the gang's all here, with pathos and sincerity in tow.


Art, and its carry-on baggage: I came to this book after reading The Goldfinch and didn't expect to find another book that dealt with Art. While Ms Tartt's book dealt with ART (writ large, and full of meaning, however misguided) Mr Robbins' book dealt with Art as a process (thanks to Ellen Cherry Charles!) full of foibles and failures. I don't know which book I prefer.



The whole megillah in the Middle East: Oy..from suicide bombers to Palestinian massacres....nothing has changed since this book was published (1990) and I don't want to get into the political side of things...Israelis and Palestinians have been killing each other since Isaac and Ishmael..and nothing will change any time soon..This book takes it all the way back to Jezebel (no "hussy")....and Salome's Dance of the Seven Veils (of Self-Deception)..which I never figured out the specifics...guess you'll have to read the book!


Five inanimate objects on a road trip across the USA (sans Chevrolet)...bound for Armageddon, er, Jerusalem. The "Third Temple" is coming, soon....don't be square...be there...


**in spite of this travesty of a review...I did love this book, and Tom Robbins, the author...don't shy away from the "weird" aspect..that's what fuels his novels**

5 Stars...all the way

Old Review...read this book in 2005

I Love My Smith and Wesson: A Novel by David Bowker
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Speaking of Terror, here's an underworld Thriller featuring an aptly named RAWHEAD (I wondered when BLOODY BONES would make an appearance...since they are sort of gruesome twins, in Appalachian Folklore)

This tale is gruesome, violent and very Goth-ic....with a touch of Rancid Victorian Romance....and some shit about a demonic "Elemental Power"...a Spirit of Darkness..

This book has all the elements of basic LA Noir, transplanted to the squalor of Manchester, UK.....Pithy, deadpan prose, with streaks of "purple"....a parade of piquant scumbags...and cringe-inducing violence......

In 2005, i couldn't wait for his next book

4 Stars...and then some

The Goldfinch.....my albatross

I love Donna Tartt's writing...her first two novels are Favorites, of mine This last....THE GOLDFINCH..has thrown me six ways to Sunday I love the prose.....luminous, as always....I love the Story line....I wish people would not have slapped the "Dickensian" adjective, on this book. Of course it has an intricate plot, and lots of "quirky" characters...but, somehow, i find a huge hole, in the story. I can't connect with the characters, and the emotion that is an integral part of Theo's "story". Unlike some reviewers..i don't feel "maternal" where Theo is concerned.....he was bounced around the world, from the age of 13.....his criminal activity was no surprise.....i'm surprised he never saw through Boris....and his "angles" I haven't finished the book, yet......lord help me, when i do

One Review of my 2013 reads

Those Across the River by Christopher Buehlman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

While this is a wonderful Old School horror story, it goes much deeper than mere werewolves

Frank Nichols is a haunted man.....Haunted by his memories of the First World War.....Haunted by an incident perpetrated by his Great Grandfather, after the Civil War.....Guilt-ridden by his relationship with his "not yet" wife (Adultery was a Big Deal, back in the 1920s-1930s). This man is fated for some bad shit..

I never saw this book as a Werewolf story...although i love the Good Ones

I'm going out on a limb, here...

I think this is a story about Guilt, Regret, and Fear

Frank Nichols was an Academic who fell in Lust with a colleague's wife...he inherited a house in Whitbrow, Georgia (a welcome escape from his Academic failure, in Chicago) and headed South, to start a new life....and write a book about the family Black Sheep......and THOSE ACROSS THE RIVER


****I lost my original review......bear with me****


No matter how Black the Sheep....Frank Nichols was caught in his own Vortex, unable to change the past, and uncertain of his future.....from that point, Werewolves would have been a blessing, although they walked in Human Skin...when times were difficult

This is one of the saddest books i have read, lately.....and I highly recommend it to anyone, who likes to step beyond Genres