This slim volume has two parts: a memoir on King’s early years and a how-to section for aspiring authors. The former is pure enjoyment—King at his conversational best—while the latter is an entertaining read but thin on advice. There are better how-to books out there, …
Read MoreMicro-Review #27: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Any review of Thompson’s work is morally obliged to linger over the phrase “gonzo journalism,” but this book is so much more than that. Underneath the coke and blotter acid, away from the mad dash around the desert, is a mini-treatise on the “brutish reality …
Read MoreMicro-Review #26: The Pigeon Tunnel: Stories from My Life
This is more of a eulogy than a review. I went to see LeCarre give a talk at the University of Warsaw in the early 1990s. He had recently stopped feuding with Salman Rushdie over The Satanic Verses, and he had a reputation as a …
Read MoreMicro-Review #25: The Monk of Mokha
The true story of Mokhtar Alkhanshalia, a young Yemeni-American who works as a doorman in San Francisco but dreams of bigger things. Mokhtar sets off for his ancestral homeland to revive the coffee-making traditions of the past. This may not seem wise when Yemen is …
Read MoreMicro-Review #24: The Return of the Player
The sequel to the 1988 novel that became the famous Robert Altman film. Studio exec Griffin Mill is back, and he’s still Gordon Gekko with an introspective streak. For him, greed is not only good; it’s the yardstick by which all good things are measured. …
Read MoreMicro-Review #23: House of Sand and Fog
A young woman loses her home. An Iranian immigrant buys the place for a song. She wants it back. He wants to restore his dignity and provide for his family. These people are hanging on to the last thread of the American dream. It might …
Read MoreMicro-Review #22: The Exorcist
The movie is brilliant. The novel on which it’s based is even better. First published in 1971, this horror masterpiece ages well despite its melodramatic flourishes. While the premise—a demon takes up residence in an 11-year-old girl’s body—might make some discerning readers roll their eyes, …
Read MoreMicro-Review #21: Story of a Secret State
If you believe the human being is a fundamentally good and moral creature, then this true story might be one of the hardest things you can read: a stark view of humankind’s special ability to both inflict evil and ignore it. As a courier for …
Read MoreMicro-Review #20: Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House
Remember when this one came out? The Donald was halfway through his term and rattling sabers with North Korea’s “Little Kim” Jong-un. Wolff’s portrayal of intrigue and dysfunction within Trump’s inner circle was accepted as generally accurate but perhaps lurid with the details. Fly-on-the-wall snapshots …
Read MoreMicro-Review #19: Borat: Touristic Guidings to Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan & Touristic Guidings to Minor Nation of U.S. and A.
In honor of last week’s Amazon Prime release of Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, we present the literary accompaniment to the first Borat flick from back in 2006. This book is a bathroom read of the highest order, with outrageous stereotypes, X-rated gags and a sometimes-insightful zest …
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