Essays

The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, by Oliver Sacks

March 7, 2012

Okay dokey. This book is jumping the queue for reviews because I just need to have it out and done. One of my book clubs generally picks one nonfiction book to read a year, and this is it this year. I’m not sure exactly what I was expecting, but it wasn’t this. TMWMHWFAH is essentially [...]

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Mini Reviews

February 15, 2012

Sadly, I fell WAY behind on my 2011 reviews. So, occasionally, I’ll be posting mini reviews to help catch up. This is round two. Check out round one, if you like. Though they all deserve their own posts, this will have to do. Wintergirls, by Laurie Halse Anderson Rating: My third encounter with Laurie Halse [...]

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Manhood for Amateurs, by Michael Chabon

June 1, 2010

Title: Manhood for Amateurs: The Pleasures and Regrets of a Husband, Father, and Son Author: Michael Chabon Pages: 306 Publisher: Harper Perennial Copyright: 2009 Format: Paperback Rating: ____________________________ Michael Chabon’s second collection of essays centers around manhood, as the title suggests, but it’s more than that. There are pontifications on the shrinking freedom of childhood, [...]

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Book by Book, by Michael Dirda

January 26, 2009

So, I love books about books.  And in this one Pulitzer prize-winning critic Michael Dirda provides glimpses of and comments on his own commonplace book.  This eclectic collection contains delightful thoughts, lists, and book recommendations.  I can’t do better than Dirda’s own words, so here are my favorite passages: On discussing books with philistines: “Quote [...]

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Maps and Legends, by Michael Chabon

May 19, 2008

I’m not a big nonfiction reader. I generally prefer my books to be fictive. Sometimes, though, a nonfiction title will catch my eye, as did Maps and Legends, recently released by Michael Chabon. Maps and Legends is a collection of Chabon’s essays. The essays and their arrangement were infinitely readable. I scarfed down essay after [...]

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