6 | Raging Biblio-holism

The Seed Collectors

January 9, 2017 by Drew

The Short Version: The Gardener Family has secrets. After the death of the eldest family member, some of those secrets begin to come to light – secrets of paternity, of love, of how the middle generation all died on a mysterious expedition, and of real world magic. The Review: It is a goddamn shame that just as Scarlett Thomas delivers her best novel so far, one that highlights all of her eccentricities and skills in perfect measure, that American audiences are […]

Categories: Fiction, Literature • Tags: 6, Book, Book Review, Book Reviews, Books, Botany, Family, Favorites, Fiction, Literature, Philosophy, Religion, review, Reviews, Scarlett Thomas, Science, Speculative, The Seed Collectors

The Argonauts

December 14, 2016 by Drew

The Short Version: Part memoir, part theory exploration, part prose-poem, part theory creation – The Argonauts is the story of Maggie Nelson’s courtship with and marriage to Harry Dodge, her pregnancy, a country’s evolving mind on gender and sexuality, and a look at the theory that has created a single human’s worldview. The Review: There is such a joy in discovering something to be not only worthy of the hype, but worthy of continued generation of that hype. So it is with […]

Categories: Essays, Memoir, Non-Fiction, Poetry • Tags: 6, Book, Book Review, Book Reviews, BookClub, Books, Essays, Favorites, Feminism, Gender Theory, Maggie Nelson, Memoir, Non-Fiction, Philosophy, Queer Theory, review, Reviews, The Argonauts, Theory

Sudden Death

April 1, 2016 by Drew

The Short Version: A tennis match gets underway between the painter Caravaggio and the poet Quevedo, played with a ball made from the hair of Anne Boleyn. Meanwhile/earlier, Hernán Cortés has conquered the Aztecs and a new breed of Popes arise to start the Counter-Reformation. And author Álvaro Enrigue attempts to write his latest novel by blending history with imagination to the point of no return. The Review: In all honesty, I should’ve known what I was getting into from the very […]

Categories: Fiction, Literature • Tags: 6, Aztecs, Álvaro Enrigue, Book Review, Book Reviews, Books, Caravaggio, Counter-Reformation, Fantasy, Fiction, Galileo, Historical Fantasy, Historical Fiction, History, Metafiction, Mexico, Quevedo, Reformation, Reviews, Rome, Spain, Sports, Tennis, The Tournament of Books 2017

Fates and Furies

September 21, 2015 by Drew

The Short Version: On an auspicious collegiate evening, Lotto meets Mathilde. Two weeks later they are married and their relationship over the next twenty years is a study in the realities of love and partnership. Then, after tragedy strikes, the fated Lotto’s story gives way to that of the furious Mathilde – and the true depths of a partnership are revealed. The Review: There’s a recurring comment in the theater community, one often tossed off as a sort of joke, that the […]

Categories: Fiction, Literature • Tags: 6, BEA15, Book Review, Book Reviews, Books, Fates and Furies, Fiction, Greeks, Lauren Groff, Literature, Love, Marriage, Reviews, Romance, The Tournament of Books 2016, Theater

Between the World and Me

July 20, 2015 by Drew

The Short Version: Taking the form of a letter to his teenage son, Ta-Nehisi Coates delivers an impassioned existentialist look at the realities of being black in America – both through the lens of history, his own and the country’s, and the lens of the present. The Review: I loved this book with a rare kind of passion, but I grappled with not writing a review of it. As the author himself has pointed out on Twitter, this book is not for me, […]

Categories: Essays, Non-Fiction • Tags: 6, Between the World and Me, Book Review, Book Reviews, Books, Culture, Current Events, Essays, Favorites, Memoir, Non-Fiction, Philosophy, Politics, Reviews, Ta-Nehisi Coates

The Buried Giant

April 22, 2015 by Drew

The Short Version: Some time after the death of Arthur, an elderly couple decide to set out from their village to visit their son, who lives in a village some distance away. But a strange mist has covered the land, making memory & knowledge unreliable, and their journey dovetails with the journey of several others (including a now-aged Sir Gawain) who seek to combat and dispel the mist – at whatever the cost might be, to themselves and to a barely-at-peace England. […]

Categories: Fantasy, Fiction, Literature • Tags: 6, Arthurian, Book Review, Book Reviews, Books, England, Fantasy, Fiction, History, Kazuo Ishiguro, King Arthur, Literature, Reviews, The Buried Giant

American Psycho

January 12, 2015 by Drew

The Short Version: Patrick Bateman is 26 years old. He works on Wall Street, enjoys the finer things in life, takes good care of his body. Although he also does plenty of drugs. And he also enjoys acts of unspeakable violence and deprivation. This is his story. The Review: I don’t reread that much. There are too many books to read moving forward, you know? It’s that biblioholic impulse. But there are books that you know you’re going to revisit again and […]

Categories: Fiction, Literature • Tags: 6, American Psycho, Book Review, Book Reviews, Books, Bret Easton Ellis, Fiction, Horror, Literature, Re-Reads, Reviews, Satire

Acceptance (The Southern Reach Trilogy, Book 3)

August 6, 2014 by Drew

The Short Version: It’s winter in Area X. [REDACTED] is [REDACTED] and [REDACTED] [REDACTED]. The Southern Reach, Area X, the Séance & Science Brigade, the lighthouse, the tower/tunnel, the biologist, Control, the director… some sort of conclusion or resolution will be found, for those who dare to seek it. But what will happen to those who do seek it will [REDACTED]. (Please note: this review will, out of some necessity, traffic in some minor spoilers from Books 1 & 2 – […]

Categories: Fiction • Tags: 5+, 6, Acceptance, Fiction, FSG Originals, Horror, Jeff Vandermeer, Literature, Speculative Fiction, The Southern Reach, The Southern Reach Trilogy

City of Bohane

September 10, 2013 by Drew

The Short Version: Logan Hartnett, leader of the Hartnett Fancy, is struggling a bit. The Norries are getting rowdy and spoiling for a fight, his lieutenants are starting to cast eyes towards ascension, his missus wants him out of the game, and his ma’ can’t be trusted. When rumor hits him that the man he once deposed is back in town, it sets off an interesting year in the city of Bohane – yes it does. The Review: What an exceptional […]

Categories: Fiction, Literature • Tags: 6, BEA13, City of Bohane, Fiction, Graywolf Press, Ireland, Kevin Barry, Literature

Raging Biblio-holism

The overwhelming urge to collect, consume, and consider books

Tag: 6