Book Reviews | Raging Biblio-holism

The Mothers

February 21, 2017 by Drew

The Short Version: Nadia is a high school senior, ready to escape her small California town for college. The abortion she has seems, at the time, to be the best choice – but while her life goes on without much pause, the lives of those around her are deeply affected and will be for the rest of their days. The Review: Another ToB Irregular wrote on Twitter that this book is an exploration of the following question: “What if your […]

Categories: Fiction, Literature • Tags: Abortion, Book, Book Review, Book Reviews, Books, Brit Bennett, Family, Fiction, Literature, Religion, review, Reviews, Riverhead Books, The Mothers, The Tournament of Books 2017

High Dive

February 15, 2017 by Drew

The Short Version: It’s 1984 and Maggie Thatcher is prime minister, Ireland is tearing itself apart, and life is otherwise moving steadily forward. But when Thatcher’s entire leadership team plans to stay in Brighton for a conference, three lives – a hotel manager, his daughter, and an IRA operative – collide with the bombing of the Grand Hotel as their backdrop. The Review: This has been a year for slow burners in the ToB – books that take their time, develop […]

Categories: Fiction, Literature • Tags: Book, Book Review, Book Reviews, Books, England, Fiction, High Dive, Historical Fiction, History, Ireland, Jonathan Lee, Literature, Margaret Thatcher, review, Reviews, The Tournament of Books 2017, The Troubles

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Black Wave

February 14, 2017 by Drew

The Short Version: It’s the late 1990s and the world is ending. Literally. But Michelle rambles through her days like any other days, drinking and fucking and doing drugs, all with a gently gnawing sense of needing (wanting? believing?) something else. She uproots from San Francisco and heads to LA, where the apocalypse really kicks in – but so too does her sense of being. The Review: Sometimes a book strikes unexpectedly, stopping you in your tracks – or, in my […]

Categories: Fiction, Literature • Tags: 1990s, Amethyst Editions, Apocalypse, Autofiction, Black Wave, Book, Book Review, Book Reviews, Books, Feminist Press, Fiction, LA, Los Angeles, Memoir, Metafiction, Michelle Tea, Queer, Queer Fiction, review, Reviews, The Tournament of Books 2017

The Throwback Special

February 6, 2017 by Drew

The Short Version: A group of middle-aged men gather for their annual tradition of recreating what’s still regarded as perhaps the most brutal play in all of football history: The Throwback Special, when Joe Theismann’s leg was broken in primetime. Over their weekend stay in a nondescript hotel, they all feel their age, their concerns, and their lives in the context of this ritual reenactment. The Review: I was still reeling from the conclusion of Super Bowl LI as I finished […]

Categories: Fiction, Literature • Tags: America, Book, Book Review, Book Reviews, Books, Chris Bachelder, Fiction, Football, Literature, review, Reviews, The Throwback Special, The Tournament of Books 2017

Mister Monkey

January 25, 2017 by Drew

The Short Version: A misfit company of off-off-off-Broadway actors present a treacly children’s musical called Mister Monkey. A child in the audience asks his grandfather: “Are you interested in this?” The novelist who wrote the original book (which was then adapted into this play) considers his life, decades after success. And all the while, the monkey watches… The Review: My friend and co-host Christopher told me, as he finished this book, that he was reminded of A Visit From the Goon Squad […]

Categories: Fiction, Literature • Tags: Book, Book Review, Book Reviews, Books, Fiction, Francine Prose, Literature, Mister Monkey, review, Reviews, The Tournament of Books 2017, Theater

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Moonglow

January 23, 2017 by Drew

The Short Version: A young man named Michael Chabon sits with his grandfather in the weeks before his death, hearing stories about his life. He takes these stories, in turn, and creates a narrative out of them – but, as he expresses at the beginning, the reader might do well to question how much is true and how much is fiction… The Review: The trickery begins before you’ve even started reading the book. Open it, flip page by page – […]

Categories: Fiction, Literature • Tags: Autofiction, Biography, Book Review, Book Reviews, Books, Fiction, Indiespensable, Literature, Memoir, Metafiction, Michael Chabon, Moonglow, Non-Fiction, Reviews, Space, The Tournament of Books 2017

Grief is the Thing with Feathers

January 18, 2017 by Drew

The Short Version: After death of his wife, a Ted Hughes scholar receives a visitor in the form of Crow. The husband and his two sons, along with their guest, attempt to navigate this new motherless world and discover what grief truly is. The Review: I have never lost, not truly. High school friends have died tragically, grandmothers passed decade(s) ago after long and vibrant lives, dogs (best friends, in their way) have gone to the endless fields, cultural icons who inspired […]

Categories: Fiction, Literature, Poetry • Tags: Book, Book Review, Book Reviews, Books, Crow, Fiction, Grief, Grief is the Thing with Feathers, Literature, Max Porter, Poetry, Prose Poetry, review, Reviews, Ted Hughes, The Tournament of Books 2017

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The Literary Conference

January 13, 2017 by Drew

The Short Version: After solving a centuries-old puzzle and recovering a lost pirate treasure, author/translator (and Mad Scientist) César Aira sets out to put in motion a plan to dominate the world. Things go awry. The Review: In some ways, this is the most digestible Aira novel I have read so far. In his embracing of B-movie aesthetics, which are (I now realize) delightfully well-suited to his “flight forward” style of just inventing and inventing and inventing, he’s created something […]

Categories: Fiction, Literature • Tags: Book, Book Review, Book Reviews, Books, César Aira, Fiction, Horror, Katherine Silver, Literature, Literature in Translation, New Directions, review, Reviews, Surrealism, The Literary Conference, Translation

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Sweet Lamb of Heaven

January 11, 2017 by Drew

The Short Version: When Anna’s daughter is born, she begins to hear a strange near-constant monologue with no apparent source. Although it disappears after her daughter begins talking, surreality continues to suffuse her world – and when her husband goes from disinterested to malevolent, she flees to the coast of Maine. But there, she discovers that her husband (as well as those around her) might be more than they first appeared to be… The Review: It’s hard not to think […]

Categories: Fiction, Literature • Tags: Book, Book Review, Book Reviews, Books, Fiction, Literature, Lydia Millet, review, Reviews, Sweet Lamb of Heaven, The Tournament of Books 2017

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Raging Biblio-holism

The overwhelming urge to collect, consume, and consider books

Tag: Book Reviews

The Mothers

High Dive

Black Wave

The Throwback Special

Mister Monkey

Moonglow

Grief is the Thing with Feathers

The Literary Conference

Sweet Lamb of Heaven