The Biblioracle | Raging Biblio-holism

A Relative Stranger

September 16, 2015 by Drew

The Short Version: Stories of relationships, often between those who should be close but who are in fact anything but. It’s all about those moments that come from parents and children and lovers discovering something about themselves or each other that makes some relative seem a stranger. The Review: I had forgotten, even after how impressed I was by Baxter’s “Through the Safety Net” at Chuck Palahniuk’s Selected Shorts evening, that I’ve read Baxter before. In fact, I’ve read Baxter in direct relation […]

Categories: Fiction, Literature, Short Stories • Tags: A Relative Stranger, Book Review, Book Reviews, Books, Charles Baxter, Fiction, Literature, Reviews, Short Stories, The Biblioracle

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot

April 20, 2015 by Drew

The Short Version: Lelia Majnoun, a non-profit worker in Myanmar stumbles across… something weird. Suddenly she’s on the run from shadowy corporate interests. Meanwhile, former friends Mark Deveraux & Leo Crane (Mark now a self-help huckster and Leo a drug-addled trust-funder coming unhinged) are on an unseen collision course with each other, orchestrated by said shadowy corporate interests. The fate of the world and our freedom of information may be at stake. The Review: I remember the first time I read Fahrenheit […]

Categories: Fiction, Literature • Tags: Adventure, Book Review, Book Reviews, Books, Conspiracy, David Shafer, Fiction, Humor, Reviews, Science Fiction, So Many Damn Books, Speculative Fiction, Techno-thriller, Technology, The Biblioracle, Thriller, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot

Tough Day for the Army

March 6, 2015 by Drew

The Short Version: A collection of slightly-off-kilter stories of romance, work, and ordinary life. Full of humor and invention, decidedly playful with the form, John Warner delivers – whether he’s telling the tale of an organ-grinder’s monkey, a beef slaughter plant, or a couple who grow poets on their farm. The Review: John Warner’s novel The Funny Man didn’t make too much of a splash several years back. A damn shame, because it was a strange and funny sort of tale – a […]

Categories: Fiction, Short Stories • Tags: Book Review, Book Reviews, Books, Fiction, John Warner, Literature, LSU, LSU Press, McSweeney's, Reviews, Short Stories, The Biblioracle, Tough Day for the Army, yellow shoe fiction

May We Be Forgiven

October 23, 2012 by Drew

The Short Version: After his brother’s wife kisses him at Thanksgiving, Harold Silver’s whole existence gets thoroughly shaken up. In the course of 365 days, his life – and the lives of his brother, sister-in-law, niece & nephew, and many others – change irrevocably and when the survivors come back together for Thanksgiving one year later, there is much to be thankful for – and much to ask for forgiveness from. The Review: So it seems as though my October […]

Categories: Fiction, Literature • Tags: A.M. Homes, Family, Fiction, Literature, May We Be Forgiven, Orange Prize, Richard Nixon, The Biblioracle, The Tournament of Books 2013, Women's Prize 2013

Saul and Patsy

June 2, 2012 by Drew

The Short Version: Young couple Saul and Patsy Bernstein have moved into a small town in the Midwest, despite it not quite seeming like the right fit for two urban and cultural twentysomethings. Yet here they are. Saul takes a job as a teacher, Patsy takes a job at the bank, and after a while they start a family and continue to solidify their place in the world. But after a troubled youth from one of Saul’s classes takes startling action […]

Categories: Fiction, Literature • Tags: Charles Baxter, Fiction, Literature, Saul and Patsy, The Biblioracle

The Funny Man

November 22, 2011 by Drew

The Short Version: The funny man is in trouble. He goes from being a struggling standup comedian to superstar in the blink of an eye after he adds a little ‘thing’ to his routine: sticking his whole hand inside his mouth. But superstardom isn’t quite what he’d hoped it would be – and his life spirals into what you might call madness, culminating in a trial for manslaughter. Then things take a strange turn. The Review: Hmm. I’ll say right off the […]

Categories: Fiction, Literature • Tags: Comedy, Fiction, John Warner, Literature, The Biblioracle, The Funny Man

The Family Fang

November 6, 2011 by Drew

The Short Version: Caleb and Camille Fang were two of the world’s most eminent performance artists. Then they had kids. Instead of it killing their careers, however, it afforded them an opportunity to become something even larger: a family act. A & B (Annie and Buster) become as crucial to the events as their parents – but suffer the emotional scars of a truly fucked-up childhood. Those scars reverberate through to their adulthood and so they come home again, to […]

Categories: Fiction, Literature • Tags: Family, Fiction, Kevin Wilson, Literature, The Biblioracle, The Family Fang

Stone Arabia

September 16, 2011 by Drew

The Short Version: Denise Kranis, middle-aged, finds herself reconciling not only her own non-starting life but that of her mysterious, reclusive, washed-up almost-rock-star brother. As the world spins seemingly out of control in an overwhelming way, she examines the fake world he created in his Chronicles – and creates her own “counter-chronicles” to attempt to tell the real story of their lives. The Review: This book has gotten quite a lot of buzz of late – I wouldn’t be surprised to see […]

Categories: Fiction, Literature • Tags: Dana Spiotta, Fiction, Literature, Music, Rock and Roll, Stone Arabia, The Biblioracle

The Quiet American

August 6, 2011 by Drew

The Short Version: Thomas Fowler, a middle-aged English reporter in Vietnam, meets Alden Pyle, an idealistic young American. While Fowler navigates the pre-America Vietnam War, Pyle becomes something of a romantic rival and a psychological opposite. Pyle’s simple – and very American – view of the world leads to horror and tragedy and Fowler is forced to abandon his disengagement and take a stand. The Review: I’ve never read any Graham Greene before. My closest experience is from the second season […]

Categories: Fiction, Literature • Tags: Fiction, Graham Greene, Literature, The Biblioracle, The Quiet American

Raging Biblio-holism

The overwhelming urge to collect, consume, and consider books

Tag: The Biblioracle