Monthly Archives: November 2010

Dust becomes him: Don Kerr’s new collection

Posted on November 23, 2010 by Douglas Barbour

Don Kerr. The dust of just beginning (AUPress 2010). Kerr’s latest is beautifully designed, & full of sharp wit & the (necessary?) awareness of passing time & mortality that comes with age. So there are some specific elegies, for friends … Continue reading →

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A not so odd combination

Posted on November 22, 2010 by Douglas Barbour

Adam Gopnik. Angels and Ages: A Short Book about Darwin, Lincoln, and Modern Life (2009). Robert Charles Wilson. Julian Comstock: A Story of 22nd Century America (2009). I read these books, together by a strange & as it turned out … Continue reading →

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Washington Rules; or does it..?

Posted on November 19, 2010 by Douglas Barbour

Andrew J Bacevich. Washington Rules: America’s Path to Permanent War (2010). Here Bacevich offers an angry & passionate historical analysis of how the U.S. got into the continuing war (‘against terror’) stance it now manifests to the world at large, … Continue reading →

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Trenchant memories unearthed…

Posted on November 16, 2010 by Douglas Barbour

Paul Fussell. The Great War and Modern Memory (1975). I decided to start reading this on Remembrance Day, having had it on hand since 1990, & never having gotten around to reading it. Fussell is, in many ways, a traditional … Continue reading →

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A Novel too far?

Posted on November 15, 2010 by Douglas Barbour

David Weber. Out of the Dark (TOR 2010). Weber is the ‘bestselling author of the Honor Harrington novels,’ works of military SF, a sub-genre I’ve stayed away from, & this novel lets me know it’s the right decision for me. … Continue reading →

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A slightly different anthology

Posted on November 12, 2010 by Douglas Barbour

George R R Martin & Gardner Dozois, eds. Warriors (2010). Theme anthologies seem themselves to be a ‘theme’ in SF&F publishing. Warriors is another one, although this one sought submissions from many different genres, including mystery, historical, & thriller, & … Continue reading →

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Sometimes I’d rather read a book…

Posted on November 9, 2010 by Douglas Barbour

I often enjoy vampire fiction, what we might call a sub-sub-genre of the sub-genre Dark Fantasy; I even taught a senior Popular Culture course on Twentieth Century Vampires (& had a full class for it, surprise, surprise). Still, I have … Continue reading →

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Susan Holbrook knows joy is hard work

Posted on November 8, 2010 by Douglas Barbour

Susan Holbrook. Joy Is So Exhausting (Coach House 2009). A wide ranging collection of pieces (they can all be called ‘poetry’ but many are theoretically driven, oddly comic, prose pieces that owe a lot to Stein, etc). A lot of … Continue reading →

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Walter Benjamin’s amazing archive

Posted on November 8, 2010 by Douglas Barbour

Walter Benjamin’s Archive: Images, Texts, Signs (2007). Translated by Esther Leslie; edited by Ursula Marx, Gudrun Schwartz, Michael Schwartz, Erdmut Wizisla. I took my time with this wonderful book, reading it in bits & pieces for about a year, enjoying … Continue reading →

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The Olive Reading Series’ November presentation: Jenna Butler

Posted on November 6, 2010 by Douglas Barbour

Jenna Butler, whose first book, Aphelion, was published this year by NeWest Press, will be reading new work, including her fascinating cross-anagrams from Lewis Carroll’s verses, at Leva, Tuesday evening November 9.

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