Book

Missive #300 Published 25 June 2024

I don't want to write this because I'm a fan of McCarthy's work, and Suttree is technically a good book. The prose is superb, the characters are complex, and the situations that arise are often creative and interesting. So whats the issue? The issue is that the books has basically no plot and Suttree is an utterly unlikable protagonist. The book is literally watching a person waste away their life doing nothing for 500 or so pages.

Suttree spends most of the novel getting drunk, and whining about how awful his life is while being totally aware that it's his choice. He is deliberately making his life terrible and then bemoans his situation. Self loathing at its finest.

The one shining light in the novel is his friend Harrogate's numerous misadventures. These are some great distractions that populate an otherwise bleak portrait. In the end, Harrogate's character never realizes his full potential. Like the rest of the novel, he too just becomes another piece of Suttree's miserable existence. — Customer Reveiew @ goodreads.com

Missive #297 Published 18 June 2024

“Fraser’s rousing historical novel tracks the rise and fall of the real-life boxer Tom Molineaux, a Virginia slave who fought his way to freedom and then to celebrity in England in the early 1800s.”–New York Times Book Review Bringing historical fact spiritedly to life, Fraser tells the rollicking tale of how “the Black Ajax” became as famous a figure in England as Napoleon — and just as much a threat to its establishment — before he passed into boxing legend and created a precedent for modern black prizefighters. — Book promo @ Da Capo Press

Missive #295 Published 15 June 2024

This may have been promoted as the final installment to the Saxon Tales but there was another book published. I'll get around to reading it soon but it is promoted as "completes his epic Last Kingdom series with this companion book featuring three exclusive short stories and sixty recipes that bring Uhtred’s world to life as never before."

Missive #293 Published 11 June 2024

I think this is the last of Twain's travel books. I have enjoyed them all but this one did not have as much of his celebrated humor in it as the book promo claims. Over the years I have read Twain's fiction and did not particularly care for it but he has a lot of other nonfiction that I do plan on reading.

Missive #291 Published 8 June 2024

The Swords of the Horseclans is the second novel in the Horseclans Series by Robert Adams, published in 1975. The book is set in a post-apocalyptic world and follows the story of a group of survivors who form a clan and use swords to defend themselves against other groups. The novel is part of the series, which explores themes of survival, community, and the struggle for power in a harsh new world.

Missive #289 Published 4 June 2024

This book concludes the Canaan Crime trilogy. Usually it doesn't make much difference in what order you read a trilogy but in this case this third book is a sequel and the two prior books are best read first. A good mystery, as were the prior two. The author has some stand alone books that I have now added to my To Read List.

Missive #287 Published 1 June 2024

This is another one of Huxley's ‘fusing idea with story’ which I'm guessing was to be his continued writing style. The book would have been about half as long without his philosophy. I could have possibly enjoyed the book more if he had provided translations for all the French and Latin that was his wont to quote.

Missive #285 Published 30 May 2024

Alan, the beadle of the manor of Bampton, had gone out at dusk to seek those who might violate curfew. When, the following morning, he had still not returned home, his young wife Matilda sought out Master Hugh de Singleton, surgeon and bailiff of the manor.

Two days later Alan's corpse is discovered in the hedge, at the side of the track to St. Andrew's Chapel. His throat has been torn out, his head half-severed from his body and his face, hands, and forearms lacerated with deep scratches.