Book Review: David Hockney, by Peter Clothier, Abbeville Modern Masters...
When the artist David Hockney died earlier this year, I realized that I needed to learn more about his work. To do so,I bought the Abbeville Modern Masters book on Hockney's work, written by Peter...
View ArticleBook Review: Brave New World and Brave New World Revisited by Aldous Huxley
Aldous Huxley's 1932 novel Brave New World is a dystopian classic of science fiction. I first read Brave New World when I was 14 years old, at the end of 8th grade or the beginning of 9th grade,...
View ArticleBook Review: You Gotta Have Wa, by Robert Whiting (1989)
You Gotta Have Wa, by Robert Whiting, is an examination of baseball in Japan, and the difficulties that American players playing in Japan faced during the 1970’s and 1980’s. Published in 1989, You...
View ArticleBook Review: Stranded in the Future, by Robyn Hitchcock (2026)
Stranded in the Future, published earlier this year, is Robyn Hitchcock’s second memoir, following 2024’s excellent 1967: How I Got There and Why I Never Left. Stranded in the Future picks up the story...
View ArticleThe Minnesota State Fair
The Agriculture Horticulture building at the Minnesota State Fair, August 28, 2026. (Photo by Mark C. Taylor) It’s the end of August, which means it’s time for one of my favorite things: the Minnesota...
View ArticleBook Review: A Room of One's Own, by Virginia Woolf (1929)
Since Virginia Woolf’s domination of The Guardian’s list of the 100 best novels of all-time—she scored 5 books on the list—I’ve thought “I should read more of her work.” I picked up A Room of One’s Own...
View ArticleBook Review: My Impressions of the Wolfe Family and of Maxwell Perkins, by...
William B. Wisdom is an important figure in Thomas Wolfe studies, as it was Wisdom that purchased Wolfe’s papers and manuscripts after Wolfe’s death and donated them to Harvard University. Two...
View ArticleBook Review: The Table Talk of Thomas Wolfe, by William B. Wisdom (1988)
The Table Talk of Thomas Wolfe is a slim volume, written by William B. Wisdom and published by the Thomas Wolfe Society in 1988. Among Thomas Wolfe fans, William B. Wisdom is an exalted figure. It was...
View ArticleBook Review: Thomas Wolfe, by C. Hugh Holman, University of Minnesota...
American author Thomas Wolfe's status in American literature was at a high level in 1960. That year, when Wolfe was profiled for the University of Minnesota's "Pamphlets on American Writers" series,...
View ArticleBob Horner 1958-2026
A week ago, I started reading Robert Whiting's book You Gotta Have Wa.Published in 1989, the book is an examination of baseball in Japan, and how American players adjusted to playing in Japan. The...
View ArticleMovie Review: Farewell, Friend starring Alain Delon and Charles Bronson (1968)
Charles Bronson and Alain Delon. This picture just radiates coolness.If you put French icon Alain Delon and American tough guy Charles Bronson together, you would expect some serious fireworks on the...
View ArticleMovie Review: Sweet Smell of Success, starring Tony Curtis and Burt Lancaster...
Tony Curtis and Burt Lancaster in Sweet Smell of Success, 1957Sweet Smell of Success, starring Tony Curtis and Burt Lancaster, is a classic film noir portrait of New York City in the 1950’s. Despite...
View ArticleBook Review: Bloom County the Complete Library Volume 1: 1980-1982 (2009)
When I was 7 years old, in 1988, I could open the funny pages and read Peanuts, by Minnesota’s own Charles Schulz, Garfield, by Jim Davis, which was permeating pop culture in a way few comic strips...
View ArticleMovie Review: Le Cercle Rouge, starring Alain Delon and Yves Montand,...
Jean-Pierre Melville’s 1970 heist movie Le Cercle Rouge (The Red Circle) is often described as a masterpiece of French crime cinema. Le Cercle Rouge stars Alain Delon, Yves Montand, Gian Maria Volonte,...
View ArticleMeeting Miss Scarlet
My favorite movie of all-time is the 1985 classic Clue. I’ve seen it more times than I can count, and it’s been my favorite movie since I was a kid. Watching and re-watching it on VHS was a core...
View ArticleBook Review: Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage, by Haruki...
Haruki Murakami’s novel Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage was first published in 2013, and in an English translation by Philip Gabriel in 2014. The novel tells the story of Tsukuru...
View ArticleBook Review: Clock Without Hands, a novel by Carson McCullers (1961)
Clock Without Hands, published in 1961, was Carson McCullers’ final novel. McCullers died in 1967, at the young age of 50. Rheumatic fever had weakened her heart, and it was clear from early in her...
View ArticleBook Review: Reflections in a Golden Eye, by Carson McCullers (1941)
Carson McCullers burst onto the literary scene in June 1940, with the publication of her first novel, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. McCullers was only 23 years old when the novel was published, and she...
View ArticleBook Review: The Ballad of the Sad Cafe by Carson McCullers (1951)
Carson McCullers’ novella The Ballad of the Sad Cafe was first published in the magazine Harper’s Bazaar in 1943, then collected in a 1951 book that also collected McCullers’ other novels as well....
View ArticleBook Review: The Member of the Wedding, a novel by Carson McCullers (1946)
The Member of the Wedding was Carson McCullers’ third novel. Published in 1946, the slim volume tells the story of Frankie Addams, a precocious 12-year-old who is obsessed with her brother’s upcoming...
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