The blurb on the front of the book says it all: A contract killer, a detective, and a transgender sex worker: an unlikely team fighting crime and corruption in contemporary Athens. Athenian Blues by Pol Koutsakis is kind of a buddy story – three good friends, solving a murder. One, Drag, is a cop – a brusque homicide detective who is… Read more
“The regular early morning yell of horror was the sound of Arthur Dent waking up and suddenly remembering where he was.” Life, the Universe and Everything Douglas Adams Read more
I saw a documentary a few years ago called The Imposter. In it, French con-man Frédéric Bourdin impersonates a boy from Texas who went missing when he was 13 years old. I wondered what would make a person do something so awful – torture a family who had already been through so much. In Only Daughter by Anna Snoekstra, we get a glimpse into that… Read more
“The trial was irrevocably over; everything that could be said had been said, but he had never doubted that he would lose.” The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo Stieg Larsson Read more
“It was a wrong number that started it, the telephone ringing three times in the dead of night, and the voice on the other end asking for someone he was not.” City of Glass Paul Auster Read more
“This book is largely concerned with Hobbits, and from its pages a reader may discover much of their character and a little of their history.” The Fellowship of the Ring J.R.R. Tolkein Read more
The Dark Side by Anthony O’Neill is possibly the most fun bit of sci-fi I’ve read in ages. I laughed a lot, cringed a little, and found a whole new set of rules to live by – The Brass Code. The Brass Code is invoked by an evil, amnesiac android named Leonardo Black. Some of my favorites: Don’t take.… Read more
“Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, inventor of the corn flake and peanut butter, not to mention caramel-cereal coffee, Bromose, Nuttolene and some seventy-five other gastrically correct foods, paused to level his gaze on the heavyset woman in the front row.” The Road to Wellville T. Coraghessan Boyle Read more
I am in Cambridge, MA this week, hanging out with my cousin and soaking up a bit of Boston sunshine. (The weather has been amazing.) The highlight of the trip was the Eddie Izzard show last night down in the Back Bay. Drinks at Back Bay Harry’s before, tapas at Tico afterward, and a great show with Eddie. I love Eddie!… Read more
What if the apocalypse came and you didn’t even notice? What if you were camping in the Canadian wilderness or on walkabout in the Australian Outback and you didn’t know that the aliens had landed? What if you were up at your cabin by the lake and you couldn’t understand why no one was picking up their phones? In The Last… Read more