Tag Archives: Los Angeles
** The Barbarian Nurseries by Hector Tobar
There’s plenty to like in The Barbarian Nurseries, starting with an interesting plot of an illegal, exploited Mexican housekeeper being left alone with the children of the family without notice. The true affection between her and the boys is also … Continue reading
Filed under New fiction
*** The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey by Walter Mosley
How did I manage to find a book whose hero proudly declares to have the name of Cleopatra‘s father (and her brother’s, and her son’s, I now know!) and invokes the Great Migration of African-Americans from the South to places … Continue reading
Filed under New fiction
Inherent Vice by Thomas Pynchon
Inherent Vice is a detective story set in the 60s in LA, and I can only imagine that people who can remember the 60s in LA will enjoy the many references to the music, cars, and drugs (lots of them, … Continue reading
Filed under Mystery
This One is Mine by Maria Semple
Two self-involved, vacuous women who happen to be sisters in law set out to mistreat their husband and lover, respectively and bumble about until they get what’s coming to them, more or less. They are so inane and self-centered that … Continue reading
Filed under Chick lit
The Lost Art of Walking by Geoff Nicholson
The Lost Art of Walking is an odd book. The author sets out to describe all aspects of what he calls, a bit pedantically, pedestrianism, and he covers a lot of ground (ha ha) including walking references in music and literature, … Continue reading
Filed under Non fiction
Mother on Fire by Sandra Tsing Loh
I know it’s supposed to be a satire. I know it’s supposed to be over the top. But Mother on Fire wanders not only over the top but sideways and over to the next valley, leaving the reader confused and … Continue reading
Filed under New fiction
Bright Shiny Morning by James Frey
Bright Shiny Morning is an official piece of fiction, unlike A Million Little Pieces by the same author that started out as a memoir and turned out to be fiction after all… and a great piece of fiction in my … Continue reading
Filed under New fiction
