“There’s no other place around here like this, so–this must be the place. ” Card at Durham’s Ivy Room Restaurant, circa 1966
I’m not especially interested in relating the details of my daily life, so I’m not interested in a conventional blog. But I am interested in writing about books, and about some of the movies I see, and about writing and literature in general. I have a habit of writing, but no wish to show all of it—even most of it—to the world. What I’ll publish here is pieces that have a shape, because that’s what I like in other websites. I don’t want to hear from people everyday, just when they have something to say.
I do love to hear about good books to read, and movies to see. That’s what I’ll mostly write about.
What Is Sex? posted on 03-14-2024
Lauren Groff seems to be gently suggesting that sex is a human energy that doesn’t necessarily interfere with a religious life. They can co-exist. They should co-exist.Read MorePortrait of Genius posted on 03-07-2024
This is the most compulsively readable book I’ve encountered in many a moon. I couldn’t wait to pick it up every night. Read MoreBook to Movie posted on 02-28-2024
Director Cord Johnson is a huge Percival Everett fan, and American Fiction seems perfectly to capture the spirit of Erasure. I was astounded.Read MoreSlippery Slope posted on 02-21-2024
Crook Manifesto a novel by Colson Whitehead. Doubleday. 319 pp. ***** There is the pleasure of reading a great crime writer, someone like Elmore Leonard at his best, who makes any other storyteller I know look like a rank amateur. There is theRead MorePandemic Without Panic posted on 02-07-2024
The Vulnerables a novel by Sigrid Nunez. Riverhead Books. 242 pp. **** Early reviewers of Sigrid Nunez’ The Vulnerables are linking it to her most recent novels (The Friend, which won a National Book Award, and What Are You Going Through, whichRead MoreSheer Talent posted on 02-06-2024
Fred Chappell 1936-2024 I met Fred Chappell at a retirement dinner for William Blackburn, the revered creative writing teacher at Duke University. I wasn’t there as a writer (in what turned out to be Blackburn’s last year as a professor, I had the Read MoreTwo Gay Men posted on 02-02-2024
Good Grief a film by Dan Levy. With Dan Levy, Ruth Nessa, Himesh Patel, Luke Evans. Streaming on Netflix ** Rustin a film by George C. Wolfe. With Colman Domingo, Ami Ameen, Glynn Turman, Chris Rock. Streaming on Netflix ***1/2 Good Grief Read MoreMake That March December. Maybe February. posted on 01-19-2024
May December a film by Todd Haynes. With Natalie Portman, Julianne Moore, Charles Melton. Streaming on various platforms. ** With all due respect to the various people who have suggested that this movie be nominated for Best Picture (includingRead MoreNo Full Stop posted on 01-12-2024
Septology a novel by Jon Fosse. Transit Books. 667 pp. .95 ***** Often when I finish a long novel I have a feeling of accomplishment, or relief; “Well now that’s done: and I’m glad it’s over,” as the woman says in The Wasteland (aboutRead MoreHe Saw It Through posted on 01-05-2024
Seeing One Thing Through: The Zen Life and Teachings of Sojun Mel Weitsman by Sojun Mel Weitsman. Counterpoint. 320 pp. .95 ***** I consider Mel Weitsman[1] to be the sanest person I ever met. I’ve had many wonderful teachers in my life as a Read MoreAnd of a Marriage posted on 12-28-2023
Anatomy of a Fall a film by Justine Triet. With Sandra Huller, Milo Machado Graner, Samuel Theis. Streaming on Amazon Prime. ***** A friend whose opinion I respect recently said he hated this movie—and all courtroom dramas[1]—because many things Read MoreQuotations from my Reading (cont.) posted on 12-27-2023
From Septology by Nobel Prize winner Jon Fosse, a Catholic convert. “it’s in the darkness that God lives, yes, God is darkness, and that darkness, God’s darkness, that nothingness, yes, it shines, yes, it’s from God’s darkness that the light comes, Read MoreThe Ones Left Behind posted on 12-22-2023
The Holdovers a film by Alexander Payne. With Paul Giamatti, Dominic Sessa, Da’Vine Joy Randolph. In theaters and streaming for an arm and leg on Amazon Prime. ***** Three more or less sane adults (though one is just eighteen), all of whom haveRead MoreQuotations from My Reading posted on 12-16-2023
--from Septology, by the 2023 Nobel Prize laureate Jon Fosse, a Catholic convert: “and when I wasn’t painting I often spent hour after hour just sitting and staring into space, yes, I can sit for a long time and just stare into empty space, atRead MoreThe Story of Her Time posted on 11-30-2023
Machine Dreams a novel by Jayne Anne Phillips. Vintage. 331 pp. .00. ***** This is a masterpiece of American fiction. I’ve been asking myself why I didn’t read it years ago, and I think there are two reasons. Jayne Anne Phillips wasRead MoreWho Can You Trust? posted on 11-07-2023
Out on the Rim a novel by Ross Thomas. Thomas Dunne Books. St. Martin’s Minotaur. 340 pp. ***1/2 I used to think I’d like to be a writer like Ross Thomas. He was an accomplished stylist, had an insider’s knowledge of the world of internationalRead MoreEnough Already posted on 10-30-2023
The Bell a novel by Iris Murdoch. Penguin Classics. 296 pp. .00. **** Iris Murdoch. I can’t live with her and can’t live without her. Years ago, when my mentor Wallace Fowlie had retired, he wasn’t interested in much modernist fiction, but Read MoreMaster of Crime posted on 10-23-2023
Chinaman’s Chance by Ross Thomas. Mysterious Press. 334 pp. ***** It’s been years since I’ve read a mystery/crime novel, except for the work of Elmore Leonard, which I reread avidly when it came out in the Library of America (no one told a story Read MoreChamp posted on 10-19-2023
King of the World: Muhammad Ali and the Rise of an American Hero by David Remnick. Vintage. 352 pp. .39. ***** Of all the subjects I would have thought I knew everything about, Muhammad Ali is right at the top of the list. I startedRead MoreThe Spirit Behind the Story posted on 10-02-2023
The Color of Water: A Black Man’s Tribute to his White Mother by James McBride. Riverhead Books. 295 pp. ***** I was so overwhelmed by The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store that I decided to reread James McBride’s memoir of life with his mother,Read More
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Recent Evening Mind Posts
What Is Sex?Portrait of GeniusBook to MovieSlippery SlopePandemic Without PanicSheer TalentTwo Gay MenMake That March December. Maybe February.No Full StopHe Saw It ThroughAnd of a MarriageQuotations from my Reading (cont.)The Ones Left BehindQuotations from My ReadingThe Story of Her TimeWho Can You Trust?Enough AlreadyMaster of CrimeChampThe Spirit Behind the Story
View Other Essays by Topic
agingAmerican literatureartBuddhismChristianitycreative processdeath and dyingmeditationmoviesmusicracereligionsexspiritualitythe art of narrativeUncategorizedworld literature
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Recent Evening Mind Posts
What Is Sex?Portrait of GeniusBook to MovieSlippery SlopePandemic Without PanicSheer TalentTwo Gay MenMake That March December. Maybe February.No Full StopHe Saw It ThroughAnd of a MarriageQuotations from my Reading (cont.)The Ones Left BehindQuotations from My ReadingThe Story of Her TimeWho Can You Trust?Enough AlreadyMaster of CrimeChampThe Spirit Behind the Story
View Other Essays by Topic
agingAmerican literatureartBuddhismChristianitycreative processdeath and dyingmeditationmoviesmusicracereligionsexspiritualitythe art of narrativeUncategorizedworld literature