Steve

Steve rated a book liked it 2016 on Goodreads by Various	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Some of you may recall that for my year-end review of 2015 I enlisted the services of a highly regarded polling agency. They surveyed a wide cross-section of people to provide unbiased reactions to my reading list. I figured their feedback would be ...more
Dec 20, 2016 11:07PM · 86 likes · like · see review
Steve rated a book really liked it The Sellout by Paul Beatty read in December, 2016	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
As an urban commuter I felt that pulling a book out with lawn jockeys on the cover should come with a disclaimer. Hey everybody, it’s meant to be – you know – ironic. It’s written by a black guy; it’s satire. And just so you know, my iPhone doesn’t ...more
Dec 13, 2016 03:19AM · 92 likes · like · see review
Steve wants to read Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Dec 06, 2016 10:07PM · 6 likes · like
Steve rated a book really liked it The Spectator Bird by Wallace Stegner read in October, 2016	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Ever notice how, on rare occasions, certain writers really stand out for their ability to capture the subtle and complex ways of folks? It’s usually a reason to celebrate since these insights are there for us to imbibe. But it may be a source of ...more
Dec 02, 2016 12:04AM · 69 likes · like · see review
Steve rated a book really liked it How Life Imitates the World Series by Thomas Boswell	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I read this too long ago to remember the details. What I do recall was that it was well-written and packed with great stories. But that's beside the point. I'm afraid my motives for writing this pseudo-quasi-non-review are all too transparent. It has ...more
Nov 02, 2016 08:52PM · 53 likes · like · see review
Steve rated a book really liked it Everybody's Fool by Richard Russo (Goodreads Author) read in October, 2016	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I doubt I’m the only one who’s ever driven through small town America and wondered, “What do these people do?” I’m not proud of my snobbery, but cop to it because I also know how to counter it. The antidote, as I’m sure you’ve all figured, is Richard ...more
Oct 27, 2016 09:43PM · 101 likes · like · see review
Steve rated a book liked it Farewell, My Lovely (Philip Marlowe, #2) by Raymond Chandler read in January, 1993	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Excerpts from a dinner honoring the 2016 winner of the Otis Chandler Award for Literary Criticism Audience Question: You’re known for your essay on the Kantian aesthetic of disinterested judgment as seen in the works of James Joyce, William Gaddis, ...more
Sep 29, 2016 10:45PM · 52 likes · like · see review
Steve finished reading Ragtime by E.L. Doctorow	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Sep 22, 2016 07:03PM · 7 likes · like
Steve rated a book liked it Last Days of Summer by Steve Kluger (Goodreads Author) read in September, 2016	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack... OK, so it’s not health food. But what we consume doesn’t always have to be good for us. This book was full of empty calories, processed to a point where pretty much every bit of literary goodness was gone. And ...more
Sep 19, 2016 11:19PM · 74 likes · like · see review
Steve rated a book really liked it A God in Ruins by Kate Atkinson	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I hope this doesn’t sound conceited, but you might crow, too, if you had just written one BILLION reviews. I have the magic of combinatorics to thank. There are nine different fill-in-the-blank sections in this review that allow ten separate ...more
Sep 01, 2016 12:02AM · 85 likes · like · see review

Steve rated a book liked it

2016 on Goodreads
by Various

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Some of you may recall that for my year-end review of 2015 I enlisted the services of a highly regarded polling agency. They surveyed a wide cross-section of people to provide unbiased reactions to my reading list. I figured their feedback would be ...more

Steve rated a book really liked it

The Sellout
by Paul Beatty

read in December, 2016

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

As an urban commuter I felt that pulling a book out with lawn jockeys on the cover should come with a disclaimer. Hey everybody, it’s meant to be – you know – ironic. It’s written by a black guy; it’s satire. And just so you know, my iPhone doesn’t ...more

Steve wants to read

Shantaram
by Gregory David Roberts

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Steve rated a book really liked it

The Spectator Bird
by Wallace Stegner

read in October, 2016

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Ever notice how, on rare occasions, certain writers really stand out for their ability to capture the subtle and complex ways of folks? It’s usually a reason to celebrate since these insights are there for us to imbibe. But it may be a source of ...more

Steve rated a book really liked it

How Life Imitates the World Series
by Thomas Boswell

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

I read this too long ago to remember the details. What I do recall was that it was well-written and packed with great stories. But that's beside the point.

I'm afraid my motives for writing this pseudo-quasi-non-review are all too transparent. It has ...more

Steve rated a book really liked it

Everybody's Fool
by Richard Russo (Goodreads Author)

read in October, 2016

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

I doubt I’m the only one who’s ever driven through small town America and wondered, “What do these people do?” I’m not proud of my snobbery, but cop to it because I also know how to counter it. The antidote, as I’m sure you’ve all figured, is Richard I doubt I’m the only one who’s ever driven through small town America and wondered, “What do these people do?” I’m not proud of my snobbery, but cop to it because I also know how to counter it. The antidote, as I’m sure you’ve all figured, is Richard Russo. His latest, a return to North Bath in upstate New York, offers a ready answer: they have lives. We who are high on our horses may look down and not see it, but these people have conflicts, interactions, feelings, flaws, and wisdom – pretty much the same as everyone else. Their economic engines may sputter at times, but they get by.

Everybody’s Fool follows Nobody’s Fool, one I rate near the top of all time. The earlier book was all about Sully, a man of apparent contradictions. He’s a bit rough around the edges, but with an obvious charm; he makes poor decisions, but is quick-witted and bright; and he’s an authority-flouting scofflaw with a strong moral sense. Paul Newman played him to perfection in the movie version, which I also recommend unreservedly.

I went into this book fearing sequelitis. What if it was like the movie version of Gilligan’s Island, where a perfectly brilliant sit com morphed into cheesy, chaotic nonsense? (OK, so maybe that’s not the best example given how little morphing was required to achieve such a state.) More to the point, what if it became an exercise in redundancy – character stasis, setting stagnation, and ennui as the action unfolds? But no, ten years hence it was like visiting old friends you haven’t seen in a while. They’re still recognizable, but with interesting differences. The book introduced new characters, too. I only occasionally got the sense that Russo was cashing in on his earlier successes.

Sully himself was largely unchanged, despite altered circumstances. He’d come into some money, thanks in part to his religiously played trifecta finally coming in. But then he got counterpunched with worrisome news from his doctor. As Sully’s friends could tell you, though, he’s the type to take everything in his stride. Sully’s sad sack friend Rub, is still as simple as ever, with his happiness driven entirely by time spent with Sully – well, that and cheeseburgers and beer. An old flame, Ruth, had become more just a friend, as wise to the ways of the world as Sully. Ruth’s husband played an expanded role just as his junk emporium expanded beyond the walls of their home. Their daughter had been married to a misogynist who was bad even by the standards of certain politicians. In fact, one of the major plot points involved this guy’s hateful nature. Sully and Ruth were especially skeptical about his having found God under a newly turned leaf.

A fairly minor character in Nobody’s Fool was way more fleshed out in this one. It was the hapless police officer, Douglas Raymer, who we grow to appreciate far more when we see how he came by his self-loathing. He was dealing with a lot: an idée fixe involving an affair he suspected his wife was having right before she died, his competence as chief of police, and confusing (flirtatious?) interactions with the smart, sassy woman at department headquarters named Charice. In the movie Nobody’s Fool, Raymer was played by Philip Seymour Hoffman. It was a bit part, but had this book been included as well, it would have been a role more worthy of the late, great actor.

I suppose as character-driven as Russo novels typically are, it doesn’t hurt to list even more of the cast. There was a reprise for Carl Roebuck, the would-be player whose construction company “had about one swirl around the drain left, after which he'd be officially wiped out.“ Carl had some of the funnier lines if you’re at all partial to gallows humor. To wit:

"We've come this far."
At this Carl snorted.
"What? Sully said.
"Nothing," Carl said. "I was just thinking about Napoleon invading Russia."
Both Sully and Raymer blinked at this.
"Also the Crusades and the Spanish Inquisition and the Vietnam War," Carl continued. "Not one of those clusterf*cks could truly commence until somebody said, What the hell. We've come this far."

The mayor, a former academic with good intentions, and his half-deranged wife, who was only really at home in an imaginary world on the phone with imaginary friends, also had parts to play. Charice’s twin brother, the urbane but unstable Jerome, was another concern in Raymer’s world. There were small roles for Sully’s son and grandson, too. Son Peter was often on his guard, though, as the following would suggest: “Any youthful enthusiasm he expressed for how his grandfather navigated the world Peter considered his duty to temper, lest the romance of the tool belt and barstool take root.” Miss Beryl, the kindly former teacher and Sully’s landlady in the first book, was no longer alive, but she did have a great line in one of the flashbacks: "We don't forgive people because they deserve it," she said. "We forgive them because we deserve it." The fact that no one understands this, she said, doesn’t make it less true.

But the biggest other character was [cliché alert] the town of North Bath. Russo makes us physically present in Ruth’s diner with burgers on the grill, in the low-rent housing where misadventures were sure to take place, and in the lesser of the two taverns that smelled of “stale beer and overmatched urinal cakes.” Russo was also clever to create a rival town, Schuyler Springs, which attracted the nice restaurants, which did not suddenly have funky smells seeping in with the muck, and, going back in time, did not have its spring waters run dry like North Bath did. The contrast was palpable.

I enjoyed this book thoroughly. It might not have been quite as fresh as its precursor, but it still had plenty of humor, action, and humanity to recommend it. And with books like this, I’m a lot less likely to encounter a Sully, or even a Rub, and think how small their lives must be. ...more

Steve rated a book liked it

Farewell, My Lovely (Philip Marlowe, #2)
by Raymond Chandler

read in January, 1993

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Excerpts from a dinner honoring the 2016 winner of the Otis Chandler Award for Literary Criticism

Audience Question: You’re known for your essay on the Kantian aesthetic of disinterested judgment as seen in the works of James Joyce, William Gaddis, ...more

Steve finished reading

Ragtime
by E.L. Doctorow

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Steve rated a book liked it

Last Days of Summer
by Steve Kluger (Goodreads Author)

read in September, 2016

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack...

OK, so it’s not health food. But what we consume doesn’t always have to be good for us. This book was full of empty calories, processed to a point where pretty much every bit of literary goodness was gone. And Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack... ♫

OK, so it’s not health food. But what we consume doesn’t always have to be good for us. This book was full of empty calories, processed to a point where pretty much every bit of literary goodness was gone. And I ate every bite.

A Jewish kid with an absent father moved with his mother and aunt into a tough part of Brooklyn just prior to Pearl Harbor. He and his Japanese-American friend got pummeled on a regular basis. But this kid had moxie (a word more common at that time, I gather). He started writing to the Giants’ up-and-coming star third baseman. These exchanges evolved from wise-ass banter to a sort of charming surrogate father-son relationship – one where a phrase like “I’ve got your back” had real meaning. Then the bombs began to drop. It’s a promising storyline.

Like I said, though, don’t go into this book expecting anything truly substantial. The kid, 12-year-old Joey, was never really credible – writing and receiving personal letters from FDR, performing in night clubs, formulating war strategies, and so on. And the ballplayer, Charlie, was never completely real despite the author’s attempt to take an inherently big-hearted guy and give him a few rough edges to make him seem plausible. The hero worthy of worship was never far beneath the surface, despite the concocted lunk-headedness. After a while, I decided just to go with it. Snobby as it may sound, I felt that stooping to their uncomplicated level was worth doing, with disbelief duly suspended.

Does this have anything to do with the Cubs having the best record in baseball? You bet your sweet Astroturf-free ballpark 3 miles up the road it does. Aside from the fun baseball lore, there was a strong supporting cast: the Japanese-American kid who (no surprise here) had a difficult war, the singer who was sweet on Charlie and helpful to Joey, the aunt with the wisdom of an old soul, a love interest for Joey (think puppies), and a buddy for Charlie from the Giants, famous briefly for the first unassisted triple play in decades. The plot and all its staging were entertaining enough to hold my interest. And it moved about as fast as Tinker to Evers to Chance. (For those who don’t know baseball history, please imagine I just supplied the perfect metaphor for quick and graceful movement.)

So no, this wasn’t the edifying read many Goodreaders (myself included) might typically seek out. But if you’re in the mood for candy-coated popcorn, peanuts and a prize, this may be just the thing. Much like the Michelin Guide in rating the concession stand at Wrigley, I couldn’t quite justify four stars for the book, though there’s a simple pleasure in both. Finally, in what you may consider the raison d'être of my entire review, let me say this:

Go Cubs, go! ...more

Steve rated a book really liked it

A God in Ruins
by Kate Atkinson

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

I hope this doesn’t sound conceited, but you might crow, too, if you had just written one BILLION reviews. I have the magic of combinatorics to thank. There are nine different fill-in-the-blank sections in this review that allow ten separate ...more