Oh snap, somehow I’ve gone over a month without an RN entry. I’ll blow through my last four books to get caught up. The Sisters Brothers – Patrick DeWitt This is a tremendous and lovely tale of two West Coast gunmen – brothers Charlie and Eli Sisters – who prowl Oregon and California for a regional crime boss during the…

Through a combination of laziness last week and being super busy this week I haven’t caught you up on what I’ve been reading over the past month. Black Leopard Red Wolf – Marlon James This book arrived with massive hype. James’ last novel, A Brief History of Seven Killings captured nearly every major book award and was one of my…

The First Major: The Inside Story of the 2016 Ryder Cup – John Feinstein Years ago I used to read a lot of Feinstein’s books. His A Season Inside is one of my all-time favorite sports books.[1] But, over time, I found his books to basically be the same format with different details. There were little moments that would appear…

I’m in the midst of a mighty fine reading run, so some quick blurbs about four recent books. The Finnish Way – Katja Pantzar I kept seeing this one on the ends of aisles at bookstores, highlighted in the library, etc. and finally caved. I had to know what the hell the Finnish Way was. Pantzar, a child of Finns…

I’ve dillied and dallied a bit on these, so some quick recaps of my four most recent books. Beastie Boys Book – Michael Diamond and Adam Horowitz Simply one of the best music memoirs ever published. I’m being 100% honest, not funny at all. This book is equally hilarious, poignant, thoughtful, and moving. Mike D and Ad Rock tell the…

November Road – Lou Berney As with Tana French, I returned to another author that I read last November who gave me immense reading pleasure. Expectations for this one were cranked up a little, not just because I enjoyed his The Long and Faraway Gone so much but because of the historical event this book is anchored to: the assassination…

A new reading year comes with a bit of a change. I still have my Carmel library card, which should be good for several more years.[1] Just before Christmas L and I finally went over to the Indianapolis public library branch that is about a mile away to get cards there. Our local library is very small. But you can…

The kids are back at school, so time for one more piece of 2018 wrap up. I finished my reading year with two more excellent books, one of which was a big a change-of-pace for me. The Flight Attendant – Chris Bohjalian I put several books that I saw on Best of 18 lists on hold at the library, and…

’Tis the season for quick reads. So some blurbs about a few (mostly) slim pieces I’ve rolled through recently. Being Santa Claus – Sal Lizard with Jonathan Lane A memoir by a Christmas season Santa who does everything from standard mall Santa gigs, to private events at homes, to visiting sick kids in the hospital. It’s pretty saccharine, but Santa…