{"id":17229,"date":"2026-04-21T08:24:56","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T12:24:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/?p=17229"},"modified":"2026-04-21T08:27:02","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T12:27:02","slug":"readers-notebook-4-21-26","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/2026\/04\/21\/readers-notebook-4-21-26\/","title":{"rendered":"Reader’s Notebook, 4\/21\/26"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Tomlinson\u2019s Wake – Randy Wayne White<\/a>
Another book from Steve Donoghue\u2019s Best of \u201925 lists<\/a>. And another one that didn\u2019t quite work for me. Apparently the main characters in this book have appeared in previous books by White, so perhaps not having a history with them affected my enjoyment. The opening pages felt a little Carl Hiaasen-ish, and while there were quirks throughout, it shifted away from the non-stop bonkers-fest that so many Hiaasen books are. And that\u2019s where I think the book lost me. It was as if it couldn\u2019t decide whether it wanted to be a serious thriller or a ridiculous one. And there was a whole section in the third act that made me scratch my head and wonder what the hell was going on.<\/p>\n

\n

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The Final Score – Don Winslow<\/a>
Winslow has done both the epic crime novel – in trilogy form! – and a series that was intentionally pared down to the barest language possible. I thought his output was better when he wasn\u2019t afraid to write 800\u20131000 words. So I approached this short story collection with some trepidation. Would the ideas be half-formed? Would he not have time to develop characters? Would they fell like brushed up entries from his notebook that never turned into novels but could be bundled to sell another book?<\/p>\n

I was silly to doubt him. This collection is excellent. While the stories are short, he does a really nice job of still making them rich with details and interesting people. One of my favorites was the piece that recounts the conversation of two mob hitmen having lunch at a diner before they go to whack someone. Winslow nails how you would expect these guys to talk. He throws in all kinds of wonderful asides when their chat veers one direction or another. Their interplay is terrific, busting each other\u2019s balls and finishing each other\u2019s sentences.<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The Passenger Seat – Vijay Khurana<\/a>
My first Tournament of Books<\/a> read of the year.[1]<\/a><\/p>\n

This tells the story of two boys – almost but not quite out of high school – who decide to take a road trip late one summer. One of the boys insists he is never going back to their hometown. The other thinks that is a joke and is looking forward to an adventure and triumphant return home.<\/p>\n

Their journey becomes an exploration of the many issues young men face these days. The difficulties in being emotionally honest with themselves and people around them. Relationships with women. How male friendships often turning into competitions of one kind or another. The outside forces that prey upon these men and turn them towards dark paths because of their confusion about the world they live in.<\/p>\n

There is a turn in the story that leads to a proverbial and inevitable result, which spirals as the boys grapple with the consequences of their actions. While neither character is sympathetic or likable, I enjoyed this part of the book. It gets into some serious stuff that we should talk about more directly at a society.<\/p>\n

Their story ends ambiguously, and is followed by a coda that focuses on the man who one of the boy\u2019s mothers was having an affair with. I suppose it is supposed to show a glimpse of the path one of the boys was on, and where he could land if he made it to his 40s. I did not think this section worked at all, and found it distracting from the rest of the story.<\/p>\n

Another thing that bugged me: Khurana is Australian. That in itself is not a problem; I love Australians! But halfway through the book I started noticing Australian spellings of various words: favourite, defence, etc. While I think the issues he was writing about are universal, in most ways his story felt uniquely American. That linguistic culture clash was jarring to me. But if I wrote a book about a pair of guys in Australia, as an American would I be expected to adopt their spelling and lingo? I\u2019m not sure this was actually a big deal, but once I noticed it I could not stop noticing it.<\/p>\n

\n
    \n
  1. \n

    I am currently reading my second. \u00a0\u21a9<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

    <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Tomlinson\u2019s Wake – Randy Wayne WhiteAnother book from Steve Donoghue\u2019s Best of \u201925 lists. And another one that didn\u2019t quite work for me. Apparently the main characters in this book have appeared in previous books by White, so perhaps not having a history with them affected my enjoyment. The opening pages felt a little Carl Hiaasen-ish, and while there were quirks throughout, it shifted away from the non-stop bonkers-fest that so many Hiaasen books are. And that\u2019s where I think the book lost me. It was as if it couldn\u2019t decide whether it wanted to be a serious thriller or a ridiculous one. And there was a whole section in the third act that made me scratch my head and wonder what the hell was going on. The Final Score – Don WinslowWinslow has done both the epic crime novel – in trilogy form! – and a series that was intentionally pared down to the barest language possible. I thought his output was better when he wasn\u2019t afraid to write 800\u20131000 words. So I approached this short story collection with some trepidation. Would the ideas be half-formed? Would he not have time to develop characters? Would they fell like brushed up entries from his notebook that never turned into novels but could be bundled to sell another book? I was silly to doubt him. This collection is excellent. While the stories are short, he does a really nice job of still making them rich with details and interesting people. One of my favorites was the piece that recounts the conversation of two mob hitmen having lunch at a diner before they go to whack someone. Winslow nails how you would expect these guys to talk. He throws in all kinds of wonderful asides when their chat veers one direction or another. Their interplay is terrific, busting each other\u2019s balls and finishing each other\u2019s sentences. The Passenger Seat – Vijay KhuranaMy first Tournament of Books read of the year.[1] This tells the story of two boys – almost but not quite out of high school – who decide to take a road trip late one summer. One of the boys insists he is never going back to their hometown. The other thinks that is a joke and is looking forward to an adventure and triumphant return home. Their journey becomes an exploration of the many issues young men face these days. The difficulties in being emotionally honest with themselves and people around them. Relationships with women. How male friendships often turning into competitions of one kind or another. The outside forces that prey upon these men and turn them towards dark paths because of their confusion about the world they live in. There is a turn in the story that leads to a proverbial and inevitable result, which spirals as the boys grapple with the consequences of their actions. While neither character is sympathetic or likable, I enjoyed this part of the book. It gets into some serious stuff that we should talk about more directly at a society. Their story ends ambiguously, and is followed by a coda that focuses on the man who one of the boy\u2019s mothers was having an affair with. I suppose it is supposed to show a glimpse of the path one of the boys was on, and where he could land if he made it to his 40s. I did not think this section worked at all, and found it distracting from the rest of the story. Another thing that bugged me: Khurana is Australian. That in itself is not a problem; I love Australians! But halfway through the book I started noticing Australian spellings of various words: favourite, defence, etc. While I think the issues he was writing about are universal, in most ways his story felt uniquely American. That linguistic culture clash was jarring to me. But if I wrote a book about a pair of guys in Australia, as an American would I be expected to adopt their spelling and lingo? I\u2019m not sure this was actually a big deal, but once I noticed it I could not stop noticing it. I am currently reading my second. \u00a0\u21a9<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[7],"class_list":["post-17229","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-books"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17229","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17229"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17229\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17237,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17229\/revisions\/17237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}