Category: Review

In Cold Blood Truman Capote (1966) It’s now more than fifty-five years since Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood created a sensation seldom equaled in the history of American letters. The book made six million dollars in the mid- 1960s—the equivalent of, say, $48 million today. It’s hard to argue with that kind of success. But although the… Continue reading In Cold Blood

Atonement Ian McEwan (2001) If you have read much of acclaimed contemporary novelist Ian McEwan’s work, you are well aware that Atonement, which did not win the Booker Prize, is a much better novel than his Amsterdam, which did win it. (Shortlisted in 2001, Atonement lost out to Peter Carey’s impressive True History of the Kelly Gang.) A wider ranging… Continue reading Atonement

An Artist of the Floating World Kazuo Ishiguro (1986) Ishiguro’s second novel is not as well known as his Booker-prize winning Remains of the Day, or his popular and acclaimed Never Let Me Go, but it is in An Artist of the Floating World that Ishiguro hits the stride that will eventually lead him to his 2017 Nobel Prize… Continue reading An Artist of the Floating World

A Quiet Place II John Krasinski2020/2021 Facts for You: Where to Watch: Exclusive to theaters Length: 97 minutes  Names You Might Know: Emily Blunt, Cillian Murphy, Millicent Simmonds, Noah Jupe, Djimon Hounsou, John Krasinski Language: English She Said: I’ve been waiting for this film since it almost came out in 2020. When the pandemic shut down theaters, I was waiting… Continue reading A Quiet Place II

Damages (season one) Todd and Glenn Kessler with Daniel Zellman (2007) Facts for You: Where to Watch: Originally on FX, now streaming on Hulu Length: Thirteen 1-hour episodes in the first season Names You Might Know: Glenn Close, Rose Byrne, Ted Danson, Željko Ivanek Language: English He Said: If you were disappointed last month to see Glenn Close fail once… Continue reading Damages (season one)

Under the Net Iris Murdoch (1954) I’m definitely late to the party as an admirer of Iris Murdoch. I’d heard the name but her novels were always a bit off the radar for me and for what I was reading and studying at the time. But in my late-life mania to read important things that… Continue reading Under the Net

Klara and the Sun Kazuo Ishiguro (2021) One of my wife’s signature maxims is the uncomfortable truth that “You can never know if somebody loves you. You can only know if you feel loved.” This encapsulates succinctly the exasperating gulf between the unique and independent consciousness trapped within one physical body and that other “ghost… Continue reading Klara and the Sun

Stargazer Anne Hillerman (2021) This latest novel in the venerable Leaphorn-Chee-Manuelito mystery series came out on April 13, 2021, and if you’re a fan of the series, you need to get hold of this one—and if you’re not, why not? Tony Hillerman was an award-winning author of the first 18 novels in this series that… Continue reading Stargazer

He Said/She Said Top Ten Films of 2020 In the wake of the 93rd Academy Award ceremony, my awesome wife Stacey Margaret Jones and I put together our own list of what we considered the best films of 2020. After coming up with two separate lists, we combined them to come up with a consensus on… Continue reading Top Ten Films of 2020

Judas and the Black Messiah Shaka King (2020) Facts for You: Where to Watch: Rentable on Prime Video ($20), Vudu, Fandango Now Length: 2 hour 6 minutes  Rating: R (Violence/Language) Names You Might Know: Daniel Kaluuya, Lakeith Stanfield, Jesse Plemons, Martin Sheen Language: English  He Said: The promoters and distributers of this film have done some strange things lately, not the least… Continue reading Judas and the Black Messiah