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Novelist as a Vocation by Haruki Murakami My rating: 4 of 5 stars I found “Novelist as a Vocation” by Haruki Murakami encouraging and honest. I’ve read several books on writing fiction by famous authors, and Stephen King’s excellent “On Writing” was my favorite before reading this. Jonathan Franzen once commented that when people ask […]

Just as the movie “Blade Runner” is better than the book it’s based on, “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” the movie “Spaceman” is better than “Spaceman of Bohemia,” and for similar reasons. Still, I liked the book, and I am glad I’ve been introduced to this author. Kalfar has a pleasing voice, he’s young, […]

I am reading Anna Karinina for the first time. I love this early passage: “Stepan Arkadyich subscribed to and read a liberal newspaper, not an extreme one, but one with the tendency to which the majority held. And though neither science, nor art, nor politics itself interested him, he firmly held the same views on […]

I will probably not see the eclipse here in North Texas next week. None of us will. We’re expecting cloudy skies and rain. The next total eclipse here will be in 2317, when I will either be dead or a brain in a jar. However, there will be a total eclipse in the Philippines in […]

Starter Villain by John Scalzi My rating: 4 of 5 stars Enjoyed the first half very much; a fresh take on the “mysterious inheritance” story. I also enjoyed how Scalzi brings in his experience as a journalist; it makes the protagonist, Charlie, credible when he starts figuring things out. In the second half, it hit […]