Category Archives: Books

  O.K., I admit it, I was lazy on my little weekend and didn’t come up with anything for RADIOFREEUBU. I’m working on a couple of critical appreciations but they’re just not camera ready at press time. But rather than … Continue reading →

  Actually it all started last year at the fantastically fabulous Kerrytown BookFest when my pal Mike Gajda of Out-of-the-Way Books sold me a Knut Hamsun book that I hadn’t seen before at a very reasonable price. It was called … Continue reading →

  I’m working my way through Knut Hamsun’s three books about his fictional small Norwegian town Segelfoss, and didn’t want to write anything about them until I was done with all three. However I found this passage in the third, … Continue reading →

  Spoiler alert: The following reveals some details about the crime in question that the author withholds for dramatic effect. However, since this is a True Crime book about a fairly well known case, my sin is surely less egregious … Continue reading →

When the chips are down and Robin and I ask each other why we got into this vexing business we always say "the authors." To have an opportunity to talk with and get to know a writer whose works you … Continue reading →

The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher: A Shocking Murder and the Undoing of a Great Victorian Detective, Kate Summerscale, Walker, $24.95. From the very beginning real and fictive crime have had an inseparable relationship. Novels have influenced the way people think … Continue reading →

  And here’s my brief review of Thomas Cook’s wonderful, brand new book:     Master of the Delta, Thomas H. Cook, Harcourt, $24.00 The first element that always draws me into a Thomas H. Cook novel is his magnificent … Continue reading →

Thomas H. Cook is one of a handful of contemporary writers who fill me with awe. When I heard he was coming to the store I was absolutely ecstatic, because he’s one of the really great authors around now in any … Continue reading →

Steven Sidor’s book has moved me to take a quick read through the tacky world of Black Magic/Satanic popular literature. Someday, when I am properly inspired, I’d like to incorporate this material into one of my sex/drug word collages probably under … Continue reading →

They used to call them vanity presses – now they’re known as P.O.D. (print on demand), but they’re still good for publishing some whacky titles. Here’s my favorite of the month, from an outfit called Beaver Press (which in my … Continue reading →