Jim Manis on Most Anything

Jim Manis can formulate an opinion about a good many things, including those about which he has little knowledge. (And some dude named "Lazlo.") Visit The MagicFactory.

Wednesday, July 28, 2021

The Cement GardenThe Cement Garden by Ian McEwan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Gothic.

I wasn't expecting this.

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Friday, July 23, 2021

John AdamsJohn Adams by David McCullough
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

One of the things that has occurred to me while reading McCullough's biography of John Adams is that biographers seem to fall in love with their subjects. I mentioned this to my daughter the other day in a Skype call. We both thought "of course they must, spending so much time with the person." But then it occurred to me that none of Hitler's biographers fell in love with him. Who could, after all, but then perhaps that's also why biographies of Hitler always seem so unsatisfactory.

McCullough's bio of Adams is excellent, by the way. Unfortunately, it did little to shed light on the conflict between Adams and Hamilton. By the way, Fox News did not invent "fake news." It's been around a very long time.

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Friday, July 02, 2021

Blasphemy: New and Selected StoriesBlasphemy: New and Selected Stories by Sherman Alexie
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Sherman Alexie is always a fun read. His first person narrators have to be the most self-deprecating characters in literature.

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