reviews

Double digits... Author:  Chuck Klosterman Is this really worth writing about?   It’s a question that pops into my mind quite often while reading Chuck Klosterman.  Nevertheless, I can’t seem to resist his work.  He’s achieved some notoriety over the past couple decades for writing oddball essays, unique interviews and imaginative meanderings.  In Klosterman X – his tenth book – he’s collected some of his favorite work over the past decade into one volume, demonstrating a consistency of form that somehow must be keeping food on the table.  It’s pretty much what I expected.  Taken as a whole, that’s a good [...]

The Original Muse for Stephen King's The Shining Author: Robert Marasco Isolation and infatuation combine in the somber story of a crumbling mansion and a degenerating family. Marian Rolfe, devoted homemaker, lives for her apartment – its subtle yet elegant decoration, acquisition of antique pieces and obsessive sessions of polishing and placing meant to drive her husband and young son to distraction. What better place, then, could she possibly spend the summer than at the Allardyce Mansion with all of its elaborate rooms, carved doors, spiraling staircases, glittering chandeliers, and extensive grounds? Even the price is right, a mere $900 rental [...]

It's the end of the world as we know it Author: Chloe Benjamin Before you open Chloe Benjamin’s second novel, The Immortalists, take a long, deep inhale. Because once you get sucked into her vast and urgent story, you will not want to pause for any reason—let alone breathing. The prologue of this gorgeously written book opens in New York City’s Lower East Side. It’s the summer of 1969, and the Gold siblings—Varya, Daniel, Klara and Simon—are paying a visit to a shadowy woman rumored to be a psychic. What starts as an excursion to dodge their chores at home [...]