The Terror by Dan Simmons

A break from the literary fiction I've been reading for the last two years, this is a "horror" novel, at least that is how it is marketed. I think it is much better than the usual horror novel, although the only thing of that genre I have to read that I can compare it to is "Misery". There are a lot of gruesome descriptions  of death and dismemberment. I suppose that is required in this genre? I'm not sure that the descriptions added much.

There is also quite a bit of fantasy, involving Eskimo folklore and mystical beliefs. These are esential to the plot.

The novel is a cross between historical fiction and horror. It;s based on a mid nineteenth century polar expedition  that was trapped in the ice for three years, with the resultant, scurvy, stavation, mutiny, and ravages by a proto-polar-bear.

Rejection from The Chattahoochee Review

A form rejection for one of my short stories, "Spirito Sancto". Just one rejection of many.

Ideas of Heaven by Joan Silber

I had great difficulty getting "into" these stories. The writing is distant and detached. The technique is almost completly narrative. They seemed overworked, with forced images and the hand of the author visible everywhere. Even the characters don't seem particularly interested in their own stories. None of the writing was compelling for me.

Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott

Practical, reasoned advice for the writer. She points out the error of many of the assumptions that hopeful writers have.

Her style is to make almost everything a joke, though, which I found irritating after the first hundred pages. They are good attempts at humor, but I found them overwrought, or maybe just overworked.

The Dying Crapshooter's Blues by David Fulmer

The third Fulmer novel I have read, and his most recent one. This one moves from the setting of Storyville in New Orleans to 1920s Atlanta. The types of characters and setting really remain the same though. Crooked cops, flawed detective, rounders, gamblers, prostitutes, and blues singers.

I have taken a writing workshop from David, so I have some bias in his favor. He is an excellent writer and teacher.

My only problem with the novel, and I never got a chance to ask David about this, is that there is what I believe are unreliable narrators. He uses the point of view of the crooked cop and the girl who actually did the crime, without revealing their roles at the time. That's borderline "unreliable narrator", and it did bother me.

But otherwise the book is great and well worth a read.

Our Kind by Kate Walbert

The only book I have ever read written in second person plural POV ("we"). It starts out great, in what I thought was going to be senior-citizen chick-lit. It continues with the same style and wonderful writing, but the promise of that implied plot in the first chapter is never fulfilled. Instead it is an examination of women, or "our kind".

Madeleine is Sleeping by Sarah Shun-Lien Bynum

The best thing about this book is the cover. It's another gimick book, sort of a cros between a children's book and an existentialist nightmare.

The News from Paraguay by Lily Tuck

This won the National Book Award? It's a well-written novel, don't get me wrong, but it doesn't seem good enough to have won.

Short scenes, almost short-attention-span writing. Instead of making the novel fast paced, it seemed to jerk the reader around. Lots of details were left out. The war that is at the center of the novel made no sense when told this way. Why did they go to war? I still don't know, and I don't think the question was ever answered.

She does write a good scene, even if they are extremely short, almost flash fiction.

Run With the Horsemen by Ferrol Sams

I feel bad about having a low opinion of this novel, since Ferrol Sams is a local legend, and a really great guy. I go to a bluegrass festival every year in the Ferrol Sams auditorium in Fayette County. But, as a novel, this book doesn't really work. Sams is a great storyteller. Pick any chapter and you have a wonderful story.

Taken as a whole though, it lacks any overarching plot. It's a coming of age story that tries to emphasize the relationship (or non-relationship) between the son and his father. It falls short of being cohesive.

The narrator also intrudes. The "psychic distance" is great. I feel like Sams is standing beside me, telling the story,, shining a flashliht on the characters. that's not a good thing.

But, if you want a picture of life in the rural south between the wars, and you like great anecdotes, this is a good place to get those things.

Florida by Christine Schutt

A strange little novel, but written from the heart I think, or maybe from dreamspace. Very well done. Reminds me of the Optimist's Daughter in it's approach - not always easy to understand, and very little narrative or explanation. The essentials of the scenes are there though, and powerfully presented. She excels at producing the telling detail.

The Echo Maker by Richard Powers

A great novel. It has everything - plot, great characters, and setting. An excellent example of literary fiction.

As a writer myself (and I can't seem to read anything anymore without finding things to pick at) , I thought it was a little too long. There was a good deal of hashing over ground that had already been covered. It could have been a fourth shorter, I think. But who am I to criticize?

A lot of the enjoyment of the book comes from the suspense of the plot, and it is a subtle suspense. This is not a thriller by any means, but there is plenty here to keep pulling the reader along.

There is also a lot of science - medical terms, but it is handled skillfully and explained well.