Jeffrey Penn May

David Grann tells a fascinating true tale of oil-rich Native Americans in Osage County, Oklahoma and the murderous corrupt white community who envies their wealth, subjugates them, and steals their money. It’s a difficult puzzle to unravel and an even more difficult one to piece together into a coherent narrative. While Grann understandably focusses on the “reporting,” he falls just short of bringing it fully to life, engaging the visceral human emotions that the events … Continue reading →

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In “Gimpel The Fool,” Isaac Bashevis Singer illuminates the mystery, depth, and folly of humanity with clarity and immediacy, as if the storyteller was in the room. Perhaps Singer is a fool like the rest of us but if so, one who is truly worthy of a Nobel Prize. “Gimpel” is a series of stories, set mostly in the late 1930s (although the tales are timeless), and loosely centered around an Eastern European Jewish community … Continue reading →

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Harlan Coben is undoubtedly a hugely successful suspense writer, and has written too many good fast reads to keep count. But if I had to, and if I had to rank them, “Home” would likely be my least favorite. Longtime readers will recognize old characters from the Myron Bolitar series updated, making their names more politically correct by eliminating possible offensive Native American Indian stereotypes. This isn’t a nuanced reader observation. Coben repeatedly tells you … Continue reading →

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Cleanness by Garth Greenwell is the sort of “novel” that makes me wonder why “literary fiction” almost always seems to be nothing more than pseudo-intellectual navel gazing narcissism. When did it become such an absolute chore to read? I picked Cleanness randomly from online recommended reading shelves, the recommendations coming from someone who is supposedly smart about such things, an NPR or New Yorker pick. Probably the New Yorker since excerpts were previously published there, … Continue reading →

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While Harlan Coben’s Fool Me Once seems slow to pick up steam, it delivers classic Coben entertainment with its usual twists and turns. Unlike most of his novels, this one is told almost entirely form a single point of view, that of a female ex-Army helicopter pilot, Maya Stern, who is compelled to find out who murdered her sister and her husband. Maya is a character not all that much different than other Coben characters, … Continue reading →

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Harlan Coben is a master of plot twists and he is always fun to read, if simply to find out how everything is connected and what happens next. I recommend almost all his books for your everyday escapism. In Don’t Let Go, you will find that sort of enjoyable escapism; however, for me, the twists and turns in this one, especially near the end when everything is supposed to come together to form a neat … Continue reading →

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I read Anne Tyler’s The Accidental Tourist in 1985 and enjoyed it, but for some reason hadn’t read any of her books since then. It seems I’ve been missing out. Redhead by the Side of the Road is lighthearted and bighearted at the same time, full of warm humor, and ultimately uplifting. Tyler has a unique ability to tell “small” stories that capture nuanced tribulations. Her prose is concise and clear — a rare gift … Continue reading →

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While I shouldn’t have to state it, Covid-19 is horrible.  My wife Kim and I have no desire for you, or us, to be intubated, suffer a painful death, or recover only to struggle with debilitating side-effects. We’re in our sixties, I’m a cancer survivor, and I’m getting the feeling that our youthful indestructibility is starting to wan. So why risk a vacation? Some might think we were foolish and selfish for not staying home … Continue reading →

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The Fear (or the white man’s lament) The fear is real for the white man      Embedded in, not so much a Lack of knowledge      Of their history But in that they know the      Horror of it They say the same of women White men in power fear women      But it’s not the same Just ask a woman      Who’s bold, and black Who’s told, do what … Continue reading →

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Sarah Kendzior writes tight, powerful sentences, poetic and meme-ready quotes to be admired and emblazoned as precursors to action, the clarion calls that helped avoid an all too real impending crisis. If we all had her courage, wisdom, research skills, clarity of thought, and talent at concisely stating fact, the world might become a better place. And I say this not just because I’m from her hometown. Her description of Missouri and St. Louis almost … Continue reading →

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