Category Archives: Reviews: Books, Movies, Music, TV

Cutting For Stone

Posted on December 22, 2009 by Al

Cutting for Stone is a full-bodied tour through mid-century Ethiopia, with stops in India and America’s Northeast. Verghese knows his subject, knows his people, and most of all knows his story. Complex, human, and honest, this book is immersing and rewarding. Continue reading →

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Happy New Year To The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

Posted on December 1, 2009 by Al

If you love a complex story which grows tauter with every chapter, but demand an equally complex mind behind the story, with enough time to pause and think about what might be going on, these books will raise your spirits. No cheap thrills, hack writing or logorrhea here, just a well-constructed mystery story and multiple fully drawn engaging characters, flaws and all. Continue reading →

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Trouble The Water

Posted on November 11, 2009 by Al

Trouble the Water, an Oscar-nominated documentary released in 2008, appears as found art. At its heart, it is a story of and by Kimberly Roberts. 24 years old at the time of Katrina, she was living in the Ninth Ward … Continue reading →

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Winterdance

Posted on September 3, 2009 by Al

Winterdance, by Gary Paulsen, documents the author’s serious poetic lark with the Iditarod dog sled “race”. Continue reading →

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Water For Elephants

Posted on August 19, 2009 by Al

“Water for Elephants”, by Sara Gruen, appeared in 2006 and hit the best seller lists for over a year, ranking #1 on the NY Times paperback list in summer, ’07. So, if you HAVEN’T read it yet, what are you … Continue reading →

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Into Thick Air

Posted on July 9, 2009 by Al

But like all dreams, this one took him places he never though he’d visit, and refined his appreciation for the variety and common ground among the people of the world. Continue reading →

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Cycling’s Greatest Misadventures

Posted on April 28, 2009 by Al

Cycling’s Greatest Misadventures, edited by Erich Schweikher.

Best book about cycling I have ever read. Continue reading →

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Paranoid Park

Posted on April 22, 2009 by Al

Gus Van Zant, director of Paranoid Park, has made over over a dozen films since 1989’s Drugstore Cowboy. Continue reading →

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I Am a Strange Loop

Posted on March 28, 2009 by Al

I’ll never UNDERSTAND why Shaine said “My friend!” when she three each tent caterpillar over her head. But I sure did enjoy it, as one of the signs of her growing 5 year-old self-awareness. Continue reading →

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Slumdog Millionaire

Posted on March 11, 2009 by Al

Mr. Boyle knows how to paint a story with pictures, knows when to let his characters speak for themselves, and keep things moving forward with charm and grace. And if you want more slum-life seen from the eyes of a child, but with real grit and no happy ending, check out “City of God” – better than any other film I’ve mentioned so far (but not, alas, from Mr. Boyle.) Continue reading →

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