Character Relationships in A Visit from the Goon Squad

So, you want to read Jennifer Egan’s new book The Candy House, but it’s been years since you read A Visit from the Goon Squad and there’s a lot you don’t remember. Or A Visit from the Goon Squad never interested you, but The Candy House does and you’re wondering what background you might be… Continue reading Character Relationships in A Visit from the Goon Squad

Should You Read The Candy House by Jennifer Egan?

“‘I have this craving,’ Bix said as he stood beside the bed stretching out his shoulders and spine, a nightly ritual before lying down. ‘Just to talk.’ “Lizzie met his eyes over the dark curls of Gregory, their youngest, who was suckling at her breast. ‘Listening,’ she murmured.” – Opening of The Candy House Like… Continue reading Should You Read The Candy House by Jennifer Egan?

Should You Read A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan?

“It began the usual way, in the bathroom of the Lassimo Hotel. Sasha was adjusting her yellow eye shadow in the mirror when she noticed a bag on the floor beside the sink that must have belonged to the woman whose peeing she could faintly hear through the vaultlike door of a toilet stall. Inside… Continue reading Should You Read A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan?

Should You Read Thank You, Jeeves by P. G. Wodehouse?

“I was a shade perturbed. Nothing to signify, really, but still just a spot concerned. As I sat in the old flat, idly touching the strings of my banjolele, an instrument to which I had become greatly addicted of late, you couldn’t have said that the brow was actually furrowed, and yet, on the other… Continue reading Should You Read Thank You, Jeeves by P. G. Wodehouse?

1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die: The Experience of Following a Recommended Reading List

I had just finished high school when I joined a site called LibraryThing. I’d seen an article in Writer’s Digest that spoke highly of it. I created an account, felt a thrill of adding books I owned and books I’d read, and began to explore. It was on the forums that I found it, a… Continue reading 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die: The Experience of Following a Recommended Reading List

Should You Read Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin?

“Before Mazer invented himself as Mazer, he was Samson Mazer, and before he was Samson Mazer, he was Samson Masur–a change of two letters that transformed him from a nice, ostensibly Jewish boy to a Professional Builder of Worlds–and for most of his youth he was Sam, S.A.M. on the hall of fame of his… Continue reading Should You Read Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin?

Should You Read Consider Phlebas by Iain M. Banks?

“The ship didn’t even have a name. It had no human crew because the factory craft which constructed it had been evacuated long ago. It had no life-support or accommodation units for the same reason. It had no class number or fleet designation because it was a mongrel made from bits and pieces of different… Continue reading Should You Read Consider Phlebas by Iain M. Banks?