AltWeeklies Wire
'Manual of Trickery and Deception' Not Nearly So Intriguingnew
The title is misleading because John Mulholland’s essay (on how the CIA could exploit conjurers’ tricks for covert purposes) isn’t a “manual of deception." Most of the essay is about one thing: how to secretly drop poison into a bad guy’s drink.
Las Vegas Weekly |
Rick Lax |
12-17-2009 |
Nonfiction
John Freeman Explores Email's Dark Side ... in an Email Interviewnew
Freeman has been busy lately, both as the new editor of the lit mag Granta and with the writing of The Tyranny of E-Mail, the subject of, LOL, this email interview.
Las Vegas Weekly |
Scott Dickensheets |
11-20-2009 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
Stephen Elliott's Lacerating, All-Over-the-Place Memoir Pulls No Punchesnew
Whenever I read or hear "meta" or "postmodern" or "fiercely honest," I usually head for a lowbrow potboiler. But I'm not sure how else to describe The Adderall Diaries, a fiercely honest, postmodern work that's also more compulsively readable than the most pulpish thrillers.
Las Vegas Weekly |
Steve Friedman |
11-13-2009 |
Nonfiction
Why 'High Fidelity' Fans Will Hate Nick Hornby's Latest Booknew
Hornby's sixth fictional offering, Juliet, Naked, features another developmentally arrested male who's trapped in a codependent relationship with his record collection. Chances are Fidelity fiends are not amused. Here's why.
Las Vegas Weekly |
Smith Galtney |
10-29-2009 |
Fiction
Kennedy Memoir 'True Compass' Recaps the Life of a Dynasty's Last Lionnew
We've heard the word "epic" summoned so often to describe Ted Kennedy’s life, it's no surprise he starts his autobiography with a device out of Homer.
Las Vegas Weekly |
Chuck Twardy |
10-02-2009 |
Nonfiction
Dan Brown's Latest Saga Thrills Until it Drops the Threadnew
The ending sucked. Sorry to be so abrupt, but I appreciate that this is a long review, and I appreciate that you might not finish it, and unlike some other book reviewers, I can't in good conscience discuss The Lost Symbol without bringing up the ending.
Las Vegas Weekly |
Rick Lax |
09-24-2009 |
Fiction
Five Books That Have Helped Make This a Great Year for Short-Story Collectionsnew
They may be small, but short stories have been getting a lot of ink lately. It has been a banner year for new short-story collections, with impressive efforts from first-time authors and veterans alike. Here's the cream of this year's crop.
Las Vegas Weekly |
David Berke |
09-18-2009 |
Books
In 'Inherent Vice,' a Dope-Buzzed PI Watches the '70s California Dream Unravelnew
In his zany new novel, Thomas Pynchon goes back to the Golden State to paint a nostalgic portrait of a fictional beach town near LA in the '70s -- when the counterculture finally lost the battle to the forces of control, governmental power and sobriety.
Las Vegas Weekly |
John Freeman |
08-27-2009 |
Fiction
Try As He Might, Glenn Beck Can't Turn a Paperback Book into a Flat-Screen TVnew
Glenn Beck is great on TV; he shouts, he scoffs, and he cries. But when he writes, one thing becomes clear: The man has absolutely nothing of consequence to say. In Common Sense, Beck uses every trick in the book to cover this up.
Las Vegas Weekly |
Rick Lax |
08-14-2009 |
Nonfiction
Surviving Sudan: 'Out of Exile' Chronicles Displaced People's Tragic Talesnew
Exile is the fourth book in Dave Eggers' Voice of Witness series, and it shows that McSweeney's admirable project has improved along the way.
Las Vegas Weekly |
John Freeman |
01-08-2009 |
Nonfiction
Philip Roth's Latest Gives Us a World Caught Between Warsnew
Since 2000, Roth has compressed the thematic dynamism of his masterpieces into tales that can be read in the time it takes you to watch a baseball game. Indignation, his latest bravura performance in the form, is a haunting, bleakly comic time-capsule of a book
Las Vegas Weekly |
John Freeman |
09-19-2008 |
Fiction
Tags: Philip Roth, Indignation
Philip Roth Looks Back on a Legendary Career, and Forward to His Final Actnew
The backward-looking, documentary storytelling impulse in Indignation is a continuation of a growing vein of Roth's work in the past decade, books obsessed and possessed by American history.
Las Vegas Weekly |
John Freeman |
09-19-2008 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
Martin Amis Favors Language Over Logic to Make Sense of 9/11new
It's not surprising that a writer known more for his turns of phrase than his political acumen turned in The Second Plane, an aesthetically pleasing work of weak analysis.
Las Vegas Weekly |
Stacy J. Willis |
09-11-2008 |
Nonfiction
David Carr Asks Himself the Toughest Questions in 'The Night of The Gun'new
Before it delivers the inevitable jolt of redemption, The Night of The Gun is a maddening book, dangerous in large doses to anyone who has ever romanticized the outlaw appeal of the addict, frequently absurd and offensive to those drunks and dope fiends who have somehow managed to ask for help and get on with their lives.
Las Vegas Weekly |
Steve Friedman |
08-15-2008 |
Nonfiction
Jay Louis Talks About 'Hot Chicks With Douchebags'new
Giving new meaning to the phrase "Are you in the book?" first-time author Jay Louis' debut attempts to plant a righteous finger into a dam bursting with sightings of, well, hot chicks with douchebags, that is, men Louis would consider unworthy with the women they are unworthy of.
Las Vegas Weekly |
Xania Woodman |
08-01-2008 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
