Reviews

Wilhelmina Sunshine Upton—Willie, to her friends—needs a break from her Alaskan archeology dig. Everyone finding out that you've been having an affair with a married professor will do that. Off she goes, pregnant, back home to Templeton, New York, and her once-hippie mother, Vivienne.

It's easy to forget now, nearly thirty years (!) after its theatrical release, that "Blade Runner" was pretty much a box-office flop. But it's true; this science fiction film is one of those movies that needed time to ripen.

A colleague urged me to read this 2007 graphic novel -- which I ended up doing in one sitting. Although classified as fiction for young adults, I found it irresistible, and it's been a few decades since anyone could consider me a young adult.

I usually like funny, fast-paced reads only if they’re poking fun at our society or have some deeper cultural undertones.

In one of my somewhat harebrained moments I adopted a beautiful mini Australian Shepherd from a dog rescue group in Stanley, KS. Within 24 hours, I realized that I had a severely neurotic dog on my hands. Although my mother-in-law insists he is psychotic, I don’t think he would try to kill us in our bed—he’s more worried we will try to kill him in his.

H.G. Wells is best known for his works of science fiction but he also wrote domestic comic novels, one being The History of Mr. Polly. Like his author, Alfred Polly is born into the suburban lower-middle-class of early 20th century England , a class known for its conservatism, restrictiveness, and respectability. As a boy, Alfred attends a National School where he receives a poor education but at age thirteen, he discovers reading and its joys. Adventure stories and comics are his favorites.

This book takes place in the 1970s in China during Mao’s Cultural Revolution.  The main protagonists are two boys who grew up in an intellectual family background, and for this reason were exiled to a very rural countryside to be “re-educated.” Their re-education equals mainly hard and demeaning labor.

Gary Louris was a founding member of The Jayhawks, but it could be argued that he's been doing his best work since the band went on "indefinite hiatus" in 2005. He has a superb voice, smoky but warm -- yet even he admits he's not the loudest, most arresting guy out there. That doesn't matter on this 2008 album; in fact, Louris' unassuming nature works to the songs' advantage. They're all beautiful tunes, and his delivery of them is refreshing because you can't hear an ounce of ego.

While I am usually an ardent fan of Erik Larson's nonfiction, this book is not my favorite. Not because the subject matter is not compelling, but because you know how the story will end. It's like reading about the Titanic -- fascinating, but ultimately disappointing.