BOOK Reviews

sure, the first half is full of stories passed on by word-of-mouth for generations, including commandments set in stone -- and endorses throwing stones, and was heavily edited over centuries to suit societal norms of the day, and is still used to justify an assortment of discriminations -- and accusations of abominations, BUT... the star of the 2nd half is the most liberal historical character that ever walked on earth or water. it is the bio of a man who clearly was "his brother's keeper" and "

George Orwell's dystopian classic, 1984, was neither Right or Left politically. It could be classified as a horror story to any political ideology besides authoritarian. Or, at least that's what everyone assumed until 2024! We were naive to assume that a repressive dictator constructing a police state would fly with any American. Who, knew, that post Hitler's Nazi Germany, it might ever be acceptable for an American President to depict himself wearing a crown and dumping poop on 7 million Americ

In the pursuit of happiness does wealth fulfill that desire? Gatsby, a self-made millionaire whose obsessive love for a woman from a higher social class leads to his downfall. Gatsby embodies the corruption of this dream, believing that money can buy him love and happiness, only to find that it leads to a spiritual void. 

While I was "sweatin' bullets" about going to Vietnam*, I read Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo and Catch-22 by Joseph Heller. Both novels -- especially Trumbo's -- aggravated my anxiety and fear. Heller's satire was laudably transformed into a 1970 movie by Heller, Buck Henry, and director Mike Nichols. In comparison, Trumbo's 1971 cinematic adaptation of his allegory was, for me, less memorable and less potent. * Which I thankfully avoided, courtesy of Icky-Tray Icky-Day who pulled the U.S.

As I have gotten older, my taste for fiction has considerably diminished. I am focusing more of my attention on nonfiction (biographies, memoirs, essays, journalistic reports, and humor) -- most recently, The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe and Hell's Angels by Hunter S. Thompson. I had read Radical Chic & Mau-Mauing the Flak Catchers -- assigned reading while I was in college -- and was captivated by Wolfe's "New Journalism" style. The following passage particularly tickled my fanc