Random Notes

Everything’s Rock ‘n’ Roll…

March 9, 2014

The Guts By Roddy Doyle Viking (This review was originally published in The Washington Independent Review of Books on February 18, 2014.) So, Roddy Doyle. Another venerable Irishman with the gift of gab, a fine writer who charmed the hell out his readers with his first novel, The Commitments (1989), a tale of the passion inspired by […]


Pepperland – a Boswell Book Company Bestseller of 2013

January 1, 2014

Yes indeed, Pepperland is number 17 on the paperback fiction list of 2013!  It’s fun, it’s exciting, it rocks, it’s educational, it’s part of a healthy breakfast! Read it! Tell your friends!


Best reads of 2013…

FictionBest of the bunch, in rough chronological order: Umbrella, by Will SelfThoroughly Modern Self… Tenth of December, by George SaundersA master’s class in short fiction. A Delicate Truth, by John LeCarreHis umpteenth novel…so good. TransAtlantic, by Colum McCannSuch lovely writing. Time travel, deep links of ordinary lives. Joyland, by Stephen KingPretty good beach read. Not […]


From a hotel conference room in Palo Alto, 1973…

December 31, 2013

Just goes to show you – the early ’70s were hugely important times, building the technology foundation we can’t live without. In today’s New York Times, an interview with two giants of the Internet – Vint Cerf and Robert Kahn.  Vint Cerf – “Everything has expanded by a factor of a million since we turned […]


“I’ve been alive forever…”

November 23, 2013

Actors AnonymousBy James FrancoNew Harvest (This review was originally published in The Washington Independent Review of Books, November 18, 2013) Famous Actor James Franco has written something. The book’s cover describes it as “James Franco’s brilliant debut novel.”  Ah. A clue — it is a “novel.” Here’s how it begins: “I am the Actor. I […]