Ledbetter: In his presentation on U. S. Supreme Court opinions, Edwin Chemerinsky predicted that the Court would issue 65 opinions this term (down from 68 last year). As to Ledbetter v. Goodyear, he expressed surprise that the employee hadn’t petitioned for cert on the Equal Pay Act claim, stressed that the majority hadn’t decided whether equitable […]
Property law in Victorian literature: Ilya Somin’s post on fee tails in Austen novels brought up great comments on similar issues in works by Trollope, Hardy, etc. Apropos of absolutely nothing except the connection with English novels, I recommend Anthony Powell’s A Dance to the Music of Time, a 12-volume roman fleuve. […]
For some reason I recently bought the “Gold Box” 10-DVD set of the complete Twin Peaks televised drama. The box contains the complete 2-hour pilot, the complete international pilot (careful, the international pilot has spoilers, so wait until you watch the whole series), and all 29 episodes that were broadcast over seasons 1 and 2, […]
My sister loaned me Eric Clapton: The Autobiography. I haven’t quite finished it, but finishing it won’t change my conclusion. It stinks. It’s badly written. It’s a real letdown. Commendably, Mr. Clapton decided not to use a ghost writer, but he should have used a collaborator because as a writer, he’s just a great guitarist. […]
One of my partners, now in his late 80s, has published a memoir of his early life that includes his participation in World War II (I hope he eventually writes of his later years, when he appeared on President Nixon’s famous “enemies list.”). Thinking of WW2, I have been trying to learn more about the […]
Can’t Buy Me Love, by Jonathan Gould
Energized by the possibility that the Red Sox might successfully trade for Johan Santana, one of my partners recently asked me to “stop reading books about the Beatles and get back to baseball.” I admit it, I have a Beatles addiction. Luckily for my partner, though, the definitive Beatles […]
In a perfect world, he would have been the bass player
The supply of new books about the Beatles is endless, and will likely remain so for … ah, who knows? So let’s say forever. Still, authors continue to search for new angles, and thus we come to While My Guitar Gently Weeps: The Music of […]
Because I was fortunate enough this past summer to rent a cottage right on the rocky coast of Maine, in view of hundreds upon hundreds of lobster buoys (I was awakened most morning by the sound of lobster boats chugging through Brown’s Cove and pulling traps), it seemed only right to read The Lobster Chronicles, […]
Richard Russo has written some wonderful books. Actually, all of his books have merit, and some are really outstanding: his last, Empire Falls, won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. His latest is Bridge of Sighs, a big 527-page novel in which Russo once again creates lives in a small town off in the middle of […]
Kerouac: His Life and Work, by Paul Maher, Jr., is the most recent “big biography” (500+ pages) of the man who wrote On the Road, Big Sur, Doctor Sax, Desolation Angels, The Subterraneans, The Dharma Bums, The Town and the City, Visions of Cody, and another score of lesser known books of fiction, poetry and […]
In honor of the playoffs, here’s some baseball reading: Opening Day: The Story of Jackie Robinson’s First Season, by Jonathan Eig, and Ballparks Then and Now, by Eric Enders.
Mr. Eig, a senior special writer for the Wall Street Journal, broke into the world of baseball books a year or two ago with his really excellent biography of […]
A couple of movies, a bio, and some music this time.
I know The Bourne Ultimatum has been getting good reviews, but… but… there’s nothing to it. Non-stop action that verges on the impossible all too quickly (my disbelief really did not have much time to be wilfully suspended). Tension without plot. There’s no balance! My idea […]
Restless, by William Boyd, is a terrific spy thriller with loads of tension, though not much violent action (that’s not meant as a negative). The heroine, born Eva Delectorskaya, was conscripted as a spy for the British in World War II after her brother (unknown to her, also a spy) was assassinated. Living in England […]
Over the weekend I read — mostly aloud to my wife, actually – Plato and a Platypus Walk Into A Bar, by Cathcart and Klein. A relatively short book, Plato aspires to reveal some truths (and confusions) of philosophy by reference to jokes. It’s an odd premise, but it works, and parts of the book […]
Lenny Arsenault was Business Manager of Fairbanks Local 375 of the United Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters from 1976 through 1991. For the last ten of those years, he was also International Vice President of the UA, responsible for all the West Coast locals. During his reign, Arsenault’s power within the Alaska labor movement was exceeded only […]
The inaptly named Jon Katz is an overweight, disheveled middle-aged man who has a gimpy leg, and (eventually) owns a place called Bedlam Farm in upstate New York. Mr. Katz loves dogs and loves to write about them. A Good Dog is about his relationship to a border collie named Orson, a dog so crazed […]
The Emperor of Ocean Park
Reviewed by Will Schendel
The title character of Stephen Carter’s first novel, The Emperor of Ocean Park, Oliver Garland, is a black conservative on the D. C. Court of Appeals. Nominated to the Supreme Court, his confirmation hearings have all of the controversy but none of the eventual success of Clarence Thomas’. […]
As Chassidic Jews living in Sitka, Alaska my family and I occupy what one could call a narrow demographic. No focus group here. You can imagine our entertainment at learning of Michael Chabon’s book, The Yiddish Policemen’s Union. No longer are we called Mushugenneh Yidden in Yenemsville; now we enjoy the appellation: the Frozen Chosen.
I […]
