Voyage to Bolivia
Susana Torre has permitted me to post these excerpts from her report on our January trip to Bolivia. We are still assimilating the disparate experiences of our Bolivian sojourn, as it is really 3 countries (geographically and culturally) with over 40% of the population being of 36 officially recognized indigenous groups, the Aymara and the … read more »
Cheap reads
Free or discounted books at Smashwords, March 5-11, 2017, include my short-story collection, Welcome to My Contri (free) and my novel A Gift for the Sultan (big discount). Coupon codes for the discounts are posted with each title. If you do read either (or both) of these books, I’ll be grateful for your review or … read more »
Stepping back to charge forward
In a world beset by so many crises, and with Internet communications thrusting great tragedies and shocking murders into our faces almost all the time, we have to make an effort to stay calm, not quiescent but cool enough to think and act rationally. Using whatever resources each of us commands to help make things … read more »
She lives!
Communal Luxury: The Political Imaginary of the Paris Commune by Kristin Ross My rating: 4 of 5 stars This is a collection of five deeply thought essays on distinct but overlapping debates regarding the Paris Commune of the spring of 1871, coming not to a unified conclusion but raising more sharply pointed questions about social … read more »
They’re out to get you!
A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan My rating: 4 of 5 stars An overarching story of changing times and failed aspirations is constructed of many much smaller, intimately observed episodes of a dozen or more characters in and around the music business. Their lives sometimes just brush against one another, or can … read more »