Goodbye and Good Luck

Less

Less by Andrew Sean Greer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

2018's Pulitzer Prize winner for fiction. It is well-written and absorbing but lacks something I can't quite put my finger on. Maybe it's that it seems much like other books I've read, or that some of the situations are prompted by circumstances that appear highly unlikely given the protagonists level of recognition in the literary world, but the writing is so engaging one tends to put these quibbles aside to get into the flow of the story.

The Underground Railroad

The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Hard to read without grimacing at some points, but nevertheless enlightening. It assumes the Underground Railroad was a literal railroad (some reviewers call it an alternate history, even listing it as science fiction), but it is told in a very matter-of-fact way, and it is believable. Cora's run for freedom is thwarted and minimally rewarded by turns, and hopeful, too. But man oh man, some scenes are so realistic and depressing.
Highly recommended for a one-time read as it was a Pulitzer Prize winner, but I doubt you would want to read it again for enjoyment.

Paradisis, Cancun

Books Books

Bad Debts by Peter Temple
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A friend lent me a copy of the fourth book in this series, and not having finished it in the time we were together, I decided to go back and read the last third. It was then, early 2018, I discovered there were four in the set, so went to the first to catch up on the story.
Well-written and enjoyable, I zipped through the first three and have yet to finish the one that brought me to Peter Temple.
Lots of side details, horse racing, cabinet making, the different lady friends, keep the interest. Knowing very little about the actualities of life in Australia, I found the resolution to be somehow pertinent to my education of same.
UPDATE: Was sad to learn of Temple's passing after finishing book three (actually March 2018), and think that may be why I'm holding off on the last, maybe to savor the flavor.

Black Tide by Peter Temple
My rating: 4 of 5 stars




Dead Point by Peter Temple
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Awkward Political Moments of 2017

Moon

November

Expungement

Arena

Zero for Conduct

Tokyo 2017

D-Day the Sixth of June (1956)

Cinco de mayo

Pareidolia 01