Reviews | slouch.

the closing of the american mind by Alan Bloom -- or -- the author's admission that he is old, useless and in the way.

By joshuacitrak, on November 15th, 2012 |

Allan Bloom is a hysterical, raving, reactionary lunatic. He and his academia ilk are exactly the reason why education teaches kids nothing, because they know absolutely zero about the children they’re supposed to teach. mostly, this book is little more than a “get off my lawn” diatribe against any and all (race, sex, drugs, rock [...]

books about books

By joshuacitrak, on April 18th, 2011 |

I’m reading Nelson Algren’s “Notes from a Sea Diary: Hemingway all the way,” and came across this brilliant nugget in the story entitled, “July 14th Raft of a Summer Night.” Algren was wailing away at editors, publishers and critics regarding so many classic books being out of print, yet so many of those same classic’s [...]

Adam’s Tongue

By joshuacitrak, on March 23rd, 2009 |

Language makes us human, Derek Bickerton asserts in “Adam’s Tongue”, not the other way around. Humans simply could not have taken the evolutionary leap out of the savannas without it. However, contrary to common belief, language isn’t as simple as a straight line evolution from the myriad of animal calls exhibited by our genealogical [...]

Stuffed & Starved

By joshuacitrak, on February 10th, 2009 |

This is not a cheery, feel good book regardless of what the back cover blurbs say. Being hungry and getting fed is serious business for everyone—the starving farmer, GMO seed companies, the multi-national distributors and the end consumer. Raj Patel gets right down to the meaty heart of the most under reported and least understood of all the vital services—food—its production, transportation and [...]

The Elephant Vanishes

By joshuacitrak, on January 16th, 2009 |

“The Elephant Vanishes” is a collection of subtly odd, twisting stories where the quirks and kinks of life aren’t looked upon as burdens, rather as just another way of being. A young couple, aching with hunger, decide to rob a McDonald’s of burgers and Cokes to assuage their conscience—and appetite. Reduced people deliver Sony TV’s into apartments and offices—uninvited—but yet people refuse to acknowledge them or their televisions. A dancing dwarf is wanted by the leaders of a revolution, for crimes no one remembers or understands. [...]

Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned

By joshuacitrak, on December 16th, 2008 |

“Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned,” Walter Mosley’s novel told in short stories about the post-penitentiary existence of the conflicted and haunted Socrates Fortlow. Socrates is a living paradox, a man of esteemed principles yet he did 27 years for murder and rape, someone quick to offer another a helping hand and just as quick to use those hands to knock the living shit out of a person should he be [...]

Nobody Move

By joshuacitrak, on December 12th, 2008 |

With his last book, “Tree of Smoke,” Denis Johnson won the National Book Award. So what better to follow up that serious literary work than a pulpish noir crime [...]

Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned

By admin, on October 10th, 2008 |

Though I’m only two stories into Well Tower’s first collection, “Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned”, the book is turning into a delightful find. Towers spins his prose with a quirky matter-of-factness making the odd and strange seem at home amongst the norm of everyday [...]

Underworld

By admin, on September 23rd, 2008 |

Don DeLillo’s hefty thome of the last half of the American 20th century. From “The Shot Heard ‘Round the World”, the Cold War, the Texas Highway Killer and toxic waste, DeLillo chronicles it all through the eyes of a Bronx family and their neighbors, lovers and [...]

Digging for Dirt

By admin, on September 16th, 2008 |

ODB, the clownish MC of the Wu-Tang Clan, lived an unhinged, raucous life that ended too early. While he was a vital member of the ground breaking and widely influential hip hop group, Dirty is better known now for the impressive list of vices and fuck ups. He was father to nine children by numerous women, had a national rap sheet, did time in Clinton Correctional, abused crack, was an un-treated manic depressive, and died virtually broke after two solo gold records and a platinum Wu record. [...]

the closing of the american mind by Alan Bloom -- or -- the author's admission that he is old, useless and in the way.

books about books

Adam’s Tongue

Stuffed & Starved

The Elephant Vanishes

Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned

Nobody Move

Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned

Underworld

Digging for Dirt

pages

recent

@joshuacitrak

Categories

archives

sf gate books

the reading experience

conversational reading

la times books

reppin'

Meta