Huh! I remember finding these Nancy Drew Files books gripping as a kid. Read side by side with R.L. Stine’s “Fear Street,” I’d pick the latter. I gave an “oh damn!” When Nancy got stuck in the back with a dart, tho.

Camus is my Chicken Soup for the Soul.

I’ve read a whole lotta books from the 33 1/2 series and this is swiftly in the top five for me. A condensed Masters class from an impassioned perspective on Lamar + Tupac parallels. “With this meditation I am reminded that Kendrick is the living, breathing possibility of what Tupac could have grown into… Imagine if martyrdom didn’t require flesh.”

Kubrick really did pick up this novel and say, “the last 20% is pure drama, let’s make a long-ass movie about it!” (in this case film > book)

Two stars and a DNF is so harsh but there’s a fine line between contemplative irony and insult. I think other 2-star reviews said the thing for me.

+1 point for referencing the misogyny embedded in the Black Panther movement; -1 point for taking a jab at Rhoda

Once again proving King is masterful at character pieces. Despite a slight slouch in the middle where the longest short story is just a bit too long, this collection includes a few straight up gut punches. I found myself gasping a few times, and slowing down and then savoring (yes, “Rattlesnakes,” and “The Answer Man”) because I needed to slow down with the emotions. Unbelievable to think a man of this career still has not run out of ideas. Fresh as anything else.

I totally don't care that the average GoodReads review is in the 3/5 stars range. Written by a classical music scholar, this book was a JOY and the perfect kind of overlap of highbrow lowbrow. Please, give me more writers who can juxtapose Nintendo with Strauss and Camus and also "Eyes Wide Shut." Chef's kiss

Best piece of non-fiction I read this year

Good god. Toni Morrison is a genius at writing the most gut-wrenching awfully tragic things in the most beautiful prose.