Book Review: “A Reader’s Manifesto”

The subtitle to B.R. Myers’s A Reader’s Manifesto is An Attack on the Growing Pretentiousness in American Literary Prose. This slim (89 pages) volume is indeed an attack, and it apparently struck its intended targets. After one lukewarm attempt at self-publishing the original manuscript under the title of Gorgons in the Pool, it was picked… Continue reading Book Review: “A Reader’s Manifesto”

Book Review: “The Devil’s Highway”

In May, 2001 25 men and one boy set out across the Sonoran Desert, determined to cross into southern Arizona, between Yuma and Nogales, from their native Mexico. Crossing into the US was easy; finding their way to civilization was deadly. Fourteen of them perished in the attempt. Luis Alberto Urrea reconstructs the details of… Continue reading Book Review: “The Devil’s Highway”

Work Like a Dog

I was walking through our neighborhood this morning, trekking back home after dropping the car at the shop to have the alternator checked out, and as I passed in front of a large home the front door opened and a yellow Labrador retriever came bounding onto the circle drive. He zeroed in on the plastic-wrapped… Continue reading Work Like a Dog