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Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace My rating: 5 of 5 stars Fantastic writer, often disgusting material... A great writer, and a fascinating and engaging book, but as I finished, it seemed that the metaphor of the video tape, the one that leads to death, is this book. I was tempted to quit when I started to read how this was ‘bro-lit’, as well as thinking Of the uglIness of the settings and of the people, but was drawn back. I finish what I start. That said, there were many appealing aspects, those, and the quality of the writing make this worth the effort... View all my reviews

I Am Not Your Negro by James Baldwin My rating: 5 of 5 stars A collection of thoughts, interviews, and snippets from media, a thought-provoking meditation on race in America. View all my reviews

A response to Literary Dealbreakers , itself a response to a NY Times article, It’s Not You, It’s Your Books : From a distance, not reading is a deal breaker, and for the most part it is valid. Like many others, I’ve known wonderful people, in my case women that were engaging and sexy, but didn’t read. In the long run, the lack of intellect is killing. My wife has always read a great deal, but I tend toward the abstract and difficult, Pynchon, Borges, and Beckett - I guess I’m the pretentious one - while she enjoys classics, memoirs, mysteries, and authors like Kundera. To me, it matters that one reads and has an engaging mind. There were many times in my life that I’ve felt love for books, for language, and for words. Who among us hasn’t? It’s absurd not to look for, to find, someone that shares something so basic to one’s self. The freedom that I feel to speak with my wife, our joy in wordplay, her ability to make the funniest old songs new by changing the lyrics, those ‘yes’ instanc...