Women who found themselves caught in the web of the mob have always avoided publicly expressing their feelings. Yet a few have come forth with riveting stories exposing a feminine side of the “life”. We can go way back to the earliest published testimonies from women like Rosalie Bonanno (“Mafia Marriage”), Sandy Sadowsky (“Wedded to […]

Wow. I am super not qualified to objectively talk about this book in even a pseudo opinions-are-never-really-objective way. I have zero distance from this thing. I am in it, it’s all up in my grill, welcome to patient 0/the point of impact. Have a nice day. But I really want you to know about Eleanor […]

The press team on The Andalucian Friend is working their tails off to try and convince the general public that The Andalucian Friend is the Swedish thriller book equivalent of the second coming. I give them an A+ Nice Try paper plate award for their efforts. But they are wrong. Alexander Söderberg’s The Andalucian Friend […]

 

I. Wow. E.E. Charlton-Trujillo’s Fat Angie is a triumph and a mess and funny and brutally honest and gimmicky and clichéd and wonderful and a freaking thousand volts straight to the chest. It’s quite flawed and I could nitpick some of the style for years but. Dang. This book could be a lifeboat. I mean. […]

Comedian Jim Gaffigan has been at the top of my comic list for many years now. You may recognize him as the pedestrian from the “meow” scene in Super Troopers, as Roy Keene from That 70s Show, from the “Pale Force” skits with Conan O’Brien, as Andy Franklin on My Boys, or from countless appearances […]

In 1939, the fledgling comic book company Detective Comics released the 27th issue of their self-titled series, and introduced Batman to the world. Seventy-five years later, Batman is still here, with a few changes along the way. If you are a fan of the comic books, you’ve probably heard of DC Comics’ New 52 initiative. If […]

In honor of the upcoming release of the cinematic rendition of Divergent (a book series I really enjoy, but don’t quite love), I figured I’d point out some under-explored gems of the Young Adult community for you to explore, preferably on a beach this summer with a margarita in one hand, an amazon kindle in […]

Vampires in the Lemon Grove is Karen Russell’s second collection of short stories. Her first, St Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves, and her first novel, Swamplandia!, received quite a bit of critical acclaim. Award nominations and whatnot. I didn’t actually get a chance to read Swamplandia! when it first came out, so I […]