A Novel Concept

By Michael Malone My experience with Cormac McCarthy’s novels has been mixed. As I’ve noted here before, I adored The Road, and could not imagine having enjoyed Blood Meridian less. And so I set out to read All the Pretty Horses, wondering which end

By Michael Malone “The Bee Sting” is a big, big book. It runs for 642 pages, and its set-up is not all that reader-friendly. The first half doesn’t have chapters so much as it has sections, and they go on for

By Michael Malone Of all the ways a book can end up in your hands. You spot it in the bookstore, or you hear about it on a podcast and order it, or you read a favorable review and grab

By Michael Malone “The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo” is a unique and highly entertaining novel. It is about a fictional movie star in old age, reflecting on her colorful career, her seven husbands and the one soulmate she had across

By Michael Malone I figured it would make sense to read some Hemingway while visiting Key West during the February school break. After all, Hemingway lived on Key West, with his wife Pauline, from the late 1920s until their divorce

By Michael Malone “Yellowface” is a highly entertaining read that serves as an exposé on book publishing, and showcases the plight of minority authors, with some dashes of horror tossed in. Written by R. F. Kuang, the book looks at a

By Michael Malone Set in London, “Slow Horses” is a spy thriller with dashes of wit. Written by Mick Herron, it tells the story of Slough (rhymes with cow) House – a building where MI5 agents, who are similar to FBI agents,

By Michael Malone “Prophet Song,” by Paul Lynch, looks at Ireland after it has been taken over by a totalitarian government. A civil war has broken out between the army and the rebels. People deemed to be a threat to

By Michael Malone This will never happen again. I opened up the Nick McDonell novel “Twelve” last week, and the first words that greeted me were Part I, Friday, December 27. It was, indeed, Dec. 27 when I started the book. Four

By Michael Malone I picked up “Killers of the Flower Moon” for my nephew, who had asked for it for his birthday, which is just after Thanksgiving. I was chatting with my sister over Turkey Day, and she mentioned she had that