http://bookguy.gather.com Recent Articles on Gather by Mike C. en-us Copyright Gather Inc 2009 Sun, 03 Jan 2010 18:16:04 GMT 2010-01-03T18:16:04Z en-us Copyright Gather Inc 2009 http://www.gather.com/images/header/logo_gather.gif http://www.gather.com/ http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977974237 The problem with this novel is that there is no protagonist to like. David is an overweight, somewhat cowardly traitor who cannot find the gumption to fight in the open for the woman he loves, Ruth . . . Sun, 03 Jan 2010 16:27:14 GMT http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977974237 Mike C. 2010-01-03T16:27:14Z http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977970276 It is too much like the history of the American South not to resonate with American readers but the depths of depravity, cruelty and racist behavior that happens in Australia’s Queensland is . . . Thu, 31 Dec 2009 15:34:35 GMT http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977970276 Mike C. 2009-12-31T15:34:35Z http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977965581 Alice Munro sort of sneaks up on you during this collection. First, she is a skilled fiction writer who continues to prefer writing short stories. They are gems, indeed, but after a while one wishes . . . Mon, 28 Dec 2009 14:14:10 GMT http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977965581 Mike C. 2009-12-28T14:14:10Z http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977961193 In 1974 Philippe Petit walked some wires stretched between the World Trade Center Towers. Thousands of New Yorkers watched, transfixed, as he not only walked the wires but danced, lay down, hopped . . . Thu, 24 Dec 2009 03:55:28 GMT http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977961193 Mike C. 2009-12-24T03:55:28Z http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977953649 Allersmead is a large, old-fashioned house that serves as the extension of Alison’s womb in this multi-layered novel by Penelope Lively. Alison has six children living at times in her house, . . . Fri, 18 Dec 2009 21:16:46 GMT http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977953649 Mike C. 2009-12-18T21:16:46Z http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977942933 Memoirs of the 50s are getting more common as more and more Boomers try to remember their youths. Jean Shepard has been mining that territory for decades already and his “A Christmas Story” . . . Fri, 11 Dec 2009 19:10:41 GMT http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977942933 Mike C. 2009-12-11T19:10:41Z http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977936944 I have had a peculiar fascination with the novels of John Irving since Garp. I have relished his quirkiness and the predilection he has for going just to the edge of impossibility and making it . . . Tue, 08 Dec 2009 14:30:19 GMT http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977936944 Mike C. 2009-12-08T14:30:19Z http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977925864 Ted Kennedy had a lot of scores he could have settled with his memoir that turned out to be published posthumously. He had a lot of enemies: almost everyone on the Conservative Right to start with. . . . Tue, 01 Dec 2009 19:54:48 GMT http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977925864 Mike C. 2009-12-01T19:54:48Z http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977923715 Paul Auster constructs a strange world filled with lies and violence and betrayal, gives us several different looks at it, deconstructs it and we end up with all the mess. Briefly, and too concisely, . . . Mon, 30 Nov 2009 15:01:09 GMT http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977923715 Mike C. 2009-11-30T15:01:09Z http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977917388 This is a very sneaky novel. I was tempted to put it down after the first couple of chapters. There have been a lot of novels lately about unemployed men, middle-aged angst and marital trials and . . . Wed, 25 Nov 2009 15:57:27 GMT http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977917388 Mike C. 2009-11-25T15:57:27Z http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977914985 Wolf Hall is a somewhat misleading title for Hilary Mantel’s Man-Booker Prize winning novel. The actual place is the family home of the Seymour family, one member of which, Jane, rose to . . . Tue, 24 Nov 2009 04:53:15 GMT http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977914985 Mike C. 2009-11-24T04:53:15Z http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977870961 Nick Hornby, a British writer of some renown, has been made famous by his books, but also by the films made from his books. High Fidelity was translated into a John Cusak vehicle and moved to the . . . Mon, 26 Oct 2009 19:25:58 GMT http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977870961 Mike C. 2009-10-26T19:25:58Z http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977865468 Steve Hely’s comic novel How I Became a Famous Novelist is a deep-cutting satire of the current business of creating best sellers. As a former writer for Letterman on the Late Show and for . . . Thu, 22 Oct 2009 19:18:44 GMT http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977865468 Mike C. 2009-10-22T19:18:44Z http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977854638 Southern novels have a flavor all their own. You can’t take a New Yorker, plunk him down in Louisiana and have a “southern novel.” Dayne Sherman is a native southerner, has his master’s . . . Thu, 15 Oct 2009 12:13:04 GMT http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977854638 Mike C. 2009-10-15T12:13:04Z http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977841311 I have never warmed to the mysteries of Sara Paretsky and I wanted to break that cycle with Hardball, her latest V.I. Warshawski tale. Alas, my aversion to this author remains. Reading Hardball, . . . Tue, 06 Oct 2009 18:43:21 GMT http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977841311 Mike C. 2009-10-06T18:43:21Z http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977832612 Dan Brown has hit a formula and he is not going to give it up. Why should he? The formula has paid off in two best sellers and two hit movies with a third likely on the way. The formula is basically . . . Wed, 30 Sep 2009 20:23:47 GMT http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977832612 Mike C. 2009-09-30T20:23:47Z http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977831046 Pat Conroy’s popularity is undeniable and South of Broad will further it, even though there are, in my humble opinion, some problems with it. The main problem is that its lead character and . . . Tue, 29 Sep 2009 20:31:26 GMT http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977831046 Mike C. 2009-09-29T20:31:26Z http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977802937 Things cannot go well for Terence Cave because they never really have. His wife was killed in a freak accident in their antique shop, and as the novel opens, he, as narrator, tells us about the grisly . . . Mon, 07 Sep 2009 13:56:22 GMT http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977802937 Mike C. 2009-09-07T13:56:22Z http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977799100 “A registered nurse charged that there would be "legal genocide" if health care passes -- and questioned whether Obama was born in America.” Dan Balz- WaPo 9-03-09   Why are we . . . Thu, 03 Sep 2009 20:45:02 GMT http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977799100 Mike C. 2009-09-03T20:45:02Z http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977799063 Richard Russo moves from Upstate New York, his setting for his novels up to now (most recently Bridge of Sighs) and moves to Cape Cod and Maine for his new novel, That Old Cape Magic. The title . . . Thu, 03 Sep 2009 20:10:05 GMT http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977799063 Mike C. 2009-09-03T20:10:05Z http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977790461 Stieg Larsson, the late Swedish journalist and novelist who crashed the bestseller lists with The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, took a big chance with his second installment in his trilogy. The trilogy . . . Thu, 27 Aug 2009 21:47:19 GMT http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977790461 Mike C. 2009-08-27T21:47:19Z http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977780427 The plants are closing and the rust taking over the Mon Valley in Pennsylvania. Two disparate friends, Billy Poe, who keeps promising to apply for that football scholarship to Colgate but never does, . . . Wed, 19 Aug 2009 22:21:40 GMT http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977780427 Mike C. 2009-08-19T22:21:40Z http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977770994 Tom Rob Smith’s first novel, Child 44, was about Leo Demidov, a state security officer under Stalin, who was forced by his job to do very bad things. One of the more onerous tasks he had was . . . Wed, 12 Aug 2009 16:57:01 GMT http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977770994 Mike C. 2009-08-12T16:57:01Z http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977767842 It takes a certain amount of balls to write a modern sequel to an 18 th century classic. It might help to have a PhD in 18 th century literature with an emphasis on Joseph Fielding, but whatever . . . Sun, 09 Aug 2009 02:32:19 GMT http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977767842 Mike C. 2009-08-09T02:32:19Z http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977757248 The story of Stieg Larsson, Swedish journalist and novelist, is by now well known to those who have read his first novel, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. Shortly after turning in the manuscripts . . . Fri, 31 Jul 2009 00:59:31 GMT http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977757248 Mike C. 2009-07-31T00:59:31Z http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977749404 Elmore Leonard drives me nuts. He writes books that I love to read, but he writes them so well that I can’t get anything else done once I open to page one. His latest, Road Dogs, is even . . . Fri, 24 Jul 2009 18:17:01 GMT http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977749404 Mike C. 2009-07-24T18:17:01Z http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977749385 What surprised me most in finishing the Rabbit Quartet was how quickly the time went as I read all four in order. I found that knowing what happens to Harry Angstrom didn’t lessen the pleasure . . . Fri, 24 Jul 2009 18:02:07 GMT http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977749385 Mike C. 2009-07-24T18:02:07Z http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977742874 In the third volume of the Rabbit Quartet, Rabbit is Rich, it appears that Harry Angstrom has made it at last. He and Janice are back together after her affair with Charlie Stavros, Rabbit buys . . . Mon, 20 Jul 2009 01:17:57 GMT http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977742874 Mike C. 2009-07-20T01:17:57Z http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977732085 If Rabbit, Run is rambunctious and sex-dominated, its 1971 sequel, Rabbit Redux, is much darker and almost depressing. Harry Angstrom, “Rabbit,” is in his thirties, Janice has left . . . Wed, 08 Jul 2009 13:55:43 GMT http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977732085 Mike C. 2009-07-08T13:55:43Z http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977727258 The recent death of John Updike deprived us all of an awe-inspiring and, for many writers, intimidating artist. His death stirred in me a desire to go back to arguably his most famous works, the four . . . Thu, 02 Jul 2009 13:28:48 GMT http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977727258 Mike C. 2009-07-02T13:28:48Z