DEANNA DURBIN -- A HUGE STAR THAT NEVER QUITE MADE IT

DEANNA DURBIN COLLECTION I 

$49.95 BluRay; Kino Lorber Studio Classics 

By Michael Giltz

What a talent. What a waste. For a brief period in the 1940s, singer and actress Deanna Durbin was the highest paid actress in the world. Her first two films were nominated for Best Picture and reportedly saved Universal from bankruptcy. Her fan club was the biggest in the world. The Metropolitan Opera came a'calling and offered this lyric soprano the chance to sing for them. Heck, she made her debut in a short opposite Judy Garland and soon eclipsed that artist in almost every way. Almost. 

The truth is Durbin never made a great film, a great album or even more than a decent single or two. She easily made the leap from juvenile lead to terrific-looking and talented adult star but to what purpose? Garland demanded the spotlight; Durbin fled from it. After 21 films at Universal, Durbin walked away from it all, married her third husband and never did anything creative again. It worked. Her death in 2013 was certainly noted but as more of a curiosity. Durbin became the answer to a trivia question, one most people would get wrong. Her movies are rarely watched; her recordings rarely listened to, even by those who dimly remember her. 

That indifference will probably extend to this odd selection of three films, as random a choice of movies as one could ask for. Durbin made 21 films for Universal and if you were going to showcase just three, surely you'd choose the 3 Smart Girls trilogy: the first was her debut and a massive success. Or maybe you'd choose her first three. Or the first three she made with director Henry Koster and producer Joe Pasternak, the men who snapped her up when MGM passed and coached Durbin into stardom. Or all six films she made with Koster. Or something that made a lick of sense. 

Instead, this collection includes the SECOND film in the 3 Smart Girls trilogy, her SECOND film at Universal (100 Men and a Girl) and her LAST film with Koster (It Started With Eve), which at least has the distinction of being considered one of Durbin's best. On the bright side, the three prints on this BluRay collection are solid, the sound quality good and to continue the random nature of this endeavor, it features TWO audio commentaries instead of three. You'll also find trailers for all three films, though weirdly none of them are available on YouTube. Here's a clip of Durbin singing the Irish traditional "Danny Boy" to Charles Laughton in It Started With Eve.

All three films are this side of good. They contain strong talent, decent scripts and enough smarts to make clear everyone was trying. It's easy to see why they were hits and why no one bothers with them much anymore. In 3 Smart Girls Grow Up, Durbin must untangle the romantic confusion of her two older sisters. The blonde is marrying a family friend but it's the OTHER sister (a brunette) who really loves him. To console the loser, Durbin dragoons Robert Cummings into falling for the brunette, but he too wants the blonde. Hilarity ensues. In 100 Men and A Girl, Durbin is the daughter of down on his luck classical musician Adolphe Menjou. They're surrounded by out of work artists (99 of them, to be exact) so naturally Durbin convinces a wealthy producer to back her new orchestra and shames conductor Leopold Stokowski into leading them. It Started With Eve cranks up the confusion even more: Cummings (again) is engaged to be married, which is easy to imagine since he's the son of one of the wealthiest men in America (Charles Laughton). When dad is dying and wants only to meet his son's fiancee, Cummings panics when she's not available and grabs a hat check girl (Durbin) to take the woman's place and let dad's last moments go quietly. Needless to say, Laughton recovers, Durbin sees a chance to launch her singing career and despite himself Cummings falls for this inconvenient gal. 

Each film is painless and breezy, as long as you're in an undemanding mood. Each features a few moments of real charm and artistry, along with laugh-out-loud nonsense like only old Hollywood can muster. And each film shows Durbin was a real, if squandered talent. My favorite comment on Durbin's career comes from Durbin herself when ending her career: she was tired of being "the highest-paid star with the poorest material." Indeed. It's not that these films are awful; they're just far from what she deserves. 

If Universal was going bankrupt until Durbin rescued her, it might have been due to construction costs. Even by the standards of Hollywood, the sets for these three films are bat shit crazy. We're used to Astaire and Rogers dancing across a massive living room floor in a sky-high penthouse. Nonetheless, the home of Stokowski in 100 Men and A Girl is bonkers. He apparently enjoys an atrium in the middle of his Manhattan home that's so elaborate, an entire 100 piece orchestra can be arrayed on three levels, with Stokowski popping out of his room and steps onto an interior balcony to check out the talent as the orchestra plays. (Indeed, the funniest moment of the film is the twitching in Stokowski's hands when he simply can't resist the desire to conduct.) The home of gazillionaire Lauhgton in It Started With Eve is cozy in comparison, even as Durbin shoves a grand piano from one cavernous room to another so she can serenade the old buzzard. 

But both are topped by the epic proportions on display in 3 Smart Girls Grow Up. Their Manhattan home is jaw-dropping in its immensity. And again, this is in comparison to other insanely lavish Hollywood movies, not reality. At one point Durbin must storm out of a room and upstairs in a huff. But the room is so gigantic, the next one so expansive, the stairs so sweeping that Durbin practically sprints so she can get to the landing on the next floor and deliver her final zinger. While she's running,  you could head to the concession stand, get popcorn and a soda and head back into the theater without missing a thing. Robert Cummings has the best line in the film. When asked if he had trouble finding their home Cummings admits he did. He walked by twice, Cummings says, because he thought their home was the Museum of Natural History. 

Cummings is a good example of the frustrating nature of Durbin's vehicles. He breezes in so naturally in 3 Smart Girls Grow Up, it's like a breath of fresh air. Durbin is surrounded by talent, even if they are forced to elevate the material rather than getting the script they deserve. Eugene Pallette is his usual, gravelly voiced charmer as a wealthy producer confused as to how he suddenly became the not-so-proud owner of a 100 piece orchestra. Laughton is slumming it in It Started With Eve, but he's got marvelous chemistry with Durbin and his hamminess is held in check. Butlers, waiters, cabbies -- these films are filled with strong bit players who make the most of their moments. It Started With Eve in particular is a bummer. It's got the bones of a good screwball comedy; they just needed to deliver another draft or two. 

And Durbin is a treat. Director Koster and the scripts do one thing right: they slip in the classical bits with ease. In 3 Smart Girls Grow Up, Durbin is allowed to trill away to annoy her two sisters, delivering the "classy" material with a girl-next-door casualness and a hint of comedy. Again and again, they incorporate her musical moments smoothly or give Durbin some comic bit to deliver physically while singing away. The singing is high class and never mocked, but if they can have Durbin flirt or joke while delivering a number, they do. 

Durbin is also a charmer as an actor, enjoying the same onscreen relaxed vibe that turned Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland into all American kids just when America needed them. And unlike so many child actors, Durbin grew up very nicely. Look at the scene in It Started With Eve where Laughton is thought to be dying. Durbin barely has a word to say, but her face tells it all: sympathy for a dying man, an immediate chemistry, shame over the trick they're playing on him (well intentioned though it may be) and above all a sweetness and goodness that Laughton immediately grasps and which powers the rest of the film. Best known for her singing, Durbin holds the screen here without saying a word. 

If you're one of the vanishing few that remembers Durbin, this random grab bag of movies is presented nicely and with care. If you've never heard of her,  you won't discover any gems from Hollywood's golden age. But pay attention and you'll appreciate her talent and wonder what might have been. 

Music Library Master List Z+ Various Artist Compilations

VARIOUS ARTISTS

          Africa Screams Contest *** 1/2 
          Africa Screams Contest Vol. Two *** 1/2 
          Afrocubism *** 1/2           
          Aloha Got Soul 1979-1985 ***            
          Bluesin' By The Bayou ** 1/2 
          Burnwood PLaylist: Deep Lizzy -- Thin Lizzy *** 1/2 
          Burnwood Playlist: This Won't Take But A Minute Or Two *** 1/2 
          A Christmas Gift For You From Phil Spector **** 
          Come and Get It: The Best Of Apple Records ** 1/2 
          Come On Let's Go: Powerpop Gems From The 70s and 80s *** 
          Come On Up To The House: Women Sing Waits *** 
          Country Soul (2015) ** 1/2 
          Divided And United: Songs Of The Civil War *** 1/2 
          Dub Specialist: Studio One Dub FireSpecial ** 1/2 
          Feelin' Right, Saturday Night: The Rick and Ron Anthology *** 1/2 
          The Golden Age Of Popular Music: Jazz Hits From 1958-1966  ****
          The Golden Age Of Popular Music: More Country Hits *** 
          Gonna Sing, Gonna Shout: Bluegrass Gospel From The Pen Of Rick Lang *** 
          The Great Gospel Men: 27 Classic Performances *** 1/2 
          The Indestructible Beat Of Soweto Volume One **** 
          The Indestructible Beat Of Soweto Volume Two *** 1/2 
          John Savage's 1966: The Year The Decade Exploded *** 
          Let The Good Times Roll: 40 Jumping R and B Classics *** 
          Live From The Old Town School, Vol. 1-4 *** 1/2 
          The Lost Notebooks Of Hank Williams *** 
          Mercyland: Hymns For The Rest Of Us *** 1/2 
          Motown: The Complete #1s (11 CD set) *** 1/2 \ 
          The Nebraska Sessions (tribute to Springsteen album via Clubhouse Records UK) *** 1/2 
          Nigeria Disco Funk Special: The Sound Of The Underground Lagos Dancefloor 74-79 *** 1/2 
          Nigeria Freedom Sounds: Popular Music and the Birth... ** 1/2 
          Nigeria 70: No Wahala -- Highlife, Afrofunk and Juju 1973-1987 ***  
          Nigeria Special: Modern Highlife, Afro-Sounds & Nigerian Blues 1970-1976 *** 1/2   
          Nippon Girls 2: Japanese Pop, Beat and  Rock n Roll 1965-1970 *** 1/2  
          Nostalgique Porto Rico (Puerto Rican Roots 1940-1960) *** 1/2
          Now That's What I Call Yacht Rock *** 
          Remembering Mountains: Unheard Songs by Karen Dalton **           
          Roll Columbia: Woody Guthrie's 26 Northwest Songs ** 
          Songs Of Lennon and McCartney (UK) ** 1/2 
          Soul Of A Nation: Afro-Centric Visions In the Age of Black Power ***/ 
          The Sounds Of Siam ***
          Southern Soul Crate *** 1/2 
          A Tribute To Dan Fogelberg ** 
          You Make My Heart Sing: 50 Of The Greatest Love Songs Ever (UK) *** 1/2 

Music Library Master List Z+ Cast Albums and Soundtracks

CAST ALBUMS/MUSICALS/BROADWAY

          Annie Get Your Gun (Doris Day, Robert Goulet album) (1963) ****
          Camelot Orig Broadway Cast Album ****
          Dear Evan Hansen (2017) ** 1/2
          Hadestown Orig Off Broadway Cast Album *** 1/2
          Hamilton Original Broadway Cast Album *** 1/2 
          My Fair Lady (Orig Broadway Cast Album) **** 
          Octet *** 1/2 
          Spring Awakening Orig Cast Album ****
          Sunday in The Park With George (Original 1984) ****
          Sunday in The Park With George (Bway 2017) *** 1/2 



SOUNDTRACKS

          Baby Driver *** 1/2 
          The Big Chill **** 
          The Big Chill Volume Two *** 1/2  
          Black Panther ***/ 
          Blade Runner Original Soundtrack ***/
          Blade Runner Original Complete Score Bootleg **** 
          Blade Runner 2049 *** 
          Boardwalk Empire *** 
          Chariots Of Fire ** 1/2  
          The Cold Blue *** 
          Country Music (soundtrack to Ken Burns doc) ****          
          Guardians Of The Galaxy Awesome Mixtape Vol. 1 *** 1/2  
          The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel Season One *** 
          The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel Season Two *** 
          Once Upon A Time In Hollywood *** 1/2   

Musi Library Master List Z+ Holiday Music/Christmas Albums

Updated June 17, 2020 Up to "H"

HOLIDAY MUSIC/CHRISTMAS ALBUMS MASTER LIST  

Bryan Adams -- Christmas EP ** 1/2 
Herb Alpert -- Christmas Album (1968) **** 

The American Boychoir -- Carol ** 

Julie Andrews -- Christmas With Julie Andrews * 1/2 
David Archuleta -- Winter In The Air ** 1/2 

Gene Autry -- A Gene Autry Christmas ** 1/2 

Anita Baker -- Christmas Fantasy ** 

Barenaked Ladies -- Barenaked For The Holidays ** 
John Basile -- Silent Night ** 

The Beach Boys -- The Beach Boys' Christmas Album ** 1/2 

Tony Bennett -- The Classic Christmas Album ** 
Tony Bennett -- Snowfall ** 1/2
Tony Bennett -- A Swingin' Christmas (w Count Basie) *** 

The Blind Boys of Alabama -- Go Tell It On The Mountain ** 1/2  

Booker T and the MGs -- In The Christmas Spirit ** 

Chris Botti -- December * 1/2 

Wade Bowen -- Twelve Twenty Five ** 

Bright Eyes -- A Christmas Album ** 1/2 

Brown Bird -- A Brown Bird Christmas ** 

Chuck Brown -- The Spirit Of Christmas * 
James Brown -- Funky Christmas ** 

Jimmy Buffett -- Christmas Island * 1/2 

Larry Carlton -- Four Hands and a Heart Christmas * 1/2 

Mary Chapin Carpenter -- Come Darkness, Come Light: Twelve Songs Of Christmas ** 

Chicago -- Chicago Christmas * 

The Chieftains -- The Bells Of Dublin *** 
Choir of Kings College, Cambridge -- A Festival Of Nine Lessons and Carols (1992) *** 

The Clancy Brothers -- Clancy Brothers Christmas * 1/2 

The Coasters -- Christmas With The Coasters * 

Natalie Cole -- Holly & Ivy * 1/2 

Nat King Cole -- The Christmas Song *** 

Bootsy Collins -- Christmas Is 4 Ever * 1/2 
Judy Collins -- Winter Stories (w Jonas Fjeld and Chatham County Line) *** 1/2 

Shawn Colvin -- Holiday Songs and Lullabies ** 
Harry Connick Jr. -- When My Heart Finds Christmas * 1/2 
Harry Connick Jr. -- Harry For The Holidays **  
Harry Connick Jr. -- What A Night! A Christmas Album * 1/2  

Dave Koz -- Dave Koz & Friends: The 25th Of December * 

Bing Crosby -- The Crosby Christmas Sessions (2010) ** 1/2 

Bing Crosby -- Merry Christmas aka White Christmas (many editions) *** 1/2 

Bing Crosby -- Sings Christmas Songs *** 1/2 
Timi Dakolo -- Merry Christmas, Darling * 
Martina DaSilva -- A Very TinyChima Christmas ** 

John Denver & The Muppets -- A Christmas Together ** 

Earth, Wind & Fire -- Holiday * 1/2 

Enya -- And Winter Came... ** 

John Fahey -- Christmas With John Fahey Vol. 1 aka The New Possibility (1968) *** 
Ella Fitzgerald -- Ella Wishes You A Swinging Christmas ****  

Eddie G -- Christmas Party With Eddie G (compilation) ** 1/2 

The Gifted Children -- Christmas, Volume 7 * 

Danny Gokey -- Christmas Is Here * 
CeeLo Green -- CeeLo's Magic Moment ** 1/2 
Vince Guaraldi -- A Charlie Brown Christmas **** 
Emmylou Harris -- Light Of The Stable *** 1/2 
Bobby Helms -- Jingle Bells (2019 album) ** 

The Hot Club Of San Francisco -- Hot Club Cool Yule * 

Human Nature -- The Christmas Album * 1/2 
The Imaginaries -- Hometown Christmas ** 

Chris Isaak -- Chris Isaak Christmas ** 

Burl Ives -- Christmas Album ** 1/2 

Burl Ives -- Christmas Songs * 1/2 

Burl Ives -- Have A Holly Jolly Christmas *** 

Beau Jennings -- The Christmas Light ** (title track good) 
George Jones and Tammy Wynette -- The Classic Christmas Album ** 

Sharon Jones -- It's A Holiday Soul Party ** 
Keb' Mo' -- Moonlight, Mistletoe and You ** 

Diana Krall -- Christmas Songs ** 
Latvian Concert Choir -- Christmas Joy In Latvia ***
Ledisi -- It's Christmas ** 

Peggy Lee -- Christmas With Peggy Lee ** 

Annie Lennox -- A Christmas Cornucopia ** 1/2 
Letters To Cleo -- OK Christmas ** 
Ramsey Lewis Trio -- Sound Of Christmas (side one good, side two w strings awful) ** 
Ramsey Lewis Trio -- More Sounds Of Christmas * 1/2 
Little Steven -- Little Stevens' Christmas A Go-Go *** 

The Living Sisters -- Harmony Is Real: Songs For A Happy Holiday *** 1/2 
Los Lobos -- Llegó Navidad *** 1/2 

Los Lonely Boys -- Christmas Spirit * 1/2 

The Louvin Brothers -- Christmas With The Louvin Brothers * 1/2 

Darlene Love -- It's Christmas, Of Course ** 

Patty Loveless -- Bluegrass & White Snow ** 

Low -- Christmas ** 1/2 

Robert J. Lurtsema -- Christmas Stories ** 1/2 
Aimee Mann -- One More Drifter In The Snow *** 1/2 

Mannheim Steamroller -- Christmas (1984) ** 

Mannheim Steamroller -- Christmas Song * 
Wynton Marsalis/JLCB -- Big Band Holidays *** 1/2 
Wynton Marsalis/JLCB -- Big Band Holidays II ***  
Wynton Marsalis -- Crescent City Christmas Card *** 1/2   
The Mavericks -- Hey! Merry Christmas *** 
The McCrary Sisters -- A Very McCrary Christmas ** 

Idina Menzel -- Holiday Wishes * 
Lea Michele -- Christmas In The City *
Jacob Miller -- Natty Christmas * 
Willie Nelson -- Pretty Paper *** 1/2 
Ne-Yo -- Another Kind Of Christmas ** 

The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band -- The Christmas Album ** 

Odetta -- Beautiful Star **** 

Odetta -- Christmas Spirituals (1960) **** 

Odetta -- Christmas Spirituals (1987) **** 

Odetta -- Gonna Let It Shine ** 1/2  

Oh Wonder -- "This Christmas" (single) *** 1/2 

Over The Rhine -- Blood Oranges In The Snow ** 

Buck Owens -- Christmas With Buck Owens ** 

Brad Paisley -- A Brad Paisley Christmas ** 
Oscar Peterson -- An Oscar Peterson Christmas ** 

Elvis Presley -- Elvis' Christmas Album (1957) *** 1/2 

Elvis Presley -- If Every Day Was Like Christmas ** 1/2 

John Prine -- A John Prine Christmas ** 

The Puppini Sisters -- Christmas With The Puppini Sisters ** 
Randy Rainbow -- Gurl, It's Christmas ** 
Lou Rawls -- Merry Christmas From Lou Rawls (2009 ep reissue) *** 1/2 
Lou Rawls -- Merry Christmas Ho! Ho! Ho! (1967) *** 1/2 

Riders In The Sky -- Christmas The Cowboy Way ** 
Josh Rouse -- The Holiday Sounds Of Josh Rouse ** 

Kermit Ruffins -- Have A Crazy Cool Christmas ** 

Alexander Rybak -- Christmas Tales ** 

Brian Setzer -- Boogie Woogie Christmas ** 

Brian Setzer -- Christmas Rocks: The Best Of Brian Setzer ** 1/2 

Martin Sexton -- Camp Holiday ***/ 

Frank Sinatra -- Christmas (2015) ** 1/2 

Frank Sinatra -- Christmas Dreaming (1950 Columbia) *** 1/2 

Frank Sinatra -- Christmas Songs By Frank Sinatra (1949 Columbia) *** 1/2 

Frank Sinatra -- Christmas Songs By Frank Sinatra (2008) ** 

Frank Sinatra -- Christmas With Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby (1957 show) * 1/2 

Frank Sinatra -- Christmas With The Rat Pack * 

Frank Sinatra -- The Classic Christmas Album (2014) ** 1/2 

Frank Sinatra -- A Jolly Christmas From Frank Sinatra (1957) *** (first side ****, second **) 

Frank Sinatra -- The Sinatra Christmas Album (1994) ** 
Jimmy Smith -- Christmas Cookin' aka Christmas '64 *** 1/2 

Meaghan Smith -- It Snowed *** 
Phil Spector -- A Christmas Gift For You From Philles Records ****  
The Staples Singers -- The 25th Day Of December ** 1/2 
Stile Antico -- A Spanish Nativity *** 

Barbra Streisand -- Christmas Memories * 1/2 
Dave Stryker -- Eight Track Christmas ** 

Keith Sweat -- A Christmas Of Love * 1/2 

James Taylor -- At Christmas ** 

Dylan Thomas -- A Child's Christmas In Wales and other poems *** 1/2 
Rosie Thomas -- A Very Rosie Christmas ** 
Tara Thompson -- Hillbilly Christmas ** 
Tracey Thorn -- Tinsel and Lights *** 1/2 

TobyMac -- Light Of Christmas * 

Train -- Christmas In Tahoe * 
The Ventures -- Christmas Album ** 

Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians -- Twas The Night Before Christmas * 

Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians -- Christmas Time *
Weezer -- Christmas With Weezer *** 

Matthew West -- The Heart Of Christmas * 1/2 
Nigel Wilson -- Have Yourself A Merry Little Synthmas * 
Phil Wickham -- Christmas ** 
Robbie Williams -- The Christmas Present *** 

Robin and Linda Williams -- The First Christmas Gift ** 

Jackie Wilson -- Christmas Eve With Jackie Wilson ** 
George Winston -- December *** 1/2 

Tammy Wynette -- Christmas With Tammy Wynette * 

Dwight Yoakum -- Come On Christmas ** 

          

Various Artists 

VA -- Big Band Christmas *** 1/2 

VA -- Billboard Greatest Christmas Hits ***  

VA -- Billboard Rock 'N' Roll Christmas ** 

VA -- Blue Christmas (1994) *** 

VA -- Bummed Out Christmas! ** 

VA -- A Christmas Gift For You From Phil Spector **** 
VA -- Christmas In Soulsville (2007) ** 1/2 

VA -- Christmas In The Stars: Star Wars Christmas Album * 

VA -- Christmas In Vienna (Diana Ross, Placido Domingo, etc) * 

VA -- Christmas Of Hope (1995) **  

VA -- Christmas On The Bandstand *** 

VA -- Christmas Party With Eddie G ** 1/2 

VA -- Christmas Past (1965) *** 

VA -- Christmas The Album (1999) ** 1/2 

VA -- Christmas Time Again! (2006/2015) ** 

VA -- Christmas With The Kranks ** 

VA -- Cool Christmas (1992) *** 

VA -- Country Christmas (1993) ** 

VA -- Doo Wop Christmas *** 
VA -- Hannukah+ (2019) ** 

VA -- Have A Merry Chess Christmas *** 

VA -- Have A Nice Christmas: Holiday Hits Of The '70s * 1/2 

VA -- Have Yourself A Jazzy Little Christmas *** 1/2 

VA -- Hillbilly Holiday ** 1/2 

VA -- Hipster's Holiday *** 1/2 

VA -- Home For The Holidays: Voices From The Heartland * 1/2 

VA -- How The Grinch Stole Christmas *** 1/2 (TV special is ****) 

VA -- I'll Be Home For Christmas: Songs That Won The War *** 1/2 

VA -- It's A Cool Christmas (2000) ** 
VA -- It's A Prog Rock Christmas * 

VA -- A Jazz Christmas 

VA -- Reggae Christmas From Studio One ** 
VA -- The Ultimate Motown Christmas ** 1/2 

Updated June 17, 2020 
           

The Movies, Books, Theater, Concerts, CDs I've Seen/Read/Heard So Far In 2020

Updated as of July 28, 2020

KEY: star rating is on the four star scale
          meaning of "/" or "\"
          *** is three stars out of four
          ***/ is three stars leaning towards  3 1/2
          ***\ is three stars leaning towards 2 1/2


BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS
(Increasingly, I am sampling books, reading 10%, 20% even 40 or 50% before deciding to move on. The books below are only the ones I've read completely. That also explains what looks like generous grading -- more and more, if I sense a book is not going to be among my favorites, I stop reading. Too many books; too little time!)


1. Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo *** 1/2
2. Thank You, Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse *** 1/2 (despite the blackface)
3. Walt and Skeezix aka Gasoline Alley Volume Three 1925-1926 by Frank King
4. Bubble In The Sun by Christopher Knowlton ** 1/2
5. A World Without Work by Daniel Susskind **
6. Tightrope by Nicholas Kristoff and Sheryl WuDunn ** 1/2
7. Arguing With Zombies by Paul Krugman ***
8. The Complete Terry and the Pirates Vol. 5 1943-1944 by Milton Caniff *** 1/2
9. The Complete Terry and the Pirates Vol. 6 1945-1946 by Milton Caniff *** 1/2
10. The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate ***
11. Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler ****
12. The Queen Of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner *** 1/2
13. The King Of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner *** 1/2
14. Harriet The Spy by Louise Fitzhugh *** 1/2
15. Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee by Dee Brown ***
16. Conspiracy of Kings by Megan Whalen Turner ** 1/2 
17. Apropos of Nothing by Woody Allen **
18. Thick As Thieves by Megan Whalen Turner ***
19. Why We're Polarized by Ezra Klein **
20. Gold Rush Girl by Avi ** 1/2
21. The Singapore Wink by Ross Thomas **
22. The Few by Alex Kershaw (nonfic on Battle Of Britain) *** 

23. The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson ** 1/2 (read too many books about Churchill and his wartime cabinet) 

24. The Warden by Anthony Trollope (1855) book one of Barsetshire Chronicles *** 1/2 

25. Trumpocalypse by David Frum * 

26. Rigged by David Shimer (history of covert election interference) *** 

27. Surviving Autocracy by Masha Gessen *** 

28. Barchester Towers by Anthony Trollope (1857) book two of Barsetshire Chronicles *** 1/2 

29. An Irish Country Village by Patrick Taylor (2008) ** 

30. An Irish Country Christmas (2008) ** 

31. Fingal O'Reilly, Irish Doctor (2013) ** 1/2 

32. An Irish Country Girl by Patrick Taylor (2010) ** 

33. Morality for Beautiful Girls by Alexander McCall Smith ** 

34. An Irish Country Courtship by Patrick Taylor * 1/2 





CDS CDS CDS CDS CDS CDS CDS CDS CDS CDS CDS CDS CDS CDS CDS CDS CDS CDS CDS CDS CDS CDS CDS CDS CDS CDS CDS CDS CDS CDS CDS CDS CDS CDS CDS CDS (A strong emphasis on the ones I like, so don't think I love everything I listen to -- I just don't bother really listening to the ones I don't )


1. Neil Young -- Tonight's The Night (1975) *** 1/2 /
2. Neil Young -- Zuma (1975) *** 1/2
3. Neil Young -- After The Goldrush (1970) *** 1/2 /
4. Neil Young -- American Stars N Bars (1977) ** 1/2
5. Neil Young -- Comes A Time (1978) *** 1/2
6. Neil Young -- Rust Never Sleeps (1979) *** 1/2
7. Stan Getz and Joao Gilberto -- Getz/Gilberto #2 (1965) *** 1/2
8. John Luther Adams -- Become Ocean (2014) ****
9. Green Day -- Father Of All Motherfuckers *** 1/2
10. Teddy Thompson -- Heartbreaker Please *** 1/2
11. The Magnetic Fields -- Quickies *** 1/2
12. Drake Bell -- The Lost Album (2000) ***
13. Moses Sumney -- grae, Part 1 *** 1/2
14. Randy Travis -- Worship & Faith **
15. James Taylor -- American Standard **
16. Various Artists -- Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar Masters Collection (1995) *** 1/2
17. Various Artists -- Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar Masters Collection Vol. Two (1999) ***
18. Nancy Priddy -- You've Come This Way Before (1968) **
19. Brandy Clark -- Your Life Is A Record *** 1/2
20. Jose Feliciano -- Behind This Guitar **
21. Judy Collins -- Silver Blue Skies (w Ari Hest) (2016) ***
22. John Denver -- Greatest Hits (1973) **
23. Jose James -- No Beginning No End 2 **
24. Mike and the Moonpies -- Cheap Silver and Solid Country Gold ** 1/2
25. Minnie Ripperton -- Come To The Garden (1970) **
26. Nathaniel Rateliff -- And It's Still Alright **
27. Kate Bush -- Never For Ever (1980) ***/
28. The Lone Bellow -- Half Moon Light ** 1/2
29. Louis Armstrong -- The Standard Oil Sessions **
30. Michael Doucet -- Lacher Prise ** 1/2
31. Nazz -- Nazz (1968) ***
32. Nick Frater -- Full Fathom Freight-Train ***
33. Oh Wonder -- No One Else can Wear Your Crown ** 1/2
34. Parliament -- Mothership Connection (1975) ****
35. Paul Weller -- In Another Room ep **
36. Kate Bush -- The Dreaming (1981) ***/
37. Luke Haines and Peter Buck -- Beat Poetry For Survivalists **
38. Robert Cray -- That's What I Heard ***/
39. Old Crow Medicine Show -- Fifty Years Of "Blonde On Blonde" ** 1/2
40. Rumer -- B-Sides and Rarities ***
41. Judy Collins and Stephen Stills -- Everybody Knows (2017) ** 1/2
42. John Denver -- A Lime Creek Christmas ***
43. Jim Sullivan -- UFO (1969) ***
44. Kalapana -- Best of Black Sand: The Best Of Kalapana **
45. Kate Bush -- Hounds Of Love (1985) ****
46. The Kinks -- Face To Face (1966) ** 1/2
47. Matt Monroe -- Matt Sings and Nelson Swings (1967) *
48. Major Matt Mason USA -- Me Me Me (1998) **
49. William Prince -- Reliever **
50. Various Artists/Wynton Marsalis -- Motherless Brooklyn soundtrack ***
51. Beta Radio -- All Remains ep ***
52. R.E.M. -- Monster (1994) ** 1/2
53. Maria McKee -- La Vita Nuova *** 1/2
54. Gordon Lightfoot -- Solo **
55. Brian Eno and Roger Eno -- Mixing Colours ***/
56. Rod McKuen -- Greatest Hits Of (1969) *
57. Barry Manilow -- Night Songs II *** 1/2
58. Bill Fay -- Countless Branches ***
59. The Everly Brothers -- The Hit Sounds of the Everly Brothers (1967) ** 1/2
60. The Everly Brothers -- Sing (1967) **
61. Mister Rogers -- It's Such A Good Feeling: The Best of Mister Rogers ** 1/2
62. Cowboy Junkies -- Ghosts ***/
63.  Bill Withers -- Just As I Am ****
64. Bill Withers -- Still Bill ****
65. Bill Withers -- Live at Carnegie Hall *** 1/2
66. Bill Withers -- +Justments *** 1/2
67. Bill Withers -- Make Music ***
68. Bill Withers -- Naked and Warm ***
69. Bill Withers - Menagerie ** 1/2
70. Bill Withers -- 'Bout Love **
71. Bill Withers -- Watching You, Watching Me ** 1/2
72. John Prine -- John Prine (1971) ***
73. John Prine -- Diamonds in the Rough (1972) *** 1/2
74. Ron Sexsmith -- Hermitage ** 1/2
75. John Prine -- Sweet Revenge (1973) ** 1/2
76. John Prine -- Bruised Orange (1978) ** 1/2 

77. John Prine -- The Missing Years (1991) *** 1/2 

78. John Prine -- A John Prine Christmas (1994) ** 

79. Todd Rundgren -- Runt: The Ballad Of Todd Rundgren (1971) *** 1/2 

80. Todd Rundgren -- Something/Anything? (1972) *** 1/2 

81. Huey Lewis -- Weather ep ** 1/2 

82. Todd Rundgren -- A Wizard, A True Star (1973) *** 1/2 

83. A Girl Called Eddy -- Been Around ***/ 

84. Todd Rundgren -- Todd (1974) *** 

85. Todd Rundgren -- Faithful (1976) ** 1/2 

86. Boy George -- This Is What I Dub Vol. 1 ** 

87. Brian Fallon -- Local Honey ** 

88. Todd Rundgren -- Hermit Of Mink Hollow (1978) *** 

89. Judy Collins -- Silver Skies Blue (2016) *** 1/2 

90. Judy Collins -- Strangers Again (2015) ** 

91. iLe -- iLevitable *** 

92. Chatham County Line -- Strange Fascination ** 

93. Jeri Southern -- The Southern Style (1955) ** 

94. Kenny Rogers -- Gideon (1980) ** 

95. Kenny Rogers -- What About Me (1984) ** 

96. Kenny Rogers -- Water and Bridges (2006) *** 

97. Kraftwerk -- Trans Europe Express (1977) *** 1/2 

98. Various -- Funny People soundtrack ** 1/2 

99. Beau Jennings -- The Christmas Light ** (title song good)  

100. Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians -- Twas The Night Before Christmas * 

101. Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians -- Christmas Time *

102. George Benson -- Beyond The Blue Horizon (1971) * 1/2 

103. Jim Lauderdale -- When Carolina Comes Home Again ** 1/2 

104. David Archuleta -- Therapy Sessions ** 

105. Badly Drawn Boy -- Banana Skin Shoes ** 

106. Steve Earle -- Ghosts of West Virginia *** 1/2 

107. Coconut Records -- Nighttiming (2007) ** 

108. George Jones and Tammy Wynette -- Golden Ring (1976) *** 

109. Alec Benjamin -- These Two Windows *** 

110. Teddy Thompson -- Heartbreaker Please *** 1/2 

111. Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton -- Porter Wayne and Dolly Rebecca (1970) *** 

112. The Magnetic Fields -- Quickies *** 1/2 

113. Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton -- Two Of A Kind (1971) ** 1/2 

114. Kris Kristofferson -- Kris (1970) *** 

115. Philip Glass -- Music In Eight Parts *** 1/2 

116. Todd Rundgren -- Nearly Human (1989) *** 

117. Jimmy Buffett -- Life On The Flip Side ** 1/2 

118. Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton -- The Right Combination (1972) ** 1/2 

119. Dion -- Blues With Friends ** 

120. Todd Rundgren -- Liars (2004) *** 

121. Todd Rundgren -- Arena (2008) ** 1/2 

122. Todd Rundgren -- Healing (1981) *** 

123. The Dwight Tilley Band -- Sincerely (1976) *** 

124. Dolly Parton -- Release Me ep * 1/2 

125. Emahoy Tsegu-Maryam Gubrou -- Ethiopiques Vol. 21: Ethiopia Song Piano Solo (1963) *** 1/2 

126. Janet Devlin -- Confessional ** 1/2 

127. Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever -- Sideways To New Italy ** 1/2 

128. The Kinks -- Something Else By The Kinks (1967) ** 1/2 

129. The Sylvers -- The Sylvers (1972) ** 1/2 

130. Norah Jones -- Pick Me Up Off The Floor ** 

131. Odetta -- Christmas Spirituals (1960) *** 1/2 

132. Niall Horan -- Heartbreak Weather ** 

133. Rush -- Permanent Waves (1980) ** 1/2 

134. Shelby Lynne -- Shelby Lynne ** 

135. M Ward -- Migration Stories *** 

136. Canyons -- Gone West ** 

137. Neil Young -- Homegrown (1975/2020) *** 1/2 

138. John Legend -- Bigger Love ** 

139. Phoebe Bridgers -- Punisher ***/ 

140. Perfume Genius -- Set My Heart On Fire Immediately ** 1/2 

141. The 1975 -- Notes on A Conditional Form *** 

142. Van Dyke Parks and Brian Wilson -- Orange Crate Art (1995) *** 

143. Bob Dylan -- Rough And Rowdy Ways *** 1/2 

144. Andi Rae Healy -- Last Time I Checked This Was A Free World and I Wasn't Anybody's Girl ** 

145. Run The Jewels -- RTJ4 ** 1/2 

146. Nicole Atkins -- Italian Ice ** 

147. Pet Shop Boys -- Hotspot ** 1/2 

148. Temporex -- Care ** 1/2 

149. Corb Lund -- Agricultural Tragic ** 1/2 

150. Johnny Cash -- Johnny Cash Is Coming To Town (1987) ** 1/2 

151. Johnny Cash -- Water From The Wells of Home (1988) ** 

152. Johnny Cash -- The Mystery Of Life (1991) ** 

153. Johnny Cash -- Out Among The Stars (2014) ** 

154. Distant Cousins -- Here & Now ** 

155. Supergrass -- The Strange Ones: 1994-2008 *** 1/2 

156. Ambrose Akinmuserie -- On The Tender Spot Of Every Calloused Moment ** 1/2 

157. Lady Gaga -- Chromatica ***\ 

158. Teyana Taylor -- The Album *** 1/2 

159. Richard Thompson -- Bloody Noses ep *** 

160. Willie Nelson -- First Rose Of Spring *** 1/2 \ 

161. Paul Weller -- On Sunset *** / 

162. Tom Petty -- Southern Accents (1985) ** 

163. Tom Petty -- Let Me Up, I've Had Enough (1987) ** 

164. The Jayhawks -- Xoxo *** / 

165. Margo Price -- That's How Rumors Get Started ** 

166. Ray Wylie Hubbard -- Co-Starring ** 

167. My Morning Jacket -- The Waterfall II *** 

168. Joe Ely -- Love In The Midst of Mayhem ** 

169. Rufus Wainwright -- Unfollow The Stars *** 

170. Lianne La Havas -- Lianne la Havas *** 

171. Emitt Rhodes -- Emitt Rhodes (1970) *** 1/2 

172. 



MOVIES TV MOVIES TV MOVIES TV MOVIES TV MOVIES TV MOVIES TV MOVIES TV MOVIES TV MOVIES TV MOVIES TV MOVIES TV MOVIES TV MOVIES TV MOVIES TV MOVIES TV MOVIES TV MOVIES TV MOVIES 

(Not TV movies, of course, but movies and TV -- and TV movies if it comes to that. Mostly I only list TV shows when I've tackled an entire season at once or reappraising an entire series after it's over This doesn't really capture my ongoing watching of current TV.)


1. Local Hero (1983) ***
2. Where Is The Friend's House? (1987) *** 1/2
3. Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982) **
4. Local Hero (1983) ***\
5. Where Is The Friend's House? (1987) *** 1/2
6. L'Argent (1983) ** 1/2
7. Sans Soleil (1983) ** 1/2
8. High Hopes (1988) ***
9. Atlantic City (1981) ***
10. The Day Of Rest (1939) Robert Benchley short *
11. The Mandalorian S1 ** 1/2
12. Pacific Liner (1939) **
13. Tiger King (Netflix doc) ** 1/2
14. An Hour For Lunch (1939 Robert Benchley short) *
15. The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) ** 1/2
16. Derry Girls S1 ***
17. Derry Girls S2 *** 

18. The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance S1 *** 

19. The End of the F---ing World S2 **** 

20. The River (short film by Pare Lorentz) (1938) ** 

21. The Plow That Broke The Plains (1936) music by Virgil Thomson, Didactic, confusing and haphazard. barely gets across the idea that ending grasslands doomed the plains to drying up. Much mention of the war driving up wheat prices. 

22. Poetry of Nature: A Pete Smith Specialty (1939) "humorous" short about wildlife in California redwoods * 

23. The Sea Around Us (1953) ** 

24. Star Trek: Picard S1 ** 1/2 

25. A Small Town Idol (1921/1939) no stars 

26. Old Hickory (1939 short) * 

27. Seeing Red (1939 short w Red Skelton) * 

28.  Word Is Out (1977) *** 1/2 

29. Better Call Saul S1 *** 1/2 

30. Rough Riders' Round-up (1939) Roy Rogers * 

31. Welcome To Chechnya (doc) *** 

32. Unsettled: Seeking Refuge In America (doc) ** 1/2 

33. Sexual Exiles (1999 short; 30min) *** 

34. The Fighting Gringo (1939) * 1/2 

35. Family Romance LLC *** (Werner Herzog film) 

36. Beanpole *** 1/2 (plus acting, prod design) 

37. A Russian Youth ** 1/2 

38. Star In The Night (1945) Don Siegel dir short about hotel/diner in middle of nowhere on Christmas Eve * 1/2 

39. Three Smart Girls Grow Up (1939) ** 

40. One Hundred Men and a Girl (1937) * 1/2 

41. It Started With Eve (1941) ** 

42. I Know Where I'm Going! (1945) *** 1/2 

43. Brief Encounter (1945) *** 1/2 

THEATER CONCERTS THEATER CONCERTS THEATER CONCERTS THEATER CONCERTS THEATER CONCERTS THEATER CONCERTS THEATER CONCERTS
(The names after the shows are the people who joined me at the performance.)


1. Dana H *** 1/2 (Lucas Hnath play)


Updated as of July 28, 2020

BookFilter Reading List

BOOKFILTER 2018 TITLES TO READ

Need Brave New World

The Big Book of Modern Fantasy by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer 

Actress by Anne Enright
Angel Mage by Garth Nix fantasy 

The Benson Murder Case: Philo Vance #1 by SS Van Dine 

The Big Book of Modern Fantasy by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer 

Blacktop Wasteland by S.A. Cosby 
A Bond Undone by Jin Yong -- book two in Legends Of the Condor Heroes 

The Book of Dragons anthology 
Boom Town by Sam Anderson history of Oklahoma City
Bowlaway by Elizabeth McCracken litfic 2-5-2019
The Dairy Restaurant by Ben Katchor
Drive Your Plow Over The Bones of The dead Polish mystical mystery by Olga Tokarczuk
The End of the River by Simon Winchester
Entropy in Bloom by Jeremy Robert Johnson **** Panera Parisian
The Factory by Hiroko
Famous Men Who Never Lived by K Chess sci-fi debut alternate NYC
Geography of Rebels Trilogy by Maria Gabriela Llansol
The Glass Hotel by Emily St John Mandel author of Station Eleven
Gods of the Upper air by Charles King SCIENCE HISTORY Frank Boas margaret Mead
How Much Of These Hills Is Gold western LITFIC
The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa

The Mummy and Miss Nitocris by George Griffith fantasy period
No Fascist USA history
Our Man by george Packer bio of Richard Holbrooke politico 5-7-2019
Penguin Book of Japanese Short Stories
Sand by Wolfgang Herrndorf NYRB
Seven Samurai Swept Away In A River
The Ship of Dreams Titanic by Gareth Russell
Shoot For The Moon by James Donovan nonfic space race Apollo 11
Sondheim's Lyrics
The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson author of Devil in the White City. The Blitz
A Sportsmans Notebook by Ivan Turgenev
Stalingrad by Vasily Grossman nonfic NYRB
Suffrage by Ellen Carol DuBois -- HISTORY fight for the vote
Superior: The Return Of Race Science by Angela Saini science cur events 5-21-2019
Swimming in the Dark by Tomasz Jedrowski Polish teens
This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar FANTASY
Weather by Jenny Offill LITFIC NYT PICK AUTHOR read Dept of Speculation
Whiskey When We're Dry by John Larison
Why We're Polarized by Ezra Klein
Winter in Wartime by Jan terlouw YA WW II NYRB

With The Fire On High by Elizabeth Acevedo (YA)


The Mirror and the Light -- Hilary Mantel
Lost Children Archive
Night Boat To tangiers 

An Ocean Without A Shore by SCOTT SPENCER 

Posthumous Memoirs Of Bras Cubas
Topeka School 

NYRB The True History of the First Mrs. Meredith by Diane Johnson 

Twenty Years After by Dumas new trans of Three Musketeers by Lawrence Ellsworth
A Sportsman's Notebook

The Bethrothed

Miss Austen by Gill Hornby

Death and Nightingales by Eugene McCabe library

Mys: A Rising Man, A Necessary Evil (need Smoke and Ashes) 

AUGUST 2020


8-4-2020

HISTORY -- caste by Isabel Wilkerson 

LITFIC Why I Don't Write by Susan Minot 

MYS -- The death of Vivek Oji LGBT (no galley yet)

SCIENCE -- The End of Everything (Astrophysically Speaking) by katie Mack 

NATURE -- Owls of the Eastern Ice by Jonathan C Slaght 

MYS The Cabinets of Barnaby Mayne by Elsa Hart period mys locked room fair play

MYS Tampa Bay Noir anthology 

HISTORY/POLITICS America In The World by Robert B Zoellick -- history of US diplomacy

POLITICS -- It Was All A Lie by Stuart Stevens Republican party racism by insider

MEMOIR/BIO Life of a Klansman by edward Ball author of Slaves in the Attic *****

LITFIC LGBT A Saint From Texas by Edmund White

LITFIC The Brother Years by Shannon Burke sibling rivalry, Chicago, tough dad

LITFIC If I had Two Wings by Randall Kenan. First collection in 30 years.

LITFIC New Trans LITFIC CLASSIC Posthumous Memoirs Of Bras Cubas by Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis modernist progenitor


8-11-2020

MYS NYRB No Room at the Morgue by Jean-patrick Manchette 

POLITICS CURR EVENTS On Corruption in America by Sarah Chayes 

LITFIC Via Negativa by Daniel Hornsby priest on road trip

NATURE -- World of Wonders by Aimee Nezhukumatathil  

HISTORY: Iron Empires the railroad by Pulitzer winner Michael Hiltzik

Zo by Xander Miller LITFIC about romeo and juliet in 2010 Haiti

Olive The Lionheart by Brad Ricca HISTORY MYS TRUE CRIME Olive heads to Africa in 1910 to find lost naturalist. Spies, etc.

Veritas by Ariel Sabar -- Harvard prof, con man, gospel of Jesus's wife TRUE CRIME FAITH

Hi 


8-18-2020

POP CUL BIO And In The End: Last Days of Beatles by Ken McNab

LITFIC Aria by Nazanine Hozar Tehran in the 1950s Dr Zhivago 

LITFIC Summer by Ali Smith Book four 

CURR EVENTS Accountable Citizen Capitalism by Michael O'Leary and Warren Valdmanis 

POLITICS HISTORY Reaganland: America's Right Turn 1976-1980 by Rick Perlstein

LITFIC CURR EVENTS IMMIGRATION The New American by Micheline Aharonian Marcom 

LITFIC Red Ants by Pergentino Jose MEXICAN magic realism short stories

SCIENCE The Butterfly Effect by Edward DeMillo -- science book on ties between humans and insects

The Erratics by Vicki Laveau-Harvie MEMOIR Canada two sisters disowned by parents must care for their tyrannical mother and cowed father

******SCI-FI The House of Styx by Derek Kunsken first in new series out on ebook 8-20-2020 and physical 4-13-2021


8-25-2020

HISTORY The Hidden History of Monopolies by Thom Hartmann 

SCIENCE CURR EVENTS Winning The Green new deal essays 

MYS Squeeze Me by Carl Hiaasen 

CULTURAL CRITICISM? The Sprawl: on suburbs by Jason Diamond

The Last Great Road Bum by Hector Tobar -- LITFIC based on true story of journalist from urbana IL chasing down hotspots in 1960s and 1970s

GAY LITFIC TRANS GOD  Slum Virgin by gabriela Cabezon Camara reporter interviewing trans person who has visions of Virgin Mary



SEPTEMBER 2020


9-1-2020 

YA Before The Ever After by Jacqueline Woodson 

***LOA -- The Western The Ox-Bow Incident, Shane, The Searchers, Warlock edited by Ron Hansen 

MYS Squeeze Me by carl Hiaasen  Trump supporter goes missing

LITFIC -- Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi -- Ghanaian tale in Alabama 

THEATER YA -- Sing Like No ONe's Listening by vanessa Jones (author performed on West End) 

THEATER MYS The great Hotel Murder by Vincent Starrett critic sleuth reissue 

The Bass Rock by Evie Wyld LITFIC three women in diff centuries

SCIENCE -- The Human Cosmos by Jo Marchant (connection to the stars throughout history) 

LITFIC Red Pill by Hari Kunzru


9-8-2020

LITFIC What Are You Going Through by Sigrid Nunez 

LITFIC Best American Poetry of 2020 editor david Lehman 

MYS The Forger's Daughter by Bradford Morrow 

LITFIC The Awkward Black Man by Walter Mosley short stories etc


9-15-2020

BIO POP Wild Thing by Philip Norman on Jimi Hendrix 

LIT BESTSELLER The Evening and the Morning by Ken Follett prequel Pillars of the Earth 

HISTORY The Nazi Spy Ring In America by Rhodri Jeffrey-Jones

BIO HISTORY FIRST NATION Tecumseh and the Prophet by Peter Cozzens 

LITFIC SCI-FI BESTSELLER -- Piranesi by Susanna Clarke *********** 

CURR EVENTS Ace: What Asexuality Reveals About... by Angela Chen

BESTSELLER -- Th Evening and the Morning by Ken Follett prequel to Pillars of earth

MYS ANTHOLOGY -- The Nicotine Chronicles edited by Lee Child

NONFIC Burning Down The House Newt Gingrich et al by Julian E Zelizer

THEATER Here We Are by Graham Swift -- seaside resort performers LITFIC

LITFIC Northernmost by Peter Geye

YA LGBT The Ninth Live by Taylor B Barton -- cat is reincarnated as a 17 year old gay boy


9-22-2020

THEATER -- Here We Are by Graham Swift, seaside performers 

ECO The Climate Crisis and the Green NEW Deal by Noam Chomsky

THEATER YA The Year Shakespeare Ruined My Life by Dani Jensen



9-29-2020

HISTORY CURR EVENTS On Fascism 12 Lessons by Matthew C MacWilliams 

BIO HISTORY His Very Best: Jimmy Carter by Jonathan Alter 

FANTASY -- A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik new series NO COPY YET *******


CURR EVENTS Big Dirty Money by Jennifer Taub white collar crime



OCTOBER 2020

10-1-2020 

THEATER YA STAND UP Pretty Funny For A Girl by Rebecca Elliott 


10-6-2020 

LOA SCI-FI FANTASY Ursula K LeGuin Annals of the Western Shore Gifts/Voices/Powers 

HISTORY Chicago's Great Fire by Carl Smith 

SELF HELP Keep Moving by Maggie Smith (not THAT one) 

HUMOR THEATER STANDUP Is This Anything? best of by Jerry Seinfeld 

CURR EVENTS TRUMP What Were We Thinking by Carlos Lozada books on Trump and how they fail 

SCI-FI The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson  ******* 

LITFIC THEATER GAY The Piano Student by Lea Singer -- Vladimir Horowitz secret love for young male student

LITFIC Cuyahoga by Pete Beatty -- outrgeous fiction, high praise 

CURR EVENTS Invisible China by Scott Rozelle and Natalie Hell (urban rural divide) 

LITFIC BIO -- Inside Story by Martin Amis -- story of his life w Hitchens dad etal but called a novel 

HISTORY: America and Iran: A History by John Ghazvinian 


10-13-2020

SCI-FI Dune: The Duke Of Caladan by Brian Herbert and Kevin J Anderson 

CURR EVENTS -- In Defense Of Looting by Vicky Osterweil 

POP CULTURE 150 Glimpses of the Beatles by Craig brown

SCI-FI FAN -- Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse launch of new series matriarchs 


10-20-2020 

LITFIC -- The Silence by Don Delillo 

MOVIES The Nolan Variations by Tom Shone on Christopher Nolan 


10-27-2020

RELIGION The Bible With and Without Jesus by Amy-Jill Levine and Mark Zvi Brettler 

LITFIC Memoiral by Bryan Washington -- queer couple 

POP FIC The Wonder Boy of Whistle Stop by Fannie Flagg 



NOVEMBER 2020

11-3-2020

HISTORY CURR EVENTS TRAVEL The Deepest South of All by Richard Grant on Natchez Mississippi 

11-10-2020

THEATER -- Singular Sensation by Michael Riedel Sunset Blvd to The Lion King

HISTORY Metropolis: A History of the City by Ben Wilson

HISTORY First Principles by Thomas E Ricks on founding fathers and their love of Greek and Roman thought

Comrade Koba by Robert Littell (author of The Company and cold war stuff; boy and dictator) FIC



11-17-2020

LITFIC  The Sun Collective by Charles Baxter 

LITFIC HISTORY JEWISH The Tale of A Niggun by Elie Wiesel narrative poem

ESSAY HISTORY The Glorious American Essay edited by Phillip Lopate 

11-24-2020



DECEMBER 2020


12-1-2020

MOVIES ANIMATION Wild Minds: The Golden Age of Animation by Reid Mitenbuler 

*****LITFIC SPORTS HORSES Perestroika in Paris by Jane Smiley . A horse, dog duck and boy in Paris. 

NONFIC On EDUCATION A Wolf at the Schoolhouse Door by Jack Schneider and Jennifer Berkshire 

12-8-2020

WW II HISTORY Unsinkable by James Sullivan bio of USS Plunkett 


12-15-2020


12-22-2020


12-29-2020

JANUARY 2021 

1-5-2021

1-12-2021

MYS The House on Vesper Sands by Paraic O'Donnell Victorian mys w duo of Cambridge dropout and inspector 

CURR EVENTS Freedom From The Market by Mike Konczal 

HISTORY -- the Crooked Path To Abolition by james Oakes on Lincoln using Constitution to undermine slavery

1-19-2021

1-26-2021

FEBRUARY 2021

2-2-2021 

LITFIC Foregone by Russell Banks 

LIT BESTSELLER HUMOR  -- Truly Like Lightning by David Duchovny 

SCI FI  Speculative Los Angeles edited by Denise Hamilton -- sci-fi compilation surrounding cities 

2-9-2021

HISTORY LGBT Gay Bar by Jeremy Atherton Lin history personal and cultural 

2-16-2021

THEATER Aristophanes Four Plays trans Aaron Poochigian 

2-23-2021

HISTORY WW II Three Ordinary Girls: Netherlands underground teenagers fighting Nazis 

MARCH 2021

3-2-2021

 FANTASY MYS YA The Conductors by Nicole Glover  conductor on Underground railroad solves crimes in post Civil War Philly. Char of Color.

3-9-2021

CURR EVENTS MEDICINE The Hospital by Brian Alexander death of a small town hospital 

3-16-2021

3-23-2021

3-30-2021

SCIENCE BIRDS -- A World On The Wing by Scott Weidensaul bird migration global 

APRIL 2021

4-6-2021

YA The Anti Book by Raphael Simon 

4-13-2021

SCI-FI The House of Styx by Derek Kunsken first in new series out on ebook 8-20-2020 and physical 4-13-2021

4-20-2021

4-27-2021

MAY 2021

5-4-2021

5-11-2021

5-18-2021

5-25-2021

JUNE 2021

6-1-2021

6-8-2021

6-15-2021

6-22-2021

6-29-2021

JULY 2021 

7-6-2021 

7-13-2021

7-20-2021

7-27-2021

AUGUST 2021 

8-3-2021

8-10-2021

8-17-2021

8-24-2021

8-31-2021

SEPTEMBER 2021

9-7-2021

9-14-2021

9-21-2021

9-28-2021

OCTOBER 2021 

10-5-2021

THEATER __ Noel Coward On (and In) Theatre by Noel Coward 

10-12-2021

10-19-2021

10-26-2021

NOVEMBER 2021 

11-2-2021

11-9-2021

11-16-2021

11-23-2021

11-30-2021

DECEMBER 2021

12-7-2021

12-14-2021

12-21-2021

12-28-2021

JANUARY 2019


RONAN FARROW CATCH AND KILL? JAN 2019 LITTLE BROWN

Book Love by Debbie Tung COMICS UK set author out at 2-7-2019 in UK 1-1-2019



The Winter of the Witch fantasy trilogy 1-7-2019

55, Underemployed and Faking Normal by Elizabeth White 1-8-2019

Fault Lines -- Last 50 years of US history nonfic 1-8-2019

Henry VIII by Tracy Borman best-selling academic 1-8-2019 (out in UK in Nov)

The Second Kind Of Impossible by Paul Steinhardt (NJ) science on finding new matter 1-8-2019

An Indefinite Sentence by Siddharth Dube nonfic memoir, India gay (Out same day in Uk; author in NYC) 1-8-2019

The Belting Inheritance by Julian Symons classic mys reissue 1-8-2019

Hitler's Pawn by Stephen Koch history on teen Jew blamed for Kristilnacht NYC 1-8-2019

The Unteachables by Gordon Korman middle grade 1-8-2019

The Perilous Adventures Of The Cowboy King by Jerome Charyn -- fic/Teddy Roosevelt 1-8-2019

An Orchestra of Minorities by Chigozie Obioma litfic Nigerian 1-8-2019





Confessions of a Rogue Nuclear Regulator by nonfic memoir by Gregory B Jaczko 1-15-2019

Bluff City HISTORY bio of Ernest Withers civil rights photog and FBI informant by Preston Lauterbach 1-15-2019

A Risky Undertaking for Loretta Singletary by Terry Shames mys cozy senior citizen 1-15-2019

Late In The Day by Tessa Hadley LITFIC LONDON 1-15-2019 ROTTER REVIEW

Aristotle's Way by Edith Hall classicist UK, philosophy applied 1-15-2019

The Gilded Wolves by Rokshana Chokshi ya fantasy 1-15-2019 (out UK same date)


Maid nonfic by Stephanie Lande 1-22-2019

Camelot's End: Carter v kennedy at convention by Jon Ward 1-22-2019 GILTZ

The Field Guide To The North American Teenager by Ben Philippe 1-22-2019

The Weight Of A Piano by Chris Cander litfic two women united by piano/decades Houston author 1-22-2019

Restoration Heights by Wil Medearis NYC novel  litfic GBN 1-22-2019




The Falconer -- coming of age, female basketball player 1-29-2019

Underground: A Human History of the World beneath our feet by Will Hunt history tech 1-29-2019

The End of Loneliness by Benedict Wells german best-seller 1-29-2019

The Wolf In The Whale by Jordanna Max Brodsky litfic Inuit tale 1-29-2019

The Plotters by Un-su Kim thriller 1-29-2019


FEBRUARY 2019


The Age of light litfic by Whitney Scharer

On The Come Up by Angie Thomas ya about teen female rapper by author of The Hate U Give 2-5-2019

Merchants of Truth by Jill Abramson nonfic on journalism NYT WaPo Buzz Vice 2-5-2019

This Is Not A Love Song by Brendan Matthews stories litfic author of World of Tomorrow 2-5-2019

Where Reasons End by YiYun Li litfic mother son suicide 2-5-2019


The Hollywood Jim Crow SHOWBIZ GBN by Maryann Erigha 2-5-2019

Jimmy Neurosis by James Oseland memoir, gay,punk TV Top Chef judge 2-5-2019

Europe A Natural History by Tim Flannery science 2-5-2019

No Beast So Fierce by Dane Huckelbridge nonfic on dangerous tiger 2-5-2019

The Coronation by Boris Akunin mys historical 2-5-2019

American Pop by Snowden Wright litfic about soda pop/Coke 2-5-2019

The Lost Girls of Paris by Pam Jenoff comm fic followup to Orphan Train 2-5-2019

If We Can Keep It CURR EVENTS by Michael Tomasky fix-it Daily Beast 2-5-2019

Milk of Paradise history of opium by Lucy Inglis 2-5-2018

Lady First bio of First Lady Sarah Polk by Amy S Greenberg 2-5-2019


American Spy by Lauren Wilkinson liftic mys 2-12-2019

Leading men by Christopher Castellani THEATER fi on Tennessee Williams and lover 2-12-2019

Broadsword Calling Danny Boy watching "Where Eagles Dare" nonfic 2-12-2019

The City In The Middle Of The Night ya fantasy 2-12-2019

Sounds Like Titanic memoir by Jessica Chiccehitto Hindman fake performances to soundtrack of movie THEATER 2-12-2019

Midnight in Chernobyl nonfic by Adam Higginbotham 2-12-2019

Northern Lights by Raymond Strom litfic queer protag, gender fluid debut NYC 2-12-2019

The Psychology of Time Travel  by Kate mascarenhas litfic fantasy fun 2-12-2019

Lost Children Archive by Valeria Luiselli litfic family road trip NYC 2-12-2019

Separate: Plessy v Ferguson by Steve Luxenberg WASHPO HISTORY  2-12-2019



ROTTER The Familiars by Stacey Halls witches period, author of Essex Serpent litfic 2-19-2019 ROTTER

The Next To Die by Sophie Hannah thriller 2-19-2019

Landfall by Thomas Mallon litfic Pres W Bush author DC 2-19-2019



How To Hide An Empire history of US possessions 2-19-2019

Cherokee America by Margaret Verble litfic 2-19-2019

Arturo's Island -- Italian classic new trans 2-19-2019

Earth-Shattering/Cataclysms: Science book on disasters by Bon Berman NPR etc 2-19-2019

Possible Minds edited by John Brockman essays on AI by scientists 2-19-2019

Sleeping With Strangers by David Thomson movie criticism 2-19-2019



The Light Jar by Lisa Thompson middle grade 2-26-2019

Magic is Dead by Ian Frisch 2-26-2019

Outwalkers by Fiona Shaw 2-26-2019

An Affair of Poisons ya 2-26-2019

Binstead's Safari by Rachel Ingalls author of Mrs. Caliban 2-26-2019

We Must Be Brave by Frances Liardet WWII litfic orphan2-26-2019

Rayne & Delilah's Midnite Matinee ya 2-26-2019

There is No Planet B by Mike Berners-Lee ENVIRO 2-28-2019

MARCH 2019


The Wall by John Lanchester out of comfort zone sci-fi dystopia 3-5-2019

Real Queer America curr events travel 3-5-2019

Murder by Matchlight classic mys 3-5-2019

The Wolf and the Watchman by Niklas Natt och Dag Swedish period mys 3-5-2019


THEATER A Puzzle For Fools by Patrick Quentin classic mys

THEATER The Unsuspected by Charlotte Armstrong classic mys

A Taste For Honey by HF Heard Sherlockian classic mys

The Unhappiness of Being A Single Man stories by Kafkia

The Women's war by Jenna Glass fantasy 3-5-2019

This Life by martin Hagglund philosophy prof at Yale 3-5-2019

The River by Peter Heller litfic college students wilderness survival 3-5-2019, Lives in Denver

Aunt Poldi and the Vineyards of Etna by Mario Giordano third in series MYS 3-5-2019

Mama's Hug by Frans de waal SCIENCE animals have emotions lives in ATL 3-5-2019

Famous Men Who Never Lived by K Chess sci-fi debut alternate NYC lesbian author 3-5-2019


3-12-2019

The Catalog of Shipwrecked Books popular history 3-12-2019

***Childhood two novellas by Gerard Reve

Bloodleaf by Crystal Smith fantasy debut buzz, auction 3-12-2019

Shoot For The Moon by James Donovan nonfic space race Apollo 11 3-12-2019

The Bird King by G Willow Wilson fantasy 3-12-2019

The Selected Works Of Abdullah the Cossack by HM Naqvi litfic 3-12-2019

The Dragonfly Sea by Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor Nigerian litfic 3-12-2019

Sea People the Puzzle of Polynesia by Christina Thompson HISTORY 3-12-2019

The Swish of the Curtain by Pamela Brown classic kids book about theater, acting pub 1941 3-12-2019 THEATER

Tiny Americans litfic by Devin Murphy debut praised 3-12-2019


3-19-2019

Genesis By Edward O Wilson on Evolution

THEATER: Funny Man: Mel Brooks by Patrick McGilligan 3-19-2019 THEATER

After The Miracle Mets sports book 3-19-2019

Antiracism by Alex Zamalin

The Parade by Dave Eggers fic 3-19-2019

Horizon by Barry Lopez travel bio 3-19-2019

ROTTER Waiting for Bojangles by Olivier Bourdeaut litfic mental illness French hit 3-19-2019 ROTTER

The Boy by Marcus Malte litfic French novel feral lad decades spanning 3-19-2019


3-26-2019

The Size Of The truth by Andrew Smith author of Winger middle grade chef 3-26-2019

Who Killed My Father by Edouard Louis French curr events

The New Silk Roads by Peter Frankopan cur events history 3-26-2019

The Forging Of a Rebel by Arturo Barea memoir history admired by marquez, George Orwell, charts 50 years of Spain in the 20th century 3-26-2019

Voices: The Final Hours of Joan of Arc by David Elliott in verse 3-26-2019


APRIL 2019


4-2-2019

Greystone Secrets #1 middle grade fantasy launch by Margaret Peterson haddix 4-2-2019

Around Harvard Square gay 4-2-2019

THEATER What Blest Genius Shakespeare Jubilee by Andrew McConnell Scogtt 4-2-2019

AARP Greek to me by Mary Norris Comma Queen 4-2-2019

THEATER Macbeth by Harold Bloom 4-2-2019

A Crisis Wasted by Reed Hundt Obama CURR EVENTS 4-2-2019

Ghost Stories anthology edited Leslie Klinger

NASA American Moonshot b Douglas Brinkley history of space race 4-2-2019

Save Me The Plums -- by Ruth Reichel -- FOOD memoir 4-2-2019

Boy Swallows Universe by Trent dalton Aussie hit litfic 4-2-2019

Shakespeare's Library THEATER history 4-2-2019

Crossing by Pajtim Statovci litfic Albanian queer 4-2-2019

K: A History of Baseball in Ten Pitches by Tyler Kepner sports history 4-2-2019

The Damascus Road by Jay parini religious fic St Paul 4-2-2019

Fifty Things That Aren't My Fault by Cathy Guisewite cartoonist of Cathy 4-2-2019

The Editor by Steven Rowley litfic writer and editor 4-2--2019



THEATER Trust Exercise by Susan Choi kids in performing arts school 4-9-2019

The Casket of Time Icelandic fairy tale/enviro tale 4-9-2019

The Players Ball by David Kushner internet history match.com and sex.com battle 4-9-2019

PARADE Notes From A Young Black Chef by Kwame Onwuachi GBN STAR 4-9-2019

My Coney Island Baby by Billy O'Callaghan LITFIC acclaim IRISH 4-9-2019

Working by Robert Caro notes on writing 4-9-2019



Falter by Bill McKibben -- curr events about danger to humanity

Normal People by Sally Rooney litfic great cover longlist Booker coming of age 4-16-2019

Tragedy, The Greeks and Us by Simon Critchley THEATER 4-16-2019

Revolutionaries by Joshua Furst litfic 60s radical son of.... 4-16-2019

The Binding by Bridget Collins -- period fantasy a la sarah Waters 4-16-2019

August Isle by Ali Standish YA big push 4-16-2019

Autumn Light by Pico Iyer nonfic on Japanese culture and grief 4-16-2019

The Meaning of Birds by Jaye Robin Brown (two bird names) YA Queer acclaim for last book 4-16-2019



4-23-2019

Nanaville grandparenting by Anna Quindlen

Odd Partners -- mys anthology of orig short stories edited by Anne Perry

D-Day Girls history of WW II by Sarah Rose 4-23-2019

A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World sci-fi 4-23-2019

Machines Like me by Ian McEwan sci-fi? 4-23-2019



**************Our Castle By The Sea by Lucy Strange middle grade author of Secret Of Nightingale Wood 4-30

Lie With Me gay french novel trans by Molly Ringwald 4-30-2019

Murder Knocks Twice by Susanna Calkins new mys series Chicago speakeasy 4-30-2019

ROTTER REVIEW Cape May litfic by Chip Cheek -- 4-30-2019 ROTTER REVIEW

Mama's Boy by Dustin Lance Black PARADE GAY 4-30-2019



MAY 2019



5-1-2019

Spring by Ali Smith litfic third in quartet



5-7-2019

*********** YA  With The Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo (The Poet X)  5-7-2019

THEATER On Streisand by Ethan Mordden

The Unpassing by Chia-Chia Lin litfic

Aurora Rising ya sci-fi by Kaufman, Kristoff

China Dream by Ma Jian litfic endorsed Atwood banned China, sci-fi-ish

The Endling #2 -- 5-7-2019

Rough Magic memoir horse race 5-7-2019

Ghosts of Gold Mountain by Gordon H Chang HISTORY chinese building railroad US 5-7

Chumps to Champs NYYankees by Bill Pennigton 5-7-2019

AARP HISTORY PARADE War and Peace: FDR 1943-45 by NIgel Hamilton 5-7-2019

AARP Lake of the Ozarks by Bill Geist CBS Sunday morning fixture memoir 5-7-2019

Black Death at the Golden Gate history bubonic plague by David K Randall 5-7-2019

Our Man by george Packer bio of Richard Holbrooke politico 5-7-2019

The Guest Book by Sarah Blake litfic american saga GAN 5-7-2019

Ten Innings at Wrigley sports history by Kevin Cook 1979 slugfest 5-7-2019

On Democracy by EB White 5-7-2019 reissue

Furious Hour true crime Harper Lee nonfic by casey Cep 5-7-2019

The farmer's son by John Connell BIO Irish #1 bestseller 5-7-2019

The Missing Of Clairdelune by Christelle Dabos fantasy



5-14-2019

A Brightness Long Ago by Guy Gavriel Kay

We Hunt The Flame YA fantasy inspired by Arabia

Listen Up! Recording Music w Dylan Neil Young REM et al by Mark Howard

Spying on The South by Tony Horwitz (Confederates in the Attic) 5-14-2019

Out East by John Glynn queer memoir debut 5-14-2019

Freedom Fire Dactyl Hill Squad #2 5-14-2019

The Cult of the Constitution law book 5-14-2019

Maddy Alone by pamela Brown Blue Door #2 THEATER ya classic 5-14-2019


5-21-2019

Mistress of the Ritz pop fic by Melanie Benjamin(Aviators Wife)

The Impeachers history of Andrew Johnson impeachment by Brenda Wineapple

A Summer With Montaigne essays by Antoine Compagnon

Riots I Have Known by Ryan Chapman litfic

AARP Theadore Roosevelt for the Defense nonfic bio about big trial

Why Superman Doesnt Take Over The World -- using comics to explain economic ideas



The Light From The Dark Side Of The Moon lit romance old man remembers WWII romance 5-21-2019

LAT The Dreamt Land -- history current events about California and water and soil by Mark Arax 5-21-2019 ROTTER ROTTER


5-28-2019

*********The Book Case  by Dave Shelton 5-28-2019

The Sentence Is Death by Anthony Horowitz mys second in series

Aloha Rodeo by David Wolman nonfic about Hawaiian cowboys in 1908 who competed in the biggest rodeo in the world

The Helicopter Heist by Jonas Bonnier




JUNE 2019


6-4-2019

*******The Favorite Daughter by Patti Callahan Henry

THE FATE OF FOOD nonfiction

Fall or Dodge in Hell by Neal Stephenson Sci-fi

magic For Liars fantasy myst by Sarah Gailey

HISTORY 1941: The Year Germany Lost The War by Andrew Nagorski

LA/PARADE  This Storm by James Ellroy LA in WW II ROTTER ROTTER

Indecent Advances by James Polchin history of queer sex crimes before Stonewall

The Crowded Hour by Clay Risen HISTORY rough riders etc

AARP The Plaza by Julie Satow

*******Like A Love Story queer YA Iran

In West Mills by De-shawn Charles Winslow litfic black community 1940s-80s

PARADE My Life As A Rat by Joyce Carol Oates litfic

Stonewall by Martin Duberman history reissue




6-11-2019

Norco 80 -- true story of botched bank robbery in Cali in 70s that was most violent in history by Peter Houlahan

Call Your Daughter Home by Deb Spera (TV writer Southern fiction)

Stalingrad by Vasily Grossman nonfic NYRB

NASA One Giant Leap by Charles Fishman Apollo 11
NASA American Moonshot b Douglas Brinkley history of space race 4-2-2019

NASA Shoot For The Moon by James Donovan nonfic space race Apollo 11 3-12-2019

Places and Names by Elliott Ackerman human cost of war from Veteran CURR EVENTS

Elderhood essays on aging  AARP

The Ice At The End Of The World -- science curr events melting ice by Jon Gertner

The Old Man in The Corner: The teahouse Detective vol 1 mys by baroness Orczy reissue


6-18-2019

********The Porpoise by Mark Haddon (Curious Incident...) litfic based on myth

Lifelines by Heidi Diehl litfic Brooklyn

FKA USA crazy talking goat sci-fi dystopian road novel by Reed King cult

The Body Lies by Jo Baker; litfic thriller author of Longbourne

LGBTQI Outrages by Naomi Wolff  -- social queer history of British law/ramifications


6-25-2019

**********You Can't Fall Off The Floor SHOWBIZ TV memoir of life in TV industry insider Harris Katleman

Big Sky thriller by Kate Atkinson

Golden Pavements by pamela Brown Blue Door #3 THEATER ya classic

Rilke in Paris trans in English



JULY 2019


7-2-2019

***********Last Witnesses kid oral history by Svetlana Alexievich

The Best Science Fiction of the Year Volume 4 (2018/19) edited Neil Clarke

How to reform Capitalism series editor Alain de Botton current affairs

Buzz Sting Bite by Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson  popular science


7-9-2019

The Saturday Night Ghost Club -- by Craig davidson litfic acclaimed author coming of age set in Niagara Falls, ref Stand By Me, looks appealing queer author

The Vagabonds by Jeff Guinn nonfic Henry Ford and Thomas Edison road trips

The Substitution Order by martin Clark -- comic legal thriller about down on luck lawyer





7-16-2019

The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead GBN litfic

The Philosopher's War by Tom Miller fantasy/historical sequel

The Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter FANTASY DEBUT

This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar FANTASY


7-23-2019

Reasons To Be Cheerful by Nina Stibbe light fiction UK

Beijing Payback by Daniel Nieh MYS THRILLER

The Liberation of Paris HISTORY AARP by Jean Edward Smith WW II

THEATER Blue Door Venture by Pamela Brown #4

The Liberation of Paris by Jean Edward Smith History WW II

Elvis in Vegas by Richard Zoglin nonfic pop culture

The Lager Queen of Minnesota by J Ryan Stradal litfic



7-30-2019

The Churchgoer by Patrick Coleman Raymond Chandler-esque crime novel

Chances Are by Richard Russo litfic modest thriller


AUGUST 2019


8-6-2019

***************Travel Light, Move Fast by Alexandra Fuller memoir of father

The Ghosts of Eden park by Karen Abbott HISTORY TRUE CRIME jazz age bootlegger

Gods of the Upper air by Charles King SCIENCE HISTORY Frank Boas margaret Mead

House of Salt and Sorrows ya fantasy by Erin A Craig

Hollow Kingdom by Nutty fantasy about crow saving world by Kira Jane Buxton



A Particular Kind of Black Man litfic endorsed by Marlon James, immigrant story

Beaten Down Worked Up by Steven Greenhouse NYT writer on workers today

The Mosquito by Timothy Winegard popular science

******Prince Albert By AN Wilson HISTORY BIO author of Victoria

Mayflower Lives nonfiction by Martyn Whittock

The Borgias by Paul Strathern history

Summerlings by Lisa Howorth litfic Cold War coming of age

The Dragon Republic by RF Kuang sequel to fantasy The Poppy War

First Cosmic Velocity by Zach Powers LITFIC On Soviet space program

The catholic school by Eduardo Albinati nonfic memoir fic true crime 1200 pages+


8-13-2019

**********PARADE AARP A Keeper by Graham  Norton litfic

*******An American Sunrise by Joy Harjo new poems by first Native American to be named poet laureate

******The Doll Factory by Elizabeth macNeal -- uk bestseller; thriller litfic period setting

Drive Your Plow Over The Bones of The dead Polish mystical mystery by Olga Tokarczuk

The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa

Everybodys Doin It: Rise of Popular Music NYC jazz and ragtime in dance halls and brothels by Dale Cockrell

The Case of Miss Elliot Teahouse Detective #2 by Baroness Orczy CLASSIC MYS REISSUE



8-20-2019

**********The Last Widow by karin Slaughter

*********THEATER Maddy Again by Pamela Brown

Tidelands by Philippa Gregory historical novel

Going Dutch -- gay guy, girl best friend and lawyer dating them both in NYC light fic

 litfic

The Outlaw Ocean by Ian Urbina nonfic

The World Doesn't Require You short stories by Rion Amilcar Scott



8-27-2019

The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri litfic

Superheavy by Kit Chapman SCIENCE Periodic Table

Gender and Our Brains by Gina Rippon SCIENCE


The Ventriloquists by ER Ramzipoor WW II novel on true story

See Jane Win by Caitlin Moscatello nonfic on women running for office adult curr events

Shadow School #1 ya/middle grade



SEPTEMBER 2019


9-3-2019

*******THEATER BIO AARP Summertime: George Gershwin bio by Richard Crawford

****THEATER All The Better Part of Me queer actor in London realizes he's bi by Molly Ringle

*****The Long Call by Ann Cleeves new mys series by author of Vera series

***** Lalani of the Distant Sea by Erin Entrada Kelly YA fantasy big push

Cold Storage by David Koepp MOVIES SCREENWRITER

Elements Of Fiction by Walter Mosley HOW TO

Murder By An Aristocrat by Mignon G Eberhart MYS REISSUE Amer Mys Classics w nurse heroine

Wild Fire by Rodman Philbrick YA kids trapped in forest fire

The Secrets We Kept by Lara Prescott litfic Cold War thriller romance

My Jasper June by Laurel Snyder YA friendship

Scan Artist by Marcia Biederman HISTORY OF EVELYN WOOD SPEED READING

Maoism by Julia Lovell HISTORY

All That Glitters Anna Wintour V Tina Brown by Thomas Maier NONFIC POP CULTURE MEDIA

This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger litfic 1930s orphans on an odyssey in US

When Hell Struck Twelve by James R Benn Billy Boyle WWII mys

Three Flames by Alan Lightman litfic

CURR EVENTS The Ungrateful Refugee by Dina Nayeri

LGBTQI YA We Are Lost and Found by Helene Dunbar

A Beginners Guide To Japan by Pico Iyer TRAVEL CURR EVENTS



9-10-2019

Something Deeply Hidden by Sean Carroll SCIENCE multiverse

The Only Plane In The Sky 9/11 Oral History by Garrett M Graff HISTORY CURR EVENTS

Out of Darkness, Shining Light by Petina Gappah LITFIC the flipsidwe of Stanley and Livingston

The Best American Poetry 2019 LITFIC

Animalia by Jean-Baptiste Del-Amo life of French farm, on eating meat LITFIC CURR EVENTS MATTHEW

Country Music by Dayton Duncan Ken Burns POP CUL TV TIE IN

rebooting AI by Gary marcus Ernest Davis SCIENCE CURR EVENTS

The Long-Legged Fly by James Sallis mys classic reissue introing Lew Griffin #1-6
9/10, 10/15, two on 11/12, two on 12/3

What It Means To be Moral by Phil Zuckerman philosophy

The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E Harrowe fantasy



9-17-2019

**********The Second Founding by Eric Foner on Reconstruction and Constitutional amendments HISTORY

******On Fire by Naomi Klein CURR EVENTS CLIMATE CRISIS

******** That Will Never Work: story of Netflix by cofounder Marc randolph SHOWBIZ


********A Hero Born: Legend Of The Condor Heroes 1 by Jin Yong classic Chinese fantasy

******Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson LITFIC ADULT

******I've Seen The Future and I'm Not Going by Peter McGough memoir queer NYC arts scene AIDS

******* Night Boat To Tangier by kevin Barry litfic


Opioid, Indiana by Brian Allan Carr LITFIC CURR EVENTS

The Complete and Original Norwegian Folktales of Asbjornsen and Moe

Chilling Effect by Valerie Valdes goofy humorous sci-fi

POP CULTURE AARP For The Love Of Music by John Mauceri guide to classical music listening

A Simple Thread by Tracy Chevalier litfic

A Cosmology of Monsters by Shaun Hamill litfic family running haunted mansion attraction



9-24-2019

THEATER AARP PARADE Queen Meryl bio by Erin Carlson

Beverly Right Here by Kate DiCamillo threequel YA

AARP The World That We Knew by Alice Hoffman litfic WWII (golem)

The Fool and Other moral Tales by Anne Serre LITFIC

The Shadow King by Maaza mengiste LITFIC ETHIOPIA


THEATER MEMOIR POP MUSIC Year Of The Monkey by Patti Smith travel w Sam Shepard

The Reading Life by CS Lewis

Inclusive Populism by Angus Ritchie CURR EENTS

The Infinite Noise by Lauren Shippen gay high school football YA






OCTOBER 2019


10-1-2019

*****Sarah Jane by James Sallis MYS by noir

Carved in Bone by Michael Nava -- gay crime novel latest in series

Reinhardt's Garden by mark Haber bookseller turned novelist 168pages comic

THEATER Cross/Fire by Staceyanne Chin Poetry slam Broadway star

The 99% Economy on Democratic Socialism by Paul S Adler

*******Blowout by Rachel Maddow corruption in oil industry CURR EVENTS

****The Topeka School by Ben Lerner -- lefties in red state LITFIC

THEATER Jerome Robbins by Himself excerpts letters diaries etc

Imaginary Friend by Stephen Chbosky author of Perks Wallflower FANTASY

******

MYS CLASSIC
A Tall History of Sugar by Curdella Forbes litfic



10-8-2019

Grand Union by Zadie Smith stories collection LITFIC

******On The Plain of Snakes by Paul Theroux TRAVEL AARP

Escape from Paris by Stephen harding WWII HISTORY downed pilots rescued by resistance, hidden in Paris

***********Older Brother by Mahir Guvan French-Syrian tale LITFIC Europa won best first novel in France 256pages

Information Wars by Richard Stengel CURR EVENTS POLITICS

The Boundless Sea A Human History of the ocean by David Abulafia

***********The Giver Of Stars by Jojo Moyes historical fiction librarians

The Furies by Katie lowe thriller teen girl protagonists


10-15-2019

CURR EVENTS The Triumph of Injustice by Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman taxes

THEATER Elton John Me bio (no galley)

Open Season by ben Crump head of national bar association on injustice of criminal justice system CURR EVENTS


**********The Long-Legged Fly by James Sallis mys classic reissue introing Lew Griffin #1-6
9/10, 10/15, two on 11/12, two on 12/3

LITFIC sequel to Olive Kitteridge

The Body by Bill bryson SCIENCE

Life Undercover by Amaryllis Fox CIA agent mentee daniel pearl MEMOIR

Celestial Bodies by Jokha Alharthi LITFIC BOOKER INTL first novel from Oman in English

Ivory Apples by Lisa Goldstein Fantasy



10-22-2019

Agent Running In The Field by John Le Carre MYS

THEATER Famous in Cedarville by Erica Wright mys tinseltown

THEATER The Life and Afterlife of Harry Houdini by Joe Posnanski

Edison by BIO Edmund Morris (late)

Dreams of El Dorado by HW Brands HISTORY western expansion

The Queens of Animation by Nathalia Holt DISNEY women AARP MOVIES

One Day by Gene Weingarten HISTORY AARP of one day Dec 28, 1986

The Deserter by Nelson and Alex DeMille new series THRILLER

The Hidden World of the Fox by Adele Brand SCIENCE

Boss of the Grips GBN by Eric K Washington history of Grand central Red Caps and man who led them

I Hope You Get This message by Farah Naz Rishi YA end of the world


10-29-2019


LITFIC The Factory by Hiroko


THEATER -- Keep it Moving by Twyla Tharp


The Cheffe by marie Ndiaye LIFIC on Female French Chef COOKING

NOVEMBER 2019


11-5-2019

THEATER -- The Movie Musical by Jeanine Basinger nonfic

The Bishop's Bedroom by Piero Chiara MYS

FANTASY YA Novice Dragoneer by EE Knight new fantasy series

The Revisioners  by LITFIC Margaret Wilkerson Sexton century spanning tale of black farmer etc

The Mutual Admiration Society by mo Moulton GROUP BIO HISTORY MYS Dorothy L Sayers et al

Galileo's Error by Philip Goff SCIENCE PANPSYCHISM

American Resistance by Dana R Fisher CURR EVENTS

The Little Blue Kite by Mark Z Danielewski LITFIC

The History Of Philosophy by AC Grayling HISTORY

The Mysterious Affair at Olivetti nonfic on computer history by Meryle Secrest Cold war conspiracy to stop first desktop computer

Fifth Sun: A New History Of The Aztecs by Camilla Townsend



11-12-2019

CLIMATE All Hell Breaking Loose: Pentagon Perspective by Michael T Clare

Agent jack by Robert Hutton WW II MI5s Nazi hunter; undercover w british sympathizers

The Queering of Corporate America by Carlos A Ball HISTORY CURR EVENTS

************The Long-Legged Fly by James Sallis mys classic reissue introing Lew Griffin #1-6
9/10, 10/15, two on 11/12, two on 12/3

11-19-2019

AARP HISTORY The Season Social History of Debutante by Kristen Richardson

The Captain and the Glory by Dave Eggers (plus UK Kafka roach) SATIRE CURR EVENTS

CURR EVENTS Great Society by Amity Shlaes conservative take

AARP The Second Sleep by Robert harris medieval mystery tale by thriller author

Mary Toft or The rabbit Queen by Dexter Palmer LITFIC Historical Fiction

HISTORY The Ship of Dreams Titanic by Gareth Russell


11-26-2019

Revolutionary Brothers by Tom Chaffin BAD GALLEY CHECK PDF


AARP PARADE Janis: Her Life and Music by Holly George-Warren

DECEMBER 2019

12-3-2019

Girl Woman Other by Bernardine Evaristo BOOKER

Superior Women by Alice Adams LITFIC

Dread Journey by Dorothy B Hughes -- Hollywood producer and tossed-aside starlet MYS REISSUE Amer Mys Classics

************The Long-Legged Fly by James Sallis mys classic reissue introing Lew Griffin #1-6
9/10, 10/15, two on 11/12, two on 12/3

12-10-2019

Africaville by Jeffrey Colvin LITFIC DEBUT families in US and small town in Nova Scotia founded by former enslaved peoples

THEATER FILM Sidney Lumet by Laura Spiegel

THEATER CLASSICAL MUSIC Dangerous Melodies by Jonathan Rosenberg history of classical music from WW I to  Cold War

The Book of Science and Antiquities by Thomas Keneally litfic

Seven Samurai Swept Away In A River





JANUARY 2020


1-2-2020

Breaking The Two Party Doom Loop by Lee Drutman CURR EVENTS



1-7-2020

Such A Fun Age by Kiley Reid LITFIC Young black babysitter and viral moment

HISTORY Wilmington's Lies: White Supremacy by David Zucchino

Yellow Earth by John Sayles CURR EVENTS LITFIC MOVIES

FANTASY The Night Country by Melissa Albert sequel to The Hazel Wood

Boys & Sex nonfiction by Peggy Orenstein CURR EVENTS

Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America by Marcia Chatelain HISTORY BUSINESS GBN

THEATER Rocket Man Elton John bio by Mark Bego quickie

The Gimmicks by Chris McCormick LITFIC Aremenian Genocide and pro wrestling

The Art of War by Sun TZU new trans by Michael Nylan

Don't Believe A Word by David Shariatmadari book on languages

CLASSIC

FANTASY The Lovecraft Squad: Rising created by Stephen Jones


1-14-2020

*****Arguing With Zombies by Paul Krugman CURR EVENTS

LITFC LGBT Cleanness by Garth Greenwell

Bubble In The Sun: Florida Real estate leading to Great depression by Christopher Knowlton HISTORY CURR EVENTS

A World Without Work by Daniel Susskind CURR EVENTS

Tightrope by Nicholas Kristof struggling working class CURR EVENTS

A Beginning At The End by Mike Chen post-apocalyptic hopeful

*****America Manifesto by Bob Garfield WYNC CURR EVENTS

Infinity Son by Adam Silvera FANTASY launch of series

Night Theater by Vikram Paralkar India litfic fantasy

Race of Aces by James R Bruning HISTORY WW II Pilots AARP

The Peacock Detectives  by Carly Nugent YA middle grade


1-21-2020

The Founding Fortunes by Tom Shachtman HISTORY

POP HUMOR FICTION Heart of Junk by Luke geddes debut, antique mall, reality tv, kidnapped beauty queen kiddie etc.

Recipe For A Perfect Wife by karma Brown -- housewife works through cookbook and notes of 50s housewife POP FIC

Small Days and Nights by Tishani Doshi LITFIC

The Janes by Louisa Luna book #2 MYS



1-28-2020

CURR EVENTS --

LITFIC Run Me To Earth by Paul Yoon v Oprah orphans Laos etc

MYS LITFIC The truants by Kate Weinberg debut mys, Agatha Christie, Donna Tartt

HISTORY CURR EVENTS The Bomb nuclear weapons policy by Fred Kaplan

THEATER -- MYS Mortal Music by Ann Parker -- san fran 1881-1882 opera diva comes to town

Rewriting the Rules Of The European Economy yb Joseph E Stiglitz Nobel winning economist CURR EVENTS

FANTASY Highfire by Eoin Colfer dragon and teen rebel in Louisiana

Early -- premie babies SCIENCE by Sarah DiGregorio

My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell teen girl and her teacher sexual relationship LITFIC

Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu -- pop culture about TV show and bit player turned Kung Fu guy. Comic tale of assimilation etc POP CULTURE




FEBRUARY 2020


2-4-2020


Independence Square by A.D. Miller Ikraine LITFIC GUARDIAN PIC

JOURNALISM Race Against Time by Jerry Mitchell investigating Birmingham bombing et al

****MYS SCIFI Golden In death by JD Robb Eve dallas #50 by Nora Roberts

HISTORY Eight Days At Yalta by Diana Presto

YA LGBT The Gravity of Us by Phil Stamper teens of NASA astronauts

AARP MEMOIR Brother and Sister by Diane Keaton

FAITH LITFIC The Convert by Stefan Hertmans historical fiction noblewoman falls for Jewish boy

****** The Resisters by Gish Jen dystopian baseball novel

The Professor and the Parson by Adam Sisman FAITH CON ARTISTS

The Freedom Artist by Ben Okri litfic

AARP PARADE Unconditional Love memoir by Jocelyn Moorhouse , directing, autistic child, return to directing

MYS A Divided Loyalty by Charles Todd mys Ian Rutledge

MYS CLASSIC The Siamese twin Mystery by Ellery Queen reissue


2-11-2020

HISTORY MYS SCIENCE American Sherlock birth of CSI by Kate Winkler Dawson

MYS TRUE CRIME The Falcon Thief by Joshua Hammer

HISTORY BIO Franklin & Washington The Founding Partnership by Edward J Larson



POP CULTURE

The Bear by Andrew Krivac dystopian litfic, father and daughter alone in world

Felicity Carrol and the Murderous Menace by Patricia Marcantonio MYS NEW SERIES

******

HISTORY 1774: The Long Year of Revolution by Pulitzer finalist Mary Beth Norton

POETRY Strangers by Night by Edward Hirsch

FANTASY The Unspoken name by A.K. Larkwood Fantasy debut


2-18-2020

THEATER Counterpoint: Bach and Mourning by Philip Kennicott

Real Life by Brandon Taylor GAY ALABAMA RACE LITFIC

FAITH The Hope of Glory last words of Jesus by Jon Meacham

CURR EVENTS HOUSING -- Golden Gates by Conor Dougherty public housing San fran

HISTORY Congress at War by Fergus M Bordewich Civil War focus on Congress

The Wolf Of Oren-Yaro by K.S. Villoso FANTASY series launch

The Lucky Star by William T Vollmann LITFIC 672 pages

A Beautiful Crime by Christopher Bollen MYS queer con artists in Venice

The Aosawa Murders by Riku Onda JAP MYS acclaimed writer first Eng trans

Citizen Reporters by Stephanie Gorton McClure's Magazine HISTORY JOURNALISM



2-25-2020


****

CLIMATE CRISIS The Future We Choose by Christiana Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac

Soot by Dan Vyleta sequel to Smoke Dickensian fantasy

These Fevered Days by martha Ackmann ten days in life of Emily Dickinson BIO

Scratched by Elizabeth Tallent Memoir by writer lost i wormhole of perfectionism

The lost Diary of M by Paul Wolfe LITFIC lover of JFK, LSD user etc story of Mary Pinchot Meyer



Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde -- essays and speeches GBN


MARCH 2020


3-3-2020

LITFIC Sharks in the Time of Saviors by Kawai Strong Washburn Hawaiian debut

HISFIC The Land Beyond The Sea by Sharon Kay Penman

LITFIC These Ghosts Are Family by Maisy card LITFIC Jamaica harlem

HISTORY Every Drop of Blood Lincoln's Second Inauguration by Edward Achorn

YA Mananaland by Pam Munoz Ryan Big push

MYS LITFIC City of Margins by William Boyle 90s Brooklyn

LITFIC The Last Taxi driver by Lee Durkee

LITFIC Deacon King Kong by James McBride

THEATER Actress by Anne Enright legendary theater actress w daughter following in footsteps

SCI-FI Docile by KM Szpara novel debut

The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich litfic based on her grandfather

We Ride Upon Sticks by Quan Barry -- 80s set novel about female hockey team/witches in Salem

Dorothy Day by John Loughery ad Blythe Randolph BIO FAITH POLITICS HISTORY


3-10-2020

***********A Bond Undone by Jin Yong -- book two in Legends Of the Condor Heroes

********Gold Rush Girl by Avi

CURR EVENTS -- Pharma by Gerald Posner science big business

LITFIC My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russelll -- teen girl falls under sway of English teacher #MeToo past and present CURR EVENTS   GUARDIAN PICK

THEATER AARP POP CUL Barry Sonnenfeld, Call Your Mother bio

YA City Spies by James Ponti Edgar award winner; teens in MI6

SELF HELP How To Change Anyone's Mind by Jonah Berger

THEATER Shakespeare in a Divided America by James Shapiro

The Bramble and the Rose by Tim Bouman MYS set in rural Pennsylvania, second in series



3-13-2020 ??

Cinema '62 by Stephen Farber et al POP CULTURE MOVIES



3-17-2020

My Meteorite by Harry Dodge MEMOIR BUZZ

MYS Beheld by tara Shea Nesbit Mayflower murder mys

The House In The Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune QUEER FANTASY

The Mountains Sing by Que Mai Phan Nguyen LITFIC VIETNAM

Nobody Will Tell You This But Me -- memoir by granddaughter and grandmother, writer for Jimmy Kimmel first printing 100k

Brightstorm by Vashti Hardy YA steampunk UK hit

City Spies by James Ponti -- ew YA series of five kids trained by MI5



3-24-2020

NYRB Marrow and Bone by Walter Kempowski WWII LITFIC

LITFIC The Everlasting by Katy Simpson Smith -- four characters spanning centuries but linked BUZZ

HISTORY American Rebels by Nina Sankovitzh Amer revolution look at Hancocks Adams and Quincys pushed for revolt


************ The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin SCI-FI

*******The Glass Hotel by Emily St John Mandel author of Station Eleven LITFIC

Enter The aardvark by Jessica Anthony big push, politics, sexuality, stuffed aardvark




3-31-2020

NYRB LITFUC Michael Kohlhaas by Heinrich von Kleist

THEATER -- This is shakespeare by Emma Smith, analysis of plays etc

THEATER -- Almost Maine by John Cariani play turned into YA novel


APRIL 2020

4-7-2020


THEATER -- A Tender Thing FIC by Emily Neuberger 50s Bway as a new musical depicts romance between white woman and black man. Author debut.

HISTORY -- Lincoln On The Verge by Ted Widmer -- Lincoln's 13 day train ride to be sworn into office as President

Afterlife by Julia Alvarez LITFIC BESTSELLER

How The West Stole Democracy From The Arabs by Elizabeth F. Thompson HISTORY

The Kidnap Years by David Stout epidemic of crime during Depression HISTORY

The Age of Witches by Louisa Morgan witches in Gilded Age NYC FAN PERIOD

Sin Eater by megan Campisi HIS-FIC MYS FANTASY

Coffeeland by Augustine Sedgewick HISTORY

They Went Left by Monica Hesse YA HOLOCAUST

THEATER The Astonishing Life of August March by Aaron jackson LITFIC

THEATER Shakespeare For Every Day Of The Year by Allie Erisi

The Beauty of Your Face by Sahar Mustafa LITFIC

LITFIC Redhead by the Side Of the Road by Anne Tyler

THEATER FANTASY The Glass magician by Caroline Stevermer set in NYC Gilded Age fantasy

POETRY/THEATER Broadway For Paul by Vincent katz


4-14-2020

*****BIO MUSIC -- Odetta: A Life in Music and Protest by Ian Zack BHam Alabama born

SCIENCE -- Ingredients: The Strange Chemistry of what we put in us and on us by George Zaidan

FIC Simon the Fiddler by Paulette Jiles author of News of the World

COOKING -- Everyone Can Bake by Dominique Ansel

CLIMATE Notes From An Apocalypse by MARK O'CONNELL

SCIENCE BIO Why Fish Don't exist by Lulu Miller -- life's work cataloging fish destroyed in an instant

HISTORY The Year 1000 by Yale historian Valerie Hansen

How To Pronounce Knife by Souvankham Thammavongsa stories immigrants in big city

NATURE What It's Like To Be A Bird by david Allen Sibley

Fifty-Two Stories by Anton Chekhov trans by pevear and volokhonsky

LITFIC Bubblegum by Adam Levin alternate history w no internet GAINESVILLE writer

LITFIC POP Perfect Tunes by Emily Gould -- aspiring singer-songwriter in destructive relationship

MYS CLASSIC Death in Fancy Dress by Anthony Gilbert first pub 1933


4-21-2020

THEATER LITFIC -- Heree We Are by Graham Swift Brixton vaudevillians circa 1959

FISHING -- Dumb Luck and the Kindness of Strangers by John Gierach -- essays etc fly fishing

The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd FAITH JESUS LITFIC

LITFIC A Thousand Moons by Sebastian barry Tennessee post Civil War HIS FIC

The Paris Mysteries short stories by Edgar Allan Poe MYS CLASSICS

THEATER GAY YA In The Role Of Brie Hutchens by Nicole Melleby trade acclaim girl entering eighth grade determined to star in school play but afraid to come out


THEATER __ This Is Shakespeare by Emma Smith analyszes flaws and inconsistencies, embraces them


4-28-2020

LITFC LGBT Swimming in the Dark by Tomasz Jedrowski Polish teens

The Knock0ut Queen by Rufi Thorpe LITFIC LGBTQI YA closeted teen and tall freak

All Boys Aren't Blue by George M JOhnson QUEER YA memoir manifesto essays

MAY 2020

5-5-2020

Old Lovegood Girls by Gail Godwin LITFIC

SELF HELP -- Ask For More by Alexandra Carter

Universe of Two by Stephen P Kiernan scientist on Manhattan Project who spends life making amends

FOOD Dirt by Bill Buford cooking memoir

Hollywood Park by Mikel Jollett CULT MEMOIR POP

The Motion of the Body Through Space by Lionel Shriver LITFIC

SPORTS FAITH Buddha Takes The Mound by Donald Lopez

HISTORY RACE On Account of Race by Lawrence Goldstone Supreme Court White Supremacy

We Need To Talk by Jennifer Risher memoir about wealth MONEY


5-12-2020

POP CULTURE TV THEATER Sunny Days rise of kids tv by David Kamp

LITFIC -- A Children's Bible by Lydia Millet

HISTORY The Black Cabinet By Jill Watts FDR and Black advisers

Lou Gehrig the Lost Memoir by Alan D Gaff AARP BIO SPORTS

THRILLER The End of October by Lawrence Wright medical thriller NYT writer

HISTORY PIRACY Enemy of All Mankind by Steven Johnson

LITFIC CLASSIC 

CURR EVENTS LGBT The Pink Line by Mark Gevisser Sexual and gender identity around the world.

Pew by Catherine Lacey LITFIC FAITH oddity

Glorious Boy by Aimee Liu WWII FIC

Catherine House by Elisabeth Thomas -- elite school, secret pact etc big push LITFIC

THEATER Shakespeare for Squirrels by Christopher Moore -- mys combined with Midsummer. Nutty, playful, detective tale.


5-19-2020

LGBT LITFIC Boys Of Alabama by Genevieve Hudson

LITFIC On Ajayi Crowther Street -- Nigerian comic novel

LITFIC QUEER The Thirty Names Of Night by Zeyn Joukhadar Syrian American trans boy, disappearing mom, birds

BEACH READ THEATER? The Lion's Den by Katherine St John -- trapped on billionaire's yacht

LITFIC ARGENTINA Don't Shed Your tears For Anyone Who Lives On These Streets by Patricio Pron -- Granta pick author, WW II merging of politics and art

HISTORY CURR EVENTS IMMIGRATION One Mighty and Irresistible Tide battle over immigration 1920s-1960s by Jia Lynn Yang

HISTORY GROUP BIO FEMINISM -- The Equivalents by Maggie Doherty -- independent study brings together artists at radcliffe poet Anne Sexton et al



5-26-2020

POLITICS -- Trumpocalypse by David Frum

LITFIC All My Mother's Lovers by Ilana Masad

Love in the Blitz by Eileen Alexander NONFIC MEMOIR WW II

1939: A People's History by Frederik Taylor HISTORY WW II

The Jane Austen Society by Natalie Jenner BESTSELLER BOOKCLUB

The Cubans ordinary lives by NYT Anthony DePalma CURR EVENTS

Camp by L.C. Rosen YA QUEER

\

JUNE 2020

6-2-2020

THEATER -- Parakeet by Marie-Helene bertino playwright etc 

POLITICS ECONOMICS -- The Ages of Globalization by Jeffrey D Sachs

LITFC YA Burn by Patrick Ness (no galley yet)

SCIENCE BIO -- Galileo and the Science Deniers by Mario Livio

POP CULTURE Dolls Dolls Dolls Inside The valley of the Dolls by Stephen Rebello 

LITFIC The Paris Library -- by Janet Skeslien Charles historical fiction, librarians, Paris WW II!!!

*****LITFIC INDIA CURR EVENTS A Burning By Megha Majumdar BIG DEBUT

THE REMARKABLE LIFE OF THE SKIN by Monty Lyman SCIENCE

CURR EVENTS WAR TECH The Drone Age by Michael J Boyle

YA LGBTQI -- The State of Us by Shaun David Hutchinson kids of Pres candidates fall in love

Where We Go From here by Lucas Rocha GAY BRAZIL YA

TRUE CRIME HISTORY Night Of The Assassins by Howard Blum. Hitlers plan to assassinate3 FDR, Churchill and Stalin. bestselling author and Pultizer nominee as journalist at NYT.

SCIENCE -- Keep Sharp by Sanjay Gupta CNN guy on memory

SCIENCE The Language of Butterflies by Wendy Williams



6-9-2020

LITFIC Night Sleep death Stars by Joyce Carol Oates

CURR EVENTS The Deficit Myth by Stephanie Kelton 

COMIC NOVEL -- Swan Song by Lisa Alther -- cruise ship nonsense w heft

The Vanishing Sky by L Annette Binder WWII LITFIC

Alaric The Goth outsider on fall of rome by Douglas Boin HISTORY BIO


6-16-2020

LITFIC REISSUE POSTHUMOUS MEMOIRS OF BRAS CUBAS 

THEATER LITFIC Morningside Heights by Joshua Henkin woman in love w Shakespeare professor

HISTORY  much acclaim

THEATER We Came Here To Shine by Susie Orman Schnall at Worlds Fair THEATER FIC


6-23-2020

THEATER MEMOIR Lot Six by David Adjmi 

POP CULTURE __ Pure Invention: How Japan's Pop Culture Conquered the World by matt Alt SHOWBIZ SANDBOX

The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected In Water by Zen Cho FANTASY wuxia inspired

LITFIC Friends and Strangers by J Courtney Sullivan new mom and college student struggling w life


6-30-2020

MILITARY: The Button nuclear weapons history by William J Perry and Tom Collina 

SCI_FI  GENDER__ Blue Ticket by Sophie McIntosh -- women assigned at early age to have a baby or not

JULY 2020

7-7-2020

LITFIC GAY Lake Life by David James Poissant

THEATER SCI-FI Or What You Will by Jo Walton

YA FAN A Peculiar Peril by Jeff vandermeer first of two

TRUE CRIME MOVIES -- Ripped From The headlines -- true stories that inspired films

LITFIC The Son Of Good Fortune by Lysley Tenorio undocumented, mom stunt person light

LITFIC GAY Skyland by Andrew Durbin NO GALLEY

YA GAY Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall

POP CUL LIT -- Memoirs and Misinformation by Jim Carrey+

THRILLER Out of Time by David Klass Green Man eco-terrorist

The Big Door Prize by M.O. Walsh -- southern novel about machine that reveals your potential

In The Land of Good Living -- walking Florida on foot by Kent Russell TRAVEL

The Vapors by david Hill -- Hot Springs, the firsthome of Vice in USA TRUE CRIME


7-14-2020

CRIME -- Blacktop Wasteland by S.A. Cosby ********

SCI CRYPTOCURRENCY -- The Infinite Machine by Camila Russo using Ethereum to build Internet 2.0

SCI-FI LITFIC Utopia Avenue by David Mitchell 

HUMOR Make Russia Great Again by Christopher Buckley

HISTORY -- The King of Confidence by Miles Harvey nonfic shyster Mormon leader


*********YA FAN The Fell of Dark p-- gay vampire by Caleb Roehrig gay

BIO SPORTS WOMEN The Divine Miss Marble by Robert Weintraub true tale of tennis star

Butch Cassidy by Leerhsen BIO HISTORY TRUE CRIME




7-21-2020

FANTASY The Big Book of Modern Fantasy by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer 

CURR EVENTS Baseless by Nicholson Baker on freedom of information act

BIO/HISTORY The Indomitable Florence Finch by Robert J Mrazek WW II Hero in Phillipines 

LITFIC Pew by Catherine Lacey 00 rising talent w Twilight Zone style short novel about mysterious strangver in small town

POP MUSIC BIO Remain in Love by Chris Frantz of Talking Heads 



7-28-2020

NATURE -- Fathoms: The Whale In The World by Rebecca Giggs *********

MYS The geometry of Holding Hands by Alexander McCall Smith -- philosophical series

POLITICS HISTORY -- To Start A War by Robert Draper Bush and Iraq

POLITICS You're Fired beating Trump by Paul Begala

MYS A Royal Affair by Allison Montclair -- second in series, investigating Prince Phillip as suitable for Queen Elizabeth

LITFIC The Five Books of (Robert) Moses by Arthur Nersesian

HISTORY LAst Mission To Tokyo Doolittle raids by Michel Paradis

Memorial Drive by Natasha Tretheway poet MEMOIR

BACKLIST

The Age of Eisenhower bio 
Agent Running In The Field by John Le Carre 
Amatka sci-fi female 
American Moonshot b Douglas Brinkley history of space race 
And Then We Danced -- memoir history dance by New Yorker writer Henry Alford 
Angel Mage by Garth Nix fantasy 
Anniversaries by Uwe Johnson German fiction epic 1600+ pages 
The Annotated Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler 
Arrowood -- Holmes competitor
Augustown -- Jamaican novel 
Autumn Light by Pico Iyer nonfic on Japanese culture and grief 
The Battle For Beverly Hills -- history
Bearskin by James McLaughlin lit thriller
The Beauties Chekhov short stories new trans
Before The Fall -- thriller by creator of TV Fargo
Behemoth: A History of the Factory 
The Best Science Fiction of the Year Volume 4 (2018/19) edited Neil Clarke
Big Sky thriller by Kate Atkinson 
Binstead's Safari by Rachel Ingalls author of Mrs. Caliban 2-26-2019
Black Edge -- business nonfic hedge fund shenanigans
Black Flags Blue Waters -- history pirates US

Black Shack Alley by Jospeh Zobel Penguin reissue
Blood Moon Cherokee nation history two rivals
The Book Of Disquiet new edition
Born A Crime Trevor Noah
Bowlaway by Elizabeth McCracken litfic 2-5-2019

Boys Of Alabama by Genevieve Hudson 

The Brothers York by Thomas Penn 
Bryant and May Hall of Mirrors
Bullshit Jobs by David Graeber

The Butchering Art medicine history
Career of Evil (Robert Galbraith mys)
Central Station
Chicago by David Mamet
The Chilbury Ladies' Choir (book club fiction)
The Chinese Orange Mystery by Ellery Queen mys reissue
A Christmas Carol and other Christmas stories by Charles Dickens

City On Fire
Classic American Crime Fiction of the 1920s edited by Leslie S Klinger 
The Complete and Original Norwegian Folktales of Asbjornsen and Moe 
Conclave by Robert Harris Vatican thriller 
The Country of the Pointed Firs by Sarah Orne Jewett 
A Country Road, A Tree follow-up to Longbourne 
A Crisis Wasted by Reed Hundt Obama CURR EVENTS 4-2-2019 
The Crooked Hinge by JOhn Dickson Carr reissue Amer Mys Classics
Culdesac
Darwin's Backyard science history PW PICK 9-5
Daughter Of The Pirate King (ya fantasy)
Days Without End -- gay historical fic Sebastian Barry 
D-Day Girls history of WW II by Sarah Rose 
Death Going Down (mystery) 
Death on the Aisle a Mr and Mrs North mystery 3-5-2019 THEATER 

The Deviant's War by Eric Cervini gay history of fight for rights 

Dodge City (popular history)
Drive -- nonfiction about early years of auto industry
Drive Your Plow Over The Bones of The dead Polish mystical mystery by Olga Tokarczuk
The Dutch House by Ann Patchett
Elena Ferrante

Empire of Cotton
Everyone Brave Is Forgiven by Chris Cleave 
Fall or Dodge in Hell by Neal Stephenson 

Farthest Field 
Fifth Sun: A New History Of The Aztecs 

The Fine Art of Murder
Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah short stories
Future Home of the Living God dystopia by Louise Erdrich 
Galileo's Error by Philip Goff 
A Gentleman In Moscow -- lit fic

The Gilded Razor
The Girl at the Baggage Claim (social commentary East-West) 
Gods of the Upper air by Charles King SCIENCE HISTORY Frank Boas margaret Mead 
The Good Daughter Karin Slaughter 
The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah
Green by Sam Graham-Felsen
Hallelujah Anyway Anne Lamott -- 4-4

The Heart Goes Last Margaret Atwood
Here Comes The Sun -- fic debut
Heroes Of The Frontier by Dave Eggers  
A High Five For Glenn Burke by Phil Bildner QUEER SPORTS MIDDLE GRADE 

H is for Hawk
History Of Violence by Eduard louis

Holding by Graham Norton
Home By Nightfall Mys London period
Home sweet Homicide by Craig Rice mys reissue 
House Of Names by Colm Toibin
How To Survive A Plague 
How To Survive A Summer (gay conversion camp)
Huck out West -- by Robert Coover
I'll Have What She's Having -- Nora Ephron rom-com 
The Impeachers history of Andrew Johnson impeachment by Brenda Wineapple 
Indecent Advances by James Polchin history of queer sex crimes before Stonewall 
Infomocracy (not on Kindle) 
In West Mills by De-shawn Charles Winslow litfic black community 1940s-80s 

The Japanese Lover by Isabelle Allende
Joe Gould's Teeth 
K: A History of Baseball in Ten Pitches by Tyler Kepner  
Katharine Of Aragon -- Alison Weir fiction
Last Stories by William Trevor 
Last Witnesses kid oral history by Svetlana Alexievich 
Leading men by Christopher Castellani THEATER fi on Tennessee Williams and lover 
The Lessons of Ubuntu nonfic on race 
Lie With Me gay french novel trans by Molly Ringwald 

A Little Life
**********The Long-Legged Fly by James Sallis mys classic reissue introing Lew Griffin #1-6
9/10, 10/15, two on 11/12, two on 12/3
Lost and Gone Forever Alex Grecian mystery
The Lost Art of Scripture by karen Armstrong FAITH
The Lost Boys by 4-2-2019 famous psychological experiment in 1950s
Louisiana's Way Home by Kate DiCamillo
Loving, Caught, Back all by Henry Green reissue NYRB

Manhattan Beach by jennifer egan
The Man Who Spoke Snakish

Mapp Lucia reissues Worshipful and Queen and Lucia
The Maze at Windermere by Gregory Blake Smith
Melmoth by Sarah perry author of Essex Serpent
The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa
Middle England by Jonathan Coe
The Mirror Thief
Mister Monkey -- fiction/theater 

Mrs. Engels
My German Brother by Chico Barques, Brazilian pop star
My Sister The Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite
The Mystery of Three Quarters by Sophie Hannah new Poirot
Ninefox Gambit (not on Kindle)

Nine Lives new Mys series Wendy Corsi Staub
The Nix
Nobody does It Better oral history of james Bond by Edward Gross Mark A Altman
Noir by Christopher Moore
The Novel of Ferrara by Giorgio Bassani (six volume epic)
Number one Chinese Restaurant lit fic
The Odyssey by Emily Wilson trans 

The Old Drift by Namwali Serpal 

The Old Man in The Corner: The teahouse Detective vol 1 mys by baroness Orczy reissue 
Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout 
On Democracy by EB White 5-7-2019 reissue 
On Streisand by Ethan Mordden 
Our Man by george Packer bio of Richard Holbrooke politico 5-7-2019 
The Paper Menagerie
Passing by Nella Larsen
Patriot Number One -- bio/curr events Chinese activist
The Personality Brokers by Merve Emre history of Myers-Briggs
Pirate Utopia sci-fi fantasy by Bruce Sterling
The Puzzle of the Happy Hooligan by Stuart Palmer mys reissue
The Red Lamp by mary Rinehart mys reissue
Renoir's Dancer history
Requiem for the American Dream -- Noam Chomsky
Richard Nixon bio John Farrell
Rilke in Paris trans in English
Romance in Marseille by Claude McKay LITFIC PENGUIN CLASSIC LGBT BLACK
Room To Dream David Lynch
The Sacred Hunt Duology
The Season Social History of Debutante by Kristen Richardson
Secondhand Time
Shark Drunk -- two guys true story catch shark, makes em drunk!
The Shepherd's Hut by Tim Winton
The Ship of Dreams Titanic by Gareth Russell
Shoot For The Moon by James Donovan nonfic space race Apollo 11
Silver sword and Stone -- a lens on Latin America by historian marie Arana
Sing Unburied Sing litfic 9-5

The 6:41 To Paris
Sleeping Giants (not on Kindle)

The Soul Of An Octopus
Speak No Evil litfic by Iweala
The Spirit Photographer his fic 
A Sportsmans Notebook by Ivan Turgenev
Spring by Ali Smith litfic third in quartet 
Squeezed current events economics  
Stalingrad by Vasily Grossman nonfic NYRB

The Stone Reader NYT philosophy column
The Stranger In The Woods -- RS reporter on hermit
Strangers In Their Own Land -- nonfic look at American right on ground level
Substitute -- Nicholson Baker memoir sub teacher 
A Summer With Montaigne essays by Antoine Compagnon 
Superior: The Return Of Race Science by Angela Saini science cur events 5-21-2019 
Swing Time Zadie Smith

The Sympathizer
Tell Them Of Battles, Kings and Elephants by Mathias Enard
That Thin Wild Mercury Sound by Daryl Sanders making of Blonde on Blonde
There There -- litfic urban Native Americans

Thirteen Ways Of Looking 
This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar FANTASY 
This Storm by James Ellroy 
Thrice The Brinded cat Hath Mewed new flavia de luce
The Tide -- popular science on tides
To Fight Against This Age --fascism essays
Tomorrow's Kin  sci-fi alien first contact
Too Like The Lightning

Twelve Kings (fantasy)  
Twenty Years After by Dumas new trans of Three Musketeers by Lawrence Ellsworth  
Valley Of Genius Silicon Valley by Adam Fisher history tech
Varieties of Religious Experience by William James
Victorian Fairy Tales edited by Michael Newton

Vision Quest (ya)
We'll Always Have Casablanca (pop culture)
We Were Rich and We Didn't Know It Irish memoir 3-5-2019
When Einstein Walked With Godel science essays by Jim Holt
Where The Crawdads Sing litfic
Why Superman Doesnt Take Over The World -- using comics to explain economic ideas 

The White Ghost by James R Benn WW II Mys
Winter -- Ali Smith
Winter in Wartime by Jan terlouw YA WW II NYRB
With The Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo (The Poet X)
Wonderful Adventures of Mrs Seacole in Many Lands -- autobio of nurse
Young Radicals -- nonfic about six radicals prior to WW I
The Young Visiters by Daisy Ashford

Yvgeny Onegin -- new trans of Pushkin