Sonnet 87

The year 2009 was a bad year for books in the WordNerdia halls of reading. I blame the wedding and interwebs for my lack of reading, but really: if I were more disciplined, I would’ve read more, period. I wouldn’t let picking out the perfect place cards get in the way of a good book. [...]

In preparation for the fast-approaching Fourth Annual Sonnet87.com Awards for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Excellence (or, The 2009 Book Awards), I have already decided on a Best Discovery of 2009. Running a close second, though, Jhumpa Lahiri, winner of the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction (a prize I don’t consider to be of [...]

IP is right. The bad ones are more fun to write.
And here’s another bad one for you: How I Became a Famous Novelist by Steve Hely. It’s not that he doesn’t get the ridiculous fiction masquerading as literature—he does. And it’s not that he doesn’t get that so many genres have so many ridiculous conversations—he [...]

I am beginning this book list entry with less than 100 pages to go in Pat Conroy’s latest—and first in 14 years—South of Broad. And let me just say this before I continue: agony! Agony! AGONY!!!111elevnty!!!11
Sorry, Mr. Conroy. I will return to this after I finish the book. Hold on one second . . .
Okay, [...]

Embarrassingly enough, I’ve let the book list suffer tremendously this year. Not only am I not updating it on this blog, I’m also not reading thanks to the wedding. I was totally consumed by our nuptials to the point of ridiculousness, I’d say; wanting to make every detail perfect really interferes with even your most [...]

There is a new biography of Flannery O’Connor out this week: Brad Gooch’s Flannery: A Life of Flannery O’Connor. This coincides nicely with my first book list of 2009; I just finished The Complete Stories and have been toting around the tome in order to write the book list in my off time.
First know [...]