Latest blog posts (click on the image & scroll down to read the full text):
The remarkable and tragic story of Phillis Wheatley
Book Review: American Women of Achievement: Phillis Wheatley by Merle Richmond, published by Chelsea House Publishers, New York, 1988. (5 out of 5 stars). Imagination! who can sing thy force?Or who describe the swiftness of thy course?Soaring through air to find the bright abode,Th’empyreal palace of the thund’ring God,We on thy pinions can surpass the wind,And leave the…
Between Knole and Sissinghurst
Book Review: Vita: the Life of V. Sackville-West by Victoria Glendinning, published by Phoenix, London, 1983. (5 out of 5 stars). I really enjoyed this book. Victoria Glendinning is a very skilled and fluent writer, like (I think) a higher percentage of British than US writers. If the author is one of those highly articulate…
Innocence and Impecuniousness
Book Review: Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen, published by Modern Library (Random House), New York, 2002. (5 out of 5 stars). This novel was the first written by Austen (around 1803 when she was 28) but was not published until 1817, after her death, so she likely didn’t pick the title – I’m not sure…
The Mayor of Bank Street
Book Review: Growing Up Bank Street: A Greenwich Village Memoir, by Donna Florio, published by New York University Press, New York 2021. (5 out of 5 stars) This is a wonderful, well-written memoir that any lover of New York City, and specifically Greenwich Village, will enjoy. Donna Florio is an engaging tour guide who’s knowledgeable,…
A chalk line from the Met
Book Review: Fierce Poise: Helen Frankenthaler and 1950s New York by Alexander Nemerov, published by Penguin Books, New York 2021. (4 out of 5 stars) This is an interesting, ambitious and mostly well-written book, which focuses on artist Helen Frankenthaler’s early career in the 1950s, when she burst on the New York scene fresh out…
Gertrude Stein’s entertaining take on Picasso
Book Review: Picasso by Gertrude Stein, published by B.T. Batsford Ltd., London 1938; reprinted by Dover Publications, New York 1984. (4 out of 5 stars) It’s always fun to read reviews of Gertrude Stein’s books, for example on sites like GoodReads that publish reviews by the common rabble. She provokes a wide variety of reactions,…
Indigenous bookstore haunted by a wannabe
This novel starts out intriguing and fun, with amusing riffs on a wide variety of topics, but in the second half kind of peters out, like the author lost interest somewhat and was already thinking about her next project. The premise is fun & interesting: the protagonist, Tookie, works in Erdrich’s small, quirky Minneapolis bookstore…
Eurocentric!! but educational
I can’t call this a fun read, given the sadly downbeat subject matter, but the book is educational, well-written, even elegant in its old-fashioned way, and you’ll probably sail through it quickly. Be aware that it’s intended for a young-adult audience. But this doesn’t really create a problem; in fact it helps the author distill…
The Rockefeller’s Cultural Philanthropy
Book Review: America’s Medicis: the Rockefellers and Their Astonishing Cultural Legacy (five out of five stars) A very interesting & well-written book. As long as you know what you’re getting into, it should be a very interesting read. It doesn’t cover the Rockefellers’ philanthropy outside of arts & culture, e.g. underwriting the University of Chicago…
The band of palette-wielding buddies in Montmartre
I really enjoyed this book despite initially having some worries. At first it was behaving like a historical novel, because Roe inserted dialogue that seemed to be invented. How do we know exactly what Picasso said to Fernande on a certain day? That concern faded, however, as the book became better documented without being too…
Genocidal colonialism in the U.S.
Book review: An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States, by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz. (Four out of five stars) This is a very interesting, well-researched and (not surprisingly) somewhat polemical book. Be prepared for some eye-opening, disturbing and likely disillusioning information, including: <1> The young USA could not have survived financially (or at least would have…
Natalie Barney & Gertrude Stein walking their dogs on the Left Bank
Book review: Wild Heart – Natalie Barney and the Decadence of Literary Paris, by Suzanne Rodriguez. (5 out of 5 stars) This biography describes Natalie Barney, a wealthy American heiress and sometime writer who lived a carefree – to some extent – lesbian life on the Left Bank of Paris, at times overlapping with more…
NYC Rabble-Rouser Jane Jacobs takes on the Establishment
Book review: Wrestling with Moses: How Jane Jacobs Took on New York’s Master Builder and Transformed the American City, by Anthony Flint A very interesting, well-written & well-researched book. (5 out of 5 stars) Anybody with an interest in New York City, big city politics or urban design should find it worth reading. I came…
The uniqueness, struggles and triumphs of Thelonious Monk
Book review: Thelonious Monk: the Life and Times of an American Original, by Robin D. G. Kelley (4 out of 5 stars). I enjoyed this book enough to give it 4 out of 5 stars, and the author obviously did a tremendous amount of research. But unfortunately it was too long for my taste and,…
Welcome to my blog!
Hi all, I’m Doug Thomson and this is my blog. I recently retired so I now have time to write about some of my interests and publish them for others to read and comment. My primary writing interests are book & music reviews and commentary. I have been writing book reviews on GoodReads.com for some…
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