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Text of the page (random words):
e sees but that of the entire town i am late to find keegan but grateful i did she crafts savory sentences that linger in the mind especially when read out loud here for example is the opening paragraph in october there were yellow trees then the clocks went back the hour and the long november winds came in and blew and stripped the trees bare in the town of new ross chimneys threw out smoke which fell away and drifted off in hairy drawn out strings before dispersing along the quays and soon the river barrow dark as stout swelled up with rain highly recommended posted in books tagged book review compassion novel novella leave a reply bookshelf norwegian wood haruki murakami posted on june 25 2026 by tim porter reply as a university student in 1968 toru watanabe s life oscillates between adolescent angst about love and purpose soothing retreats into books and cultural investigation and nocturnal forays into the labyrinths of tokyo s tiny whiskey bars searching for compliant young women in short watanabe is a typical teen of the late sixties except for one thing his obsession with naoko once the lover of his best friend kitzui and now a fragile woman whose identity is shattered under the weight of kitzui s suicide norwegian wood is watanabe s recollection twenty years later of that symbiotic triangle and the scars its collapse carved into him and naoko what keeps norwegian wood from ever bending toward maudlin as many tales of love unrequited and hidden despair tend to do is watanabe s impassionate almost stoic observational abilities whether it is naoko s roommate at a sanitarium confessing an improper sexual interlude or the glimpse of a cloud clinging to the dome of heaven like a thin streak of test paint or the gradual acquisition of wisdom gained via costly emotional transactions watanabe watches listens experiences and learns as much as norwegian wood is a story of love it is also one of maturity young watanabe comes to accept and take solace in the belief that death is not the opposite of life but an innate part of life older watanabe seems at peace with the repeated trauma that stained his adolescence what doubt that persists with him is common among writers who reach for the past writing from memory like this he says i often feel a pang of dread what if i ve forgotten the most important thing what if somewhere inside me there is a dark limbo where all the truly important memories are heaped and slowly turning into mud at one point naoko s roommate reiko tells watanabe in the context of explaining why she naoko and watanabe are drawn to one another what makes us most normal is knowing that we re not normal norwegian wood is much the same it asks big questions about life but it doesn t proffer big answers murakami allows each of us to find our own version of normal posted in books tagged book review japan novel leave a reply bookshelf listen up posted on june 15 2026 by tim porter reply approaching the midpoint of a year in books best described as meh a result of my own poor selection and persistent intrusion into my quiet hours by the noise of the real world i can say as a positive note that more than a few of the most satisfying titles thus far are audiobooks the four novels below have one thing a stellar reader whose rhythm accent and overall transformation of the written word into literary performance is as soothing as it is captivating they are hang on st christopher adrian mckinty the eighth of the sean duffy detective novels narrated as were the previous seven by gerard doyle a true master of irish nuance the road cormac mccarthy the father son tale of dystopic bleakness narrated by the late tom stechschulte who delivers each of mccarthy s precisely chosen words as a savory morsel a delicious experience the new iberia blues james lee burke part of the series about louisiana detective dave robicheaux as always with burke the story packs punch but the narration by actor will patton one of my favorite readers elevates the prose to theater the stars at noon denis johnson the story of a young woman adrift in nicaragua during the sandinista rebellion narrated again by patton his hypnotic almost comforting manner provides antidote to the angst danger and dissoluteness that defines the story posted in books tagged adrian mckinty audiobook bookreview cormac mccarthy denis johnson james lee burke will patton leave a reply bookshelf my year in reading 2025 posted on december 31 2025 by tim porter reply two words summarize my reading in 2025 disappointment and distraction i abandoned only three books out of seventy six but many others left me wishing i d done something else with my time at fault it seems to me is the plethora of newer authors who are not only poor storytellers but equally mediocre writers they create books made for visual streaming heavy on dialogue short on exposition absent of character depth publishers churn out these fast lit titles and package them in breathless blurbs hoping to gain footing on celebrity or other best of lists too often the hype is just hyperbole add to this an elevated state of personal distraction rooted in the perversions of the current occupant of the white house as well as homefront complications that resulted in shortened leisure time and shattered an already compressed attention span the result fewer books 76 in 2025 vs 100 in 2024 and less satisfaction nonetheless i managed to read to a number of wonderfully written and narrated books five of my favorites wild dark shore charlotte mcconaghy an enthralling story of nature s ferocity and mankind s duplicity the impossible thing belinda bauer goodness and avarice clash in this tale of a treasure that survives through persistence and ingenuity the mightyred louise erdrich a story about the value of authenticity and acceptance disguised as a love triangle the vegetarian han kang a very human book that is uncomfortable to read but rewards those who find solace amid distress america was hard to find kathleen alcott an expansive novel of the shifting cultural tectonics that ruptured america in the 1960s part requiem part eulogy for an epoch others just as good november road lou berney hotel ukraine martin cruz smith the bottoms joe r lansdale a lesson before dying ernest gaines and leaving roxana robinson i discovered audiobooks while taking long solo walks during the covid confinement i still mostly listen while i walk for me the narrator is everything and when i discover one i like i tend to binge a series hence this year adrian mckinty s tales of northern irish cop sean duffy the cold cold ground i hear the sirens in the street in the morning i ll be gone rain dogs police at the station and they don t look friendly and the detective up late walter mosely s addictive story of joe king oliver a railroaded nypd detective down the river unto the sea every man a king and been wrong so long it feels like right finally there is to me no finer narrator than george guidall who reads among many other books craig johnson s stories of absaroka county sheriff walt longmire this year i listened an obvious fact the western star and depth of winter at my age i set few goals i ve already accomplished most of what i could and hold no regrets for what i couldn t that said here s one i will do my best to ignore the world s noise and devote more attention to the inner tranquility i find in books the list yellowface r f kuang the most jessica anthony a lesson before dying ernest gaines as the crow flies craig johnson don t believe it charlie donlea down the river unto the sea walter mosley of women and salt gabriela garcia the friend sigrid nunez every man a king walter mosley the last days of ptolemy gray walter mosely all systems red the murderbot diaries martha wells the last king of california jordan harper patricide a novella joyce carol oates peace like a river leif enger all the colors of the dark chris whitaker the price of salt patricia highsmith the drop michael connelly leaving roxana robinson been wrong so long it feels like right walter mosley foregone russell banks lazarus man richard price roseanna maj sjöwall and per wahlöö the martian andy weir open season c j box savage run c j box a drink before the war dennis lehane original sin jake tapper and alex thompson the neon rain james lee burke the wager david grann heaven s prisoners james lee burke writers lovers lily king winterkill c j box i cheerfully refuse leif enger the vegetarian han kang 33 place brugmann alice austen never flinch stephen king we do not part han kang the gray anarchist jeffrey marcus oshins the cold cold ground adrian mckinty an obvious fact craig johnson the last flight julie clark i hear the sirens in the street adrian mckinty the bottoms joe r lansdale the invention of solitude paul auster in the morning i ll be gone adrian mckinty we had to remove this post hanna bervoets heartwood amity gaige desert star michael connelly the tattooist of auschwitz heather morris the emperor s children claire messud king of ashes s a cosby antes de ser libres julia alvarez tides sara freeman at what cost james l etoile the 6 20 man david baldacci rain dogs adrian mckinty the mighty red louise erdrich trophy hunt c j box and then there were none agatha christie the impossible thing belinda bauer elizabeth finch julian barnes police at the station and they don t look friendly adrian mckinty hotel ukraine martin cruz smith lilith eric rickstad wild dark shore charlotte mcconaghy the black box michael connelly america was hard to find kathleen alcott the western star craig johnson november road lou berney depth of winter craig johnson after the lights go out john vercher the librarianist patrick dewitt the detective up late adrian mckinty the long and faraway gone lou berney the trouble up north travis mulhauser abscond a short story abraham verghese audio did not finish posted in books tagged book review list year in reading leave a reply woman with sombrilla oaxaca mexico posted on november 23 2025 by tim porter reply after a lengthy absence from posting photos for reasons that are too common to number i am endeavoring to return to publishing what i shoot this image made in the winter of 2025 is from one of my favorite streetcorners in oaxaca a busy intersection packed with bus riders and blessed by lated afternoon western sun it may appear that the woman beneath the umbrella is hiding from me she is not woman there commonly shield themselves from the bright southern sun to protect their skin their shelter creates a ready shape for me more of my images from oaxaca posted in mexico my oaxaca tagged leica sombrilla street umbrella leave a reply bookshelf the librarianist patrick dewitt 2023 posted on november 23 2025 by tim porter reply some years ago as my reading appetites changed my consideration of books as a prix fixe meal slid into the notion that books can be consumed a la carte after all if you love the steak au poivre and the pommes frites there should be no obligation to suffer the beet verrine embracing such an approach elevates your chances of enjoying the librarianist an intriguing and often moving story of a retired librarian who after living a sedentary solitary life defined more by what he read than what he did volunteers at a center for the elderly and finds himself awash in deep currents of humanity he also finds the answer to a lifelong mystery as a boy bob comet sought comfort from youthful complications in books which led him to the library which led him to being a librarian a job he held for a half century a contented man he needed little else so he was delighted when love and friendship came his way and equally devastated when they left him this part of the story complete from beginning to end and interwoven with bob s later self revelatory time at the elder center is beautifully told and written at once respectful of bob s contentment with simplicity and when others regard him wryly astonished by it for example in a conversation about schadenfreude bob confesses to linus a gregarious resident of the center who channels the jack nicholson character in one flew over the cuckoo s nest that i ve made love to one woman in my life linus shut his eyes and he became so still as though he d suddenly succumbed to slumber after a while he stirred opened his eyes to slits and asked softly what s the german word for pity scorn and awe happening all at the same time suddenly though about two hundred fifty pages in dewitt sends an 11 year old bob on a run a way sojourn as the boy bounces here and there and back again i couldn t keep up so i started flipping forward skipping about fifty pages of beets so to speak and arriving at a denouement that is both surprising yet comfortingly expected happily the book ends exactly where it should so there is it a truly wonderful 300 page book about aging and love and humanity and heartbreak wrapped somewhat unfortunately in a 350 page carton if you don t mind skipping a course or two it s a great meal posted in books tagged book review librarianist novel patrick dewitt leave a reply bookshelf america was hard to find kathleen alcott 2019 posted on november 11 2025 by tim porter reply kathy i m lost i said though i knew she was sleeping i m empty and aching and i don t know why counting the cars on the new jersey turnpike they ve all come to look for america all come to look for america all come to look for america simon and garfunkel america 1968 kathleen alcott s expansive novel of the shifting cultural tectonics that ruptured america in the 1960s is part requiem part eulogy for an epoch that defined baby boomers one way or another and scattered so much social and political debris that the clean up continues to this day i loved this book but i will note there are others who did not in online reviews they found the narrative indistinct and the characters unappealingly damaged to them i say welcome to the sixties seventies and eighties periods of chaos and confusion virtue and violence self improvement and self delusion dreams of freedom and deadly liberties none of them fit into distinct narratives none is free of repellant personalities into this mix alcott places an air force test pilot who becomes the first man to walk on the moon a fiery young woman who rejects the bland values of her wealthy parents and embraces radical politics and their progeny a feral son raised amid the wilds of the counterculture and set free to face the scourge of aids the u s landing on the moon in 1969 weather underground bombings and the kent state massacre of the 1970s the existential threat of aids in the gay communities of san francisco and new york each bookmarked a decade and each shaped me in the 60s armstrong s one small step thrilled me and nixon s war enraged me in the 70s the detritus of the haight crushed me in the 80s as a journalist in san francisco i mourned the deaths of friends and colleagues taken by the disease reagan dismi...