[Genuine Realist]

Speaking of Nabokov, as part of research for the noveil I am writing, I recently read Ada, or Ardor.  It's an overlooked masterpiece.  Better than Pale Fire and the vastly overrated Lolita.

In terms of music, the overlooked current band I am into is The Courteeners from Manchester.  They sound like a cross between Oasis and The Smiths.  Despised by critics, they can sell out an arena in Manchester but can only fill small venues in the rest of the UK.  They've toured the US once opening for Morrissey.

And here's a recommendation for Hulk: Suki Waterhouse.  Sounds like a more cheerful Lana Del Ray.

I read almost entirely history these days. But as fiction: 

(1) I listen to (not read) Mick Herron's 'Slough House' series, which are superbly written, with the unforgettable Jackson Lamb as the major character. The Apple TV series was good but did not do justice to the nuance and sly humor of the prose.  The series is unfortunately marred slightly by overreliance on what I call the British plot, i.e., you wonder why intelligence services exist since the only bad deeds they ever discover are their own. But it's still fun.

(2) I do very little serious fictional reading, and particularly Russian. But Viasily Grossman's Life and Fate, justly compared to War and Peace (though it does fall a little short of that level) is worth the effort.  I excerpted a long passage about the importance of simple kindness, since it expressed my wife's credo almost perfectly. Here it is.

(3) Finally, although I generally eschew self-promotion, my novel of mine, A Prophet Without Honor, was picked by the Amazon Audible company, and now exists in an audio version. It's sold over 10,000 copies, so it may be time to look for an agent and see what happens.

[Genuine Realist]

Speaking of Nabokov, as part of research for the noveil I am writing, I recently read Ada, or Ardor.  It's an overlooked masterpiece.  Better than Pale Fire and the vastly overrated Lolita.

In terms of music, the overlooked current band I am into is The Courteeners from Manchester.  They sound like a cross between Oasis and The Smiths.  Despised by critics, they can sell out an arena in Manchester but can only fill small venues in the rest of the UK.  They've toured the US once opening for Morrissey.

And here's a recommendation for Hulk: Suki Waterhouse.  Sounds like a more cheerful Lana Del Ray.

I read almost entirely history these days. But as fiction: 

(1) I listen to (not read) Mick Herron's 'Slough House' series, which are superbly written, with the unforgettable Jackson Lamb as the major character. The Apple TV series was good but did not do justice to the nuance and sly humor of the prose.  The series is unfortunately marred slightly by overreliance on what I call the British plot, i.e., you wonder why intelligence services exist since the only bad deeds they ever discover are their own. But it's still fun.

(2) I do very little serious fictional reading, and particularly Russian. But Viasily Grossman's Life and Fate, justly compared to War and Peace (though it does fall a little short of that level) is worth the effort.  I excerpted a long passage about the importance of simple kindness, since it expressed my wife's credo almost perfectly. Here it is.

(3) Finally, although I generally eschew self-promotion, my novel of mine, A Prophet Without Honor, was picked by the Amazon Audible company, and now exists in an audio version. It's sold over 10,000 copies, so it may be time to look for an agent and see what happens.