Customer Comments

Taylor Thorne has commented on (7) products.

The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson

Taylor Thorne, January 1, 2013

If you Google North Korea, you'll find a blank outline of border and nothing else. Adam Johnson fills in this landscape with his wonderfully original "The Orphan Master's Son." Part romance, part spy story, and entirely subversive, this is a book that holds high the power of storytelling, the art of the lie, and the manipulation of the outcome of "Casablanca". I mean, what can you even begin to say about a book where Kim Jong Il gets all the funniest lines (and oh boy is he funny!), except, of course he does, it's North Korea. This is a great big twisted comedic thriller, a book I think back to often, and look forward to reading again.

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The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson

Taylor Thorne, January 1, 2013

If you Google North Korea, you'll find a blank outline of border and nothing else. Adam Johnson fills in this landscape with his wonderfully original "The Orphan Master's Son." Part romance, part spy story, and entirely subversive, this is a book that holds high the power of storytelling, the art of the lie, and the manipulation of the outcome of "Casablanca". I mean, what can you even begin to say about a book where Kim Jong Il gets all the funniest lines (and oh boy is he funny!), except, of course he does, it's North Korea. This is a great big twisted comedic thriller, a book I think back to often, and look forward to reading again.

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Winter Journal by Paul Auster

Taylor Thorne, October 13, 2012

Like all of the books by Paul Auster that I've read, this book slowly sucks you in. An atypically-styled memoir written through the winter of 2010-2011, Mr. Auster spends the months pondering his life and what it means to be 64 years old. Mostly single paragraph entries (some many pages long), with the occasional perfectly beautiful pages-long run-on-sentence, these journal entries are written in the second person, which adds a depth of scorn, compassion, and insight into himself that few memoirs actually plum.
This book made me laugh many times, and cry a few times, and frequently sit back in jaw-dropped awe both at his perception and his utterly subtle skill. (This happens every time you read a Paul Auster book, so no surprise... but I was surprised anyways.) From childhood incidents, to deaths of parents, to recounting a movie he watches one night when he can't sleep and how that movie speaks to him, each entry is more brilliant than the last. Possibly the best book I read this year.

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Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter

Taylor Thorne, August 18, 2012

"Beautiful Ruins" is what's wrong with publishing today. While dreck like "50 Shades of Crap" gets foisted on the unassuming public, gems like Jess Walter's book receive virtually no press or encouragement. Is it because his view of Hollywood, as represented by heartless and narcissistic producer Michael Deane in the book, is spot on? It shouldn't matter. This is a book that spans 50 years of adventure, with classic romance and star crossed lovers, artistic angst and creative genius, and the Donner Party! What more could you want? Well, that's probably in here too. Not perfect, but well put together, this is a book that takes some stylistic risks and pulls them off. It is full to brimming with wonderful characters (including a cameo from Richard Burton--the actor not the explorer). It's a page-turner that you want to slow your reading down but can't, which means you might miss some great detail, humor, perspective... oh well, guess I'll have to read it again.

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Dare Me by Megan Abbott

Taylor Thorne, August 11, 2012

What a delightful nasty pleasure this book is! Megan Abbott's tight Noir has come through early 20th century classic settings into its own as it focuses on the contemporary rituals and manias of... High School Cheerleaders. In Abbott's hands this is a treacherous world, rife with narcissism and bubble gum scents, teamwork and treachery, and adroitly drawn vicious little things like the coach, the captain, and the object of both their manipulations, our narrator Addy. Or is it Addy who's making the moves and using them all? This book is tightly spun, and darkly cheekily drawn. It's the kind of book you ope, with a sense of naughty excitement at what you're going to find in each coming chapter. With a subtle driving suspense and a quietly reaching scope that taps you on the shoulder to get you to turn around smiling only to get slapped in the face, this book is the most fun reading I've had this year.

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