Benny’s Book Club Posts

It only took over 50 years, but I finally got around to reading Slouching Towards Bethlehem--Joan Didion's iconic essay. Not sure why I didn't read it earlier. It's a classic of New Journalism, a style of non-fiction where the writers put themselv…

Took me awhile to find my way to John Banville, the great Irish novelist. But find him I did, and now I’m hooked. In the last two months, I've read three of his novels and got a fourth on the way, on order from the library. It’s like fried chicken—…

Sad to say, I missed out on the children's poetry by Shel Silverstein--I was born too early. By the time Where the Sidewalk Ends, his first poetry collection, was published, I was almost out of my teens. Too old for such things. That was in 1974.…

Kin is one of those novels whose characters are more interesting than its plot. And that's not a backhanded compliment. At least, coming from me. Plots are overrated. They come and go--easily forgotten. But great characters live forever.  And the …

I want to begin this book report by apologizing to all my friends whose calls I ignored last weekend. Sorry, but I was preoccupied. Racing through the last 70 or so riveting pages of The Doorman, Chris Pavone's latest novel. I couldn't put it down…

There's a tiny street in Michigan--near a VA hospital in Battle Creek--named for Dwight "Skip" Johnson. I think I'll go there one day. To pay my respects to a good man killed by his country. Not literally. In actuality, Johnson was shot dead by a …

I finished World Pacific--Peter Mann's latest novel--in a glorious burst of reading at 8 in the morning, having been up almost all night. Couldn't sleep--just had to keep reading. And when I closed the book, I thought... What was that all about? W…

I know from my own experiences that every family has it secrets, but the secrets revealed by Christine Kuehn in her gripping family memoir are--well, I mean... Let's just let them speak for themselves. And keep in mind as you’re reading this—Chris…

It’s sort of a miracle that I even checked A Terrible Country out of the library, much less read it. It’s a sad book. A sweet and sad book, it’s true. With absurdly funny moments that made me laugh. Also true. And a “happy” ending—more or less. Bu…

In most coming-of-age novels, there occurs that life-changing moment when the protagonist comes face-to-face with the realization that grown ups can be abundantly full of shit. I love that moment in part because I’ve been motivated to expose the hy…

Peter Orner’s latest novel–The Gossip Columnist’s Daughter–is so good, I wish I hadn’t read it. So I could enjoy the first-time experience of reading it again.  It deals with a subset of Chicagoans from the last half of the last century—relatively …

I’m gonna interrupt reading the book I’m reading to tell you about the book I’m reading.  Because I’m having so much fun reading it—gotta let everybody know.  It’s Masters of the Game–A Conversational History of the NBA in 75 Legendary Players by …

One day a few weeks ago, I stumbled upon two collections of stories by Alice Munro–Runaway and Dear Life. Found them in a book barn just up the street. Thought–man, what a find! Munro’s one of the great writers of the last 50 years–Nobel laureate. A…

It’s been so many years since Malcolm X was murdered that his afterlife is as important as the life he led. That’s sorta the theme of Mark Whitaker’s book, The Afterlife of Malcolm X. A book I devoured in two or three nights, just couldn’t put it d…

You had to see it to believe it. Roughly three in the morning, and I’m wide awake on the living couch, flat on my back, passionately steaming through the final pages of The Jackal’s Mistress, Chris Bohjalian’s latest novel. Tears streaming down my …

Ten years into Trump’s war of hate against immigrants, I got around to reading The Snakehead, Patrick Radden Keefe’s fascinating exploration of the underground operation to smuggle people into America. Great read. Well researched. Vivid scenes. As …

Not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but... One look at The Savage, Noble Death of Babs Dionne, told me to make an exception to that rule. You can see the picture for yourself. Something about that black crow staring at that snubbed-out ciga…

There’s a devilish twist near the end of Colored Television–Danzy Senna’s latest novel– that is especially delightful because I didn’t see it coming. Until Senna made it happen. At which point, I exclaimed–yes, of course! Makes perfect sense. I’d …

Generally, I’m not an avid reader of nonfiction, but I’ve made an exception for Julie K. Brown’s book, Perversion of Justice: The Jeffrey Epstein Story. I’ve now read it twice. Once in 2021, when it was published. And again last week, as Epsteingat…

If you haven’t read a novel by Jess Walter–what you waiting for? Hurry up–start reading! What a great writer. So much fun to read—with the rare ability to make you laugh on one page and cry on the next. Plus, he employs this literary device where …

Don’t know what I was doing back in 1999 that kept me from reading My Kitchen Wars. That's the year it came out–a memoir by Betty Fussell, best known as a food writer. So I probably wouldn’t have read it, even if I had heard about it. As I generally…

I have a secret to confess. It has to do with Death of the Author, Nnedi Okorafor's absolutely fantastic novel that I urge you to read–if you’re not intimidated by long books. And even if you are--c'mon, get over that! It tells the story of Zelu, a…

I didn’t think I’d like Rufi Thorpe’s Margo’s Got Money Troubles nearly this much, when I checked it out of the library. Not even sure how I heard about it–probably a mention in The New York Times. Sounded like a fun read--a frivolous lark. Somethi…

It's unnecessary, I know, to give more attention to Michael Connelly, whose books are instant best sellers. But I must show some love for his latest, The Waiting. Which had me up all night and into the morning, reading. Yes, I read past midnight. …