rakemag Finally, someone who hates beige [“Being Beige and Nothingness,” Over the Coals, May] as much as I do! My entire family thought I was finally going insane, when I open The Rake and there’s an article on what a horrible color beige is. Are people now realizing that they don’t have to paint their houses … Read more
When it comes to material possessions, I’m closer to Fred Sanford than Gandhi. I’m moving later this summer and already I’m so tired of hearing everyone say, “Oh, you’re moving—that’s a great time to get rid of all of your stuff.” Ummmm, did I say that’s what I wanted to do? I understand the general … Read more
Though he has written in many genres including science fiction, political essays, and literary fiction like the recent The Man in My Basement, Walter Mosley’s widest acclaim comes from crime novels, especially his Easy Rawlins series, which earned him praise as Bill Clinton’s favorite novelist. The first Easy book, Devil in a Blue Dress, was … Read more
In the past two years the Minnesota Orchestra’s once-moribund Sommerfest series has surged back to life, thanks in part to the guidance of artistic director Andrew Litton (who also wields a baton as the Dallas Symphony’s music director). This year’s program is satisfyingly broadminded, anchored by traditional classical works by composers like Brahms and Dvorak, … Read more
Even at her worst, Louise Erdrich still produces some of the best stuff in print. The rambling, poorly edited The Master Butcher’s Singing Club was a great read despite its flaws. And now one of our favorite locals is back and playing to her strengths with another short, near-perfect book the likes of which put … Read more
Although the wildly prolific P.G. Wodehouse turned out almost a hundred novels in his lifetime, the world can always make room for another story in his marvelously droll, light-as-a-feather comic voice. Ames’ latest novel is a loving parody of Wodehouse’s most famous creations, Jeeves and Wooster, seen through the eyes of Alan Blair, a would-be … Read more
We’re pleased as punch that local mystery novelist and poet Mary Logue is back between boards with a bona-fide Claire Watkins mystery. This one is an ambitious suspense tale set in the familiar area around Pepin, Wisconsin. A fifty-year-old murder mystery and a modern terrorist are somehow linked, and Logue’s most beloved detective takes the … Read more
Sex. Drugs. Corruption. Misunderstanding. In her debut novel, Lindsay Ahl explores these themes through the eyes of 35-year-old Elena Monroe, a confused individual who has occasional cravings for grape juice. Elena stumbles through a web of the past and present, trying to work out her relationship with her mother. Ahl’s vague and ethereal writing style … Read more
Meticulous detail, natural poses, and—most startling—life-sized renderings made John James Audubon’s Birds of America a groundbreaking work in the formerly staid world of nineteenth-century ornithology. Today, William Souder’s biography of Audubon, Under a Wild Sky, paints the larger-than-life portrait of the man behind the famous illustrations, who was far more interesting than his role as … Read more
Rock criticism has never mattered less, probably because it has never really evolved beyond the canon of its best, exhausted practitioners—Christgau, Marcus, and Meltzer. Whereas those old duffers should have grown up a long time ago, into broader social, political, even pop-cultural criticism—hell, how about a novel, guys?—they keep churning out increasingly remote ruminations and … Read more