© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc. This feed is subject to our terms of use: http://www.epinions.com/help/rss_terms http://www.epinions.com/user-Grouch Recent reviews written by member Grouch en-us 121 37 http://www.epinions.com/ http://img.epinions.com/images/epi_images/logos/epinions_121.gif http://www.epinions.com/content_485441244804?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author Grouch - In April 1992, a young man from a well-to-do East Coast family hitchhiked to Alaska and walked alone into the wilderness north of Mt. McKinley. Four months later his decomposed body was found by a party of moose hunters.That’s the... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~485441244804 Fri, 18 Sep 2009 22:40:18 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_485441244804?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_481838403204?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author Grouch - James McBride's novel Song Yet Sung opens with an odd, startling scene. Liz, a beautiful young black girl, has a dream about "fat black children" smoking pot and walking around "with pistols in their pockets" while TVs broadcast sports stars... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~481838403204 Wed, 19 Aug 2009 17:56:32 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_481838403204?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_471229566596?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author Grouch - First lines are the handshakes writers give their readers.As we slide into the story, we’ll always remember that first impression of the opening sentences’ firm, self-assured grip.  If we don’t remember those first lines,... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~471229566596 Thu, 21 May 2009 20:17:57 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_471229566596?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_465859284612?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author Grouch - If World War I was "the war to end all wars," then the Meuse-Argonne offensive, fought in its waning days, should have been the "battle to end all battles."  From our perspective, we know Omaha Beach, Ia Drang, and Fallujah loom in the future;... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~465859284612 Fri, 3 Apr 2009 21:05:54 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_465859284612?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_460661427844?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author Grouch - On November 22, 1891, after writing five Sherlock Holmes stories now considered enduring classics of the mystery genre, Arthur Conan Doyle sat at his desk composing a letter to his mother. He dipped his pen in ink and scratched these words onto the... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~460661427844 Wed, 11 Feb 2009 16:14:47 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_460661427844?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_460155489924?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author Grouch - As a kid, Michael Chabon must have read books by Alexandre Dumas like other kids his age ate Twinkies--with one difference: the sugar buzz from The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo didn't dissolve in his bloodstream but fully... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~460155489924 Fri, 6 Feb 2009 13:12:55 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_460155489924?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_443503513220?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author Grouch - Sometimes history makes the best bedrock for fiction. With a hard, bottom sediment of factual details, novelists can build layers of character, dialogue and contrived events which transport readers to places the actual truth never could.Such... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~443503513220 Wed, 3 Sep 2008 00:15:47 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_443503513220?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_427034906244?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author Grouch - The Cave by Dutch novelist Tim Krabbe is one of the thriftiest thrillers I’ve read in a long time. Sparse to the point of skeletal, it charts the parasitic and dangerous relationship between two childhood friends, Axel and Egon. It’s a big story... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~427034906244 Mon, 21 Apr 2008 10:35:50 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_427034906244?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_424061996676?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author Grouch - Lately, the romantic-comedy (telegraphically known as the &#147rom-com&#148) has started to take a decidedly rumpled turn toward something resembling bad breath, flatulence and beer bellies. The Hollywood Dream Factory is starting to resemble the... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~424061996676 Sat, 29 Mar 2008 20:51:28 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_424061996676?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_416620842628?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author Grouch - Honeydripper, the new film by John Sayles, will most likely sneak quietly into your local multiplex, hang around for a couple of weeks, then abashedly make an unobtrusive exit and bide its time until it can be released on DVD. If you&#146re lucky... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~416620842628 Thu, 31 Jan 2008 15:48:21 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_416620842628?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_407495478916?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author Grouch - The "tales of mystery and suspense" in Joyce Carol Oates' The Museum of Dr. Moses are sneaky little things. The horror comes in on cat's paws, barely noticeable. The full impact doesn't hit you until a few hours or days or even weeks after you... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~407495478916 Sat, 10 Nov 2007 20:16:35 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_407495478916?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_406401552004?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author Grouch - I love it when a new small press succeeds right from the start. Roy Kesey’s short story collection, All Over, is the first release from Dzanc Books, a new independent press founded by author Steve Gillis and Dan Wickett, who for years has been... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~406401552004 Thu, 25 Oct 2007 17:03:13 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_406401552004?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_405768015492?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author Grouch - Meet Oscar de Leon, dubbed "Oscar Wao" by bullies who liken him to the foppish Oscar Wilde. Our Oscar is a fat, virginal Dominican-American teenager who carries a Planet of the Apes lunchbox to school, spends hours painting his Dungeons & Dragons... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~405768015492 Wed, 17 Oct 2007 08:01:50 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_405768015492?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_402117725828?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author Grouch - Tucked into the first ten pages of Amy Bloom’s new novel, Away, there is a scene of such horrific intensity, reading it you feel as if your eyes have been splashed with lye. For the rest of this epic, sprawling novel, those few gore-soaked... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~402117725828 Fri, 31 Aug 2007 18:17:22 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_402117725828?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_399946780292?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author Grouch - Three men stand at the edge of a remote river gorge in Idaho, about to begin work on a summer construction project: a large wooden ramp at the lip of the canyon, built for a motorcycle stuntwoman who plans to jump the canyon, a la Evel Knievel. The... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~399946780292 Sat, 4 Aug 2007 18:53:02 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_399946780292?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_399201242756?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author Grouch - If Steve Vogel's new book The Pentagon sometimes reads like a catalog of superlatives, it's understandable and forgivable. The five-sided military headquarters&#151THE WORLD'S LARGEST OFFICE BUILDING&#151may have a deceptively low profile as it... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~399201242756 Fri, 27 Jul 2007 00:56:29 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_399201242756?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_394071084676?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author Grouch - Some writers work on large canvases—wide, sprawling Dickensian landscapes which cover decades in the stride of less than ten pages—while others have mastered the miniature. In his newest book, On Chesil Beach, Ian McEwan has taken the... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~394071084676 Sat, 21 Jul 2007 18:57:02 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_394071084676?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_393071005316?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author Grouch - I should begin by telling you I harbor a fond affection for the latest volume of Peanuts comic strips released by Fantagraphics Books. The publishers have undertaken a quest to publish all of Charles M. Schulz's daily and Sunday strips (a nearly... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~393071005316 Wed, 18 Jul 2007 21:57:44 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_393071005316?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_380019052164?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author Grouch - In 4:50 From Paddington all the elements that made Agatha's writing so remarkably effective are on display in full force. Suspense builds; characters are interesting, but not too complicated to be confusing; clues are sprinkled throughout; and,... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~380019052164 Fri, 22 Jun 2007 00:43:55 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_380019052164?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_377514397316?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author Grouch - Who is Mr. Harley Quin? Better yet, what is Mr. Harley Quin? Is he a spirit? Is he flesh-and-blood? Is he a personification of the subconscious? Is he a splinter of God Himself? The title of Agatha Christie's 1930 collection of short... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~377514397316 Sun, 17 Jun 2007 11:37:56 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_377514397316?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_375381986948?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author Grouch - Agatha Christie's life hides behind the thin veneer of fiction in Unfinished Portrait, the 1934 novel she penned under the pseudonym of Mary Westmacott. The "portrait" of Celia so closely mirrors that of Agatha that the barrier between author... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~375381986948 Tue, 12 Jun 2007 21:46:02 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_375381986948?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_370908565124?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author Grouch - The literature of alcohol is a tricky field for new writers to enter. There's the constant risk of slipping into lazy clichés as well-worn as the overlapping water rings on a bar (you see what I mean?). Then, too, so many masters of fiction have... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~370908565124 Sun, 3 Jun 2007 13:14:30 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_370908565124?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_370473733764?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author Grouch - Agatha Christie's swift, slim 1942 novel The Moving Finger is a Miss Marple mystery which very nearly does not have Miss Marple. In my version (the spiffy new Black Dog & Leventhal edition), the grandmotherly detective makes her first... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~370473733764 Sat, 2 Jun 2007 13:25:46 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_370473733764?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_368989277828?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author Grouch - If you're going to read an Elmore Leonard novel, some words of advice. Get in. Sit down. Hang on. Shut up. Don't ask where you're going or how you'll get there. You'll arrive before you know it. Leonard is a master at literature-in-transit... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~368989277828 Wed, 30 May 2007 08:35:02 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_368989277828?linkin_id=8003929 http://www.epinions.com/content_368287714948?linkin_id=8003929 rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author Grouch - Apart from the novels she wrote under the pen name Mary Westmacott, Agatha Christie's 1940 mystery Sad Cypress may just be her most romantic book. It's the most unapologetically love-gushy of the 27 Christie mysteries I've read so far (which... http://www.epinions.com/content/submit.html/comment_~368287714948 Mon, 28 May 2007 19:36:44 GMT http://www.epinions.com/content_368287714948?linkin_id=8003929