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Joe’s 2025 Year in Books
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Joe Kraus
Goodreads Author
Member Since
June 2009
URL
https://www.goodreads.com/joekraus
Review: Life of M
Life of M by Rachel CuskMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
I expected to dislike this book. And I did dislike it.
But I disliked it for so many different reasons – and with the sense that maybe Rachel Cusk wants me to dislike it as a commentary on contemporary selfhood and fame – that I think it turns out to be a peculiar kind of success.
There’s a lot of notoriety around this one. Several reviewers hav Read more of this blog post »
More books by Joe Kraus…
Joe’s Recent Updates
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Joe Kraus
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As advertised, this is literary fiction meets noir. As a confession, it took me a while to get into this – and I mean that in two ways. More recently, as I read it, I found it hard to focus for a long time. I felt (and still feel) as if this is narrate ...more |
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Joe Kraus
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I expected to dislike this book. And I did dislike it. But I disliked it for so many different reasons – and with the sense that maybe Rachel Cusk wants me to dislike it as a commentary on contemporary selfhood and fame – that I think it turns out to ...more |
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"if i weren't already a lesbian, this would turn me into one
someone will remember us " |
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"and This BOOK"
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You make this sound terrific. Do I have to read all 25 in the series before it to appreciate it?
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"As our story opens, Detective Steve Carella can’t believe his ears. “This was not what a bereaved husband was supposed to say when his wife lay disemboweled on the bedroom floor in a pool of her own blood.” But Gerald Fletcher, well-known defense att"
Read more of this review »
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Joe Kraus
rated a book really liked it
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| What a great premise, one that’s hard to talk about without a (view spoiler) ...more | |
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Joe Kraus
rated a book liked it
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| In some ways, this book is a bait and switch. The title and back cover copy tell us it is an account of how North and South America came to be peopled by prehistoric pioneers from – probably Asia but maybe from South Sea islanders – who became the an ...more | |
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Joe Kraus
rated a book it was ok
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| I agree with the thrust of this book’s argument: American capitalism took a dark turn in the early 1980s when a “Greed is good” mentality took over. The idea of “corporate citizenship” came to seem quaint, and whatever good corporations might once ha ...more | |
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Joe Kraus
rated a book really liked it
The Lost Tomb: And Other Real-Life Stories of Bones, Burials, and Murder
by Douglas Preston (Goodreads Author) |
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| I didn’t realize what I was getting into when I picked this one up, but it’s got some amazing material. I can’t say that material adds up to a great book, but, if you want some excellent natural science writing – with a dash of drama – you can’t do b ...more | |
“You can't choose where you belong, and where you don't. But what if the place you don't belong is the only place you have left?”
― The Ghosts of Belfast
― The Ghosts of Belfast
“"Wonderful things can happen", Vincent said, "when you plant seeds of distrust in a garden of assholes."”
― Glitz
― Glitz
“Elmore Leonard's Ten Rules of Writing
1. Never open a book with weather.
2. Avoid prologues.
3. Never use a verb other than "said" to carry dialogue.
4. Never use an adverb to modify the verb "said”…he admonished gravely.
5. Keep your exclamation points under control. You are allowed no more than two or three per 100,000 words of prose.
6. Never use the words "suddenly" or "all hell broke loose."
7. Use regional dialect, patois, sparingly.
8. Avoid detailed descriptions of characters.
9. Don't go into great detail describing places and things.
10. Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip.
My most important rule is one that sums up the 10.
If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.”
―
1. Never open a book with weather.
2. Avoid prologues.
3. Never use a verb other than "said" to carry dialogue.
4. Never use an adverb to modify the verb "said”…he admonished gravely.
5. Keep your exclamation points under control. You are allowed no more than two or three per 100,000 words of prose.
6. Never use the words "suddenly" or "all hell broke loose."
7. Use regional dialect, patois, sparingly.
8. Avoid detailed descriptions of characters.
9. Don't go into great detail describing places and things.
10. Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip.
My most important rule is one that sums up the 10.
If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.”
―
“I see no reason to keep silent about my enjoyment of the sound of my own voice as I work. ”
― Loitering with Intent
― Loitering with Intent
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