I’m a big fan of Jonathan Lethem’s book reviews and articles. More Alive and Less Lonely collects dozens of great pieces. My favorites are the articles on Philip K. Dick. I wanted to drop everything and reread some PKD! You’ll come away from with book with a list of books you’ll want to read. The articles and reviews range from recent books to classics. You’ll have an irresistible impulse to read Kafka’s THE CASTLE (I know I did!). Just check out the Table of Contents so see the depth of this author’s interests. GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
I. Engulf and devour —
The loneliest book I’ve read —
Footnote on Sylvie Selig —
Engulf and devour —
The figure in the castle —
The greatest animal novelist of all time —
The counter-Roth —
II. It can still take me there —
The only human superhero —
Forget this introduction —
What’s old is new (NYRB) —
To catch a beat —
Footnote —
III. Objects in furious motion —
Fierce attachments —
Attention drifting beautifully (Donald Barthelme) —
Rock of ages —
My hero: Karl Ove Knausgaard —
A new life (Malamud) —
A mug’s game —
Steven Millhauser’s ghost stories —
IV. Lost worlds —
The mechanics of fear, revisited —
On the Yard —
Walter Tevis’s Mockingbird —
Everything said and exhausted (Daniel Fuchs) —
How did I get here and what could it possibly mean? (Bernard Wolfe) —
‘Twas ever thus (Tanguy Viel’s Beyond Suspicion) —
Russell Greenan’s Geniuses —
V. Ecstatic depictions of consciousness —
Consumed —
Dog soldiers —
Bizarro world —
On two sentences from Charles D’Ambrosio’s “Screenwriter” —
Remarks perhaps of some assistance to the reader of Joseph McElroy’s Ancient history: a paraphase —
VI. Thomas Berger and I have never met (Ishiguro, Berger and PKD) —
Kazuo Ishiguro —
The butler did it —
Footnote on Ishiguro —
High priest of the paranoids —
The man whose teeth were all exactly alike —
To Ubik —
Life after wartime —
Thomas Berger —
Letters from the invisible man: my correspondence with Thomas Berger —
Footnote on Berger —
VII. OK you mugs —
Heavy petting —
More than night —
You talkin’ to me? —
New York characters —
Lost and found —
The original piece of wood I left in your head: a conversation between director Spike Jonze and critic Perkus Tooth —
Johnny’s graying teenaged sense of what isn’t boring (Da Capo Best Music Writing 2002) —
Close reading (Ricks on Dylan) —
Rod Serling —
Mutual seduction —
VIII. Fan mail —
Carved in need —
New old friend (a toast to Kenneth Koch) —
Eyes wide open —
Something about a slice —
Pynchonopolis —
To Cosmicomics —
Anthony Burgess answers two questions —
A furtive exchange —
Books are sandwiches.

Spiderman: Homecoming returns to the roots of the Spiderman saga with the casting of Tom Holland who actually looks like he’s 15 years old. Much of the story takes place in Peter Parker’s High School in NYC. Michael Keaton plays a complicated Bad Guy called the Vulture (a bow to Keaton’s role in BIRDMAN) who deals in alien technology and weapons. Robert Downey, Jr. shows up as Tony Stark and IRON MAN. So does Chris Evans as Captain America in some humorous bits (be sure you stay for all the credits!).

However, my favorite character in this Spiderman movie is “Karen” voiced by Jennifer Connelly. I can’t wait for the next Spiderman movie! Great Summer fun! GRADE: A-

Miskatonic University is H. P. Lovecraft’s home for the Necronomicon and other occult books. Miskatonic University is located in Lovecraft’s Arkham, Massachusetts where weird things happen all the time. This collection of original stories runs the gamut of faux-Lovecraftean creepiness. In addition, check out the cool Miskatonic University shirt that is tempting me below. Wouldn’t it be perfect for my appearance at the World Fantasy Convention in San Antonio in November?
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
9 · A Letter from the President to Incoming Students · Stefan Dziemianowicz · pr *
15 · Kali Yuga Comes · Tina L. Jens · nv *
57 · Teachers · Mort Castle · ss *
75 · Her Misbegotten Son · Alan Rodgers · na *
145 · Scavenger Hunt · Brad Linaweaver · ss *
153 · Black Celebration · Jay Bonansinga · ss *
167 · To Be as They · Stephen Mark Rainey · nv *
189 · Second Movement · Benjamin Adams · nv *
211 · A Dreaming of Dead Poets · Jane M. Lindskold · nv *
233 · Mandelbrot Moldrot · Lois H. Gresh · nv *
255 · The Smile of a Mime · Billie Sue Mosiman · ss *
271 · The Sothis Radiant · Will Murray · nv *
301 · The Play’s the Thing · Christie Golden · nv *
323 · Ghoulmaster · Brian McNaughton · nv *

Weike Wang earned a degree in chemistry at Harvard so she knows what she’s talking about when she writes this angst-ridden novel about a doctoral student who is stressed out by the pressures of academia. She is frustrated by the lack of progress in her research. She is frustrated by her relations with her parents who have high expectations. And, she is dealing with the marriage proposal of her roommate, Eric. Should she marry Eric…or not. Chemistry is Weike Wang’s first novel. Her next novel will be better. GRADE: B-

I read Al Franken, Giant of the Senate chiefly for the chapter on Ted Cruz. Everyone in the Senate hates Ted Cruz, but Franken is less hateful than most. I was never a big Al Franken fan when he performed on SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE. And, I was surprised as most people were when Franken won his Senate seat in Minnesota. Yet, the cliche that people grow into the job happens to be apt in the case of Al Franken in the Senate. Recently, he asked Jeff Sessions during his hearing about Sessions’s involvement with Russians. Of course, Sessions lied under oath. But it was a key moment in what could be the unraveling of the Trump Administration. If you’re looking for a breezy political biography, I recommend Al Franken, Giant of the Senate. It has humor, wit, and a lot of insight into life in the U.S. Senate. GRADE: B+
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Foreword
1 Why I’m a Democrat 5 (5)
2 How I Became a Comedian 10 (11)
3 Saturday Night Live (Not the Drug Part) 21 (9)
4 Saturday Night Live (The Drug Part) 30 (9)
5 Saturday Night Live (The Part Where I Leave) 39 (7)
6 Paul 46 (5)
7 A 99 Percent Improvement 51 (12)
8 Year of the Bean Feed 63 (12)
9 The DeHumorizer™ 75 (11)
10 I Attempt to Litigate Comedy 86 (5)
11 Hermann the German and the Pull-Out Couch 91 (7)
12 No Joke 98 (2)
13 Harry and Chuck 100 (9)
14 Icarus Soars 109 (5)
15 Twixt Cup and Lip 114 (5)
16 Public Opprobrium 119 (17)
17 My First Powwow 136 (9)
18 Tax-Dodging, Rape-Joking Pornographer for Senate 145 (7)
19 Franni Saves the Campaign 152 (8)
20 “Has It Gotten That Bad?!” 160 (8)
21 “It’s Close, It’s Very Close” 168 (4)
22 The Recount 172 (10)
23 Welcome to the NFL 182 (4)
24 I Actually Become a Senator 186 (4)
25 My First Big Win* 190 (6)
26 What Gets Me out of Bed in the Morning 196 (3)
27 The Case of Perry Mason’s Lost Case 199 (4)
28 The Angel and the Devil 203 (9)
29 Never Give the Staff Credit 212 (7)
30 Letting My Id Run Amok 219 (10)
31 I Screw Up 229 (6)
32 Operation Curdle 235 (12)
33 Health Care: Now What? 247 (20)
34 I Meet George W. Bush 267 (4)
35 The 64 Percent Rule 271 (12)
36 My Republican Friends 283 (10)
37 Sophistry 293 (15)
38 Bulletproof 308 (6)
39 Cracks in My Soul 314 (15)
40 The Koch Brothers Hate Your Grandchildren 329 (6)
41 No Whining on the Yacht 335 (9)
42 I Win Awards 344 (5)
43 We Build a DeHumorizer™ 349 (10)
44 I Get Reelected 359 (8)
45 Lies and the Lying Liar Who Got Himself Elected President 367 (9)
46 I Attend a Presidential Inauguration 376 (10)
47 Being as Good as the People We Serve 386 (7)
Acknowledgments 393 (4)
Index 397

I read War & Peace to prepare for Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812. The action of the play involves about 70 pages of the 1,400-page book. But which pages? Actually, the portion of War & Peace covered by this play starts around page 1,012. Natasha (played by Denée Benton) is young and impetuous. Pierre drinks too much and has a scholarly air (well played by Josh Groban). Pierre is married to Helene (Amber Gray), a party girl. The action of the play revolves around the romantic elements of the characters. Much of the time, singers and dancers run up and down the aisles so there’s plenty of action to follow. Half the audience sits on stage (we chose not to) while the actors sometimes interacted with the audience members. The music, mostly Russian, pounds you with its intensity. My only quibble is that if i was the producer or director of Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812, I wouldn’t have Josh Groban sitting in the on-stage orchestra pit for most of the first half of the play. GRADE: B

Despicable Me 3 follows the template of the previous two hit animated movies. In this latest installment, reformed villain Gru discovers he has a twin brother, Dru (both voiced by Steve Carell). The villain the twins need to bring down is a wacky 1980s former child star, Balthazar Bratt (voiced by SOUTH PARK creator Trey Parker). If you’re in mood for a silly Summer movie, Despicable Me 3 fits the bill. Sadly, the Minions don’t have much to do. GRADE: B

Hard Case Crime is reprinting Erle Stanley Gardner’s Turn On the Heat first published in 1940. Turn On the Heat, the second book in the Donald Lam/Bertha Cool series, features Donald Lam searching for a woman who has been missing for 21 years. I’m a fan of the early Lam/Cool books. Hard Case Crime has also published the “missing” Lam/Cool mystery, The Knife Slipped. You can read my review of The Knife Slipped here. It’s great to have these Hard Case Crime editions available. The writing is crisp and the plots are delightfully twisty!