Author Archives: John Sloan

September 2023. This nice spot is on the main floor of a two-storey restaurant on a quiet street in downtown Stratford, the upper floor said to feature South African food. We were seated outside on a nice evening in a … Continue reading →

McCarthy, Cormac. Blood Meridian. Random House, New York, 1985. F; 8/23. I have to count this violent monster among the Big Books of my experience. The list would include Infinite Jest, A Book of Memories, some of Nabokov’s stories, Middlemarch, … Continue reading →

De Botton, Alain. The School of Life: An Emotional Education. School of Life, London 2019. NF; 8/23. One of my favourite authors is at it again. From googling I see that de Botton with others has started this “School of … Continue reading →

Maclear, Kyo. Unearthing. Knopf Canada, Toronto, 2023. Mem; 6/23. The cover of this lovely memoir calls it “tangled” and is it ever. But it’s also just beautiful because of how much emotional and philosophic content the author packs into it … Continue reading →

Tupy M and Pooley G. Superabundance. Cato Institute, 2022. NF; 6/23. The title of the first chapter of this well organized book poses a loaded question: “Are we in the midst of progress, or are we facing the Apocalypse?”  What, … Continue reading →

Geary, Karl. Juno Loves Legs. Catapult, New York, 2023. F; 4/23. It seems to me there are a lot of fiction authors in Ireland these days but I guess that’s nothing new. Somehow this one really captivated me with this … Continue reading →

Barzun, Jacques. From Dawn to Decadence. Harper, New York, 2000. NF; 4/23. It’s not easy to characterize the scope of this book. At least it’s one very bright and enormously informed person’s commentary on 500 years of cultural history. But … Continue reading →

Bair, Deidre. Parisian Lives: Samuel Beckett, Simone de Beauvoir, and Me: A Memoir. Talese/Doubleday, New York. 2019. Autobiography, 2/23. I came to read this through a bit of a strange quest. A friend had recommended Bair’s Beckett. But the book … Continue reading →

(closed late 2023) February 2023 This place looks like another increment of the groundhog of great eating nosing its way out into the Coast Sunshine. It’s no Michelin star candidate but easily the kind of place you might go in … Continue reading →

Cassidy, John. How Markets Fail. Penguin New York, 2009. NF; 12/22. As I mentioned in my review of Lanchester’s I.O.U.: Why Everyone Owes Everyone and No One Can Pay I not only can’t do simple arithmetic, I also despair of … Continue reading →