bertramonline > readings

Art Garfunkel famously keeps track of the books he has read since 1968. As of writing this, the count is 1327 (he does not add a review). I thought I could do something similar but I am adding short reviews of books as I read them, and I rake my brain over what I read over the last decades. This is, evidently, a work-in-progress: there are 409 reviews so far. Titles marked with a * are particular favorites.

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Don Winslow: City On Fire

The well-written first volume in what should become a trilogy about Irish and Italian gangsters slugging it out in Providence, RI. Interesting set of characters, and good insights into mob culture and the changing legal and cultural landscape in which the gangs operate, but ultimately young Danny Ryan is too one-dimensional. Winslow does not quite pull off the trick of making Danny a crook that we harbour some sympathy for, up to a point (à la Walter White).