notanotherbookreview

                                                                   "Bagatelles" a minimalist novel, one of five short prose  sequences, was published in Peter Cherches' 2013 collection " Lift Your Right Arm , was first published with other microfictions in Cherches' uniquely inspired 1986 collection,  Condensed book.  What we now think of as  "Flash Fiction" in Cherches' explorations conjure the humorous uncanny experiences of being alive, a person in a body on this planet--with the concision of a 30-second advertising spot.  In EVERYTHING HAPPENS TO ME  ( September 12, Pelekinesis Books) Cherches' work explores the surreality of everyday situations that are and aren't what you think. Suppose, out of the corner of your eye, you glimpse something you can't understand but never quite forget?  Such indelible moments on the surface of the everyday life of the narrator, take unexpected turns. Our world in unfixed in a logic, we might call t

  THE BRONZE BOY by Nancy Hamada, directed by Todd Faulkner. Cast included August Kiss Fegley, Nicole Greevy and Todd Faulkner. The production was showcased in "East of Edinburgh" at 59 E.59th Street, one of 6 plays selected for Edinburgh's Fringe Festival. The 59th Street venue offered an opportunity to stage shows prior to the festival. It's an unusual opportunity in the United States. Unlike Britain, there is no National Theater to provide festival opportunities for new plays, let alone venues to showcase them.  THE BRONZE BOY is a surprisingly funny, nuanced and serious play about America's love-hate relationship with guns, explored in a road trip. This meandering journey on our highways is a visit to our hidden gun culture. We see headlines in America, telegraphed shots of life and death madness, but rarely stories of our subterranean inheritance. Our relationship to guns is largely ignored in news culture, which emphasizes senselessness over the hidden "

                                                                  IT CAN'T HAPPEN HERE won the Noble Prize for Sinclair Lewis in 1930s for his postwar dystopia, where the fascist threat isn't external but home-grown.   The book is free at libraries or guttenberg.com.  Local bookstores probably have on "classics" shelves.  Amazon may be cheap and convenient, though never free. (Below is adapted from Wikipedia): Plot : In It Can't Happen Here   by American author Sinclair Lewis  an American politician, Berzelius "Buzz" Windrip, quickly rises to power to become the country's first outright dictator.  Doremus Jessup, a newspaper editor, early on sees Windrip's fascist  policies for what they are and becomes his most ardent critic.  Senator Berzelius "Buzz" Windrip runs on a populist platform, promising to restore the country to prosperity and greatness, and promising each citizen $5,000 per year. Portraying himself as a champion of "t

Days at The Morisaki Bookshop,  Satoshi Yagisawa first introduced Tokyo's Jimbocho district, an improbable world of shops specializing in used books. Art books, playscripts, philosophy texts, maps, literature (classic and contemporary) and books bound in the traditional Japanese way are sold in  ancient wood buildings. Inside stores, books are tightly packed from floor-to-ceiling. Outside, carts  in front of the store contain bargains! Like The Strand in NYC, tourists, as well as young people who may not be readers, look at surprising titles and for a couple dollars, or a hundred yen, may give it a try. Browsing books may be a quicker transaction, bur post pandemic, the tactile appeal, mysterious dedication promise adventures for a pittance, no delivery needed.   In  More Days at The Morisaki Bookshop, .Takako, who first came to her Uncle's shop three years before, is now a reader. She glances at the carts of mostly modern novels, and greets her Uncle Satoru.. Inside, the shop

WANNABEAT by David Polonoff (Trouser Press Books, June 13).   WANNABEAT 's hero in late 1970's San Francisco, Philip Polarov, is on the "make" for women, money, and the elusive zeitgeist of inspiration--the authentic Beatnik poets of countercultural fame. He spots the occasional luminary at City Lights' bookstore (the historic poet's mecca founded by Lawrence Ferlinghetti) and among the burnt-out denizens of North Beach cafes. Yet Philip is not a Beat groupie. He feels the true flame of  purpose and the sting of  Jacques Derrida's Deconstruction Theory ( "the meaning of a work is unstable and could have multiple alternative meanings, so the meaning could easily be the center as it could be the margins..."  ).  Philip could be a player or not.  Desperately, he looks for an impetus to ignite his "stream of drivel" into the work of a  literary contender. Meantime his is the itinerant life of a wannabe artist, chasing down risky and/or ted

  THE OPPOSITE OF LOVE by Ashley Griffin , directed by Rachel Klein produced by New York Rep at Royal Court Performing Arts Space, 145 West 46th St., 3rd floor. Through June 15th THE OPPOSITE OF LOVE   is a courageous play on target for these ultra commodified times, when sex, if not love, is yet another "market" to be navigated for strategic advantages--status, finance.  Eloise, played by Ashley Griffin, and Will, played by Danny Garner, are magnificent combatants except that this courtship is a work for hire.   Historically, in this "man's world," marriageable girls (Rapunzel anyone?) were locked up for their own good. "No man marries a cow, if he already has the milk" was the basic idea of  women's value. Whether rich or poor, around the globe, legacies were at stake. Yet Eloise's conundrum is emotionally like Rapunzel. Unable to leave her tower, she hires Will, a sex professional Though women are sometimes accused of being obsessed with