By MONTE DUTTON Click here. This isn’t the first time I’ve noted that my favorite novelists – Larry McMurtry, Elmore Leonard, Pat Conroy, et al. – have been dying off. Given my own advancing age, there’s no getting around it. Over the years, I’ve read most of John Irving’s great novels: The Cider House Rules, …
Tag: fiction
Doing nothing is cheap
By MONTE DUTTON Click here. Time stands still. I do a lot of thinking. And reading. And watching old movies. And playing my guitar. I had big plans for today. As it turned out, I never left the house. It’s been a moribund day. TCM ran a series of Tab Hunter movies. The Red Sox …
Decent movies about auto racing are rare
By MONTE DUTTON Click here. There’s a frequent local TV commercial that encourages people to have “staycations,“, i.e., build a pool and stay home. My “staycation” is a bit more reasonable. Until my financial situation improves – the latest estimate is August or September, or perpetually two months ahead, depending on level of optimism – …
Things can get so out of hand
By MONTE DUTTON Click here. I always think of this when times are like this in America. In other words, I think about this a lot. Back in the NASCAR years, Nate Ryan and I took road trips from Fort Worth, Texas, to Phoenix, Ariz., because the races were back-to-back. We took various routes, but …
Does an education even matter anymore?
By MONTE DUTTON Click here. Every single kid who announces he is going to college to play a sport cites academics. They mention what they want to be (assuming it’s not a pro ballplayer). Many disclose a planned academic major and cite it as an important reason for their decision. Then some of them go …
California murder in three installments
By MONTE DUTTON Click here. I’m sure this review won’t be a big hit on the site analytics, but I’ve spent a lot time reading lately and resolved to write about each book after I completed it. As I have stockpiled many books over the years that I haven’t gotten around to reading, this means …
Not just another war novel
By MONTE DUTTON Click here. Millions fought in World War II. Thousands were taken prisoner. Thousands of works of fiction have been written. Silver Wings, Iron Cross by Tom Young thus becomes plausible amid the sheer numbers of the conflagration. If such a story never happened, perhaps it should have. In the waning days of …
County Signs: Rainy-day ruminations
By MONTE DUTTON Peroxide has agreed with the Raiders. (Monte Dutton photos) Click here. Things I’ve noticed in movies and TV: It never drizzles. Movies shot in a studio have rickety doors. Many times the bad guy or gal in modern movies is the one who smokes. In old movies, everyone smokes. The second coming …
Readin,’ writin’ and watchin’
By MONTE DUTTON (Pixabay) The weekend was uneventful but worthwhile. I spent most of my time writing my next, and 10th, novel, The Graduate Transfer, which doesn’t get italics until it’s published. I already had 19,000 words, but now the 19,000 are different ones (as if most weren’t already). I decided to use the original …
Eating peaches and pondering other stuff
Clinton, S.C., July 10, 2022,10:28 a.m. (Pixabay photo) First of all, the highlight of the week was peaches. Like all self-respecting South Carolinians, I love peaches and know that my home state produces more peaches than the so-called Peach State, Georgia. Even though modern times have made produce available year around, it generally isn’t produce …
Nightrider's Lament 