The wide, wild world of John Irving

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, …

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Was that only yesterday or 40 years ago?

By MONTE DUTTON Click here. Time flies like an arrow, and fruit flies like a banana. No. I didn’t think of that. It just makes me chuckle softly. It’s amazing how long ago it was when certain things happened. Check that. When all things happened. I was watching the British Open on Thursday. Announcers were …

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‘Ain’t no place for no poor boy like me’

By MONTE DUTTON Click here. No wonder the kids are pissed off. For at least two generations, the politicians who run this country have paid cruel lip service to the notion that it’s important to pass down to the young a world worth living in. Old folks like me aren’t going to pay for trillions …

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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 – …

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