|
8824 NE Russell St. |
Black Lamb |
|
| Every month or so | Writing for Readers |
blacklamb.org |
ABOUTNow in its 14th year of publication, this magazine was created to offer the discerning reader a stimulating selection of excellent original writing. Black Lamb Review is a literate rather than a literary publication. Regular columns by writers in a variety of geographic locations and vocations are supplemented by features, reviews, articles on books and authors, and a selection of “departments,” including an acerbic advice column and a lamb recipe. SUBMISSIONSBlack Lamb welcomes submissions from new writers. Email us. QUESTIONSIf you have questions or comments regarding Black Lamb, please email us. |
Archive for the 'Black Lamb Review of Books' CategoryPagan primer"In olden times...."June 1st, 2016 BY STEFFEN SILVIS Her hair needed pulling. She wore poor clothes that we could mock, and had “germs with no returns.” She sat silently while we stood and pledged our allegiance to the flag each morning: there was something about her religion, we were told. She never wore a Hallowe’en costume, was excused from carol practice, and never received a Valentine. She seemed to spend most of the year alone in the library, a fitting banishment from our revels, we thought. Books were boring and so was she.
Posted by: The Editors Big DaveBefore Dylan, Dave Van Ronk was the bull gooseJune 1st, 2016 BY ED GOLDBERG The Mayor of MacDougal Street: A Memoir One night on MacDougal Street, one of the major thoroughfares in Greenwich Village, I was listening to Dave Van Ronk at the Gaslight, a cellar folk club much mentioned in this book. It was, maybe, 1962. The cliche description of Van Ronk as a “bear of a man” was both easy and correct. He was big, broad, bearded, and lank-haired; his head almost hit the top of the proscenium. Two drunk high school kids sat at one of the minuscule tables and kept up a loud conversation during Dave’s set. He warned them twice, but they resumed chattering before long.
Posted by: The Editors Raiders of the lost tombsArchaeological adventure novelsJune 1st, 2016 BY JOHN M. DANIEL American Caliphate Were's a spellbinding archaeological novel about a “dig” (archaeologists prefer the term “excavation”) on the north coast of Peru, the ancient home of the Moche Indians, who built adobe pyramids. These pyramids, and one pyramid in particular, are of particular interest to a team of North American academic archaeologists, but in this high-stakes adventure novel there are other parties equally interested in what might be found inside a certain tomb. The CIA, for example. The Vatican. A strong-minded old Muslim woman in Lima. And whoever it was that shot and nearly killed Ben and Jila, a pair of romantically involved archaeologists, the last time they poked around the Santiago de Paz pyramids. American Caliphate has a cast of intelligent, risk-taking characters driven by academic jealousy, political intrigue, religious rivalry, love and lust, outright greed, and insatiable nosiness about the ancient past. The plot is full of danger and discovery. And what these archaeologists discover may confirm rumors that Muslims fleeing the Inquisition in Spain and Portugal brought Islam to the New World.
Posted by: The Editors Honorary Black LambsJune 1st, 2016 June’s a jumble of juicy birthdays, but novelists are the overwhelming winners in the literary derby despite the appearance of one of the twentieth century’s greatest poets, William Butler Yeats on June 13, in 1865. Before he got old and Another poet, one of a different sort, adorns June, and that’s the late Allen Ginsberg, born on the 3rd in 1926. And a great master came on the scene, in Russia, on the 6th, in 1799, when Aleksandr Pushkin drooled his first. And although he’s better known for his grim novels, Thomas Hardy, born on the 2nd in 1840, was one of the great poets of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. There are also a few notable dramatists to mention. Pierre Corneille, writer of comedies and also El Cid, came into being on the 6th in 1606. Ben Jonson, author of Volpone, howled his first howl on June 11, 1572, and Luigi Pirandello began his search for an author on the 28th, in 1867. John Gay, creator of The Beggar’s Opera, was born in 1685. His tombstone reads “Life’s a jest/And all things show it./I thought so once,/But now I know it.”
Posted by: The Editors Ask MillieThe top tenJune 1st, 2016 BY MILLICENT MARSHALL The life of an advice columnist living in Big Sky Country is both bracing and sad. Bracing because the big sky gets me thinking big and gives my advice a heft that I believe other advisors’ columns lack. For example, the other morning, after clearing the sagebrush and enjoying my mountain-goat yogurt smoothie, I lifted the lid off the Black Lamb crate of goodies that arrives every month. Usually the crate is filled with letters asking advice, but this month, being the month of the “All-Book Issue”, the cris de coeur were all from my Editor. And they all boiled down to one thing: why would anyone buy this book, rather than Black Lamb? For he had packed the crate with the books holding the top ten sales slots in the country. The scary part was that, clearly, he had read them all. They were flagged, highlighted, and underlined. And beneath the scribbles was the existential cry, “Why?”
Posted by: The Editors Black Lamb RecipeJune 1st, 2016 BY BLACK LAMB To prepare Shashlyk (Georgian skewered lamb), a dish from the Caucasus, assemble the following ingredients: 1 large onion, peeled and finely grated In a large mixing bowl, stir together the grated onion, lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. Add the meat the let it marinate for at least 3 hours at room temperature, tossing it in the marinade every hour or so to keep the pieces well moistened. Prepare coals in a charcoal broiler or preheat your kitchen broiler to its highest point. String the cubes of lamb tightly on 4 long skewers, alternating the lamb with the chunks of onion; press them firmly together. Broil 4 inches from the source of heat, turning the skewers occasionally, until the lamb is done to your taste and the onions are brown. Slide the lamb and onion off the skewers onto heated individual plates, and serve with the raw tomatoes and scallions. Serves 4.
Posted by: The Editors July 2015 in Black LambVolume 13, Number 7 — July 2015July 1st, 2015 The Black Lamb Review of Books XIII In July’s special book issue, John M. Daniel revisits favorite books in Trilogies & quartets. In Revisiting Camus, M.A. Orthofer reviews Kamel Daoud’s reimagining of The Stranger. Toby Tompkins reviews a book about the causes of World War I in Paranoia. In Personal impressions, Brad Bigelow reviews one of the best books ever written about World War II. Lee Matalone reviews a fine collection of Italo Calvino’s stories in Significance galore. In His best novel, Walter Biggins reviews a collection of Jim Harrison’s Brown Dog novellas. Elizabeth Fournier takes a look back at Nancy Mitford in In the business. In Summer reading, Terry Ross reviews Susan Altstatt’s remarkable debut novel Belshangles and three other books. And Lane Browning reviews a book about a found photo in Mystery image. We welcome literary critic Lionel Trilling and novelist Cormac McCarthy into our roster of Honorary Black Lambs. Bridge writer Trixie Barkis describes another tricky bit of cardplay. We offer our umpteenth delicious lamb recipe. Millicent Marshall again answers reader’s questions. And Professor Khan proffers another of his challenging word puzzles.
Posted by: The Editors Trilogies & quartetsShort introductions to a few long worksJuly 1st, 2015 BY JOHN M. DANIEL Many’s the time I’ve finished a novel and wished it could have gone on, that the story could continue, so I could spend more time with the characters and continue to enjoy the author’s brain and storytelling style. Of course I could reread the novel, and I often do, after a bit of time has elapsed. But what I really want is a continuation of the novel: an ongoing plot. I want to know what happens next. This isn’t the case with all novels. Some wonderful stories are complete in one volume; and although I probably would enjoy reading more novels by the same good writer, I’m fully satisfied with where the one I have just finished, finished. But what a pleasure it has been when I knew I could go on to another step in the story’s journey. Or what a pleasant surprise to find out that a good story will live on in a sequel, for starters, and may turn into a trilogy or even a quartet of linked novels. What follows is an annotated and opinionated list of sequential novels, books that belong to each other in threes and fours. In compiling the list I followed three self-imposed rules: (1) within each trilogy or quartet, each volume must be able to stand alone, but (2) together they form a narrative greater than the sum of its parts, and (3) I must have read the books, and I must have liked them enough to recommend them to others. I am presenting these in alphabetical order by authors’ last names, to overrule any tendency to rank the works.
Posted by: The Editors July 2013 in Black LambVolume 11, Number 7 — July 2013July 1st, 2013 The Black Lamb Review of Books X In our 10th annual Black Lamb Review of Books, Terry Ross begins with a question: Poetry is dead, played out. Nobody reads it. True or false? And if true, why? In Richard Russo’s hometown John M. Daniel explores this novelist’s depiction of the place he grew up. Andi Diehn remembers a youth of insatiable reading in Book-colored glasses. In Finally, the truth, Toby Tompkins reviews Nicholson Baker’s 2008 book Human Smoke. M.A. Orthofer comments on a Proust book in Help is on the way. In eZ reading, Rod Ferrandino relates how he made peace with his Kindle. Doug Bruns reviews Jim Harrison’s The Great Leader in A rare voice. In Publish & be damned, Ed Goldberg offers tips on self-publishing. In Out of season, Andi Diehn reviews Barry Estabrook’s cautionary book Tomatoland. Brad Bigelow reflects on poet Helen Bevington’s third volume of memoirs in Not quiet and not really calm. In Mad jealous Jessica Ferri reviews a funny-girl memoir she wishes she’d written. Lee Polevoi recalls a Denis Johnson novel in Neglected masterpiece. In Leading critic, M.A. Orthofer reviews a book of Cynthia Ozick’s essays. Dan Peterson chooses his favorite sports books in The five best. Three more figures from the world of literature — English novelist Hilary Mantel, American novelist Richard Russo, and English novelist William Makepeace Thackeray — are ushered into our pantheon of Honorary Black Lambs and The Ultimate Literary Calendar. Our monthly lamb recipe, from Greece, is for Atlas Mountain Soup. In Mea culpa, advice columnist Millicent Marshall apologizes for having criticized a fellow graduate student for loving Anthony Trollope. And Professor Avram Khan gives us another challenging Black Lamb Word Puzzle.
Posted by: The Editors Book-colored glassesJuly 1st, 2013 BY ANDI DIEHN I envy the way my oldest son reads, stretched out on the living room couch, all of a sudden this year taking up most of three cushions. Watch his face: his lips move, his eyebrows raise and lower in drastic measures, he smiles, winces, gapes, and falls still all in a mere breath. He practices the cliché – he devours books. But, even better, the books devour him.
“Want to go swimming?” she would ask. “Want to ride bikes? Want to watch TV?” No. I was reading. I was busy becoming an Austin.
Posted by: The Editors « Previous Page — « Previous Entries Next Entries » — Next Page » |
LINKSBlogroll
|
