Matt Snyder’s online journal for writing as it happens, and life as it comes!
Posted in Books & Reading, Favorite Writers, Recommended Reading on Mar 4th, 2010
For the last few years, I’ve become increasingly interested in WW2. I’ve read some non-fiction books on the OSS. I drive my wife crazy with World War II magazine purchases at the grocery story. Naturally, I sought out the best I could find in WW2 fiction. I found it in Alan Furst. About a year [...]
Posted in Books & Reading, Recommended Reading, Reviews on Sep 9th, 2009
Midnight’s Children is a rich and fascinating book. Rushdie channels dreamy visions of Kashmir and Mumbai, but his real masterpiece is the cast of characters — mostly the narrator’s family. In a variety of magical realist encounters, Rushdie manages not to let that fantasy unravel the dysfunctional, tragic and sometimes touching human dramas surrounding his [...]
Posted in Books & Reading, Favorite Writers, Recommended Reading on Dec 17th, 2008
I’ve had sitting on my shelf for a couple years now an unread copy of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay. Much more recently, when Gentlemen of the Road caught my eye as another prospect, I was sold the minute I opened to the dedication. It said “To Michael Moorcock.” Moorcock’s a favorite author [...]
Posted in Books & Reading, On Writing on Dec 3rd, 2008
If you’re looking for books on writing, look no further than the one-two punch of The Art of Fiction: Notes on Craft for Young Writers by John Gardner and What If? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers by Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter. Oh, and don’t let that subtitle fool you on Gardner’s. It’s the best text there [...]
Posted in Books & Reading, Favorite Writers, Recommended Reading on Oct 14th, 2008
I discovered Arturo Pérez-Reverte earlier this year with his endearing Spanish adventure novel, Captain Alatriste. My discovery started a chain that ended most recently with The Club Dumas. I now gather that Pérez-Reverte is a wildly successful author in Spain and elsewhere, and more recently finding success in the U.S. Of course, American editions are [...]
Posted in Books & Reading, On Writing, Recommended Reading on Sep 11th, 2008
No doubt like every other aspiring wordsmith, I read Stephen King’s On Writing. I’ve never been much of a King reader — just a few short stories and The Gunslinger. Still, I appreciate his work and success. His memoirs on writing amused me. They might even have inspired. It’s not much of a book to [...]
Posted in Books & Reading, Favorite Writers, Recommended Reading on Sep 5th, 2008
Last time I covered A Gentleman’s Game by Greg Rucka, an espionage thriller with a solid graphic novel pedigree from Rucka’s Queen & Country. I also tore through Private Wars, the next novel in the Tara Chace series. Here, Tara Chace is out of the service with a baby. This is serious business given the thriller [...]
Posted in Books & Reading, Favorite Writers, Recommended Reading on Aug 27th, 2008
Several months ago, I was flipping channels and watched coverage of a comic book convention on the G4 channel. One of the reporters shared her favorite pick of the convention with the show hosts in the studio. It was something called Queen & Country, a hard-boiled modern espionage comic featuring female protagonist, Tara Chace. The [...]
Posted in Books & Reading on May 26th, 2008
It’s Memorial Day, and I finally remembered to actually continue with Riverwords. I haven’t posted in some time. Time has a way of knocking a fellow around. I managed to read a few things in the meanwhile, and endure some ups and downs in life. I’ve been fighting a minor medical malady that doesn’t seem [...]
Posted in Books & Reading, Personal on Jan 25th, 2008
A while back, a co-worker told me about Blood Meridien by Cormac McCarthy. This guy was older than me, like most of my co-workers at the time. He was thin, and had a kempt beard as long as I knew him. He had a bleak sense of humor, and as I got to know him over [...]
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