book reviews | Mount Wilson Writers

March 10, 2010 No comments

Shakespeare DVDs

Follow the link and scroll down for my LJ review of recent DVD releases of three of Shakespeare’s finest: The Merchant of Venice, Macbeth, and King Lear.

http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6719700.html?q=christopher+rager

July 15, 2009 Comments off

Heller’s The Believers

http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6669000.html?q=christopher+rager+the+believers

Heller, Zoë. The Believers. 9 CDs. library ed. unabridged. 10½ hrs. Books on Tape. 2009. ISBN 978-1-4159-6406-4. $100; digital download. F
Heller’s third novel—following Everything You Know (2000) and What Was She Thinking? (2003)—is a darkly humorous look at a prominent, liberal New York family coping with the loss of its household head and set against the backdrop of a post-9/11 world in which political and religious ideologies are contrarily questioned and codified. Emmy and Tony Award-winning actress/narrator Andrea Martin juxtaposes the often comic situational interplay among the characters with the inherent sadness at the text’s heart. Her performance enhances the invigorating prose and highlights the underlying wit of one of the past decade’s foremost authors. For the politically minded urbanite. [Embeddable audio clip available through library.booksontape.com; the Harper hc was described as “engrossing,” LJ 12/08.—Ed.]—Chris Rager, Pasadena, CA

November 3, 2008 Comments off

Review of Jane Mayer’s The Darkside

Another Library Journal review–this one’s been heavily edited. I post this not so much to draw your attention to my review, but to highlight the importance of this book. Though the book specifically discusses the Bush/Cheney White House, it provides a general lesson for the ways in which fear and ignorance can manipulate public opinion. Let’s hope that we hold the next administration accountable for all that it does in our collective name.

If you’re interested in my review, scroll down to the nonfiction section:

http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6607291.html?industryid=47111

Thanks,

Chris

September 23, 2008 Comments off

Review of Dickens’s A Tale of Two Cities

http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6593406.html?q=christopher+rager+tale+of+two+cities

Dickens, Charles. A Tale of Two Cities. 11 CDs. library ed. unabridged. 14 hrs. Tantor Media. 2008. ISBN 978-1-4001-3636-0. $79.99; 11 CDs. retail ed. ISBN 978-1-4001-0636-3. $39.99; 2 MP3-CDs. retail ed. ISBN 978-1-4001-5636-8. $29.99. F
Dickens’s preeminent and most overtly political novel, set against the backdrop of the French Revolution, radiates with relevance 150 years after its initial publication through two-time Audie® Award winner Simon Vance’s exceptional reading. Vance’s ability to embody myriad voices and seamlessly transition between narration and alternating dialects and accents accentuates the linguistic and narrative vivacity of the text. Because of both the novel’s canonized status and Vance’s meticulous interpretation of it, recommended for all libraries, particularly those emphasizing the English classics. [With bonus PDF ebook; audio clip available through www.tantor.com. A musical version of Tale, with words, lyrics, and book by Jill Santoriello, opens on Broadway this month.—Ed.]—Christopher Rager, Pasadena, CA

May 16, 2008 No comments

Review of Rediker's The Slave Ship for Library Journal

February 1, 2008 No comments

Review of Dolin’s Leviathan for Library Journal

Here’s a link to my review of

Eric Jay Dolin’s Leviathan: The History of Whaling in America

http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6524693.html?industryid=47111

scroll down to the nonfiction section.

enjoy.

November 1, 2007 No comments

Review of Fitzgerald for Library Journal

Here’s a link for a review I wrote, published by Library Journal, of the audiobook version of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Other Stories:

http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6495328.html?industryid=47111