Brutal book review. 📝 'Grant' was a dreadful slog too.

A New Biography of Mark Twain Doesn’t Have Much of What Made Him Great

"His book is an endurance test, one that skimps on the things that formed Twain and made him the most lucid, profound, unpredictable and irascibly witty American of his time. Hardy will be the souls who tour this air-conditioned edifice all the way through and glimpse the exit sign."

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/13/books/review/mark-twain-ron-chernow.html?unlocked_article_code=1.G08.dEvJ.g68YPZeDtmoP&smid=url-share

#MarkTwain #Bookstodon #RonChernow #DwightGarner

As I look back on Michael Lesy's work
My thoughts are of that noir-ish lurk
A narrative so rich
In the past's mystic pitch
It's art that still can make me smirk

#wisconsindeathtrip #michaellesy #documentaryliterature #dwightgarner #ode #poetry

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/03/books/review/revisiting-wisconsin-death-trip-50-years-later.html