Christopher O'Riley 
From the Top taped at the home of Michael Tilson Thomas‘ New World Symphony, the New World Center in beautiful Miami Beach, FL. With South Florida’s finest Steinway in the sumptuous acoustic of the hall, it was high time (The Bad Plus‘ recent release of their Rite of Spring, nearly to the day) to revisit …
Just finished reading the first book I ever felt compelled to finish at all costs, as it happened, during 2 1/2hrs of StairMaster reading (i’d started it yesterday, read a little more half-heartedly on my flights home after 2hrs sleep); couldn’t NOT finish it: Haruki Murakami‘s novel, South of the Border, West of the Sun. …
Just finished reading an early collection of Haruki Murakami short stories, The Elephant Vanishes. The volume begins with the story that would eventually become the opening chapter of The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (worth rereading, certainly) and a bouquet of his most riveting miniatures. My favourites included the darkly exuberant Sleep, The Dancing Dwarf, Slow Boat …
Every book in my Haruki Murakami binge instantly becomes my new favorite. and so it is with the dream/fantasy/mystery/philosophy of Dance, Dance, Dance. the writing is so beautiful, the obvious love of food, music, sex, life, death/depth palpable, the insight and empathy unequaled in our time, and no one writes a climax to a book …
Just finished reading, as part of my full-fledged Haruki Murakami binge, Hard-Boiled Wonderland and The End of the World, a Through the Looking-Glass for the modern day, with cyberpunk leanings far more poetic and humane than anything in similar spirit by William Gibson. worlds of mind, memory and of course, music. magical. i know at …
Just finished reading the latest and greatest from Stephen Graham Jones, his lately-published Not For Nothing, as perfect a piece of West Texas noir as we will ever witness in our lifetimes, or until SGJ decides to remake this genre in his own image again. i hope it’s soon. SGJ owns more styles than most …