Kafka for Now, A Note on Translations Soon

The Metamorphosis and Other Stories by Franz Kafka

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


A very good read. My first dabbling in Kafka from a somewhat extended dabbling in existentialism. If I had to buy this book again I would not be buying it for "The Metamorphosis." A decent tale, but "In the Penal Colony" and "A Report to an Academy" were the real winners. I plan to do a comment on books in translation in the very near future over at http://unronic.blogspot.com. here by the end of the week; I promise.


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D-Bags, Girls and Tough Guys: the Poetry of Justin Hyde

The two poetry chapbooks of Justin Hyde arrived at my door by way of friend and novelist Caleb J. Ross. Ever since reading Hyde's books I have been wrestling with the daunting task of faithfully representing them in a book review. Now allow me to immediately back-pedal what I just said. I detest reviews of every stripe that begin with a preface about how hard it was to find comparisons and make judgments about a book; album; movie; what-have-you; and then immediately do so. However, I think I can prove by merit of the thirteen day wait since announcing plans to cover these books and actually doing so that it has been a bit of a challenge. 

What I can say is that I finally found good comparisons for his work not in other poets per se but in musicians. A caveat to that: Justin Hyde's poetry ain't no love songs.