Featured Reviews

The Interrogative Mood: a Novel? (2009) - Padgett Powell  (Grade:B+)

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Whalefall: A Novel (2023) - Daniel Kraus  (Grade:C)

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2BR02B (short story) (1962) - Kurt Vonnegut  (Grade:A-)

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The Unquiet Sleep (1962) - William Haggard  (Grade:B+)

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The Ballad of Mulan (6th Century) - Unknown Unknown  (Grade:A)

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The Wind in the Willows (1908) - Kenneth Grahame  (Grade:A+)

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Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland (2018) - Patrick Raden Keefe  (Grade:A-)

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Come Back Dead (1997) - Terence Faherty  (Grade:B+)

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The Hawaiian Cult that raised Tulsi Gabbard (with Christine Gralow) [Podcast] (2026) - Christine Gralow  (Grade:B)

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Pay-Off in Blood (1962) - Brett Halliday  (Grade:B)

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The Odyssey (2017) - Emily Wilson  (Grade:A+)

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A Political Philosophy of Conservatism: Prudence, Moderation and Tradition (Bloomsbury Studies in the Aristotelian Tradition) (2021) - Ferenc Horcher  (Grade:A-)

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One Day—and One Night—in Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen (essay) (2000) - Anthony Bourdain  (Grade:B+)

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Hiroshima (1946) - John Hersey  (Grade:B)

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American Scripture: Making the Declaration of Independence (1997) - Pauline Maier  (Grade:B+)

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MOVIE REVIEWS:

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Artificial Intelligence: AI (2001) - Steven Spielberg  (Grade:C-)

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BEST CONSERVATIVE FILMS:
Andrei Rublev (1966) - Andrei Tarkovsky  (Grade:A)

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Strictly Ballroom (1992) - Baz Luhrmann  (Grade:A+)

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It Happens Every Spring (1949) - Lloyd Bacon  (Grade:B)

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A Man Escaped (or The Wind Bloweth Where it Listeth) [Un condamnéà mort s'est échappé ou Le vent souffle oùil veut] (1956) - Robert Bresson  (Grade:A+)

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The Apostle (1997) - Robert Duvall  (Grade:A)

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Brothers Judd Daily

Brothers Judd QuasiDaily Bookmarks:
08/16/26:

Charles Bukowski (1920-1994) was born in Andernach, GER on August 16, 1920.

Menachem Begin (1913-92) was born in Brest-Litovsk, Russia on August 16, 1913. He and Anwar Sadat shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 1978.

Ted Hughes (1930-98) was born in Mytholmroyd, Yorkshire, ENG on August 16, 1930. Read Orrin's review of The Iron Giant: A Story in Five Nights (1968) (Grade: B+)

Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) was born in Ajaccio, Corsica on August 15, 1769. Brothers Judd recommends the biography Napoleon Bonaparte by Alan Schom.

Robert Bolt (1924-95) was born in Manchester, ENG on August 15, 1924. Read Orrin's review ofA Man for All Seasons (1960)(Grade: A+)

Steve Martin (1945-) was born in Waco TX on August 14, 1945. Read Orrin's review of Shopgirl: A Novella (2000) (Grade: C)

Alfred Hitchcock (1899-1980) was born in London, ENG on August 13, 1899. By any measure, he is one of the great movie directors of all time, Brothers Judd especially recommends: Vertigo and The 39 Steps, both available at Amazon's Hitchcock Centennial site.

[William] Ben Hogan (1912-97) was born in Stephenville, TX on August 13, 1912. Read Orrin's review of Power Golf (1948)

William Goldman (1931-) was born in Highland Park, IL on August 12, 1931. Read Orrin's review of The Princess Bride : S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure: The 'Good Parts' Version, Abridged (1973)

Alex Haley (1921-92) was born in Ithaca, NY on August 11, 1921. In addition to the bestseller Roots (1976), he was the coauthor of The Autobiography of Malcolm X (1965)(see Orrin's review; Grade: A+)

Andre Dubus (1936-99) was born in Lake Charles, LA on August 11, 1936. Read Orrin's review of Selected Stories (1988) (Grade: A) & try his online story If They Knew Yvonne.

Herbert Clark Hoover (1874-1964), 31st President of the United States and the first born west of the Mississippi, was born in West Branch, IA on August 10, 1874.

Izaac Walton (1593-1683), was born in Stafford, ENG on August 9, 1593. He wrote the first great treatise on fishing, The Compleat Angler.

Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings (1896-1953), author of the Pulitzer Prize winning classic The Yearling (1938), was born in Washington, DC on August 8, 1896.

August 8 is Benny Carter's birthday. The remarkable multi-instrumentalist/composer/arranger/bandleader/quiet-but-effective civil rights leader was born in NYC in 1907 and died in 2003, so this would have been #98. Until my collection of his music is completed, the following CD's give a good overview of his music:
Further Definitions
Montreux Live - 1977
1929-1940
More about Carter can be found in the definitive biography Benny Carter - A Life in American Music, or in an essay contained in Gary Giddins' "Weather Bird" collection of essays

Ann Beattie (1947-) was born on August 7, 1947. Read Orrin's review of Love Always (1985)(Grade: A)

Unbreakable (2000) (directed by M. Night [Manoj Nelliyattu] Shyamalan 1970-) Manoj Nelliyattu Shyamalan was born in Pondicherry, India on August 6 1970.

Conrad Aiken (1899-1973) was born in Savannah, GA on August 5, 1899.

Guy de Maupassant (1850-93) was born near Dieppe, France on August 5, 1850.

John Huston (1906-1987) was born in Nevada, MO on August 5, 1906. The Maltese Falcon, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Asphalt Jungle and The Man Who Would Be King are just a few of his classic movies.