Featured Reviews

The Turn (essay) (1993) - William Langewiesche  (Grade:A)

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Machines of Loving Grace: How AI Could Transform the World for the Better (essay) (2024) - Dario Amodei  (Grade:B+)

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Reading the Rocks (essay) (2024) - Jenny Odell  (Grade:B+)

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Pure Heart: The thrilling life and emotional death of Secretariat (essay) (1990) - William Nack  (Grade:A+)

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Dover One (1964) - Joyce Porter  (Grade:A)

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Patsy & the Princes (1935) - Archibald Rutledge  (Grade:B+)

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Reservoir 13 (2017) - Jon McGregor  (Grade:A-)

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Dash Akol (story) (1932) - Sadegh Hedayat  (Grade:A+)

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Can’t Anybody Here Play This Game?: The Improbable Saga of the New York Mets’ First Year (1963) - Jimmy Breslin  (Grade:A-)

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The Murderbot Diaries: All Systems Red (2017) - Martha Wells  (Grade:B+)

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MOVIE REVIEWS:

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Severance (tv show) (2022) - Ben Stiller  (Grade:A)

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The Wild Bunch (1969) - Sam Peckinpah  (Grade:B-)

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Life on Mars (2006) - S. J. Clarkson  (Grade:A+)

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The Passion () - Mel Gibson  (Grade:B)

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Brothers Judd Daily

Brothers Judd QuasiDaily Bookmarks:
06/30/25:

John Gay (1685-1732) was born in Devon, ENG on June 30, 1685. Read Orrin's review of The Beggar's Opera (1728) (Grade: A)

Antoine de Saint Exupéry (1900-1944) was born in Lyon, France on June 29, 1900. Read Orrin's review of The Little Prince (1943)(Grade: A-)

John Toland (1912-) was born in LaCrosse, WI on June 29, 1912. In addition to his Pulitzer Prize winning The Rising Sun: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire, 1936-1945, Brothers Judd recommends his novel The Gods of War.

Luigi Pirandello (1867-1936) was born in Agrigento, Sicily on June 28, 1867. Read Orrin's review of Six Characters in Search of an Author (1921)(Grade: C+)

Mark Helprin (1947-) one of our greatest current novelists was born on June 28, 1947. In addition to his recommended novels Winter's Tale (1983), A Soldier of the Great War (1991) and Memoir from Antproof Case (1995), he wrote Bob Dole's elegant Senate resignation speech in 1996 and is a regular columnist for Forbes and the Wall Street Journal.

Eric Ambler (1909-1998), who helped create the Modern spy novel, was born in London on June 28, 1909. Among his many recommended books are Background to Danger, and A Coffin for Dimitrios (1939)

Henry VIII (1491-1547), king of England (1509-47) and one of the key, albeit unintentional, figures in the rise of Western democracy, was born on June 28, 1509. We recommend the novel The Autobiography of Henry VIII : With Notes by His Fool, Will Somers by Margaret George.

Bob Keeshan (1927-) was born in Lynbrook, NY on June 27, 1927. After creating & playing Clarabell on the Howdy Doody Show (1947-52), he went out on his own and created the beloved Captain Kangaroo (CBS, 1958-85).

Alice McDermott (1953-) was born in Brooklyn, NY on June 27, 1953. Read Orrin's review of Charming Billy (1998)(Grade: C-)

Pearl S. Buck (1892-1973), who won the 1938 Nobel Prize in Literature, was born in Hillsboro, WV on June 26, 1892. We all read her Pulitzer Prize winner The Good Earth in school.

George (Eric Arthur Blair) Orwell (1903-1950) was born in Motohari, India on June 25, 1903. Read Orrin's reviews of Homage to Catalonia (1938) (Grade: A), Animal Farm (1946) (Grade: A+), 1984 (1949) (Grade: A+)

Nicholas Mosley (1923-) was born in London, ENG on June 25, 1923. Son of Oswald Mosley, leader of the British Fascists in the 1930's, he became an outstanding novelist. Read Orrin's review of his Whitbred Prize winning Hopeful Monsters (1990) (Grade: A)

Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914?) was born on June 24, 1842 in Meigs, OH. Read Orrin's review of Civil War Stories (Grade: B)

Erich Maria Remarque (1898-1970) was born in Osnabruck, GER on June 22, 1898. Read Orrin's review of All Quiet on the Western Front (1928) (Grade: C)

H. Rider Haggard (1856-1925) was born in Norfolk, England on June 22, 1856. His book King Solomon's Mine (1885) is one of the great adventure classics of all time.

Billy Wilder (1906-) was born in Sucha, Austria on June 22, 1906. Among his classic films are The Major and the Minor, Double Indemnity, The Lost Weekend, Stalag 17, Five Graves to Cairo and Sunset Boulevard

Octavia Butler (1947-) was born in Pasadena, CA on June 22, 1947. Read Orrin's review of Kindred (1979) (Grade: A)

Dom Casmurro (1899)(Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis 1839-1908)

was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on June 21, 1839

Annette Curtis Klause (1953-) was born in Bristol, ENG on June 20, 1953. Read Orrin's review of Blood and Chocolate (1997)(Grade: A to F)

Henry Louis "Lou" Gehrig (1903-1941) was born on June 19, 1903.