Tag Archives: character development

“Friday Night Fights” Published Today in Pif Magazine

Posted on August 1, 2016 by Robert Earle

On Friday night after the fights and the kids were down, Nora and Harry went to bed, too. Harry was exhausted, but Nora had to talk. “If you’re going to work in Brooklyn, we should move there,” she said. “I … Continue reading →

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The Art of the Story, Daniel Halpern, ed.

Posted on February 25, 2016 by Robert Earle

Somewhere along the line I acquired this fat anthology of stories by international writers, born between 1938 and 1970. It’s a sequel to a similarly fat anthology called The Art of The Tale, focused primarily on writers born before 1938.  In his … Continue reading →

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Go Tell It On The Mountain by James Baldwin

Posted on November 16, 2015 by Robert Earle

Go Tell In On The Mountain is a powerful novel that draws its strength from exploring pairs of opposites: black versus white; south versus north; country versus city; grace versus damnation; heaven versus hell; male versus female; strength versus weakness; … Continue reading →

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Some Short Stories by Henry James

Posted on October 15, 2015 by Robert Earle

Some Short Stories by Henry James is a small Kindle collection of tales long out of copyright that can be downloaded for free and freely enjoyed. In some ways the best of them is “Brooksmith,” about a head butler who … Continue reading →

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A Woman in Charge (Hillary Clinton) by Carl Bernstein

Posted on August 11, 2015 by Robert Earle

A political junkie friend of mine gave me this thick biography of Hillary Clinton published in 2007, telling me it was a good book. I was skeptical, but he was right. It’s well-written, well-researched, balanced and yet painful to read … Continue reading →

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The Man Who Was Late by Louis Begley

Posted on May 16, 2015 by Robert Earle

The Man Who Was Late is an early novel by the lawyer-novelist Louis Begley. It’s a story recounted through the memories, observations and conclusions of a lawyer named Jack, a New York sophisticate much like Begley, about his friend, a … Continue reading →

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Players by Don DeLillo

Posted on May 15, 2015 by Robert Earle

Players is a novel that could have been written last year but was written in 1977. It’s set in New York, Maine, and ultimately the outskirts of Toronto. In New York Pam works in the World Trade Center and has … Continue reading →

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Our Kind of Traitor by John le Carré

Posted on May 18, 2013 by Robert Earle

Our Kind of Traitor by John le Carré is a novel about a Russian money-launderer (Dima) who seeks the help of a friendly British couple (Perry and Gail) when they meet on the island of Antigua.  Dima’s need: to reach British … Continue reading →

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Farewell, My Lovely by Raymond Chandler

Posted on March 27, 2013 by Robert Earle

Farewell, My Lovely was Raymond Chandler’s second novel, following The Big Sleep, and I suppose I wouldn’t have read it this week, having read The Big Sleep last week, if it didn’t come in a two-novel edition issued by the … Continue reading →

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