Sunday Morning: “Solstice” by Joyce Carol Oates

Rufus F.

Rufus is a likeable curmudgeon. He has a PhD in History, sang for a decade in a punk band, and recently moved to NYC after nearly two decades in Canada. He wrote the book "The Paris Bureau" from Dio Press (2021).

Related Post Roulette

5 Responses

  1. Em Carpenter says:

    Yay- a Sunday morning piece about a book I’ve actually read!
    So I read this book like 20 years ago. I wanted to enjoy it- I’ve had relationships like this and I had hoped this book would capture it. I honestly don’t recall much but I do recall that it didn’t — and was a slog to get through. I’ve never really enjoyed Oates much. Most recently I’ve tried and tried to finish “Middle Age” and I can’t.Report

  2. Rufus F. says:

    Yeah, it felt like the kind of book I would really enjoy in theory, but not actuality. Even more so with Zombie- a novel about a killer who’s basically Jeffrey Dahlmer? How could that not hold my attention?

    I will say I liked The Faith of a Writer, but that was about writing, so of course I did.Report

  3. I just reread LOTR for the first time in many decades. It’s no longer the towering masterpiece it was when I was much younger, but it’s well-written at the level of sentences and much more cleverly plotted than I remembered. And it reinforced my belief that Peter Jackson does not understand anything about what makes the book worthwhile.

    BTW, Tolkien really hated spiders.Report

  4. Rufus F. says:

    My father works as a lobsterman, and he brings spends a lot of time reading on his boat. Anyway, he read it for the first time a few summers ago and is now a big fan.Report