In the middle of things...

One reason why I won't recommend "Dog Soldiers" is the way that characters seem to know and influence the things that drive the plot without the reader knowing how they became acquainted with such information. I have read Robert Stone before, and, on the sheer power and magnificence of his short stories and a novel entitled "A Flag for Sunrise," I consider him a good writer. How "Dog Soldiers" won the National Book Award will continue to elude me. At any rate, there's bound to be a number of books that I will not endorse. This is one of them.

On a lighter note, I am now reading William Gass' "Finding a Form." It is a collection of essay in which the voice of Gass comes out clear and good. I will be annotating the collection so there will be citations and the like on the reviews.