Author Archives: mfinocchiaro
The Batman (2022) – Fino no-spoiler review
I felt that Matt Reeve’s The Batman was a great superhero flick. Comparing it to the MCU, it is slower-paced, features better photography, and my ears weren’t ringing at the end because the score and sound effects were perfect. Comparing … Continue reading
Pulitzer 2022 Reading Update!
I am still reading lots of books trying to guess who might win this year’s Pulitzer. My list so far: 1. The Five Wounds by Kirstin Valdez Quade – The Pulitzer has never gone to a Latina, will this be … Continue reading
Pulitzer Prize – not always the best arbiter of literary excellence
I found that the Pulitzer committee often overlooked excellent books and awarded lacklustre ones. Here is my Top 10 list of books which I felt were absolutely not Pulitzer-worthy. Scarlet Sister Mary by Julia Peterkin (1929) was just a disaster … Continue reading
Pondering the Pulitzer – Part 1 – Westerns!
I recently finished all of the Pulitzers and will write a few posts about some of my favorites, my least favorites, and other lists and whatnot. Being that the Pulitzer was originally intended to be about the American way of … Continue reading
The Last 50 Years of Pulitzers (1970-2020)
I have been on a project to read all the Pulitzer winners (and some of the runner’s ups). It has been a wonderful adventure during which I have discovered authors that I would have otherwise missed, but also with some … Continue reading
Reading Shakespeare
Several years ago, I purchased the Oxford Complete Shakespeare and placed it on my shelf. It stared at me more and more intensely, particularly during the confinement period in the spring of 2020. In a moment of existential angst, I … Continue reading
Fino’s 2020 Pulitzer Prediction
I have been working my way backward through winners of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and have read back to 1980 (Executioner’s Song by Norman Mailer). For 202o, I have read the 15 books that pprize.com predicted would be considered … Continue reading
Duccio’s Maestà
The theme of the Madonna in art history spans the post-Carolingien times to the 19th century. Nearly any artist associated with the Roman Catholic church in one way or another created images of the Madonna and child for adoration in … Continue reading
53 Stations of Tōkaidō: Introduction – Leaving Edo via the Nihon-Bashi Bridge
Two lackeys crossing the Bridge of Japan (Nihon-bashi) are just coming over the hump in lockstep. Their backs are bent over by the weight of the red bundles pulled over their shoulders. One of them smiles, perhaps thinking of his … Continue reading
Book Reviews for Series by Fino
Fino’s Grishaverse Reviews <a href=”https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3023960797?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1“>Shadow and Bone</a> <a href=”https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3054496364?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1“>Siege and Storm</a> <a href=””>Coming Soon – Ruin and Rising</a> <a href=”https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1885981707?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1“>Six of Crows</a> <a href=”https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1907757528?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1“>Crooked Kingdom</a> <a href=””>Coming Soon – King of Scars</a> <a href=””>Coming Soon – The Language of Thorns</a> … Continue reading
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