BOOK RANTS

I rant about books, mostly memoir, putting short clips from my YouTube videos here. Reviews and tweets by @JohnJuliusReel.

[BOOK RANTS @rants_book]

ALI AND NINO allows the Western reader to understand, from the fundamentalist Muslim perspective, the way fundamentalist Muslims think. Without bias—for or against. That’s what makes it art.
https://t.co/8otVWLpgzN

[BOOK RANTS @rants_book]

After 20 years of submitting this, only to receive silence—owing, I suspect, to prudery and short-sighted social justice concerns—it finally met with acceptance at Magazine Non Grata. Glad to see it out in the world.

https://t.co/Qcy7tNLo0L

[BOOK RANTS @rants_book]

This collection was born of Heresy Press (@InfoHeresy) sending a Kafka quote out to a select group of established writers, hoping it would inspire them to submit something that “would quite likely meet with rejection by the average mainstream editor.”
https://t.co/NxYPjaI4nO

[What Ho…A Rat!! @WhatHoARat]

Here's a review of Nothing Sacred, an anthology I was in with @mikra_namani, @Perez_Writes, and a lot of other great folks. Dude has some nice things to say about my story "The Child Star".
https://t.co/su7hmXMtmL

[BOOK RANTS @rants_book]

Enjoyed 8 of the 12 stories in Nothing Sacred, for a batting average of .666. Not bad. @InfoHeresy gives us a taste of the talent, points of view, and subject matter that mainstream publishing has overlooked for a decade or more.
https://t.co/B3v7HVZVaC

[BOOK RANTS @rants_book]

I wrote about a very tough time in our lives:
👉 https://t.co/FElzc5nIK6

[BOOK RANTS @rants_book]

Where I have a dialogue with Shelby Foote's ghost...
https://t.co/dWjoCMT3hi

[BOOK RANTS @rants_book]

It's been three years since I published anything about my Andalusian wife. That's too long!
https://t.co/U3keb2lcPv

[BOOK RANTS @rants_book]

First piece of fiction published in thirty-five years of trying. Not many writers can beat that initial slump.
https://t.co/zl0pfSRwnM

[BOOK RANTS @rants_book]

Drugs both enhanced and diminished Jim Carroll's work.
https://t.co/dlPcQe77D5

[BOOK RANTS @rants_book]

An impressive memoir in essays by @thomasbeller .
Full Rant on ▶️
https://t.co/ZYvggOFXV1

[BOOK RANTS @rants_book]

I had some thoughts on Hyperidean Press after reading HORIZONTAL RAIN, the excellent debut novel by its editor, Udith Dematagoda.
https://t.co/uuV38da0I3

[BOOK RANTS @rants_book]

THE BASKETBALL DIARIES might have the best male masturbation scene ever written, which I read at the end of my rant—YouTube censors be damned.
https://t.co/VNrKvHj3h3

[Paul Franz @plfrnz]

Lovely and quietly bracing essay by @JohnJuliusReel on the poet and lover (“romantic” in both senses) Jack Gilbert for @r0manticon. Gilbert’s work has tended to haunt the periphery of my consciousness—I’ve long been a greater fan of Linda Gregg, among the most significant of Gilbert’s many lovers. Maybe I will write something about her work, sun dazzled and and lapidary like a Cycladic figurine, some day. For now, enjoy these spare, luminous reflections on a significant poet.

[BOOK RANTS @rants_book]

I was able to write about my passion for Jack Gilbert's poetry, thanks to the Substack literary magazine, @r0manticon.
https://t.co/qoTtMtVICp

[BOOK RANTS @rants_book]

"'So this is variety,' I said to myself, not yet realizing that I was the variety."
https://t.co/dELLEswoP8

[BOOK RANTS @rants_book]

Both Shakespeare and James produced at the highest level late in their careers.
https://t.co/ybzMl8nnGo

[BOOK RANTS @rants_book]

Happy Thanksgiving, people. I'm thankful for a lot, including this interview. My Half Orange, published over two years ago, keeps giving me satisfaction.
https://t.co/dNGd05iEqb

[BOOK RANTS @rants_book]

Sometimes miscommunication can sound like poetry...
https://t.co/qayVAAPyao

[BOOK RANTS @rants_book]

Sevillians' linguistic ironies are so ingrained and widespread that I cannot even use them to make judgements! 👇👇
https://t.co/tAH3MnI5wq