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The Coast of Pacific Beach Restaurant Walk May 21, 2013 Bring your appetite for a self-guided walk featuring 25 restaurants between Pacific Beach Drive and Diamond Street. See website for a list of participating restaurants. 28 other Food & Drink events on Tuesday, May 21
 
Check 1, Check 2 | Music & nightlife
New club, a branch of Avalon Hollywood, will do business under the name Avalon
Arts & Culture Features
Photography project lets transgender folks share their personal experiences
Canvassed | Art & culture
The late architect in his own words
Arts & Culture Features
Organizer of May 17 exhibition in East Village fends off criticism
No Life Offline
San Diego’s better than San Jose on transparency—let’s keep it that way

 

 
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Monday, May 20,2013
The Floating Library

Cult of personality

Fiona Maazel’s beguiling new novel about the perils of loneliness

By Jim Ruland
Either Fiona Maazel—named in 2008 to the National Book Foundation's "5 under 35" list—possesses psychic powers or her novels are remarkably prescient.
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Monday, April 29,2013
The Floating Library

Karen Green’s artfully fragmented elegy

Her book ‘Bough Down’ explores the immortality of loss

By Jim Ruland
Karen Green's book, Bough Down, published by Siglio, is an elegy for her husband, the much-loved writer David Foster Wallace, who committed suicide in 2008. 
Wednesday, April 10,2013
The Floating Library

One classic and two new ones by local writers

San Diego celebrates ‘Fahrenheit 451’—plus reviews of Bonnie ZoBell’s ‘The Whack-Job Girls’ and Marivi Soliven’s debut novel, ‘The Mango Bride’

By Jim Ruland

What would the world be like without books? That’s the question Write Out Loud is asking San Diegans in its month-long celebration of the dystopian classic Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury.

Monday, March 18,2013
The Floating Library

Scott McClanahan’s ‘Crapalachia’ tells it on the mountain

West Virginia author takes his readers to a place where they belong

By Jim Ruland
Crapalachia is McClanahan's third book about the Mountain State but his first long-form treatment of the subject nearest and dearest to his heart. He couples a savage sense of humor with a willingness to revisit life's most uncomfortable moments. 
Monday, February 25,2013
The Floating Library

A satire, a collage and an elegy hold a mirror up to the unnatural

Reviews of ‘Confessions from a Dark Wood’ by Eric Raymond; ‘Board,’ curated by Brad Listi and Justin Benton; and ‘The Guardians’ by Sarah Manguso

By Jim Ruland
There comes a point fairly early in Confessions from a Dark Wood, Eric Raymond's debut novel from Sator Press, where it appears as if the author is determined to take his 21st-century satire over the top. And then he takes it further.
Monday, February 4,2013
The Floating Library

Two novels about the sadness of contemporary families

Reviews of Antoine Wilson’s ‘Panorama City’ and Jami Attenberg’s ‘The Middlesteins’

By Jim Ruland
During my early 20s, I worked as a night cook at a 24-hour fast-food restaurant in rural southwest Virginia. I met a lot of interesting characters during my time on the grill. 
Tuesday, January 15,2013
Retro Issue

Barber Side: where everybody knows your mane

Normal Heights shop is a return to an old-school social club

By Jim Ruland
Imagine it’s 1899 and you want to know what’s going on in the world. You really only have two options: buy a newspaper or head to the barber shop. 
Monday, January 14,2013
The Floating Library

I finally read ‘Moby-Dick’

A late appreciation of Melville’s tale of 19th-century technology

By Jim Ruland

Call me tardy. After a stint in the Navy, two English degrees and an ocean of books, I finally got around to reading Herman Melville’s classic seafaring adventure, Moby-Dick.

Monday, December 17,2012
The Floating Library

Two of the best books of 2012

Reviews of ‘Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk’ and ‘Every Love Story is a Ghost Story’

By Jim Ruland
Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk by Ben Fountain is stuffed so full of Americana, it’s enough to make the most effusive red-stater blush.
Tuesday, November 20,2012
The Floating Library

Would you like to leave a message?

Joshua Cohen’s ‘Four New Messages’ examines what it means to communicate these days

By Jim Ruland
We send messages every day. Thoughtlessly, dutifully, compulsively. In 21st-century America, sending messages is how we communicate.
 
 
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