He's never even figured out his own trick despite the sacrifices he has to make in order to perform it.'

"With the maybe exception of Adaptation, I have yet to encounter a single work of fiction where twins are presented as being individuals."

I've been really pleased at the reaction to the film. Still bummed it didn't win the Oscar, but gratified that it did so well, and that so many people have stopped in to tell me it lived up to the high expectations.

I've been really pleased at the reaction to the film. Still bummed it didn't win the Oscar, but gratified that it did so well, and that so many people have stopped in to tell me it lived up to the high expectations.

He's pretty skeevy, but that's the character! And skeevy in a classic kids' novel isn't exactly like skeevy today. And Uncas is from Last Of The Mohicans — maybe that's where you got the name?

You mean Uncle, Burl? And nope, he's necessary for that heartbreaking moment where Wilbur realizes he hasn't won the blue ribbon, and everything they've been through may be for nothing. And I love the fact that Wilbur didn't win, because he isn't the biggest pig in the yard — it's a nice little touch, implying that…

I love it too. It's like spying on what other people are reading on the train, but with conversation.

@avclub-1e850f6bef0bc36ca1f64e95ff1cbd2e:disqus Yeah, I went to a Wild Cards panel at the Chicago Worldcon last year, and George RR Martin confirmed this — it was done deliberately, so authors would have every reason to give each other their blessing to keep their characters going, instead of everyone thinking "I…

none these criticisms seem damning if you're already interested in seeing this.

They were definitely a thing. I liked the Merovingen Nights series overseen by CJ Cherryh, and featuring a lot of the Thieves' World regulars. The Elfquest shared-world experiment was less interesting. It seemed like a fad for a bit.

It's gonna happen. There are a few big "required for basic cred" books in modern literature, and given that thousands of people read this column (even if it only gets hundreds of comments), it stands to reason that at any given point, a handful of them are going to be attempting Infinite Jest or Ulysses or Gravity's…

It's gonna happen. There are a few big "required for basic cred" books in modern literature, and given that thousands of people read this column (even if it only gets hundreds of comments), it stands to reason that at any given point, a handful of them are going to be attempting Infinite Jest or Ulysses or Gravity's…

We tend not to review these kinds of long-form series where there's a new installment out every year or so; we focus more on series launches and one-offs rather than the open-ended stuff. There's often not enough variety between installments in a long series to make a review insightful or interesting.

You have NO idea.

Heh. How did you come to read a book against your will?

It's been a while since I read the third one, but one of the things I liked most about it in a weird way was that the Mark Meadows stuff was just for the readers — it was never really explained to the young punks who just thought he was a weird hippie throwback. There was never a lengthy explanation of his backstory…

WE APPRECIATE IT, THANKS.

We've asked this question every month for the last four months. You weren't paying attention in English at all this semester, were you? You aren't getting MY notes come exam time.

The thing is, I first encountered most of his poetry (besides "If," which was force-fed to us probably in elementary school) through a woman who sets them to music. When they're approached as songs, the rhythms make perfect sense, and when they're sung aloud, the various accents seem much more natural. It's like the…

Might be just as well you're being forced to savor it in small chunks; that's definitely a book to read for the luscious writing style. The only thing that kept me from tearing through it like a potboiler novel, wondering what the hell was going to happen to this poor kid, was the fact that I listened to it as an…