TJ West

Reading History: “The Huntress” (by Kate Quinn)

Warning: Some spoilers follow. I’ve been a fan of Kate Quinn’s historical novels for some years…
A Tale of Two Endings: “If Beale Street Could Talk” and “Green Book”

When Green Book was announced as the winner of the Best Picture at this year’s Academy Award,…
Book Review: “The Last Tsar’s Dragons” (by Jane Yolen and Adam Stemple)

Note: I would like to thank NetGalley for providing me with an advance copy of this…
Reading History: “A Short History of Europe: From Pericles to Putin” (by Simon Jenkins)

Every so often you find a book that is quite upfront about what it is and…
Reading History: “The End of the Myth: From the Frontier to the Border Wall in the Mid of America” (by Greg Grandin)

Note: My sincere thanks to NetGalley for providing me an ARC in return for an honest review. Every so often you read a piece of history that is blistering, refreshing,…
Film Review: “Stan and Ollie”

Fair warning: Spoilers for the film follow. These days, it’s sometimes hard to remember that it used to be possible–preferable even–to…
Novel Thoughts: Turning History into Fantasy

Some of my favourite fantasy series involve some measure of real history in their inner workings.…
Weekly Rant: On Being a #BernieNo: 5 Theses

Well, I was going to write my new blog post on Kamala Harris’s new book but, since…
Novel Thoughts: The Savage Joys of Cutting

Since I’ve been struggling a bit with revision today, I figured I’d take a break and…
Weekly Rant: West Virginia, We Need to Talk

You know, for a while there I’m sure (as The Onion put it) that West Virginia was feeling…