Dom Tonic
@domtonic.bsky.social
Musician. Attorney. Historian. Reader. The path to truth is via the scientific method.
Current read: And Then There Were None (Ten Little Indians), by Agatha Christie. The prototype for many similar captive group murder mysteries to follow. Clever, but cold, not much reason to care about the victims. The killer-fakes-his-own-death trope evident early on.
January 13, 2026 at 3:19 AM
Current read: And Then There Were None (Ten Little Indians), by Agatha Christie. The prototype for many similar captive group murder mysteries to follow. Clever, but cold, not much reason to care about the victims. The killer-fakes-his-own-death trope evident early on.
Current read: Train Dreams, by Denis Johnson. An odd, melancholy novella about an unremarkable man who suffers an unimaginable loss, then exists unremarkably for many years until he dies. The accolades are mystifying. The screenwriters concocted a great deal of material to make a movie of this.
January 7, 2026 at 1:55 AM
Current read: Train Dreams, by Denis Johnson. An odd, melancholy novella about an unremarkable man who suffers an unimaginable loss, then exists unremarkably for many years until he dies. The accolades are mystifying. The screenwriters concocted a great deal of material to make a movie of this.
Current read: Boy’s Life, by Robert McCammon. A 12-year-old’s loss of innocence in 1964 rural Alabama, with a dash of magic. Magnificent plotting and storytelling, emphasizing the humanity of the characters, like the best of Stephen King. Every thread is pulled and there are no loose ends.
January 5, 2026 at 12:01 AM
Current read: Boy’s Life, by Robert McCammon. A 12-year-old’s loss of innocence in 1964 rural Alabama, with a dash of magic. Magnificent plotting and storytelling, emphasizing the humanity of the characters, like the best of Stephen King. Every thread is pulled and there are no loose ends.
Current read: Ask The Dust, by John Fante. A narcissistic young writer and an unstable waitress in a love-hate relationship in skid row L.A., late 1930s. An oddly impactful, often funny and worthwhile short read.
December 29, 2025 at 11:49 PM
Current read: Ask The Dust, by John Fante. A narcissistic young writer and an unstable waitress in a love-hate relationship in skid row L.A., late 1930s. An oddly impactful, often funny and worthwhile short read.
Current read: Boy Swallows Universe, by Trent Dalton. Fantastic. Gritty coming of age story, teen growing up in drug underworld of Brisbane, hoping to become a writer and avenge childhood traumas. With an ending rivaling Silence Of The Lambs. Highly recommended.
December 28, 2025 at 3:07 AM
Current read: Boy Swallows Universe, by Trent Dalton. Fantastic. Gritty coming of age story, teen growing up in drug underworld of Brisbane, hoping to become a writer and avenge childhood traumas. With an ending rivaling Silence Of The Lambs. Highly recommended.
Current read: The House Of Mirth, by Edith Wharton. Downwardly-mobile single woman struggles to maintain standing, comfort, marriageability and reputation against the mean girls and weak men of NYC aristocracy circa 1900. Wharton at the top of her social critique craft. Little mirth detected.
December 22, 2025 at 1:57 AM
Current read: The House Of Mirth, by Edith Wharton. Downwardly-mobile single woman struggles to maintain standing, comfort, marriageability and reputation against the mean girls and weak men of NYC aristocracy circa 1900. Wharton at the top of her social critique craft. Little mirth detected.
Current reread: The Prince Of Tides, by Pat Conroy. Revisiting one of the three best reads of a long, full reading life. Inject this lush, intelligent, maximalist storytelling straight into my veins. “My soul grazes like a lamb on the beauty of indrawn tides.”
December 14, 2025 at 2:03 AM
Current reread: The Prince Of Tides, by Pat Conroy. Revisiting one of the three best reads of a long, full reading life. Inject this lush, intelligent, maximalist storytelling straight into my veins. “My soul grazes like a lamb on the beauty of indrawn tides.”
Current read: The Grapes Of Wrath, by John Steinbeck. The great American novel. Desperate dust bowl migrants struggle to survive predatory capitalism and its enforcers. And a glimpse ahead to the impacts of wealth disparity and climate migration in the coming decades.
December 6, 2025 at 7:34 PM
Current read: The Grapes Of Wrath, by John Steinbeck. The great American novel. Desperate dust bowl migrants struggle to survive predatory capitalism and its enforcers. And a glimpse ahead to the impacts of wealth disparity and climate migration in the coming decades.
Current read: White Noise, by Don DeLillo. Barely plotted postmodern farce, filled with random diversions, some clever, some really funny, some WTF.
November 21, 2025 at 9:46 PM
Current read: White Noise, by Don DeLillo. Barely plotted postmodern farce, filled with random diversions, some clever, some really funny, some WTF.
Current read: Go Tell It On The Mountain, by James Baldwin. A gay black teen in 1930s Harlem, steeped in the crippling batshit insanity of religion. Gripping family backstories. Essential reading.
November 19, 2025 at 1:47 AM
Current read: Go Tell It On The Mountain, by James Baldwin. A gay black teen in 1930s Harlem, steeped in the crippling batshit insanity of religion. Gripping family backstories. Essential reading.
Current read: Queen Esther, by John Irving. A lot of familiar Irving themes: strong women, non-traditional families, abortion and wrestling. Some pacing problems, with too little time spent on some characters and story arcs, and too much spent on others. Still worthwhile, often touching.
November 14, 2025 at 10:42 PM
Current read: Queen Esther, by John Irving. A lot of familiar Irving themes: strong women, non-traditional families, abortion and wrestling. Some pacing problems, with too little time spent on some characters and story arcs, and too much spent on others. Still worthwhile, often touching.
Current read: Nicholas Nickleby, by Charles Dickens. Excellent early Dickens, with noble heroes and treacherous villains, intricate plotting and broad comedy, with characteristic social commentary. Great stuff.
November 6, 2025 at 2:47 PM
Current read: Nicholas Nickleby, by Charles Dickens. Excellent early Dickens, with noble heroes and treacherous villains, intricate plotting and broad comedy, with characteristic social commentary. Great stuff.
Current read: The Crying Of Lot 49, by Thomas Pynchon. Life is too short to waste on pseudointellectual claptrap with no plot, no resolution and not a single character with recognizable human traits. No wonder he doesn’t show his face. He’s been punking us for decades.
October 27, 2025 at 1:30 AM
Current read: The Crying Of Lot 49, by Thomas Pynchon. Life is too short to waste on pseudointellectual claptrap with no plot, no resolution and not a single character with recognizable human traits. No wonder he doesn’t show his face. He’s been punking us for decades.
Current read: Foster, by Claire Keegan. Quiet, affecting novella of contrasting families told through the voice and observations of a child. One with many children, but no capacity to love or properly care for, the other able but denied the privilege. This author deserves to be widely read.
October 24, 2025 at 5:58 PM
Current read: Foster, by Claire Keegan. Quiet, affecting novella of contrasting families told through the voice and observations of a child. One with many children, but no capacity to love or properly care for, the other able but denied the privilege. This author deserves to be widely read.
Current read: Tobacco Road, by Erskine Caldwell. Southern white trash filth, squalor, starvation, inhumanity during the early depression. Almost gave up early, but black comedy arrives with character Bessie, and the short read is redeemed. Maltreatment of grandmother too over-the-top.
October 22, 2025 at 7:54 PM
Current read: Tobacco Road, by Erskine Caldwell. Southern white trash filth, squalor, starvation, inhumanity during the early depression. Almost gave up early, but black comedy arrives with character Bessie, and the short read is redeemed. Maltreatment of grandmother too over-the-top.
Current read: The Count Of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas. Magnificent storytelling, worthy of all the accolades. Youthful optimism and love, injustice and deprivation, unimaginable wealth and adventure, revenge and melancholy, all tightly plotted. 1200+ pages over too soon.
October 20, 2025 at 1:49 PM
Current read: The Count Of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas. Magnificent storytelling, worthy of all the accolades. Youthful optimism and love, injustice and deprivation, unimaginable wealth and adventure, revenge and melancholy, all tightly plotted. 1200+ pages over too soon.
Current read: All The King’s Men, by Robert Penn Warren. A master of both prose and poetry, working at peak form. While the political intrigues are tame by current standards, the plot development and character study are excellent. Another highly recommended read.
September 29, 2025 at 5:43 PM
Current read: All The King’s Men, by Robert Penn Warren. A master of both prose and poetry, working at peak form. While the political intrigues are tame by current standards, the plot development and character study are excellent. Another highly recommended read.
Current read: Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro. Disappointing, especially after the excellent Remains Of The Day. Promising concept falls flat. Characters who should be fighting their cruel fate are turned into navel-gazing dishrags. Middle third drags on with little plot advancement.
September 14, 2025 at 2:01 PM
Current read: Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro. Disappointing, especially after the excellent Remains Of The Day. Promising concept falls flat. Characters who should be fighting their cruel fate are turned into navel-gazing dishrags. Middle third drags on with little plot advancement.
Current read: My Ántonia, by Willa Cather. Touching portrait of the immigrant experience in rural Nebraska in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, filled with hardships and joy. Wonderful.
September 6, 2025 at 1:28 AM
Current read: My Ántonia, by Willa Cather. Touching portrait of the immigrant experience in rural Nebraska in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, filled with hardships and joy. Wonderful.
Current read: Hard Rain Falling, by Don Carpenter. Spare, harsh and honest portrayal of neglect, hard living, partial redemption and ultimate heartbreak. Better than Hemingway. Should have been a hit in the author’s lifetime.
August 28, 2025 at 10:05 PM
Current read: Hard Rain Falling, by Don Carpenter. Spare, harsh and honest portrayal of neglect, hard living, partial redemption and ultimate heartbreak. Better than Hemingway. Should have been a hit in the author’s lifetime.
Current read: A Fine Balance, by Rohinton Mistry. India from Partition to Emergency, and beyond. Filth and squalor, corruption and despair, testing the limits of literature as entertainment. At least the dictator got what she deserved.
August 19, 2025 at 3:04 PM
Current read: A Fine Balance, by Rohinton Mistry. India from Partition to Emergency, and beyond. Filth and squalor, corruption and despair, testing the limits of literature as entertainment. At least the dictator got what she deserved.
Current read: Lookaway, Lookaway, by Wilton Barnhardt. Satirizing white southern “christian” hypocrisy can be like shooting ducks in a bathtub. But this is done with great skill, and lots of read- and laugh-out-loud passages. Dysfunction, downward spiral, twists and revelations.
August 9, 2025 at 10:58 PM
Current read: Lookaway, Lookaway, by Wilton Barnhardt. Satirizing white southern “christian” hypocrisy can be like shooting ducks in a bathtub. But this is done with great skill, and lots of read- and laugh-out-loud passages. Dysfunction, downward spiral, twists and revelations.
Current read: A Man Called Ove, by Fredrik Backman. A widowed curmudgeon and social misfit finds redemption and humanity, just in time. Packs several emotional wallops and a satisfying conclusion. Very enjoyable.
July 30, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Current read: A Man Called Ove, by Fredrik Backman. A widowed curmudgeon and social misfit finds redemption and humanity, just in time. Packs several emotional wallops and a satisfying conclusion. Very enjoyable.
Amelia, by Joni Mitchell. There are not enough superlatives. You can only listen and marvel.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcTD...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcTD...
JONI MITCHELL - AMELIA
YouTube video by welsfranklin
www.youtube.com
July 26, 2025 at 3:00 AM
Amelia, by Joni Mitchell. There are not enough superlatives. You can only listen and marvel.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcTD...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcTD...
Current read: Our Man In Havana, by Graham Greene. Cold War spy farce, funny and clever, no fools are spared. And references to Lamb’s “Tales From Shakespeare.”
July 21, 2025 at 2:27 AM
Current read: Our Man In Havana, by Graham Greene. Cold War spy farce, funny and clever, no fools are spared. And references to Lamb’s “Tales From Shakespeare.”