Books

Book Review: “Happy Are the Happy” — You Can’t Get There from Here

March 17, 2015
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Yasmina Reza’s dollhouse of a novel is a miniaturist’s miracle.

Book Review: Scott McCloud’s “The Sculptor” — A Life in His Hands

March 14, 2015
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A graphic novel about the death of art and the art of death

Book Review: “Madison’s Music” — Listen to the Melody of the First Amendment?

March 12, 2015
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If James Madison was so verbose that his draft version of the First Amendment could be cut in half, then he can hardly be called an artist with words.

Book Review: The Life of Lou Reed — Those With No Moral Compass Beware

March 12, 2015
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We learn, over and over, that the author of the song “Vicious” dispensed his legendary acts of cruelty with sadistic aplomb.

Book Review: Using Words as Weapons — Alain Mabanckou’s Tribute to James Baldwin

March 11, 2015
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Like James Baldwin, Alain Mabanckou is striving to see beyond comforting or righteous notions and grasp a world full of movement, migration, diversity, and unexpected mixtures.

Book Review: “Blood Brothers” — Down-and-Out in Germany’s Zero Hour

March 10, 2015
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Anyone interested in understanding Europe in the 20th century, or in the fascinating metropolis that is Berlin, or in a riveting depiction of down-and-out youth who refuse to surrender to the system–will want to pick up Blood Brothers.

Poetry Review: “It’s Like That If You’re Alive” — The Poetry of Tone Škrjanec

March 6, 2015
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Looking deeply into things and, by no means least of all, into other human beings implies meditating on brevity, on ephemerality—and this is what Tone Škrjanec does in this book.

Book Review: Ned Beauman’s Unconventional “Glow”

March 6, 2015
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Glow is a witty, accessible, but at times overly ambitious journey through the world of exotic drugs, the chemistry of romance, and the insidious effects of globalization.

Book Review: Colm Tóibin On Elizabeth Bishop

March 5, 2015
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In some essential and large way, novelist Colm Tóibin gets Elizabeth Bishop right.

Book Review: “Medieval Christianity” — All Too Human

February 28, 2015
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Harvard Divinity School professor Kevin Madigan’s scholarly but always compelling exposition of the evolution of the church will spark introspection among practicing Christians.

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