Books

Poetry Commentary: Thoughts on Reading a New Translation of The Iliad

January 12, 2014
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Powell, the translator, a respected classicist, is noted for promulgating the theory that the Greek alphabet was designed precisely in order to capture epic poetry, provide some approximation of its sounds.

Book Review: “Back to Back” — A Powerful Portrait of East German Trauma, Personal and Political

January 11, 2014
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Using her family’s history as a springboard, Julia Franck has created exemplary figures forced to navigate the treacherous shoals of her country’s history.

Book Review: “Before I Burn” — A True Crime Story Transformed into Art

January 4, 2014
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“Before I Burn” gives the reader the awesome sense of a fully perceived life—the hallmark of great art.

Book Review: “Heat” — An Imaginatively Imaginary Interview with Actress Jean Seberg

December 28, 2013
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“Heat” is a fictional interview in which Dickinson asks uncomfortably intimate questions and then imagines the answers Seberg might have given.

Book Review: Martin Cruz Smith’s “Tatiana” — More than a Thriller?

December 19, 2013
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After 2010’s too spare “Three Stations,” fans old and new will find Martin Cruz Smith back in full form with “Tatiana,” creating a taut, subtle, often darkly funny and even moving tale.

Book Review: Hail to The Kid — Ted Williams

December 16, 2013
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This expansive biography of Ted Williams is not awash in sentimentally, thanks to Ben Bradlee’s praiseworthy search for the facts, no matter where they lead, and his command of language, honed during his 25-year career as a reporter and editor at “The Boston Globe.”

Book Review: Jim Harrison’s “Brown Dog” — A Shakespearian Spirit in Michigan

December 8, 2013
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Think of these novellas as variations on a common theme: a complicated world is scrutinized through the elemental viewpoint of one of the most memorable characters in American fiction over the past quarter-century.

Book Review: “My Mistake: A Memoir” — Notes from a Reticent Memoirist

December 5, 2013
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There will be readers who appreciate Daniel Menaker’s brevity and lack of emotional engagement, but for me, much of “My Mistake” reads like notes for a memoir.

Poetry Appreciation: Seamus Heaney — “You’ll know them if I can get them true”

November 30, 2013
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Throughout his writing, poet Seamus Heaney’s penetrating imagination is one that strives for accuracy.

Book Review: Fighting the Good Fight for the Press — Publishing the Pentagon Papers

November 29, 2013
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As the individual who quite possibly had the best seats in the house for the monumental legal battle that unfolded over the course of a few weeks in the summer of 1971, James Goodale provers invaluable morsels of insight and information.

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