Books

Book Review: “Becoming a Londoner” — A Record of a Charmed Life or A Life Made Charming

July 14, 2014
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David Plante’s non-fiction and fiction are of a piece. There is the honesty of a writer who is willing and able to, first, face himself, then, write what he sees, and then, allow the world to see his seeing.

Book Review: In “Europe in Sepia,” Croatian Writer Dubravka Ugrešić Bets a Few Chips on the Future

July 8, 2014
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Translator David Williams has hit upon a judicious combination of snappy repartee and dark underbelly that communicates essayist Dubravka Ugrešić’s rapier wit and black despair in equal measure.

Book Review: “The Thaw” — Memorable Stories of Fear and Loathing in Iceland

July 8, 2014
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Throughout these superb stories, there is a certain desolation, of the heart as well as of the landscape.

Book Review: The “Jewish Lives” Series — Biography Simplified But Illuminating

June 27, 2014
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YUP’s uneven Jewish Lives offers a series of short, accessible biographies that could become a significant literary mural, showcasing the scope of Jewish culture.

Book Review: Samuel Beckett’s “Echo’s Bones” — Anticipation of Masterpieces to Come

June 23, 2014
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Echo’s Bones is a fascinating immersion, somewhat inept in its means, but sincere and gravely serious, in a subject that Samuel Beckett made increasingly his own.

Fuse Commentary: Happy Bloomsday! — A High Holy Day for Readers

June 16, 2014
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People complain about how no one takes literature seriously these days. Tell that to the millions of people who are participating in Bloomsday celebrations worldwide today.

Book Review: “Living in the Meantime” — Too Ambitious for its Own Good

June 15, 2014
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Richard Barnett is familiar with the wide variety of characters that can be found in the American South, and fond of the cadences of their speech—so much so that these preoccupations become a burden.

Book Review: Grim Light Reading — Alain Robbe-Grillet’s “A Sentimental Novel”

June 9, 2014
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A Sentimental Novel, which seems to be at once pornography and a parody of pornography, is designed to provoke both revulsion and titillation.

Book Review: “Six Amendments” — Is U.S. Constitutional Change in the Air?

June 5, 2014
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Retired Associate Justice John Paul Stevens’ book Six Amendments is unlikely to restore any of the love lost between him and the GOP.

Concert Review: Singer Ute Gfrerer at Goethe Institut — An Evening of Uncommon Grace

June 4, 2014
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Singer Ute Gfrerer’s name should be spread far and wide to anyone — Jewish or not — who is interested in the music of that period, for this is first-rate work that should be heard for generations to come.

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