Books

Book Review: Elizabeth Graver’s “Kantika” — A Vibrant Portrait of Bravery

April 13, 2023
Posted in , ,

Kantika is Elizabeth Graver’s poignant homage to her grandmother, but it is also a testament to her talent as a storyteller, to make a narrative so believable and compelling and, indeed, sometimes funny, just as it is in life.

Book Review: “The Red Balcony” — A Novel About the Muddled Predicament of the Diaspora Jew

April 12, 2023
Posted in , ,

The plot of The Red Balcony ticks along briskly. Jonathan Wilson is a gifted narrator and scene-maker.

Book Review: “Harvard Square: A Love Story” — Passion Collides with the Logic of the Market

April 11, 2023
Posted in , ,

We are understandably upset when market forces threaten the things we consider to be sacred.

Book Review: Advertisements for Democracy — Norman Mailer’s Anti-Fascist Eloquence

April 9, 2023
Posted in , , ,

Guns, anti-Semitism, paranoid conspiracy theories — it never gets old.

Children’s Book Feature: How to Say Hello to Local Author-Illustrator Kari Percival

April 9, 2023
Posted in , ,

Kari Percival’s greatest thrill? Reading How to Say Hello to a Worm aloud to kids whose faces “light up” as she turns the pages.

Children’s Books Roundup: Spring Is Here!

April 4, 2023
Posted in , ,

There are so many ways to celebrate the arrival of spring with kids. You can take a walk in the rain, look for flowers or grass sprouting in sidewalk cracks, or plant a garden. After your adventures, you can settle down and read these books.

Book Review: “Look at the Lights, My Love” — Meditations in a Superstore

April 4, 2023
Posted in , ,

Can Nobel laureate Annie Ernaux lend literary dignity to a big-box store?

Book Review: Susanna Hoffs’s “This Bird Has Flown” — A Satisfying Romcom

April 4, 2023
Posted in , ,

All in all, This Bird Has Flown is light but not brainless, and engagingly adorable. It’s a perfect beach read for the New Wave set.

Book Review: Mona Simpson’s “Commitment” — E for Effort

April 3, 2023
Posted in , ,

Another installment in the author’s portraits of everyday struggles — and this one is a long-winded, shaggy affair.

Book Review: “The Ghost at the Feast” — Three Cheers for American Interventionism

April 3, 2023
Posted in , ,

The problem with The Ghost at the Feast is that the story it tells undermines its final argument. If America blundered by staying at home during the interwar period, it is blundering even more now by going relentlessly abroad.

Recent Posts

Popular Posts

Categories

Archives