I’m gonna interrupt reading the book I’m reading to tell you about the book I’m reading. Because I’m having so much fun reading it—gotta let everybody know. It’s Masters of the Game–A Conversat…
One day a few weeks ago, I stumbled upon two collections of stories by Alice Munro–Runaway and Dear Life. Found them in a book barn just up the street. Thought–man, what a find! Munro’s one of the great writers of the last 50 years…
It’s been so many years since Malcolm X was murdered that his afterlife is as important as the life he led. That’s sorta the theme of Mark Whitaker’s book, The Afterlife of Malcolm X. A book I devoured in two or three nights, just…
You had to see it to believe it. Roughly three in the morning, and I’m wide awake on the living couch, flat on my back, passionately steaming through the final pages of The Jackal’s Mistress, Chris Bohjalian’s latest novel. Tears …
Ten years into Trump’s war of hate against immigrants, I got around to reading The Snakehead, Patrick Radden Keefe’s fascinating exploration of the underground operation to smuggle people into America. Great read. Well researched. Vivid…
Not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but... One look at The Savage, Noble Death of Babs Dionne, told me to make an exception to that rule. You can see the picture for yourself. Something about that black crow staring at that snubbed-out ciga…
There’s a devilish twist near the end of Colored Television–Danzy Senna’s latest novel– that is especially delightful because I didn’t see it coming. Until Senna made it happen. At which point, I exclaimed–yes, o…
Generally, I’m not an avid reader of nonfiction, but I’ve made an exception for Julie K. Brown’s book, Perversion of Justice: The Jeffrey Epstein Story. I’ve now read it twice. Once in 2021, when it was published. And again …
If you haven’t read a novel by Jess Walter–what you waiting for? Hurry up–start reading! What a great writer. So much fun to read—with the rare ability to make you laugh on one page and cry on the next. Plus, he employs thi…
Don’t know what I was doing back in 1999 that kept me from reading My Kitchen Wars. That's the year it came out–a memoir by Betty Fussell, best known as a food writer. So I probably wouldn’t have read it, even if I had heard about …
I have a secret to confess. It has to do with Death of the Author, Nnedi Okorafor's absolutely fantastic novel that I urge you to read–if you’re not intimidated by long books. And even if you are--c'mon, get over that! It tells the stor…
I didn’t think I’d like Rufi Thorpe’s Margo’s Got Money Troubles nearly this much, when I checked it out of the library. Not even sure how I heard about it–probably a mention in The New York Times. Sounded like a fun r…
It's unnecessary, I know, to give more attention to Michael Connelly, whose books are instant best sellers. But I must show some love for his latest, The Waiting. Which had me up all night and into the morning, reading. Yes, I read past midnight. …
Jackson Park by Charlotte Carter is a run-don’t-walk-to-read novel if you love the following… Riveting mysteries with twist endings… Compelling first-person narratives by likeable characters–-in this case, Cassandra, a 20…