Although it is commendable that Zadie Smith’s latest novel, “Swing Time,” is ambitious and somewhat interesting, it seems to fall…
Books & CDs
There has probably never been a more appropriate title for a book than “Just Mercy,” by Bryan Stevenson. This book…
“Exit West,” by Mohsin Hamid is a creative, complex, deeply felt saga that reads almost fable-like. Set in an unnamed…
Dissemble: (per the OED) Conceal or disguise one’s true feelings or beliefs. Dissemble: A word I have never understood. Why…
Nelson Algren Biography Explores the Writer’s Struggles with Life and Craft Nelson Algren was a star in Chicago’s bright literary…
Stephanie Dandler’s debut novel, “Sweetbitter,” is a raw and gutsy romp through a year in the life of a young…
At the young age of 36, Dr. Paul Kalanithi did more in two years than some do in a lifetime….
Paula Farmer July 2016 With hardly a week going by in between news of another black man being killed by…
It was sometime after the man in the mushroom cap sang a song about earwigs yet well before Werner Herzog’s…
Susan Neiman offers a materialist analysis of the contemporary catechism of child rearing and the glorification of…
“Skylight,” by José Saramago, one of his first works, written in 1953 (and rejected) when the author was in…
In his New York Times op-eds, Charles Blow sometimes single-mindedly elevates discourse of volatile topics to sane discussion. He…
Lahr and Martha Lavey, “Steppenwolf” artistic director, were seated on a stage dressed for the cluttered Irish bachelor-hoarder’s apartment for…
Richard Haddaway’s 30 years in the newspaper business might have prepared him for some kind of hard-boiled post-career nonfiction writing—some…