Book review: “Djibouti” by Elmore Leonard
The first 70 or 80 pages of the novel Djibouti moved so slowly that I began to wonder if, after more than half a century of great writing, Elmore Leonard [...]
Poem: Altar
Altar By Patrick T. Reardon I sit far from the altar for fear, give myself distance, breathing room, unworthy and aloof. Angels tumble into the abyss. Leave [...]
Book review: “Also Here: Love, Literacy, and the Legacy of the Holocaust” by Brooke Randel
In 1944, at the age of 13, Brooke Randel’s grandmother Golda Indig was with her older sister in the German death camp of Auschwitz. They had been separated from the [...]
Poem: Seventeen questions about hate
Seventeen questions about hate by Patrick T. Reardon If I believe that Donald Trump is bad for the United States and the rest of the world because [...]
Poem: One-Cent wonders
One-Cent wonders By Patrick T. Reardon The dove descending breaks the air With flame of incandescent terror Of which the tongues declare The one discharge from sin and error. [...]
Book review: “Justinian: Emperor, Soldier, Saint” by Peter Sarris
John, the friend who recommended Peter Sarris’s 2023 Justinian: Emperor, Soldier, Saint, had one caveat about the book’s subtitle: “He was no saint.” It’s funny how a comment like that [...]
Book review: “My Mortal Enemy” by Willa Cather
Generally, I don’t read introductions before starting a novel. I want to experience the book fresh on its own terms and on my own terms. I don’t want some other [...]
Book review: “Ice Station Zebra” by Alistair MacLean
The American nuclear-powered submarine USS Dolphin and her crew have an awful lot of bad luck on a trip under the ice cap to save the survivors of a devastating [...]
Book review: “Globetrotter: How Abe Saperstein Shook Up the World of Sports” by Mark Jacob and Matthew Jacob
In the profane manner of professional athletes, Bobby Hunter had this summary of Abe Saperstein, the founder of the Harlem Globetrotters and, for more than three decades, the team’s owner [...]
Book review: “Oscar Hammerstein II and the Invention of the Musical” by Laurie Winer
In mid-century America, it was easy enough to find out what the nation stood for — just go to a Rodgers and Hammerstein musical. Oklahoma!, South Pacific, The King and [...]