Book review: “Fool” by Christopher Moore
Pocket is a randy fool. That’s not a comment on his intelligence. It’s his job. Well, the fool part is. He’s a court jester. But not just any court jester. [...]
Book review: “Some Recollections of a Busy Life” by T. S. Hawkins, with an introduction by Dave Eggers
T.S. Hawkins was enamored of the ability of some men to make a bull whip crack like a pistol and keep a team of oxen in order. Accordingly, he watched [...]
Book review: “The Ages of Lulu” by Almudena Grandes, translated by Sonia Soto
What’s striking about the 1989 erotic novel The Ages of Lulu by Spanish writer Almudena Grandes is how old-fashioned it is. Yes, yes, there are all those sex scenes in [...]
Book review: “The Looking Glass War” by John le Carre
Published in 1965, John le Carre’s spy novel The Looking Glass War arrived at and helped bring about the beginning of the end of romantic notions about our spies being [...]
Book review: “Daybreak — 2250 A.D.” by Andre Norton
I wish I could say that Daybreak – 2250 A.D. by Andre Norton has great literary merit. But it doesn't. It was one of the first novels in the aftermath [...]
Meditation: The Poem of Pentecost
Picture this: Pentecost, the descent of the Holy Spirit, tongues of fire and the followers of Jesus going out into the world to proclaim the good news. A large crowd [...]
Book review: “SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome” by Mary Beard
One night in Asculum in 91 BC, the crowd at the theater was made up of Romans and people from the town and other parts of Italy that were allied [...]
Book review: “Sor Juana’s Love Poems/Poemas De Amor” by Sor Juana Ines de La Cruz, translated by Joan Larkin & Jaime Manrique
On one of the first pages of Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, Dolly Oblonsky is packing to leave her womanizing husband and is described as taking something out of an open [...]
Book review: “The South Side: A Portrait of Chicago and American Segregation” by Natalie Y. Moore
In The South Side, WBEZ reporter Natalie Y. Moore examines the myriad ways in which the lives of African-Americans in the Chicago region are limited, constrained, stifled and lessened by [...]
Book review: “First Love” & “Look for My Obituary,” two novellas by Elena Garro
The first love in Elena Garro’s novella First Love isn’t exactly what you might expect. For one thing, it isn’t about teenagers nor about the sweaty, fevered lust that love [...]