Book review: “The Berlin Ending: A Novel of Discovery” by E. Howard Hunt
As spy novels go, "The Berlin Ending" by E. Howard Hunt, published 38 years ago, is okay. For readers looking for an addictive page-turner, it will probably be on the [...]
Book review: Stories We Keep, edited by Dawn Curtis and Robin Bourjaily
"Stories We Keep" is a small book, only 64 pages. And it's even shorter if you're a reader like me who isn't very hip to yoga or interested in recipes [...]
Book review: “Watergate” by Thomas Mallon
Well, Thomas Mallon's "Watergate" is certainly a readable novel. It's an amazement, really, that he's been able to take the tottering heap of jagged historical events, involving scores of politicians [...]
Book review: “Fatherland” by Robert Harris
Historical fiction is dangerous territory for a writer. It's all too easy to make actual people, say, Abraham Lincoln or John Wilkes Booth, into stick figures, and actual events, say, [...]
Who’s not on first?
The new baseball season is upon us, and hope springs eternal across the major leagues as 30 teams and more than 700 players vie for a chance at the World [...]
Sarah laughs — and other human moments
The Bible is filled with people acting like people — such as Sarah playing the nosy snoop in Genesis. She and Abraham are an aged childless couple. Outside their tent, [...]
Book review: “She’s on First” by Barbara Gregorich
Linda Sunshine plays shortstop for the Chicago Eagles, the first woman to become a major leaguer. Her manager, the star pitcher and some of her other teammates don't like the [...]
The impatience of Job
We talk about the "patience of Job," and that makes him seem like a meek and mild fellow who heroically and stoically endures waves of misfortune from God and the [...]
Book review” “The Maul and the Pear Tree” by P.D. James and T.A. Critchley
A little before midnight on the last night of his life Timothy Marr, a linen draper of Radcliffe Highway, set about tidying up the shop, helped by the shop-boy James [...]
God’s phone number
Half a century ago, phone numbers had prefixes as well as numbers (such as ESterbrook 9-3392), and the Roman Catholic Mass was in Latin. "Dominus vobiscum," the priest would say. [...]