Book review: “Continent” by Jim Crace
There is a vague, marshy border between poetry and prose. Marshy, as in rich with life, rich with the intermingling of earth and water and sunlight, crawling things, buzzing, flitting, [...]
“Father Bernardin”
During a career as a news reporter that spanned nearly 40 years, I interviewed my share of high-ranking officials. When I was part of a small group of journalists to [...]
Cardinal Joseph Bernardin: Model pastor, “saintly man”
For a long time, Eugene Kennedy was certain that Joseph Bernardin, the soft-spoken, bridge-building archbishop of Cincinnati, would become the first American-born Pope. "He was a perfect candidate for it," [...]
Book review: “Life Itself” by Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert's "Life Itself" is a newspaperman's memoir, which is to say it's breezy, fact-filled and rather light on emotions. That makes sense, of course. For all his fame as [...]
“A full hour before the party reached the city…” — a presentation at the Chicago Historical Society, Saturday, February 18, 2006
Consider this scene: A full hour before the party reached the city they had begun to note the perplexing changes in the atmosphere. It grew darker all the time, and [...]
Book review: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
In an often-reproduced photograph, Henrietta Lacks stands in a matching skirt and jacket, her hands at her hips, her hair complexly coiffed, a smile brightening her face. An attractive, lively [...]
Book review: The Gift of Stones by Jim Crace
It took me a long time to finish Jim Crace's "The Gift of Stone" because, although short, it is a very, very good novel. At 179 pages, "The Gift of [...]
Book review: Miracle Ball: My Hunt for the Shot Heard ‘Round the World by Brian Biegel, with Peter Thomas Fornatale
"Miracle Ball" is a thin book, just 231 pages. And it could have been thinner. Even so, it's a sweet story, a sort of Pilgrim's Progress through the worlds of [...]
Book review: Ball Four: The Final Pitch by Jim Bouton
More than 40 years after it was first published, Jim Bouton's "Ball Four," his diary of his 1969 season with two major league teams, remains eminently readable and entertaining. And [...]
Book review: The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood
In 2005, the British publishing house of Canongate began producing a series of short novels based on myths from Western and non-Western civilizations. "The Penelopiad" by Margaret Atwood was among [...]