Book review: “Batavia’s Graveyard” by Mike Dash
The hardcover edition of Mike Dash’s 2002 Batavia’s Graveyard has no subtitle. But, to attract potential buyers, these words are at the top of the dustjacket: THE TRUE STORY OF [...]
Best books of 2019
The best books of 2019 Moby Dick by Herman Melville Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil by Hannah Arendt The [...]
Poem: “Job Oedipus Lear (David Achilles Othello)”
Job Oedipus Lear (David Achilles Othello) By Patrick T. Reardon Dung dark lone. (Lust flow betrayal) Bible Greek bard. King launches daughters to death. Leper badgers for [...]
Book review: “Mostly Harmless” by Douglas Adams
Mostly Harmless — the 5th and sort-of final installment in the series of books by Douglas Adams that he started with A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy — is mostly [...]
Poem: Lamentations Road
Lamentations Road By Patrick T. Reardon Lamentations Road runs past Judge Westcott’s mansion, out to Weed Hollow where a dead mule rots, a pestilence of flies, while [...]
[[[Secret book review: “P is for Pterodactyl: The Worst Alphabet Book Ever: All the letters that misbehave and make words nearly impossible to pronounce” by Raj Haldar and Chris Carpenter]]]
Emma, this book review is for you, but don’t tell your Mom and Dad. They’d probably get all worried that a book like P is for Pterodactyl will ruin your [...]
Poem: “Make”
Make By Patrick T. Reardon In summer, the father grilled hot dogs with his white t-shirt off, skin burning. In fall, he tolled novenas. After [...]
Book review: “Josephus’ ‘The Jewish War’ ” by Martin Goodman
The odds are that you don’t have a copy of the Jewish War by Josephus in your book collection. You may never have heard of it. It was written around [...]
Book review: “The Virgin of Prince Street: Expeditions into Devotion” by Sonja Livingston
Sonja Livingston’s mother led an irregular life, giving birth to seven children, often without a husband, but she still attended Corpus Christi Catholic Church with her kids, striding up [...]
Book review: “The Grapes of Wrath” by John Steinbeck
In 1962, John Steinbeck was the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, and the committee that chose him described his novel The Grapes of Wrath as “a great work” [...]