Restless for Words by DeWitt Henry

Finishing Line Review by Jack Smith Founder of one of the most prestigious literary magazines in the country, Ploughshares, DeWitt Henry is also a prize-winning novelist, memoirist, essayist, and poet. …

Determined: A Science of Life Without Free Will by Robert M. Sapolsky

Penguin Review by Walter Cummins First, a confession. I was not an objective reader of Sapolsky’s book because I was looking for evidence to undermine his thesis and find some…

What I Know about July by Kat Hausler

Meerkat Review by Walter Cummins Throughout most of Kat Hausler’s novel very little is known about the young woman called July, especially by Simon Kesler, who is by far most…

The Book of Angels by Thomas E. Kennedy

Wordcraft Review by Linda Lappin The Book of Angels is the title of a novel written by Michael Lynch, the main character of the late Thomas E. Kennedy’s occult thriller – The…

Why We Love Baseball: A History in 50 Moments by Joe Posnanski

Dutton Review by George Yatchisin There’s that terrific anticipatory rush you can get when attending a classic movie in a theater and a beloved scene is about to happen. Think…

Charming Young Man by Eliot Schrefer

HarperCollins Review by Walter Cummins Eliot Schrefer’s title character, his charming young man, Léon Delafosse, is a teenaged parvenu, a poor country boy sought after by fin de siècle Parisian…

I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai

Viking Review by Walter Cummins As a fan of mysteries, especially those with academic settings, I was drawn to the description of Rebecca Makkai’s latest title. It offered situations that…

The Rigor of Angels: Borges, Heisenberg, Kant, and the Ultimate Nature of Reality by William Egginton

Pantheon Review by Walter Cummins Emmanuel Kant relished fine wines and gourmet meals. Werner Heisenberg thought profoundly as he strolled through a park in winter. Jorge Luis Borges was devastated…

Misfit: Growing Up Awkward in the ’80s by Gary Gulman

Flatiron Review by George Yatchisin Gary Gulman is the kind of comedian you figured had a book in him, given his love of words and language that helped him craft…

The Fraud by Zadie Smith

Penguin Review by Walter Cummins Zadie Smith published a piece in The New Yorker about her efforts to ignore “the long shadow” of Charles Dickens (“On Killing Charles Dickens”) when…