Dogland: Passion, Glory, and Lots of Slobber at the Westminster Dog Show by Tommy Tomlinson

Avid Reader Review by George Yatchisin As I was reading Tommy Tomlinson’s Dogland: Passion, Glory, and Lots of Slobber at the Westminster Dog Show, something delightful and ridiculous—at least in…

The Light Eaters: How the Unseen World of Plant Intelligence Offers a New Understanding of Life on Earth by Zoë Schlanger

Harper Review by Walter Cummins My approach to The Light Eaters differs from those who have praised the book for its presentation of the latest findings about plant behavior, including…

The Morningside by Téa Obreht

Random House Review by Walter Cummins The pleasure of reading The Morningside is engaging with the inventive creations of Téa Obreht’s impressive imagination. The frustration is not getting a developed…

And Then? And Then? What Else? by Daniel Handler aka Lemony Snicket

Liveright Review by George Yatchisin Given he has previously penned a series of four books called All the Wrong Questions, it’s not surprising author Daniel Handler (aka Lemony Snicket) would…

Why We Remember: Unlocking Memory’s Power to Hold on to What Matters by Charan Ranganath

Doubleday Review by Walter Cummins It occurred to me that one approach to reviewing of Ranganath’s explanation of human memory would be to test my own memory as I recall…

The Secret History of Bigfoot: Field Notes on a North American Monster by John O’Connor

Sourcebooks Review by George Yatchisin How much of writing is staring down the dark. (Just ask Dante and his selva oscura.) Of course that also means, how much of life…

Roxy and Coco by Terese Svoboda

West Virginia Review by Walter Cummins My fine feathered friends. That phrase, dating back to the 1500s, occurred to me after I read Terese Svoboda’s novel Roxy and Coco. The…

The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness by Jonathan Haidt

Penguin Review by Walter Cummins We’ve all probably witnessed similar scenes afternoons when school is out, middle schoolers gathered in groups, all fixated on their smartphone screens and ignoring each…

Come and Get It by Kiley Reid

Putnam Review by George Yatchisin Kiley Reid’s second novel Come and Get It might appear to be a campus-set comedy of manners, but the joke will be on you if…

Passport Photos by Amitava Kumar

California Review by Walter Cummins A tangle of borders dominates Amitava Kumar’s Passport Photos. The most obvious are the boundaries between nations that require verification of a small booklet to…