Bloomsbury Review by Brian Tanguay An ancient discipline. A secret society. Precocious students. A complicated protagonist. These are some of the ingredients that create the world of Mothsblood, a bold…
Category: Genres
Exit Party by Emily St. John Mandel
Knopf Review by David Starkey Emily St. John Mandel is one of those increasingly uncommon writers whose work appeals both to a popular and a literary audience. She’s a dab…
Varieties of Artistic Experience: Three Swiss Exhibition Catalogs: Marisol, Helen Frankenthaler, Swiss Art Brut
Hirmer | Deutscher Kuntsverlag | 5 Continents Review by David Starkey It was a hot summer in Switzerland this year, as it was almost everywhere on our beleaguered planet Earth,…
The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout
Random House Review by Walter Cummins The title captures the central concern of Elizabeth Strout’s latest novel, which addresses with depth and complexity what a community of individuals is willing…
The Rise and Fall of the Artificial State by Jill Lepore
Liveright Review by Walter Cummins In her latest book, Jill Lepore presents her analysis of how we have reached the creation of the Artificial State where machines set the guidelines…
Endless Endings: The Many Forms of Death and What They Teach Us About Life by Ricard Solé, trans. by Eduardo Aparicio
Princeton Review by Walter Cummins Endless Endings brings to mind lines from Hotspur’s dying speech in Henry IV, Part 1: “And time, that takes a survey of all the world, …
Madame Chrysanthème by Pierre Loti, trans. by Clémence Aubert
Espresso French Classics Review by Linda Lappin In 1890, the American writer Lafcadio Hearn stepped off a ship in Yokohama, ready to begin a new life in Japan as a…
Summer of ’71: Five Months That Changed America by John A. Jenkins
Citadel Press Review by Brian Tanguay I was twelve years old in 1971 and oblivious to much of the social and political turmoil happening in Washington D.C. and on university…
The Kindness of Terrible People and Other Stories by Stephanie Dupal
Swan Abbey Review by Walter Cummins This is a collection of original and unusual stories, the characters richly developed as they face essential dilemmas. Some of these people exemplify the…