Doubleday Review by David Starkey The subtitle of Elaine Pagels’s new book, Miracles and Wonder: The Historical Mystery of Jesus, isn’t meant to question whether Jesus existed—Pagels finds plenty of…
Category: Genres
Flashlight by Susan Choi
Farrar, Straus & Giroux Review by Walter Cummins Flashlight’s nineteen sections, each focused on a situation in the life of a central character, are tour de forces, the situations inventive,…
Hating Jazz: A History of Its Disparagement, Mockery, and Other Forms of Abuse by Andrew S. Berish
Chicago Review by Nikolas Mavreas “Jazz is stupid. I mean, just play the right notes!” Though uninspired, this line from The Office TV series encapsulates a very common attitude. The…
An Island to Myself: The Place of Solitude in an Active Life by Michael N. McGregor
Monkfish Review by Linda Lappin In An Island to Myself: The Place of Solitude in an Active Life, Michael McGregor, writer, university professor, inveterate traveler, former fire fighter and Rick Steeves’ tour…
Libra by Don DeLillo
Viking Essay by Brian Tanguay Returning to a book I read twenty or more years ago is usually revealing, both about the book and myself. The book is the same,…
Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder by Salman Rushdie
Random House Review by Brian Tanguay The wheels of justice turn slowly. Hadi Matar, now 27, was sentenced this past February for his August 2022 knife attack on Salman Rushdie…
Pause the Document by Mónica de la Torre
Nightboat Review by Laura Mullen “These days walks are my cinéma vérité… // Walks are my party. My cinéma vérité. Nameste.”–Mónica de la Torre At a poetry festival recently a…
Dogs and Monsters by Mark Haddon
Doubleday Review by Walter Cummins The seven stories in Monsters and Dogs were written over a long period, their composition interrupted by Haddon’s triple heart bypass. That time span may…
The Peepshow: The Murders At Rillington Place by Kate Summerscale
Penguin Review by Walter Cummins The Peepshow, Kate Summerscale’s latest true crime book, goes beyond the gruesome details of serial butchery, with corpses stashed under floors, behind walls, and stuffed…