Farrar, Straus and Giroux Review by Walter Cummins Although Sophie’s World was first published in Norwegian more than thirty years ago and since then has been translated into close to…
Tag: Review by Walter Cummins
The Purchased Bride by Peter Constantine
Deep Vellum Review by Walter Cummins Most novels develop around one or more central unknowns, not necessarily mysteries, but stated or unstated questions that impel the plot. Will some Ramsays…
Knowing What We Know: The Transmission of Knowledge, from Ancient Wisdom to Modern Magic by Simon Winchester
Harper Collins Review by Walter Cummins While Simon Winchester’s book is an entertaining read because he writes well and tells a good story, a more accurate title might be Knowing…
Fat Time and Other Stories by Jeffery Renard Allen
Graywolf Review by Walter Cummins The contents of most short story collections are united by similarities of voice, tone, and subject matter. Despite differences of characters, dramatic issues, and even…
The Guest Lecture by Martin Riker
Black Cat Review by Walter Cummins In its opening section Martin Riker’s The Guest Lecture appears to be a critical study in disguise, a consideration of John Maynard Keynes based…
Humanly Possible: Seven Hundred Years of Humanist Freethinking, Inquiry, and Hope by Sarah Bakewell
Penguin Review by Walter Cummins Sarah Bakewell begins Humanly Possible by delineating the characteristics of humanism and then goes on to describe how these ideas emerged and were developed through…
Forgetting: The Benefits of Not Remembering by Scott A. Small
Crown Review by Walter Cummins One of the frequent plaints that emerges when two or more people of my age get together is lamentation over what we’ve been forgetting, primarily…
Take What You Need by Idra Novey
Viking Review by Walter Cummins The words of Idra Novey’s title, Take What You Need, suggest a sign scrawled on a heap of broken, useless stuff not worth a payment.…
Dog on Fire by Terese Svoboda
Nebraska Review by Walter Cummins Terese Svoboda opens Dog on Fire with the narrator trapped in a blinding storm: “Out of a storm so thick with dust, a storm so…