Bad Stories by Steve Almond

June 13, 2018

Although it sounds like fiction (and I wish it was), Steve Almond’s Bad Stories is actually nonfiction. For himself, for his journalism students, and for other befuddled voters, Almond analyzes what went wrong in the last presidential election. Almond examines...

Shakespeare Basics for Grown-Ups by E. Foley & B. Coates

May 24, 2016

E. Foley and B. Coates really have put together “Everything You Need to Know About the Bard”. Shakespeare Basics for Grown-Ups isn’t comprehensive, naturally, because it’s the basics. But, the authors do an excellent job providing the...

Springtime by Michelle de Kretser

April 04, 2016

What an odd little book. Michelle de Kretser’s Springtime is called a ghost story. Well, there’s a ghost, and the main character sees it, and doesn’t realize it’s a ghost. And, that’s it. This Australian novella just surprised me. Even...

Lit Up by David Denby

March 20, 2016

I was lucky enough to have high school English teachers who challenged us every day. Larry Zimmer, my teacher for junior and senior English, was the best teacher I ever had in all my years of schooling, and twice I wrote pieces in which I thanked him. So, I was...

Fictitious Dishes by Dinah Fried

July 18, 2015

What a charming, fun book! And, I wish I could remember where I read about Dinah Fried’s Fictitious Dishes. Subtitled “An Album of Literature’s Most Memorable Meals”, Fried combines photos of meals from literature, quotes from the...