Fiction
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At the Back of the North Wind
Any story always tells me itself what I’m to think about it… I never can tell what they call clever from what they call silly, but I always know whether I like a…
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The Children of Men
The Children Of Men is my first P.D. James novel. I saw this movie last spring, and though I usually read the book first and see the movie afterward, in this case I…
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The Maytrees
I’ve never been a big Annie Dillard fan. Years ago, I read Pilgrim at Tinker Creek and Holy the Firm. The writing seemed constantly to distract from what was being said to how…
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Cry, the Beloved Country
Cry, the Beloved Country is truly a beautiful book. It’s one I’ve never gotten around to before now, but after reading this review at Hope Is the Word I put it on my…
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So Brave, Young, and Handsome
Not to disappoint you, but my troubles are nothing — not for an author, at least. Common blots aside, I have none of the usual Big Artillery: I am not penniless, brilliant, or…
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The Man who was Thursday
I get cranky with books that are heavily allegorical. Something in me says irritably, “If you have a message this specific, just say it. Why try to hide it in a story?” J.R.R.…
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The Last Days
The Last Days is a page-turner — a political thriller about what its author calls the “epicenter” in his best-selling nonfiction book. I read Epicenter for a book club I belong to, and…
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The Memory of Old Jack
Andy is aware as always that he approaches a past much older than his own, that he cannot remember. But it is a past that, listening to Old Jack’s and his grandparents’ talk,…