I read a lot of art history and criticism partly because I like it, and partly because art scholars seem able to write simultaneously for the professional and non-professional, something less common among music historians. Part of this, of course, is that the painting sits there while you look at it, and can be more …
Salman Rushdie is, perhaps, the most beloved and controversial author of our time. His works have conjured up feelings of both admiration and anger. In 1989, the religious leader of Iran issued a fatwa against him because of his questionable depiction of the prophet Muhammad in The Satanic Verses. Rushdie, then, is as much a …
Haruki Marukami’s Kafka on the Shore is a story told through two concurrent narratives. The odd-numbered chapters tell the story of Kafka Tamura, a fifteen-year-old boy, who runs away from home to find his long-lost mother and sister and to escape an Oedipal prophecy put on him by his oppressive father. The even-numbered chapters tell …
Enchanting. If I had to use only one word to describe Neil Gaiman’s Stardust, it would be enchanting. Stardust is, of course, more than that. It is a rip-roaring adventure with daring deeds and dastardly villains. It is also a charming and surprisingly bloodthirsty imagining of fairy tales. It is, above all, a love story. …
I imagine there comes a moment in everyone’s life when they think to themselves, “I need to read the complete works of H.P. Lovecraft.” For me, that moment came last April and after a surprisingly difficult time I managed to track down the three volumes of his collected stories, At the Mountains of Madness, Dagon …
Tobias Wolff is a prolific writer of contemporary short fiction. Though, most readers are familiar with his memoir This Boy’s Life (which will endure as a masterpiece). In any genre, Wolff cuts to the bone. His prose is bright and precise. The characters in his short stories are most often in the process of shedding …
Eyes to See Otherwise is a careful selection that offers a precious panoramic view of Aridjis’ poetry in Spanish from 1960 to 2001, with English versions by thirteen well-known translators. It documents the spiral progression from the clean free verse of “Unfolded Eyes”, Aridjis first book in 1960, to the complex meditative tone of his …
White Privilege, by Paula Rothenberg, is a book that is dedicated to discussing less popular topics in regards to race relations in America. It is a collection of articles that addresses the veiled privileges that white Americans possess. In an effort to mobilize whites to use white privilege as an invaluable weapon against racism, both …
Trond Sander has moved to “a small house in the far east of Norway,” beside a lake. Here, with his dog Lyra, he plans to live the remainder of his life alone, mindfully filling his days with tasks and chores, and keeping himself company. Per Petterson’s Out Stealing Horses offers a rewarding journey with Trond, …
This book is an account about a fascinating condition, synesthesia, in which music can have color, words can have taste, and time and numbers float through space. Ward takes the most recent research and uses it to develop theories of why it is certain people’s experiences with the world is extremely different from the normal …