“Tracy Chapman saved my life.” That’s the dramatic opening sentence of Chapter 32 of Roger Bennett’s terrific memoir of his life in Liverpool and his decision to emigrate to the USA and become a naturalized American citizen. As a middle-class… Read More ›
Books
Zoe Rosenthal is not Lawful Good, by Nancy Werlin
A shout-out to Aaron Gacs for teaching me what a character alignment chart is! That was four or five years ago. If he hadn’t done that, I would never have understood the title of this captivating novel. If, as the… Read More ›
A return to Venice: Transient Desires, by Donna Leon
Venezia! La Serenissima! Two and a half years ago was when I most recently reviewed one of Donna Leon’s many Venetian novels. That was The Temptation of Forgiveness. Somehow I had missed Unto Us a Son is Given, which came… Read More ›
Fortune Favors the Dead, by Stephen Spotswood
No, this is not another Nero Wolfe pastiche that lamely tries to follow Rex Stout’s formula. In Fortune Favors the Dead, written in 2020, author Stephen Spotswood has created two new and very original characters who vividly come to life… Read More ›
Guilt at the Garage, by Simon Brett
A mystery in a small seaside village in England. Sounds like Agatha Christie, right? Well, yes, it does sound like Christie. But it’s actually Simon Brett. Guilt at the Garage is a conventional English village mystery. Now don’t interpret “conventional”… Read More ›
The Rose Code, by Kate Quinn
Heartfelt thanks to my friend and colleague Leah Gordon for recommending this wonderful novel! The Rose Code is a remarkable work of historical fiction, focusing primarily on three invented characters—together with a supporting cast of real-life ones, such as Alan… Read More ›
The Suicide House, by Charlie Donlea
Don’t let the title scare you away. Without committing any spoilers, I can tell you that it’s a bit misleading. This is another book about a boarding school—but it’s one that is totally different from the Atwater School in All… Read More ›
Useful Delusions: The Power and Paradox of the Self-Deceiving Brain, By Shankar Vedantam (and Bill Mesler)
Podcast listeners are—or certainly should be—familiar with Hidden Brain, a fascinating podcast filled with lots of interesting info. Useful Delusions, as you might guess from the subtitle, The Power and Paradox of the Self-Deceiving Brain, is Vedantam’s distillation of ideas… Read More ›
Save Me the Plums: My Gourmet Memoir, by Ruth Reichl
Are you old enough to have heard of Ruth Reichl, former restaurant critic for the New York Times and former editor-in-chief for Gourmet Magazine? If you haven’t read her work—which now includes a whole bunch of memoirs, a couple of… Read More ›
The Burglar in Short Order, by Lawrence Block…plus a comment about reviewers
Perhaps you are familiar with Lawrence Block’s oeuvre. If so, you’ll think you know what the title of this book means: it must be the latest in the Bernie Rhodenbarr series, and Bernie must be taking a job in a… Read More ›
The Art of Violence, by S.J. Rozan
Unusually so for an S.J. Rozan novel, there’s not a whole lot about Chinese-American culture in this one. But it’s fascinating nonetheless. Rather than Chinese-American culture, this time it’s the New York City art world that the reader learns something… Read More ›
All the Devils are Here, by Louise Penny
Maybe you’re not a Louise Penny fan, though I don’t know why you aren’t. If you aren’t, why aren’t you? It’s possible, of course, that you subscribe to the snobby belief that any New York Times bestseller can’t possibly be… Read More ›
The “Ich bin ein Berliner” myth. Admit it, you’ve always believed this urban legend, haven’t you?
You know JFK’s famous speech in 1963, where he said “Ich bin ein Berliner,” where the American pedants and English-language German books all claim that it really means “I am a jelly donut,” not “I am a Berliner” as Kennedy… Read More ›
Inherit the Shoes, by E.J. Copperman
This is a genuinely funny mystery. We need funny these days, don’t we? If you haven’t heard of E.J. Copperman, read my reviews of two of his earlier books: The Question of the Missing Head and its sequel, The Question… Read More ›
All Girls
As you can tell from the title, this novel is about an all-girls school. Or maybe you can’t tell that, but it’s still true. We’re not talking about a working-class Catholic girls’ school from South Boston, but a traditionally preppy… Read More ›
Finding Freedom (Freedom, Maine, of course—were you thinking of something else?)
Did you go to summer camp in Freedom, Maine? I did. And at least two of my students did. The summer camp in question is Hidden Valley Camp. (No, nothing to do with ranch dressing, as some people claim to… Read More ›
Nine Nasty Words
John McWhorter is a well-known (at least in certain circles) public intellectual, mostly because of his first-rate podcast, Lexicon Valley. His latest book, Nine Nasty Words: English in the Gutter: Then, Now, and Forever, is a lively but scholarly account… Read More ›
A Conspiracy of Bones by Kathy Reichs
Don’t read this Temperance Brennan novel if you are a lover of Fox News and/or think that Trump really won the 2020 election! Even though political issues take up only about 3% of this forensic mystery, you’ll still be too… Read More ›
There was violence in Congress! (Hard to believe, I know—but true…)
Hyper-partisanship in the halls of Congress is nothing new. But at least we don’t have physical violence there anymore. Not today, at any rate. Are you listening, Mitch? Joanne B. Freeman has written an outstanding history book, The Field of… Read More ›
The Art and Craft of Approaching Your Head of Department to Submit a Request for a Raise
Despite the title, this is a novel! Actually, the title is a bit problematic. The actual title of Georges Perec’s novel is L’art et la manière d’aborder son chef de service pour lui demander une augmentation, but perhaps for some… Read More ›
Learning Strategies 