Do the members of the club commit murders on Thursdays? Do they always solve murders on Thursdays? Definitely not the former. The latter is closer to the truth, but that’s not quite it either. They meet every Thursday, and they… Read More ›
Books
Read Stanley Tucci’s memoir, Taste !
Actors? Mostly I can take ’em or leave ’em. But there are a few actors I find memorable, and Stanley Tucci is one of them. I knew him originally from The Big Night and Julie and Julia, and more recently… Read More ›
Democracy? How could geometry tell us anything about democracy? To find out, read Shape, by Jordan Ellenberg!
Even if you don’t usually read applied math books, you need to read Shape, by Jordan Ellenberg. The subtitle tells you more than the title: The Hidden Geometry of Information, Biology, Strategy, Democracy, and Everything Else. Yes, I know, it… Read More ›
A near-future dystopian novel by a Canadian woman author: any guesses who the author is?
No, it’s not Margaret Atwood. We’re talking about The Madness of Crowds, by Louise Penny. It’s not nearly as dystopian as Atwood’s vision, but it still nudges us in that direction. This is the newest (#17) novel in the Armand… Read More ›
The curious, enthralling and extraordinary story of English spelling
That’s the subtitle of a wonderful book that was written for you, if you are a reader of English. Also if you’re a writer in English. And most especially if you have to spell English words, as the main title… Read More ›
Pete remembers Woody.
Please don’t say “Pete who?” or “Woody who?” I hope you know who the title refers to. The original version of this wonderful memorial came out nearly seven years ago as an LP; the CD version was released nine years… Read More ›
She says she’s afraid of not being afraid.
“She” is Laura Lippman, talking about her new novel, Dream Girl. I usually read every book in Lippman’s Baltimore-based crime series; I decided to read this out-of-series (non-genre) one as well, based primarily on Ed Levine’s interview with her on… Read More ›
Back Bay Blues, by Peter Colt
No, this novel is not really about the Back Bay—not the neighborhood, nor the train station, nor the erstwhile eponymous bay. And it’s not about the blues. But you probably guessed that. Mostly it’s about the aftermath of the War… Read More ›
The Japanese Agatha Christie?
How to begin? Maybe with an executive summary: The Decagon House Murders, a 1987 novel by Yukito Ayatsuji, is a locked-room mystery explicitly based (in two different ways) on Agatha Christie’s 1939 novel And Then There Were None. I enjoyed… Read More ›
After reading The Paradise Affair by Bill Pronzini, I don’t want to visit Hawaii!
You do need a little light reading to start the new year off right, don’t you? Then you need Bill Pronzini’s latest mystery, The Paradise Affair. From the title of the book you might expect it to be about Hawaii…. Read More ›
Hit and Run, by Lawrence Block
Larry Block will teach you how to write. He can even make a hit man sympathetic. I don’t just mean that Block provides a model of good writing—though he does do that—but also that he has elsewhere written explicit advice… Read More ›
Star Trek Action, by Terry J. Erdmann
Channel your inner geek by finding out every little detail behind the scenes in a 120-second segment of Star Trek. That’s what you get—three times—in this gorgeous book. But the intended audience clearly doesn’t include me. The problem is that… Read More ›
Parachutes, by Kelly Yang
Helicopter parents. Tiger moms. Parachutes. What do all these metaphors have in common? If you’ve taught in a suburb like Weston—or in an elite private school—you may know the answer. I certainly knew about helicopter parents, having experienced altogether too… Read More ›
(Re)Born in the USA: An Englishman’s love letter to his chosen home, by Roger Bennett
“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 ›
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 ›
Learning Strategies 