• GREAT MODERN AUTHORS

    It is easy enough to identify the great writers of earlier centuries because time has proven their mettle. Even the most casual reader knows about the greats, from the Bronte sisters to Proust. The more difficult task is to identify their modern successors. That was the premise behind my launch of a book club–A Novel Read more

  • COMING HOME

    It feels like a homecoming of sorts this return to blogging—a great love that got lost in the minutiae of the last couple of years. So let me welcome you back, invite you to follow along, and tell you what to expect. But first, I guess I should account for my absence. I doubt it Read more

  • LITERARY DRAMA

    Some forms of communication deal with cold facts, while others intend to rouse emotions. For example, it would be possible to read an historical report on the Holocaust without feeling deep sorrow or moral outrage. But read about it in Thomas Kenneally’s 1982 novel Schindler’s Ark, or watch it unfold on the screen in the Read more

  • EDGING INTO JAMES JOYCE

    For a very long time, I have been avoiding that great Irish writer, James Joyce (1882-1941) even though I have a thing for Irish authors (Sebastian Barry, John Banville, Colum McCann, Kevin Barry, Sara Baume, each with a wonderful lilt to their writing, and each more accessible than Joyce). Take McCann’s emotional short story, “Everything Read more