The deepest impression this book had on me was the reminder, perhaps the confrontation with the reality, of the soulless repression of Soviet-style communism in the mid-20th century. Mitchell’s narration and his description are not particularly enthralling, but his matter-of-fact manner of laying out the details of the tunnel missions of the early 1960s makes Read More …
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Loneliness
I
Requiem for a gadfly, patriot
If you’re in the news business for any length of time, sooner or later, you get to know someone like Rob Sherman. They’re people who delight in working their way under the skin of officialdom and want to make sure you — the writer, the camera, the headline, the link to legitimate public attention — Read More …
Flint, water quality and the duty to identify danger before it becomes a crisis
We don’t mean for you to be alarmed by the results of our reporting on the safety of our water in the suburbs. But it seems pretty clear you ought to be concerned. Whenever disaster or tragedy strikes somewhere in the country, it is natural to ask, “Could it happen here?” Often, we at the Read More …
Review of ‘Breakfast of Champions’ by Kurt Vonnegut
Breakfast of Champions has long been one of my favorite Vonnegut books, if only for the lovely eloquence about Armistice Day and Veteran’s Day in the preface. But it’s also been decades since I read it, and I’ve wanted for a long time to jump back in and enjoy it again. And, boy, did I. Read More …
Review: Barkskins by Annie Proulx
I hardly know where to begin in talking about Barkskins. For the concept, imagination and construction, pick your superlative. It’s a masterpiece. The way Proulx weaves through the centuries of the lumber industry with depth and insight while simultaneously interweaving poignant human and historical stories is an achievement almost beyond description. I certainly can’t think of Read More …
Review of The Bassoon King by Rainn Wilson
This is one of those delightful surprises you run across occasionally when you defy your instincts and take up a book that seems entirely outside your general interest. I know Rainn Wilson only faintly, as a quirky character from the television series The Office, which I liked a lot in the beginning but drifted away from after Read More …
Review: Dead Presidents – An American Adventure into the Strange Deaths and Surprising Afterlives of Our Nation’s Leaders
The best way I can think of to describe this book is as a frequently clever, always engaging collection of presidential trivia roughly linked to, as the title promises, the many strange deaths and sometimes surprising legacies of several American presidents. In my reading of presidents’ biographies, I’ve often been intrigued by the torments many Read More …
The Queen of the Night by Alexander Chee
As a historical romance novel, The Queen of the Night is engaging and serious. As literature in a historical setting, it is somewhat less appealing, though certainly interesting enough to provide some insights into the period – European high society in the late 19th century era of the Franco-Prussian War – and stir interest in the Read More …
It bears repeating: Beware the polls
Read at Daily Herald website Some random thoughts, briefly stated: I read a poll yesterday showing Donald Trump holds a slight lead over Hillary Clinton. Over the weekend, I read one saying Clinton was clinging to a slight lead over Trump. A week ago, nearly every political commentator, even the Trump supporters and sympathizers, was Read More …