Book Smart column: 5 novels to check out before the end of summer
Even though summer is waning, there is still time to grab a good book, or two, to curl up with. Of course, there is still worry about the future, the economy, health and the precarious political...
View ArticleBook review: Ayad Akhtar’s new novel depicts unease of being a brown Muslim...
Anyone who has seen both “Disgraced” and “Junk” will be prepared for the content of Ayad Akhtar’s new novel, “Homeland Elegies.” But even those hard-punching, argumentative dramas don’t completely...
View ArticleBook Notes column: How much like the eel are we?
“The Book of Eels: Our Enduring Fascination with the Most Mysterious Creature in the Natural World” By Patrik Svensson. Ecco/HarperCollins Publishers. 2020. 241 pages. $28.99“The Book of Eels” is as...
View ArticleBook Smart column: Tales of betrayal
Betrayal is a theme that runs deep in literature because it is one of the most common and painful interpersonal experiences. Betrayal can happen not only in romantic relationships, but in friendships,...
View ArticleBook review: ‘Skunk and Badger’: A classic odd couple you’ll want to meet
Somewhere east of “Frog and Toad” and west of “The Odd Couple” live Skunk and Badger, as mismatched a pair of musteloids as you’ll ever find in North Twist.Badger likes to hunker down with his hammers...
View ArticleBook Notes column: A mystery unravels in the Northeast Kingdom
“The Orphan’s Guilt” By Archer Mayor. Minotaur Books/St. Martin’s. September 2020. 288 pages. $27“The Orphan’s Guilt” is, among other things, a study on the enduring power of guilt. There’s nothing...
View ArticleBook reviews: 40 new books for holiday gifts in 2020
Perfect for social distancing yet conducive of shared experiences, books are keeping some of us sane during the long pandemic.But if you’re thinking of giving a few as gifts this holiday season, the...
View ArticleBook reviews: Best books of 2020: Jim Higgins’ picks include ‘Homeland...
Nearly half of my favorite new books of 2020 were science fiction and fantasy. But I don’t see that as escapism. There was no way to escape the anxieties stirred up by the deadly pandemic,...
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