One of the attributes I always revere when reading novels is an author’s ability to create characters that demonstrate both the ideals and fears of an age and the dreams and realities of individuals. In […]
Author: Rich Collins
Book Review: The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead
Colson Whitehead is one of the best authors on race in America. He has particular skill in taking the racial history of this country and weaving his literary characters around them – characters that are […]
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous is a transformative and inspiring book. The author, Ocean Vuong, was born in Saigon, was not literate in English until age 11, and yet has wrote some of the most […]
Land of Tears by Robert Harms
In Land of Tears, Yale historian Robert Harms ties together the Arabian, French, and Belgian “opening” of the Congo River in the interior of Africa in the late 19th-century. Historians have previously studied the Belgian, […]
Review: “The End Is Always Near” by Dan Carlin
What if I told you that someone walking the earth in present day Manhattan in the year 2200 had no idea there once a place named New York City? Imagine they had no idea of […]
Review “One Day” by Gene Weingarten
Have you ever looked up what happened on your birthday? What were the biggest news events? What lead the news at 6:00? Who else shares the birthday with you? Who died? Was someone of note […]
The Cockroach by Ian McEwan
In a spin on Franz Kafka’s ‘The Metamorphosis,’ Booker-Prize winning author Ian McEwan has created a world in which a cockroach has transitioned into a man, and this man has the control of the British […]
New Releases 11/12/19
This is a big week for LGBT releases. Also new literature on cultural appropriation, the state of Trump, the Pentagon and the environment (and Greta!), a 2019 Economics Nobel Prize Winner and some new history […]
The Carrying by Ada Limón
Ada Limón’s The Carrying introduces a deeply personal collection of poems and is recognized as her boldest work yet. Unlike Bright Dead Things, the National Book Award finalist which examines the ideals of a youthful […]