Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson. New York, NY: HaperCollins Children’s Books. 2003. 176 pages. If there was one thing I loved about school, it was the Scholastic Book Club. I’m not exaggerating when I say getting the Scholastic catalog … Continue reading →
Thirty Indian Legends of Canada by Margaret Bemister. Illustrations by Douglas Tait. Vancouver, British Columbia: Douglas & McIntyre. 1997. 160 pages. In her preface to Thirty Indian Legends of Canada, dated September 15, 1912, from Winnipeg, Margaret Bemister notes that … Continue reading →
The Wild Trees: A Story of Passion and Daring by Richard Preston. New York: Random House. 2007. 320 pages. In The Wild Trees, Richard Preston delves into the lives of giant trees, primarily coast redwoods, and some of the people … Continue reading →
The Return of Martin Guerre by Natalie Zemon Davis. Harvard University Press. Cambridge, Massachusetts. 1983. 176 pages. In today’s science-based world, where simple DNA tests can help free the innocent on Death Row, the story of Martin Guerre might have … Continue reading →
A War Like No Other: How the Athenians and Spartans Fought the Peloponnesian War. New York: Random House. 2006. 416 pages. In my 50+ years on Earth, I’ve lived through the middle and end of the Cold War, nuclear proliferation, … Continue reading →
The Last Witchfinder: A Novel by James Morrow. New York: Harper Perennial. 2007. 560 pages. The last dodo. The last passenger pigeon. The last wilderness. The last fill-in-the-blank usually evokes a sense of sadness, loss, and finality. The Last Witchfinder, … Continue reading →
Hungry for the World: A Memoir by Kim Barnes. New York: Anchor Books. 2001. 256 pages. It takes a certain amount of ego to write a memoir, especially if your life hasn’t been influential or extraordinary. Kim Barnes may have … Continue reading →
The Rapture of Canaan by Sheri Reynolds. Highly recommended. In The Rapture of Canaan, Sheri Reynolds creates two memorable characters, each of whom in turn creates God in his/her own image. The first is Grandpa Herman Langston. After surviving a war that his … Continue reading →
Portnoy’s Complaint by Philip Roth. Recommended. Combination lengthy kvetch and documentation of a fictional psychiatric disorder, Portnoy’s Complaint addresses the narrator’s life as a first-generation American Jew and an oversexed male. As both, Alexander Portnoy is unable to reconcile his desire for the American … Continue reading →
Neurotica: Jewish Writers on Sex edited by Melvin Jules Bukiet. Recommended. “Witness the people of the book, in bed.” Thus editor Melvin Jules Bukiet invites the reader into the intimacies of Neurotica: Jewish Writers on Sex. In this collection, everyone from Saul Bellow, … Continue reading →