Books

Writing His Way Home

Like the disadvantaged tooth fairy in his latest novel, hatched parentless in an old tin can, author Gregory Maguire had a rough start.

Short Takes

By Carolyn Niehaus

Reviews of books by Dr. Lewis Marola, Naton Leslie, Jon Katz, Paul Grondahl, and Bruce Piasecki.

Book Reviews: The Family Diamond

By Hollis Seamon

Schwarzschild’s new short story collection provides real emotional, intellectual, and aesthetic nourishment, never offering simplistic resolutions to complex situations.

Book Reviews: When Madeline Was Young

By Gary McLouth

When Madeline Was Young is conceptually imaginative and potentially haunting, yet Madeline’s unique world failed to materialize in that ethereal transit zone between page and heart.

Perennial Voyager

By Nina Shengold

There are few laudatory adjectives that critics haven’t applied to John Ashbery’s 26 books of poetry; “dazzling,” “sublime,” and the like become shopworn.

September Short Takes

By Nina Shengold

Six must-reads for September.

Book Reviews: Trashed

By Kim Wozencraft

Trashed is a delightful romp through the sordid and deliciously sleazy world of the Hollywood tabloid media machine and the seriously neurotic, occasionally psychotic stars who feed it.

Book Reviews: Russian Lover and Other Stories

By Anne Pyburn

A well-done short story feels miraculous, the selection of just the right moments and details to create an entire reality in a bite-sized handful of pages. Woodstock author Jana Martin gets it right.

Book Reviews: Land of Stone: Breaking Silence Through Poetry

By Caitlin McDonnell

Karen Chase begins her preface by calling Land of Stone “a story of silence and kinship.” It is also a story about love, healing, and the redemptive power of poetry—and it is unlike anything you’ll ever read.

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