Jack: A Novel by Marilynne Robinson. Farrar, Straus and Giroux 2020. Hardcover, 320 pages, $27. Reviewed by J. L. Wall Why, I ask students who are reading Marilynne Robinson’s Gilead, does John Ames never directly give us his wife’s name? It’s only learned late in the...
Convenience Store Woman: A Novel by Sayaka Murata. Grove Press, 2019. Paperback, 176 pages, $15. Reviewed by Eve Tushnet Keiko just wanted to do the right thing. Eager and goal-oriented to a fault, little Keiko Furukura found the world around her baffling, full of...
A Golden Fury by Samantha Cohoe. Wednesday Books, 2020. Hardcover, 352 pages. $19. Reviewed by Christine Norvell Curses are too common, particularly in fairy tales. Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, Hansel and Gretel, Puss-in-Boots. Thanks to the collections of the...
Letters from Father Christmas by J. R. R. Tolkien Houghton Mifflin Company, 2020. Hardcover, 208 pages, $28. Reviewed by John Tuttle The name Tolkien is first and foremost associated with what is widely acknowledged as the man’s chief literary creation, The...
Raised in Captivity: Fictional Nonfiction by Chuck Klosterman. Penguin Press, 2019. Hardcover, 320 pages, $26.00 Chris Butynskyi Ideas are dangerous. Most people would agree that a certain level of danger and harm can take root in ideas. Culture, too, is dangerous....
So easy to forget that the best way to educate yourself is to read great works of literature and philosophy, then talk about them. Bring back the salon!