Everyone, from my college advisor on down, will tell you I love tales with orphan heroes. You name them: Oliver Twist, Harry Potter, Tensy Farlow, the Baudelaire children, I fell in love with each and every one of those books. (Well, I hated the ending of the Baudelaire series, but that’s another story.) The thing is, there are orphans and then there are orphans and they aren’t really alike. To explain what...
Because Harper Lee’s “other” book, To Kill A Mockingbird has been read and loved by so many people over the last half century, the release of her Go Set A Watchman has received the hype and fever of a Harry Potter book release. In a way, that’s appropriate. One of the themes in J. K. Rowling’s series is how a person’s perception of people and events changes as they receive more ...
Some stories are brave as warriors, holding their ideals high toward the sun. “This is truth.” they say, challanging the status quo, and quiescent crowds. I love those books. I also love stories that are beautifully told with graceful sentences and sinuous prose. I’m a sucker for graceful books. I love many types of books but these days I rarely find one that captivates me with an idea.&nb...
Americans are fascinated by American history; what we may lack in length of time, we make up for in breadth of incident. This last weekend commemorated events that created this country but not every turning point can recorded by an arbitrary date . Sometimes it takes perspective to look back at a group of events and say, “Yes. At this point we were one type of nation and by here we were another.” E. L...
There’s a reason to read the classics: they’ve proven their worth over time. There’s a similar reason for reading the award winners: they’re usually pretty good books. That may sound snobbish but since this time on earth is limited, I prefer to read something that’s good. Of course “good” is more than round characters and a well-paced plot. To become something special, a story ...