My British friend observing my state of mind encouraged me to hurkle durkle this weekend. I took her excellent advice on Saturday morning. I drowsed with the pups, in and out of dreamland, in and out of peaceful music –…
Fiction
390 Articles
390
The First Gentleman, by Bill Clinton and James Patterson, imagines a woman we recognize in the White House. She’s tough and savvy, with a sharp tongue and a sharper mind. Her husband, the First Gentleman, is a charmer who helps…
Sybil Van Antwerp – our heroine – is the kind of neighbor you might like, or might not. She’s smart, retired, divorced, and keeps to herself. When her past comes calling – stalking, really – she can’t ignore it this…
I thought I had possibly read enough novels about World War II. I stand corrected. One of my book clubs selected The Director, by Daniel Kehlmann – originally published in German in 2023, and in English translation in 2025 –…
Seems like everyone I know is buzzing about Theo of Golden by Allen Levi or The Correspondent by Virginia Evans. They’re on my list! But today, I’d love to tell you about a stirring novel I recently read with a…
We don’t really know anyone else’s heart or mind. Or what they might be capable of. We know this – right? – if we’ve lived long enough. Ian McEwan’s new novel What We Can Know conveys this truth. The joy…
The language is not hard to understand – not difficult at all – the ground says I will catch you if you – when you – fall. The language is not hard to understand – not difficult at all –…
“Oh, Mary!” begins at a fever pitch – loud, over the top, brassy – and stays that way. Imagine Mary Todd Lincoln as a frustrated cabaret dancer and her husband as a frustrated gay man, each part played to comic…
I’ll be talking with Bruce Holsinger about his latest novel, Culpability (an Oprah pick) at the Southern Festival of Books on Saturday, October 18th, at 2:00. Please come join the conversation! Culpability begins with a family of 5 in a…