John Warner – Page 18

Patrick deWitt, author of "The Librarianist."

Biblioracle: It’s hard to make happiness interesting and dramatic. Patrick deWitt does so in ‘The Librarianist’

July 15, 2023 at 5:00 a.m.

Back when I was teaching literature and writing courses at the college level, my students, nice young people with lives of promise in front of them, would occasionally express a...

Author Lorrie Moore outside her home in Madison, Wisconsin, in November 2009.

Biblioracle: ‘Was it a good book?’ Sometimes there’s no easy answer to that question

July 8, 2023 at 5:00 a.m.

I told a friend that I'd just read Lorrie Moore's new novel, "I Am Homeless if This Is Not My Home," and they followed up with the logical next question...

"To Name the Bigger Lie: A Memoir in Two Stories" by Sarah Viren (June 13, 2023).

Biblioracle: ‘To Name the Bigger Lie’ explores how our memories may not always tell the truth

July 1, 2023 at 1:51 p.m.

In a lot of ways, we are our memories. The things we've done, the people we've intersected with, and how these people and events have shaped us are not just...

Author Cormac McCarthy on Aug. 12, 2014.

Biblioracle: For Cormac McCarthy, author of ‘The Road’ and ‘No Country for Old Men,’ it was the books themselves that mattered

June 25, 2023 at 12:17 p.m.

"Why did you make us read that?" This comment from a student in my general education literature course at Clemson University circa 2008 is the first thing that pops into...

Biblioracle: I’ll take that bet — ChatGPT won’t change the way we value books and writing

June 17, 2023 at 5:00 a.m.

Only fools put far-reaching predictions into print where they can be immortalized and then resurrected to prove the foolishness of the predictor. Call me a fool because I'm laying down...

Biblioracle: From a coming-of-age adventure to a techno-thriller, my 7 ‘hammock reads’ for summer

June 12, 2023 at 9:45 a.m.

This is the time of year I'm supposed to be alerting you to the hottest new release "beach reads." I'm not going to do that for a couple of reasons....

"Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club" by J. Ryan Stradal (April 18); "Small Mercies" by Dennis Lehane (April 25); "Beware the Woman" by Megan Abbott (May 30).

Biblioracle: 3 best new books to mix up your reading diet

June 3, 2023 at 5:00 a.m.

Deciding to read a book by a particular author can be like choosing a restaurant. In some cases, you know exactly what you want, and want a virtual certainty that...

Studs Terkel in the WFMT studio in 1992.

Biblioracle: Long before podcasting, Chicagoans had a chance to listen to the greatest interviewer ever — Studs Terkel

May 27, 2023 at 5:30 a.m.

Thanks to podcasting, long-form conversation between two people is now ubiquitous. Podcast aficionados may point to someone like Terry Gross as a progenitor with her long-standing radio program "Fresh Air"...

Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. greet photographers in Washington, D.C. on March 26, 1964. They shook hands after King announced plans for protests if Southern senators filibuster against civil rights bill.

Biblioracle: New book sheds light on Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr.

May 20, 2023 at 5:00 a.m.

In high school, if you asked me what the best book I'd ever read was, I probably would have said "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" by Alex Haley. Because of...

Author Judy Blume at Books and Books, her nonprofit bookstore in Key West, Florida in March 2023.

Biblioracle: Judy Blume is having a moment, and so are those of us who were raised on her books

May 13, 2023 at 5:00 a.m.

With the release of the film adaptation of her classic novel, "Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret" and a career-covering documentary, "Judy Blume Forever," Judy Blume is having something...

All Stories