Column: A whole shelf-load of promising new fiction arrives in September
Is it possible to feel FOMO (fear of missing out) for something that has not yet happened? I ask because I think I am experiencing fiction FOMO for September's impending...
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Column: Student loan debt is an important enough subject for 2 books at once
As I faced down my copies of "Indentured Students: How Government Guaranteed Loans Left Generations Drowning in College Debt" by Elizabeth Tandy Shermer, an assistant professor of history at Loyola...
Column: More and more, from ‘Handmaid’s Tale’ to ‘Flight Attendant,’ TV is being adapted from books. But maybe not the best TV.
Bopping around the myriad streaming services, it is clear that we are in a golden age of book to television adaptations. Emmy-nominated shows "Bridgerton" and "The Handmaid's Tale" are adapted...
Column: ‘Summer of Soul’ a reminder to teach myself the history I didn’t learn before
I have just finished a third time watching "Summer of Soul," a documentary about the 1969 Harlem Culture Festival, and just like the first two times, my reaction was, How...
Column: ‘Inside’ on Netflix and what fiction really means
Just because something is "real," doesn't mean it's "true." I pondered this after being mightily impressed by comedian Bo Burnham's new Netflix special, "Inside." Burnham wrote, staged, and filmed 90...
Column: In what pigeonhole to put Laura Lippman’s new novel ‘Dream Girl’? Why do we care?
There was a moment when I turned the page on Laura Lippman's new novel, "Dream Girl," and I thought to myself, Hold on, what genre is this book? And then...
Column: The book you want is already sold out? Why this happens
Perhaps this has happened to you: You eagerly anticipate the release date of a newly published book. Being the sort of person who likes to support your local bookstore, you...
Opinion: The Biblioracle’s best books of 2021 so far
I am going to do a mid-year list of Biblioracle Book Awards. I am doing this even though "best of" books lists are largely arbitrary and meaningless. But we love...
Opinion: Aching to travel? Try bookstore tourism.
On a recent June day, Arches National Park, in Moab, Utah, had stopped letting people in by 9 a.m., due to crowds. As the strictures of coronavirus regulations loosen in...
Opinion: Stop and think. 2 new books argue this is essential.
One of the most pleasurable byproducts of my work as a writer is that it requires me to sit down and think. Or sometimes stand up and think, or walk...