John Warner – Page 30

Opinion: Want to know what ails America? Read ‘Hospital’ by Brian Alexander

March 29, 2021 at 12:38 p.m.

I think we can all agree that health care in this country is messed up. When I Google "health-care crisis" the first three links returned are from medical journals dated...

Activists in New York City came out to show their support on Feb. 27, 2021, for the approximately 6,000 Amazon warehouse workers in Bessemer, Alabama, who are voting by mail on whether to be represented by the Retail, Wholesale Department Store Workers Union. Biblioracle columnist John Warner says supporting unionization efforts are one way to help check Amazon's growing power.

Opinion: Amazon’s growing reach should alarm us

March 26, 2021 at 10:56 a.m.

It has been awhile since I've checked in on what Amazon is up to. It's important to keep an eye on Amazon, because it is hard to underestimate the amount...

While book sales are up nationally, independent bookstores -- such as Madison Street Bookstore, in the West Loop -- have struggled.

Opinion: Book sales are up, but bookstores are struggling. It matters where you shop.

March 16, 2021 at 6:00 a.m.

Two striking statistics recently reported by Publishers Weekly: Print book sales rose 8.2% in 2020 versus 2019, according to NPD BookScan. Bookstore sales fell 28.3% in 2020 versus 2019, according...

‘No One Is Talking About This’: Patricia Lockwood makes art from Twitter

March 9, 2021 at 10:36 a.m.

As I read Part One of Patricia Lockwood's new novel, "No One is Talking About This," I thought of two famous figures: James Joyce and Grumpy Cat. Joyce is conjured...

This one's got a great rhyme scheme, some unexpected (and beyond basic) word choices and provides plenty of opportunities for silly voices if you're into that sort of thing. Plus, it's a sweet, affectionate story. Bonus all around.

Biblioracle: Dr. Seuss was canceled? Nope. The books needed to go.

March 2, 2021 at 1:36 p.m.

"They're cancelling Dr. Seuss." If you heard something similar and reacted with disbelief or anger or consternation, let me reassure you the story is more complicated, more interesting, and nothing...

Heather McGhee’s ‘The Sum of Us’: Required reading to move the country forward — together, writes John Warner

February 23, 2021 at 3:20 p.m.

Every so often a book comes along that seems perfectly timed to the moment and has the potential to radically shift our cultural conversation. "The Sum of Us: What Racism...

Even with Ralph Fiennes and Carey Mulligan front and center, little in the trailer of "The Dig" seemed particularly promising, but I gave it a go and it's good. Some of it's true, too: Along the east coast of Britain in 1939, with war clouds looming, self-taught Suffolk archeologist Basil Brown was hired by ailing widow Edith Pretty to discover if anything of value lay beneath the earth mounds on her property. There was indeed, and the remains and artifacts of a sixth-century Anglo-Saxon burial ship stunned the world. Fiennes is Basil; Mulligan is Edith; around the halfway point of director Simon Stone's film, the focus (for better or worse) shifts to others in the orbit of the excavation effort, particularly characters played by Lily James and Johnny Flynn. Based on the 2007 novel by John Preston, "The Dig" freely mixes fact and invention, overloading the crises a bit but generally succeeding. A fair amount of screenwriter Moira Buffini's dialogue plays out as Terrence Malick-styled voiceover, while the camera focuses on the stark beauty of the surroundings, and men and women actually doing the work. The results are trim, well-made and quite moving. So much for my prejudgments. (Netflix) — Michael Phillips

Ethan Hawke’s ‘A Bright Ray of Darkness’: Watching a writer mature, on stage, for all to see

February 18, 2021 at 3:19 p.m.

When Ethan Hawke's first novel, "The Hottest State," was published in the fall of 1996, I was not pleased. My lack of pleasure had more to do with me than...

‘A Gentleman in Moscow’ by Amor Towles: Should the Biblioracle read it?

February 9, 2021 at 11:03 a.m.

I have a confession to make: I have not read "A Gentleman in Moscow" by Amor Towles. This feels like a guilty secret, because while I have not done a...

1920s 1930s 1940s WOMAN'S HAND WRITING NOTE WITH STEEL TIP INK PEN. woman writing on paper. (Photo by H. Armstrong Roberts/ClassicStock/Getty Images) ** OUTS - ELSENT, FPG, CM - OUTS * NM, PH, VA if sourced by CT, LA or MoD **

Column: Why we need art critics, enthusiasts

February 3, 2021 at 10:30 a.m.

Recently, Pulitzer Prize-winning art critic Jerry Saltz got himself in some trouble when he tweeted: "A good critic always puts more into writing about art work than the artist put...

George Saunders, author most recently of "A Swim in the Pond in the Rain."

Column: George Saunders teaches us to pay attention in ‘A Swim in the Pond in the Rain’

January 26, 2021 at 10:58 a.m.

One of the best parts about reading is its essential egalitarian, democratic nature. There's no requirement that you feel the same way as anyone else about a book or story....

All Stories