Sunday, March 28 2010
The Best American Non-Required Reading 2009 ed. Dave Eggers
In this collection, the tirelessly unconventional Dave Eggers collects a year's worth of American writing that ostensibly is a far cry from what we deem "the classics".
Wednesday, March 10 2010
The Devil Gets His Due: The Uncollected Essays of Leslie Fiedler. Ed. Samuele F.S. Pardini
Whatever the subject at hand, nearly every page of this collection evinces Fiedler’s intelligence, erudition, panache, and combativeness.
Thursday, January 14 2010
The Story About the Story: Great Writers Explore Great Literature edited by J.C. Hallman
J.C. Hallman writes about what he calls a “kind of personal literary analysis, criticism that contemplates rather than analyzes” that inspired him to compile these works by writers from Virginia Woolf and D.H. Lawrence to Susan Sontag and Milan Kundera.
Monday, January 4 2010
I Drink for a Reason by David Cross
What's unfortunate is that Cross' thoughtful, considered standup routines do not prepare you for the wildly uneven, remarkably slapdash effort that is this book, a hit-or-miss collection of jokes from someone whom we expect better.
Wednesday, October 7 2009
Beg, Borrow, Steal: A Writer’s Life by Michael Greenberg
Greenberg's New York lives and breathes (and sometimes stinks) like a larger than life hero.
Tuesday, May 26 2009
Hella Nation by Evan Wright
Wright’s gift is his ability to trace a story through time and weave together a piece that is chilling in both subtlety and revelation.
Tuesday, May 19 2009
Reality TV by Susan Murray, Laurie Ouellette
Those who fail to meet the American dream or moral code, whether it’s remodeling the house, winning the contest, or getting the man, are authors of their own demise.
Thursday, January 22 2009
Dispatches from the Religious Left by Frederick Clarkson (ed)
Losing the religious element in the discussions limits the power of this practical introduction to the affairs of the Religious Left.
Wednesday, November 26 2008
Eat, Memory by Amanda Hesser
When Heidi Julavits shares her longing for "a trashy American sweet" while teaching English in Japan, I recall how my teeth literally ached for crusty bread during six rice-ridden months in China.
Wednesday, November 19 2008
The Way We Will Be 50 Years from Today, by Mike Wallace
As it becomes clear, 'we' means middle class and broadly conservative Americans; and by 'the world' Wallace evidently means the United World of America.
