The Broken Teaglass, by Emily Arsenault

January 18, 2010

For a book that could have been the Holy Grail for wordies everywhere, Emily Arsenault’s The Broken Teaglass was a let down. The setting for a brilliant mystery novel is there: an intriguing job, a saucy love interest, an unsolved murder, creepy neighbors – books greater than you and me have been built [...]

Read the full article →

Consider the Lobster and Other Essays, by David Foster Wallace

January 8, 2010

Wallace’s 2005 collection of essays is by no means new media, yet worthy of note this month, the half-birthday of DFW’s unfortunate demise.
Consider the Lobster, like all of Wallace’s prose, is hard work to read. These days, where drippy, thin works like Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight and Jodi Picoult’s entire repertoire are widely touted, [...]

Read the full article →

9 Ways to Turn Old Musty Books Into Something Cool

December 30, 2009

Bibliophiles and bookworms, English majors and lovers of literature: is it possible to have too many books? They accumulate so quickly! Every member of your family getting you the same three books you requested for Christmas. Seeing Don DeLillo marked half-off, knowing you dumped a half-caff latte on your copy of Underworld, and – even [...]

Read the full article →

Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain, by Oliver Sacks

September 28, 2009

Those who have enjoyed any of Doctor Sacks’ other popular books, such as Awakenings (which was made into a major motion picture starring Robert De Niro) and The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat will be familiar with the structure used here….

Read the full article →

The Invention of Air, by Steven Johnson

September 25, 2009

Upon finishing this book, you might wonder why a portrait of its subject, Joseph Priestly, isn’t seen on some piece of American currency. He was that important. He was also a good friend of a number of folks who did eventually get their faces on money, such as Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin.

Read the full article →