Category: Uncategorized

Never in my lifetime have so many been wondering: For the answer we can look to Franz Kafka’s novel The Trial, published 100 years ago. It’s not a pleasant journey but it has never been a more necessary one. Josef K. is caught completely by surprised when he is arrested one morning. He is informed…

This is an essential book from what I think will be considered, decades from now, as one of the essential voices of our time. So go read it and then come back here, so I don’t have to worry about spoiling anything, okay? Okay. Through travels in America, Africa, and Palestine, Coates seeks answers to…

The Night Watchman is inspired by the real life of Louise Erdrich’s grandfather, who was part of the Chippewa tribes resistance to termination in the 1950s. The story follows an ensemble of memorable characters led by Patrice, a fearless young woman who travels to Minneapolis in search of her lost sister, and Thomas, the titular…

It is a collection of love letters to plants and our earth. The language is so beautiful. Through words, the author takes you to walk in the rain, to make maple syrup, to help salamanders cross the busy street, to clean the pond, to weave a basket, and so many other things in the nature.…

I have heard a lot about how good James McBride is, but this is first book I have read of McBride’s. It is a very well researched historical fiction. It’s a story about black people and Jewish immigrants in the 1930s. I have to say: I’m a fan now. It is the perfect book to…

In 1917 President Woodrow Wilson issued a series of proclamations restricting or voiding the rights of German-Americans after the United States declared war on Germany. The government seized over 500 million dollars in property from German-Americans and placed thousands in internment camps. Fourteen states banned the teaching of the German language. Orchestra conductors were arrested…

Annie Jacobsen’s book uses declassified documents and accounts from pertinent ex officials to describe a scenario involving nuclear war, step by step, beginning with the launch of a single weapon and laying out plausible events over the next 24 minutes, then the next 24, and beyond. It’s full of interesting and deeply troubling facts about…

Hello, we would like to have occasional informal events that provide opportunities to discuss and gush or jeer and listen about books. This is usually called a book club. But…we are starting in just a few weeks and want to encourage participation so we aren’t setting a specific book for our discussion. So, we are…

Ulysses was published in 1922, but banned in the United States for over ten years for being obscene. My Modern Library edition includes the text of Judge John M. Woosley’s 1933 decision, which lifted the ban. What a debt we owe His Honor! I’ve nothing to add to the body of scholarship on this momentous…

How do you choose friends? Common interests? Shared values? Compatible temperaments? Now, how about characters for a story? The opposite? If you are going to throw people in a can and have them trek across the galaxy on a quest to steal ancient technology, what kind of characters do you choose? If you’re Yume Kitasei,…