The Case for God

When I was still a theology student, my favorite classes were those in the three-semester sequence of historical theology classes, which were followed by a single semester of modern theology. This book by Karen Armstrong was like all four semesters packed into one book, with some additional information on Judaism, Islam, and other faiths thrown [...]

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Miss New India

Nineteen-year-old Anjali Bose, the lead character in Bharati Mukherjee’s new novel, is a small-town girl who longs for something more than what her life in Guaripur has brought her. Her parents are hoping to find her a suitable husband and are taking steps to present her to the marriage market. Her teacher, on the other hand, [...]

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Sunday Salon: BEA and More

As many of you know, I spent the last part of this past week in New York, attending Bookexpo America and the Book Bloggers Convention. It was an exhausting but enjoyable experience, but not necessarily one I’d want to repeat every year. I could probably write a good dozen posts on the days I spent [...]

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Daemonomania

There is only one time I wish I were Harold Bloom, and that’s when I finish reading a book by John Crowley. What I want is a platform to tell the world about this author who seems to hide in plain sight. How does he do that? How can he write so well? Each time [...]

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The Gunslinger

“The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed.” So begins The Gunslinger, the first book in Stephen King’s Dark Tower western/fantasy series. This book takes place in a world that is an eerie blend of the strange and the familiar. A limitless desert stretches out under the sky. Nothing grows here [...]

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Lost in Shangri-La

In 1945, a group of 24 U.S. Army soldiers stationed in Dutch New Guinea took a pleasure flight over the mountains, hoping to catch a glimpse of the native villagers who lived there in isolation from the modern world. That glimpse became something totally different when the plane crashed, killing all but three aboard. The [...]

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Sunday Salon: A Couple of Quick Program Notes

No big musings from me today—just a couple of reminders. I’ve been trying to catch up on reading (as always) and get ready for BEA and the Book Blogger Convention, which brings me to my first note. As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I’ll be attending Bookexpo America and the Book Blogger Convention during [...]

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The White Devil

Harrow may be among the most elite schools in the world, but Andrew Taylor is not happy to be going there. He’s been kicked out of his school back home in America, and Harrow is his last chance to make good with his dad. He intends to knuckle down and stay out of trouble, but [...]

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The Lunar Men

“In the eighteenth century clubs are everywhere,” says Jenny Uglow, “clubs for singing, clubs for drinking, clubs for farting; clubs of poets and pudding-makers and politicians.” This marvelous book is the history of one such club, the Lunar Society of Birmingham, so named because they met on the Monday nearest the full moon so they [...]

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Fight Club

I’m afraid, despite the first and second rules, I’m going to talk about Fight Club. In Chuck Palahniuk’s screaming debut novel (from, um, 1996, okay, I might be a little late on this particular bandwagon), the unnamed narrator can’t sleep unless he’s digging himself deeper and deeper into an understanding of pain and death. His [...]

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