Philip Roth Has Died
Philip Roth died yesterday at the age of 85 from congestive heart failure. And ? what else can be written about Philip Roth that hasn?t already been written? Or that Roth himself hasn?t written? Self-exploration?starring America, Newark, Jewishness, and sex?drove the plot of many of Roth?s novels, most notably Portnoy?s Complaint, where the title character…
continue reading
The Bonfire Extinguished
Pamela Paul, editor of the New York Times Book Review, described Tom Wolfe’s death as the “passing of an era.? He was known for coining phrases such as “radical chic”?a derogatory term for pretentious liberals?and “the Me Decade,? which described the self-indulgence of the 1970s. Wolfe once told the Wall Street Journal: “I think every…
continue reading
Do No Harm – and don’t skip this book
I just recently finished?Do No Harm: ?stories of Life, Death, and Brain Surgery by Henry Marsh, and I have to say I enjoyed this book a lot more than I thought I would. ?In fact, it’s the second medically-related book that I finished recently (the prior being?When Breath Becomes Air), and it seems to be…
continue reading
With ‘Kingshold’, you’ve got a fun fantasy read
I do not quite recall how I stumbled across D.P. Woolliscroft a month or so ago, but boy, am I glad that I did. ?Actually, belay that, it may have been via the Kindle Scout program. ?Nevertheless, I’ve gotten to read two of Woolliscroft’s creations now – the novelette?Of Buccaneers and Bards?(which is set in…
continue reading
The healthy glow of those Radium Girls
At least, that’s how those in charge framed things in the plants that were running in Orange, NJ and Ottawa, IL. ?In her book?The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America’s Shining Women, Kate Moore paints us a picture – a very human one – of what went on for these women.
continue reading