It’s Gastronomical
Since Julia Child is on everyone’s lips, let’s talk about food on the tube.
Robert Birnbaum
Under-Appreciated Novels
Before you are deluged with the press release parroting of what I hope are well-meaning literary journalists rushing to present you with the lists of forthcoming books for the fall season (as if you have come close to reading much of the last season's list), let me
The Oracular Vidal
Though well represented in print, most recently with Jay Parini's edit of The Selected Essays of Gore Vidal, the oracular Vidal seems glaringly overlooked by the buzzing, blooming noise/newsmakers bleating for our attention. Which makes his 2009 conversation with Parini (Vidal's designated literary executor) all
Rekindled
Given the current overheated media climate, it would be normal to call Nicholson Baker's very thoughtful piece on the Kindle a takedown or bashing--which would be a disservice to journalism (at least that variety still practiced by temperate and diligent reporters), Nick Baker, and even to the
Attention Must Be Paid
Merce Cunningham's recent death at the age of 90 reminded me that--except for the New York Times and colonial outposts of New Yorkers--the passing of nonagenarians (save Walter Cronkite) of great accomplishment rarely receives much attention in our brave new 24/7 world. Arthur Miller, the
Grandmaster Burke
Texas writer James Lee Burke, author of 30 or so books (his Dave Robicheaux novels no doubt being the most well-known), and winner of two Edgar Awards for best crime novel of the year, likes to tell the story of submitting his novel The Lost Get-Back Boogie 111
Fiasco Unfixed
My recent roundup of books on Cuba made no claims for completeness--nonetheless I think it a glaring omission not having included University of Alabama history mentor Howard Jones's vital monograph, The Bay of Pigs. Included in a series from Oxford University Press called "Pivotal Moments in
Gil Adamson
Our man in Boston chats with author Gil Adamson about Toronto's literary mafia, the fact-checking that plagues novelists, and the difficulty of listing 10 Canadian writers.
Back in the Day
If you are paying attention to the ideas I am trying to express here (I hope they qualify as ideas, and I thank you if you are paying attention), my vexation at the declining attention paid to the study of history is a regular sore spot. I lay the fault
Reading v. Kindling
If it were possible to embarrass corporations such as Amazon, the recent snafu over Amazon's recall (that would be the kind word for it) of Kindle versions of George Orwell's 1984 and Animal Farm should be at least an embarrassment--though litigation would seem a more