Article Archive for July 2012
Maeve Binchy
Open Letters Monthly mourns Maeve Binchy, teacher, talker, gentle seanchai.
Codladh samh, old friend.
Anthology Review: London – A History in Verse
A sprawling new celebration of London in six centuries of verse!
Book Review: The Black Rhinos of Namibia
A gorgeously-written new book on the vanishing black rhinos of south-western Africa
Classics Reissued: Fevre Dream
A new reprint delivers George R. R. Martin’s science fiction novel about 19th century American vampires!
Book Review: Conquest
For thirty hard-fought years, the King of England was also the King of France – new in US bookstores is a thrilling account of those years
CD of the Week – Beethoven’s Viola
Violas are the most overlooked of instruments, but not by Beethoven–an intriguing new release brings together his music for the violin’s deeper-voiced sibling
Book Review: The Nineteenth-Century Novel
The novel’s greatest age gets a stunning, multi-voiced celebration
Book Review: Three A.M.
In a fog-enshrouded city, a tough PI takes on a case that changes everything.
Century 16, Aurora
In the wake of today’s news from Connecticut, we are reposting a note written by our Executive Editor following the shootings in Aurora earlier this year.
CD of the Week – Ernest Bloch’s Hebrew Rhapsody
Natalie Clein delivers an extraordinary performance of Ernest Bloch’s Schelomo, in a disc featuring other classic Jewish music. Norman Lebrecht reviews.
Guest Movie Review: Beasts of the Southern Wild
Aurochs run amok in “Beasts of the Southern Wild.” John C. Anderson reviews.
Now in Paperback: The Last Divine Office
The bishops of Durham Cathedral were also secular princes who could settle legal disputes – and raise armies. A study now out in paperback gives the mighty cathedral and priory the history they deserve.
Book Review: Wake of the Bloody Angel
The latest adventure featuring freelance ‘sword jockey’ Eddie LaCrosse is – avast! – a rollicking pirate-yarn!
Now in Paperback: The Storm of War
A new one-volume history of the Second World War ends with the big question: could the bad guys have won?
Book Review: Wellington’s Wars
A new – and sometimes unforgiving – military history of the Iron Duke!
Anthology Review: The Year’s Best Science Fiction 29
The latest edition of the venerable science fiction anthology series!
On Blu-Ray: 21 Jump Street
The raucous 21st century update of the old TV series gets its Blu-Ray release!
Roberts Saves POTUS and SCOTUS
We may never know with certainty what brought Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts to cast the deciding vote to uphold the Affordable Care Act and salvage the chief accomplishment of Barack Obama’s presidency. But …
Summer Reading 2012
As the haze and heat of summer kick into full swing, the folk of Open Letters break out their annual Summer Reading recommendations!
Summer Reading 2012 Continues
Our feature continues, as more Open Letters folk share their annual Summer Reading recommendations!
Tumblr Sphinx
Computers – search engines, interactive databases, digital archives – have the potential to change academic research in ways the previous twenty centuries couldn’t have imagined. But are those changes improvements – or the end of expertise as we know it? Or both?
Humane to Hornets: The Poetry of James Schuyler
The verses of the neglected poet James Schuyler seem to ramble, but they don’t really ramble; they seem dishevelled, but they aren’t; they seem miniaturist, but they contain whole worlds. Stephen Akey makes the case for your renewed attention.
Much God damned Entropy
2012, a William Gaddis renaissance year, sees the reissue of the author’s awesome, strangely prescient 1975 novel J R. Greg Gerke and Gabriel Blackwell discuss their experiences tackling the tome.
The Twilight(ing) of the Superhero
Nerdy teenager Peter Parker was bitten by a radioactive spider – and a super-franchise was born! As a new blockbuster Spider-Man movie hits the summer theaters, Justin Hickey takes us on a tour of the character’s colorful – and often tortured – past!
A Measure of the Master: Georges Simenon’s romans durs
The inventor of the beloved Inspector Maigret was gigantically prolific – hundreds of novels, churned out at lightning speed (80 pages a day, according to the author himself) – and in this as in many other things, Georges Simenon was a world unto himself.
“In Advance of Failure Foreseen”: Why James Agee Still Matters
John Updike once affably damned James Agee as a wasted talent who failed to cultivate his craft. Liza Birnbaum replies with a defense of the glories of Agee’s ragged, heartfelt work.
Fort-da Logic
Why do we play video games? And why do we RE-play them? And what the heck has Sigmund Freud got to do with any of it? Gaming guru Phillip Lobo looks at some new iterations of familiar old games and attempts to connect the dots.
On the Scent: An Interview with Alyssa Harad
The author of Coming to My Senses in conversation with our own example of a very special breed of aesthete, the perfume lover.
American Aristocracy: The Gods of Copley Square – Cornerstone
Boston’s iconic Copley Square – with its Trinity Church and its Public Library – is a present-day tourist hotspot, but those visitors hardly suspect the deep and rich history of the area. American Aristocracy continues.
What the Duchess of Argyll’s Maid told Dicky Pigg-Wilcott’s Valet at Ascot in ’08!
Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother was a cherished and beloved fixture of the British royal family for almost a century (and would certainly have stolen the show at her daughter’s Diamond Jubilee, had she lived to see it) – but a new book claims the Queen Mum was just an ordinary human being – and not always a very nice one
The Bureaucrat Who Would be King
President, prime minister, or unnamed Tsar, Vladimir Putin is at once ubiquitous and unknowable; a new book examines the many facets of a new species of autocrat.
It’s a Mystery: “A good detective assumes nothing”
Cop to Corpse, the 12th in Peter Lovesey’s Detective Supt. Peter
Diamond series, finds the master at the top of his form.
From the Archives: I Talk & Laugh & Listen
She oversaw an shepherded the House of Windsor for a century and did more to shape its present character than anyone. Three years ago William Shawcross wrote an official and none-too-gossipy biography.
From the Archives: Summer Reading 2011
In last year’s special feature, our team of avid readers offered some suggestions for books a little off the beaten path of summer blockbusters.
From the Archives: Summer Reading 2011 Goes On
More of last year’s special feature, where we offered some less predictable ideas for books to tuck into your beach tote or suitcase.
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