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It’s a Mystery: “A violin is always female”
By Irma Heldman – Mar 2010 | No Comment
It’s a Mystery: “A violin is always female”

There is not a false note in Paganini’s Ghost, Paul Adam’s superbly calibrated mystery that unfolds around the intrigue generated by a priceless instrument and its keepers.

Peer Review: DeLillo and the Three Ps Peer Review: DeLillo and the Three Ps

The nation’s book critics naturally congregated when Don DeLillo’s slim new book appeared. In the latest Open Letters Peer Review, John Rodwan supplies a scorecard for the players.

The Lost Library: Donald Windham’s Two People
By Philip Gambone – Mar 2010 | One Comment
The Lost Library: Donald Windham’s Two People

Donald Windham may not have intended his 1965 novel Two People to be trailblazing, but its unsentimental frankness set it apart just the same. Philip Gambone reads it again.

Bad Books, Good Hooks Bad Books, Good Hooks

They don’t work as books, but they do work their way on us – insistently, insidiously. We throw them across the room, but we keep picking them up again.

The Sweetness of Short Novels
By Ingrid Norton – Feb 2010 | 4 Comments
The Sweetness of Short Novels

Doorstop literary tomes might still be the preferred signature grab for literary respectability, but short novels have always been every bit as compelling–and tougher to do well. Ingrid Norton introduces her Year with Short Novels.

A Year with Short Novels: J.L. Carr’s Chance for Renewal
By Ingrid Norton – Feb 2010 | 2 Comments
A Year with Short Novels: J.L. Carr’s Chance for Renewal

In A Month in the Country, J.L. Carr explores that most challenging emotion to capture in fiction: happiness

It’s A Mystery: “Sometimes the fake relics are more valuable than the real.”
By Irma Heldman – Feb 2010 | One Comment
It’s A Mystery: “Sometimes the fake relics are more valuable than the real.”

Lou Berney in his fast and funny debut novel, Gutshot Straight, owes more than a little to Elmore Leonard, in the best of all possible ways. As for Elmore Leonard’s latest, Road Dogs, the master is in top form.

Second Glance: The Radicalism of Felix Holt
By Rohan Maitzen – Jan 2010 | 7 Comments
Second Glance: The Radicalism of Felix Holt

Felix Holt, the Radical may be George Eliot’s least-read novel, but as Rohan Maitzen shows, its intricately rendered relationships both paved the path for Middlemarch and reflected on Eliot’s own life

Second Glance: “Today belongs to few and tomorrow to no one”
By Ingrid Norton – Jan 2010 | One Comment
Second Glance: “Today belongs to few and tomorrow to no one”

As Ingrid Norton reports, the eerie and heartbroken poems of W.S. Merwin’s The Lice continue to resonate thirty years on: whispering, creeping, shaking.

It’s A Mystery: “The deity who kills for pleasure will also heal”
By Irma Heldman – Jan 2010 | No Comment
It’s A Mystery: “The deity who kills for pleasure will also heal”

Louise Penny’s newest novel, The Brutal Telling, plunges Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, the star of the famed homicide department of the Sûreté du Quebec, into the darkest, most disturbing case of his career. Irma Heldman goes north of the border.

It’s a Mystery: “Sooner or later, everybody pays”
By Irma Heldman – Dec 2009 | No Comment
It’s a Mystery: “Sooner or later, everybody pays”

Irma Heldman reviews The Ghosts of Belfast, Stuart Neville’s grand Irish thriller debut in which the anti-hero, Gerry Fegan, a former IRA hitman, is “touched” as in crazy, and long ago would have been given the death sentence if they’d had anyone with the moxie to kill him.

The Better Part of Me
By Steve Donoghue – Dec 2009 | No Comment
The Better Part of Me

When he was banished for life from Rome, Ovid was trying to alter his artistic forms with his Metamorphoses. Trace the transformations in Steve Donoghue’s final “Year with the Romans”

The Fixer
By Steve Donoghue – Nov 2009 | No Comment
The Fixer

Hilary Mantel’s Tudor novel Wolf Hall recently won the Man-Booker Prize. Each part of that sentence was guaranteed to attract Steve Donoghue’s attention.

It’s A Mystery: Mum’s Always The Word
By Irma Heldman – Nov 2009 | No Comment
It’s A Mystery: Mum’s Always The Word

Red to Black, reports Irma Heldman, is a superb debut novel of espionage set in post-glasnost Russia. Its author Alex Dryden is a pseudonymous British journalist with many years experience on the Russian scene—a fact that only serves to heighten the chilling reality behind the riveting read.

Horace in the Afternoon
By Steve Donoghue – Nov 2009 | No Comment
Horace in the Afternoon

He was everybody’s friend, and his poetry breathes with life even today. He was Horace, and “A Year with the Romans” makes his acquaintance.

Second Glance: A Weight that Won’t Go Away
By Greg Gerke – Nov 2009 | No Comment
Second Glance: A Weight that Won’t Go Away

Readers are familiar with the uncompromising dissections of Apartheid South Africa in J.M. Coetzee’s Booker winners Disgrace and Life and Times of Michael K, but Greg Gerke wants us to be equally aware of the haunting vision of Coetzee’s 1990 novel Age of Iron

#1
By Sam Sacks – Oct 2009 | No Comment
#1

In our second annual Fiction Bestseller List feature, our writers temporarily put aside their dogeared copies of Hume and Mann, roll up their sleeves, and dig into the ten bestselling novels in the land as of September 6, 2009 – in the tranquil days before a certain Dan Brown novel began tromping all over that list like Godzilla in downtown Tokyo. Before you spend your hard-earned money at the bookstore, join us in a tour of the way we read now.

#2 #2

In our second annual Fiction Bestseller List feature, our writers temporarily put aside their dogeared copies of Hume and Mann, roll up their sleeves, and dig into the ten bestselling novels in the land as of September 6, 2009 – in the tranquil days before a certain Dan Brown novel began tromping all over that list like Godzilla in downtown Tokyo. Before you spend your hard-earned money at the bookstore, join us in a tour of the way we read now.

#3
By Andrew Martin – Oct 2009 | 2 Comments
#3

In our second annual Fiction Bestseller List feature, our writers temporarily put aside their dogeared copies of Hume and Mann, roll up their sleeves, and dig into the ten bestselling novels in the land as of September 6, 2009 – in the tranquil days before a certain Dan Brown novel began tromping all over that list like Godzilla in downtown Tokyo. Before you spend your hard-earned money at the bookstore, join us in a tour of the way we read now.

#4
By Rita Consalvos – Oct 2009 | One Comment
#4

In our second annual Fiction Bestseller List feature, our writers temporarily put aside their dogeared copies of Hume and Mann, roll up their sleeves, and dig into the ten bestselling novels in the land as of September 6, 2009 – in the tranquil days before a certain Dan Brown novel began tromping all over that list like Godzilla in downtown Tokyo. Before you spend your hard-earned money at the bookstore, join us in a tour of the way we read now.

#5
By Jennifer Olsen – Oct 2009 | No Comment
#5

In our second annual Fiction Bestseller List feature, our writers temporarily put aside their dogeared copies of Hume and Mann, roll up their sleeves, and dig into the ten bestselling novels in the land as of September 6, 2009 – in the tranquil days before a certain Dan Brown novel began tromping all over that list like Godzilla in downtown Tokyo. Before you spend your hard-earned money at the bookstore, join us in a tour of the way we read now.

#6
By John Cotter – Oct 2009 | No Comment
#6

In our second annual Fiction Bestseller List feature, our writers temporarily put aside their dogeared copies of Hume and Mann, roll up their sleeves, and dig into the ten bestselling novels in the land as of September 6, 2009 – in the tranquil days before a certain Dan Brown novel began tromping all over that list like Godzilla in downtown Tokyo. Before you spend your hard-earned money at the bookstore, join us in a tour of the way we read now.

#7
By Greg Waldmann – Oct 2009 | No Comment
#7

In our second annual Fiction Bestseller List feature, our writers temporarily put aside their dogeared copies of Hume and Mann, roll up their sleeves, and dig into the ten bestselling novels in the land as of September 6, 2009 – in the tranquil days before a certain Dan Brown novel began tromping all over that list like Godzilla in downtown Tokyo. Before you spend your hard-earned money at the bookstore, join us in a tour of the way we read now.

#8
By Laura Kolbe – Oct 2009 | No Comment
#8

In our second annual Fiction Bestseller List feature, our writers temporarily put aside their dogeared copies of Hume and Mann, roll up their sleeves, and dig into the ten bestselling novels in the land as of September 6, 2009 – in the tranquil days before a certain Dan Brown novel began tromping all over that list like Godzilla in downtown Tokyo. Before you spend your hard-earned money at the bookstore, join us in a tour of the way we read now.

#9
By Brad Jones – Oct 2009 | No Comment
#9

In our second annual Fiction Bestseller List feature, our writers temporarily put aside their dogeared copies of Hume and Mann, roll up their sleeves, and dig into the ten bestselling novels in the land as of September 6, 2009 – in the tranquil days before a certain Dan Brown novel began tromping all over that list like Godzilla in downtown Tokyo. Before you spend your hard-earned money at the bookstore, join us in a tour of the way we read now.

#10
By Steve Donoghue – Oct 2009 | No Comment
#10

In our second annual Fiction Bestseller List feature, our writers temporarily put aside their dogeared copies of Hume and Mann, roll up their sleeves, and dig into the ten bestselling novels in the land as of September 6, 2009 – in the tranquil days before a certain Dan Brown novel began tromping all over that list like Godzilla in downtown Tokyo. Before you spend your hard-earned money at the bookstore, join us in a tour of the way we read now.

2009 Bestseller Feature 2009 Bestseller Feature

In our second annual Fiction Bestseller List feature, our writers temporarily put aside their dogeared copies of Hume and Mann, roll up their sleeves, and dig into the ten bestselling novels in the land as of September 6, 2009 – in the tranquil days before a certain Dan Brown novel began tromping all over that list like Godzilla in downtown Tokyo. Before you spend your hard-earned money at the bookstore, join us in a tour of the way we read now.

Second Glance: Reading Anthony Trollope
By Rohan Maitzen – Oct 2009 | One Comment
Second Glance: Reading Anthony Trollope

He wrote over 40 novels, many of which a classics, and that sheer quantity can be daunting. Rohan Maitzen tells us how best to approach the literary dynamo that was Anthony Trollope.

It’s A Mystery: “Men engaged in warfare are all ghosts in the making”
By Irma Heldman – Oct 2009 | No Comment
It’s A Mystery: “Men engaged in warfare are all ghosts in the making”

From Charles Todd, author of the critically acclaimed Ian Rutledge series, comes A Duty to the Dead, introducing Bess Crawford, a World War I nurse, who is feisty, fearless, and fascinating. Irma Heldman joins Crawford on her inaugural adventure.

Verissimus
By Steve Donoghue – Sep 2009 | No Comment
Verissimus

Statesmen, philosophers, and serial killers turn to the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, but what was the emperor himself like? Frank McLynn’s Marcus Aurelius tells, and in this month’s “A Year with the Romans,” Steve Donoghue assesses.

It’s a Mystery: History Plays for Keeps
By Irma Heldman – Sep 2009 | No Comment
It’s a Mystery: History Plays for Keeps

In Dan Fesperman’s meticulously crafted World War II thriller, The Arms Maker of Berlin, he opens up old war chests and lets the genies of the past wreak havoc upon the present. Irma Heldman is on the case.

Alexander the Grating
By Steve Donoghue – Aug 2009 | No Comment
Alexander the Grating

The only surviving full-length biography of Alexander the Great was written by a Roman. Steve Donoghue looks at Quintus Curtius Rufus as “A Year with the Romans” continues.

It’s a Mystery: With Caviar Comes Money
By Ingrid Norton – Aug 2009 | No Comment
It’s a Mystery: With Caviar Comes Money

Meet Artie Cohen, a Russian Jewish cop with a conscience. In Reggie Nadelson’s Londongrad, he’s got the weight of the world on one shoulder and New York crime on the other. Irma Heldman follows his travels in the latest “It’s a Mystery.”

‘To the Great Infamy of the King’s Highness’
By Steve Donoghue – Aug 2009 | No Comment
‘To the Great Infamy of the King’s Highness’

Church and State collided in Henry VIII’s England, and Durham Cathedral was caught in the middle. Steve Donoghue returns to his Tudor beat to review Geoffrey Moorhouse’s The Last Divine Office.

It’s a Mystery: “She has a bag full of gold just like Pippi Longstocking”
By Irma Heldman – Jul 2009 | No Comment
It’s a Mystery: “She has a bag full of gold just like Pippi Longstocking”

They’re back! Stieg Larsson’s The Girl Who Played with Fire marks the return of Mikael Blomkvist, the intrepid investigative journalist, and his sidekick Lisbeth Salander, the world-class punk hacker. Irma Heldman is on their trail.

Miss Hamilton Disposes
By Steve Donoghue – Jul 2009 | No Comment
Miss Hamilton Disposes

Bryn Mawr’s deaconess Edith Hamilton and Catullus, the bard of Rome’s underbelly, would seem to have little in common. Steve Donoghue brokers a meeting in the latest “Year with the Romans.”

Second Glance: Wave and Say Hello to Frances
By Tracey Kelly – Jun 2009 | No Comment
Second Glance: Wave and Say Hello to Frances

She was a bestseller in her day, now virtually unknown. Fanny Burney, and her great novel Evelina, gets some long-deserved attention from Tracey Kelly.

The Prince of the Powers of the Air
By John Cotter – Jun 2009 | No Comment
The Prince of the Powers of the Air

Anthony Burgess is famous, but not for his best book. John Cotter sees your A Clockwork Orange and raises you Earthly Powers.

Supping with Glaucus: A Tour of Roman Historical Fiction
By Steve Donoghue – Jun 2009 | No Comment
Supping with Glaucus: A Tour of Roman Historical Fiction

Steve Donoghue takes the emperor’s box to thumbs-up or thumbs-down an array of Roman historical novels, as “A Year with the Romans” continues.

Second Glance: He Hears Them Speaking
By Brad Jones – Jun 2009 | No Comment
Second Glance: He Hears Them Speaking

You may have passed over Frederick Busch’s many novels on bookstore shelves; Brad Jones convinces you to stop and read the words.

“You can change your name…your job description… But really, nothing changes.”
By Irma Heldman – Jun 2009 | No Comment
“You can change your name…your job description… But really, nothing changes.”

With The Tourist, Olen Steinhauer takes his place in the panoply of classic spy fiction—at the very top with Deighton, Greene, and Le Carré. Irma Heldman is on the inside and tells all.

It’s A Mystery: “Ah, what the stage lost when I opted for the police”
By Irma Heldman – May 2009 | No Comment
It’s A Mystery: “Ah, what the stage lost when I opted for the police”

Donna Leon’s eighteenth Commissario Guido Brunetti mystery About Face has Irma Heldman once again seduced by the witty, erudite Venetian cop with a passion for ancient philosophers, modern women, elegant food, and the constant need to make sense out of the often senseless law.

It’s a Mystery: “I’ve got a mind like a comic book”
By Irma Heldman – Apr 2009 | No Comment
It’s a Mystery: “I’ve got a mind like a comic book”

Bernie Gunther is back! In the newest incarnations of Philip Kerr’s crime series, the charismatic, cynical P.I.—more ready with a ribald wisecrack than a gun—has survived the decadent dog days of the Weimar Republic only to get down and dirty on the mean streets of Munich. Irma Heldman tags along after him.

Guide
By Steve Donoghue – Apr 2009 | No Comment
Guide

Virgil’s Aeneid has been attracting translators for centuries, and Sarah Ruden’s rendering is notable in more ways than one. (She calls him Vergil, for one thing, but that’s just the start.) Steve Donoghue regards her efforts in the latest “A Year with the Romans.”

It’s A Mystery: “Don’t be so sure I’m as crooked as I’m supposed to be”
By Irma Heldman – Mar 2009 | No Comment
It’s A Mystery: “Don’t be so sure I’m as crooked as I’m supposed to be”

Dashiell Hammett’s daughter, Josephine Hammett Marshall, hand picked the very talented, three-time Edgar winner Joe Gores to write Spade & Archer, the prequel to The Maltese Falcon. The result, Irma Heldman says, surely has Hammett smiling among the “angels.”

Second Glance: The Wit and Woe of Mavis Gallant
By Karen Vanuska – Mar 2009 | No Comment
Second Glance: The Wit and Woe of Mavis Gallant

Mavis Gallant wrote some of the best – though too often neglected – short stories of the 20th century. In this regular feature, Karen Vanuska unearths the treasures.

A Year with the Romans: Ten Tips on Terence
By Steve Donoghue – Mar 2009 | No Comment
A Year with the Romans: Ten Tips on Terence

He was a slave who wrote his way to freedom – unless he wasn’t, and unless he didn’t. Steve Donoghue’s “A Year with the Romans” looks at the great comic playwright Terence.

It’s a Mystery: The Trouble with Harry
By Irma Heldman – Feb 2009 | No Comment
It’s a Mystery: The Trouble with Harry

Norwegian Jo Nesbø, a musician, songwriter and economist, is also one of Europe’s most acclaimed crime writers who, to date, has given us two thrillers that are beautifully spun and deeply evocative. Veteran mystery maven Irma Heldman explores the latest hit from Scandinavia.

A Year with the Romans: Sweet Bright Lady
By Steve Donoghue – Feb 2009 | One Comment
A Year with the Romans: Sweet Bright Lady

In the 6th Century, Boethius wrote a little tract that has been a guide and touchstone to writers, poets, politicians, and pundits ever since. David Slavitt has produced a new translation of The Consolation of Philosophy; Steve Donoghue explores the world of Boethius in this latest installment of “A Year with the Romans.”

On Finding a Copy of Ovid’s Fasti at the Local Goodwill
By Steve Donoghue – Jan 2009 | No Comment
On Finding a Copy of Ovid’s Fasti at the Local Goodwill

Among the Nora Roberts and J.D. Robb, Steve Donoghue unearths a rare secondhand treasure in Ovid’s difficult, underrated Fasti. And he celebrates.

It’s a Mystery: Imaginative Eyes
By Irma Heldman – Dec 2008 | No Comment
It’s a Mystery: Imaginative Eyes

It was a year full of fine additions to the genre, but according to regular “It’s a Mystery” columnist Irma Heldman, two among them were decidedly the cream of the crop. One is a first and one a twenty-first!

“For I am a Brid of Paradise”
By Steve Donoghue – Dec 2008 | No Comment
“For I am a Brid of Paradise”

The kings and counts of Tudor England wouldn’t have known the name of minor Cheshire landowner Humphrey Newton, but in reviewing Deborah Youngs’ book on the man, Steve Donoghue illustrates just how much Newton can teach us about the era. “A Year with the Tudors” concludes here.

It’s a Mystery: All Hail the Queen
By Irma Heldman – Nov 2008 | No Comment
It’s a Mystery: All Hail the Queen

With this cheery account of the reigning royalty of murder mysteries, P.D. James, Irma Heldman inaugurates her monthly mystery column in these webpages. Irma once delighted fans of her “On the Docket” column under the pen-name O.L. Bailey, and Open Letters proudly welcomes her back to the beat she made her own!

They Were Almost Tudors
By Steve Donoghue – Nov 2008 | No Comment
They Were Almost Tudors

In the penultimate installment of his “Year with the Tudors,” Steve Donoghue pauses to consider some of the young men and women who didn’t quite make it onto the roster of Tudor monarchs.

The Master Touch: One Encounter with Shakespeare’s Henry VIII
By Steve Donoghue – Oct 2008 | No Comment
The Master Touch: One Encounter with Shakespeare’s Henry VIII

William Shakespeare lived under the Tudors for most of his life, but he only wrote about them once, in his play The History of the Life of King Henry VIII – or did he? In our latest One Encounter, and also the new installment in his “Year with the Tudors,” Steve Donoghue takes a look at that play and the fractious theories attendant.

#1
By John Cotter – Sep 2008 | No Comment
#1

It’s been over 30 years since Gore Vidal wrote his penetrating and acerbic essay on the bestseller list, and we thought it was time to give that infamous mainstay of the literary world another look. Open Letters has cracked into the bestseller list and invites you to join us in discovering what’s really there…

#2
By Steve Donoghue – Sep 2008 | No Comment
#2

Fearless Fourteen, by Janet Evanovich

#3
By Greg Waldmann – Sep 2008 | No Comment
#3

The Last Patriot, by Brad Thor

#4
By Sam Sacks – Sep 2008 | No Comment
#4

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, by David Wroblewski

#5
By Adam Golaski – Sep 2008 | No Comment
#5

Swan Peak, by James Lee Burke

#6
By Amanda Bragg – Sep 2008 | No Comment
#6

Sail, by James Patterson

#7
By Deb Irish – Sep 2008 | One Comment
#7

The Host, by Stephanie Meyer

#8
By Sharon Fulton – Sep 2008 | No Comment
#8

Tailspin, by Catherine Coulter

#9
By Elisa Gabbert – Sep 2008 | No Comment
#9

The Beach House, by Jane Green

#10
By Julie McGinley – Sep 2008 | No Comment
#10

Love the One You’re With, by Emily Giffin

2008 Bestseller Feature (complete) 2008 Bestseller Feature (complete)

It’s been over 30 years since Gore Vidal wrote his penetrating and acerbic essay on the bestseller list, and we thought it was time to give that infamous mainstay of the literary world another look. Open Letters has cracked into the bestseller list and invites you to join us in discovering what’s really there…

A Difficult Woman
By Steve Donoghue – Sep 2008 | No Comment
A Difficult Woman

Mary Tudor’s fierce Catholic faith and merciless persecution of Protestants gave her the immortal nickname of “Bloody Mary.” In our ongoing feature A Year with the Tudors, Steve Donoghue reviews Linda Porter’s The First Queen of England: The Myth of “Bloody Mary.”

Q & A with Linda Porter Q & A with Linda Porter

An in-depth addition to our Year with the Tudors: Open Letters chats with a writer equally hip-deep in the subject, Linda Porter, author of The First Queen of England: The Myth of “Bloody Mary.” Our first Q & A!

My Eyes Are Up Here, Milord
By Steve Donoghue – Sep 2008 | One Comment
My Eyes Are Up Here, Milord

There’s something going on in the latest trend of Tudor book-covers, and we’re not sure what it is, although a pair (shall we say?) of aspects is quite obvious. What are these publishers thinking? Take a look for yourself! and a second look! and a third!

Second Glance: A Voice Displaced
By Karen Vanuska – Sep 2008 | No Comment
Second Glance: A Voice Displaced

Exiled Russian writer Nina Berberova (who fled to America when the Nazis invaded her adopted homeland of France) spent her entire career examining the experience of displacement. In this regular feature, Karen Vanuska revisits Berberova’s life and literary achievements and finds them startlingly relevant to our own fractured times.

One Encounter: Eight Hours from Home
By Steve Brachmann – Aug 2008 | One Comment
One Encounter: Eight Hours from Home

Out of cash, out of work, bounced from his home, and lost in the world, Steve Brachmann turned to an old friend for help—W. Somerset Maugham. In this installment of our regular feature, we see how a single good book—for Steve, it was Of Human Bondage—can help right a life.

Worthy of a Tale or Two
By Steve Donoghue – Aug 2008 | No Comment
Worthy of a Tale or Two

Without him, there would be no “Year with the Tudors,” and in the latest chapter of his year-long feature, Steve Donoghue examines Henry Tudor, who took the crown from Richard III at Bosworth Field and became Henry VII – the first Tudor monarch.

Peer Review: Is Martin Amis Serious? Peer Review: Is Martin Amis Serious?

The vituperation that greeted Martin Amis’ collection of essays The Second Plane reached singularly quotable proportions, even for this much-vituperated British author. In our regular feature, John G. Rodwan Jr. casts a cold eye on Amis’ dour detractors.

Extravagant Things
By Steve Donoghue – Jul 2008 | One Comment
Extravagant Things

There is so much Tudor fiction in our world today that no one but the Tudors themselves could justify the extent of it. Even Steve Donoghue can’t read it all, but he has read more of it than is healthy, and he reports back in this installment of his “Year With the Tudors.”

Behind the Scenes of Tudor Fiction: an Excerpt and Dissection
By Steve Donoghue – Jul 2008 | No Comment
Behind the Scenes of Tudor Fiction: an Excerpt and Dissection

An excerpt and dissection of Steve Donoghue’s Tudor novel Boy King

Absent Friends: The Harper in the Hall
By Steve Donoghue – Jul 2008 | No Comment
Absent Friends: The Harper in the Hall

Though the American Civil War produced more and better books and writers than any single event in our country’s history, Bruce Catton is the greatest of its 20th century tellers. In this regular feature, Steve Donoghue tours the breathtaking work of an unfairly set-aside annalist.

Peer Review: Rumble in the Alley
By Sam Sacks – Jun 2008 | No Comment
Peer Review: Rumble in the Alley

Near the punchbowl, within reach of the finger sandwiches, the early critics of James Frey’s Bright Shiny Morning had an oh-so-polite set of things to say about it. Out back in the alley, other critics were ready to pounce. In this regular feature, Sam Sacks officiates between the Sharks and the Jets.

Lady in Waiting
By Steve Donoghue – Jun 2008 | No Comment
Lady in Waiting

Alison Weir’s new novel The Lady Elizabeth evokes the snakepit of internecine maneuverings, dynastic labyrinths, and the lunges of religious zealotry that characterized the age named for the lady in question. Steve Donoghue’s “Year With the Tudors” continues here.

Anything that Moves: The Tudors on Film
By Steve Donoghue – May 2008 | No Comment
Anything that Moves: The Tudors on Film

More than any other dynasty in history, the Tudors are ready for their close-up. In this installment of his “Year with the Tudors,” Steve Donoghue leads us on a royal progress through film archives to access the heart and stomach of these undying superstars.

One Encounter: George & Me One Encounter: George & Me

What do you do when the courageous trailblazing author who formed your youth is accused of an unspeakable crime? John G. Rodwan, Jr. does what Orwell would have done, weighed the evidence and let the chips fall where they may.

Absent Friends: Gentle Poet
By Steve Donoghue – May 2008 | No Comment
Absent Friends: Gentle Poet

At a poetry reading on the Palatine 2,000 years ago, you’d have spent a week’s pay to hear him read. Today he’s unknown, except to our Steve Donoghue (and a few of our readers, no doubt). Here, after a long time gone, is the Roman poet Tibullus.

Second Glance: A Compilation Too Far?
By Karen Vanuska – Apr 2008 | No Comment
Second Glance: A Compilation Too Far?

In his lifetime, E.B. White oversaw nearly a dozen collections of his essays; Karen Vanuska appraises a posthumous ingathering edited by Rebecca M. Dale and lets us know whether it adds to White’s legacy or merely overlaps it

Irredeemable
By Steve Donoghue – Apr 2008 | No Comment
Irredeemable

Jane Boleyn took the witness stand and falsely testified that her brother committed incest with her sister-in-law, Anne Boleyn. In this installment of his “Year with the Tudors,” Steve Donoghue tries to fathom the motives of such slander.

Absent Friends: With a Little Help from Saint Martin
By Steve Donoghue – Apr 2008 | No Comment
Absent Friends: With a Little Help from Saint Martin

Steve Donoghue exhumes the sprawling, illuminating writing of Gregory of Tours, the wrongly forgotten 12th-century saint, historian, and natural-born raconteur

Second Glance: Playing Lotto with Wittgenstein Second Glance: Playing Lotto with Wittgenstein

Since its publication in 2000, The Last Samurai has been defined, but not explained, as a “cult classic.” In this regular feature, Garth Risk Hallberg looks with fresh eyes at Helen DeWitt’s brilliant and jolting novel.

One Encounter: Thank You and Goodbye
By Greg Waldmann – Mar 2008 | No Comment
One Encounter: Thank You and Goodbye

In February, the great pianist Alfred Brendel gave his final performance in New York City. Greg Waldmann was in Carnegie Hall to see it and in this regular feature he shares the experience.

Peer Review: The Opinions on “Strong Opinions”
By A.I. White – Mar 2008 | No Comment
Peer Review: The Opinions on “Strong Opinions”

A.I. White has burrowed into twenty-three reviews of J.M. Coetzee’s Diary of a Bad Year and in this regular feature alerts us to which critics succeeded in their charge, which failed, and why

Proud Boy
By Steve Donoghue – Mar 2008 | No Comment
Proud Boy

Henry Howard, the Earl of Surrey: commander, courtier, poet. In this installment of his “Year with the Tudors,” Steve Donoghue tells the story of how such an extraordinary young man fell foul of Henry VIII.

Absent Friends: In Primordial Seas, They Glide
By Steve Donoghue – Mar 2008 | No Comment
Absent Friends: In Primordial Seas, They Glide

In this regular feature, Steve Donoghue dives deep into the work of James Russell Lowell, whose splendid writing lurks in the basins of bookstore bargain carts, too often passed over for the smaller fry.

One Encounter: Learning to Shudder
By John Cotter – Feb 2008 | No Comment
One Encounter: Learning to Shudder

In this regular feature, John Cotter examines two brutal, disturbing pieces of 20th-Century German art—and they come disturbingly close to examining him in return.

‘What Wickedness is Here, Hooper?’
By Steve Donoghue – Feb 2008 | No Comment
‘What Wickedness is Here, Hooper?’

Steve Donoghue continues his “Year with the Tudors” with this look at Chris Skidmore’s biography of Edward VI, the ill-starred son of Henry VIII who might have been the most formidable Tudor monarch of all.

Absent Friends: Oh True Apothecary!
By Steve Donoghue – Feb 2008 | No Comment
Absent Friends: Oh True Apothecary!

In this regular feature, Steve Donoghue celebrates the books of the 17th-Century physician Nicholas Culpeper, whose medicine may be archaic but whose wisdom and literary merit are by no means obsolete.

When You See Me, You Know Me
By Steve Donoghue – Jan 2008 | No Comment
When You See Me, You Know Me

As Steve Donoghue writes, the epitome of what a monarch can be was embodied in the massive form of Henry VIII, and not a year passes without another biographer struggling to tackle the man and his legacy. 2007 was no different….

Absent Friends: Between the River and the Mountains
By Steve Donoghue – Jan 2008 | No Comment
Absent Friends: Between the River and the Mountains

In our regular feature, Steve Donoghue revisits Giovanni Guareschi’s Little World of Don Camillo, an eternally comforting fictional oasis set in the heart of the Cold War.

Second Glance: Marilynne Robinson’s Psalms and Prophecy
By Sam Sacks – Dec 2007 | One Comment
Second Glance: Marilynne Robinson’s Psalms and Prophecy

This month our regular feature is devoted to a study of the small but potent canon of Marilynne Robinson. Sam Sacks dives back into her famous fiction and formidable essays.

Peer Review: Enter Sophist
By Sam Sacks – Nov 2007 | No Comment
Peer Review: Enter Sophist

James Wood, Christopher Hitchens, Michiko Kakutani, and many others have competed to put forth the definitive word on Philip Roth’s Exit Ghost. Sam Sacks is off to the races with them in this regular feature.

One Encounter: On Packing Two Bags for Mexico
By Scott Esposito – Oct 2007 | No Comment
One Encounter: On Packing Two Bags for Mexico

In our regular feature, Scott Esposito expands on the sublime agony of filling a suitcase with an entire year’s worth of books.

Peer Review: Kernels of Truth
By Hugh Merwin – Oct 2007 | No Comment
Peer Review: Kernels of Truth

In our regular feature, Hugh Merwin tucks in to the reviews of Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma, which alternately acclaim and castigate the bellwether bestseller.

Second Glance: Do You Know Squarepusher?
By Adam Golaski – Sep 2007 | No Comment
Second Glance: Do You Know Squarepusher?

In this regular feature, Adam Golaski revisits Intelligent Dance (or “laptop”) Music, discovering unity and poise in a Squarepusher album which critics have short-sightedly misfiled.

Absent Friends: Our Jolly Round Whirling Earth
By Steve Donoghue – Sep 2007 | No Comment
Absent Friends: Our Jolly Round Whirling Earth

Gun-and-net-toting naturalists seldom produce a better writer than William Beebe. In this regular feature, Steve Donoghue revisits the science writing of a more invasive age.