Archive for February 2007

Newbery winner “The Higher Power of Lucky” deserves readership, not censorship

All dogs must wear pants. And books like The Higher Power of Lucky should be banned. That seems to be the opinion of some regarding this Newbery Medal–winning book for young readers. The mention of a dog’s scrotum near the beginning of The Higher Power of Lucky has created a controversy and calls to remove […]

Jennifer Egan’s “The Keep” is a creepy keeper

I was eager to read The Keep, Jennifer Egan’s latest novel, which is largely set in an Eastern European castle. It seemed like quite a change from her prior novel, Look at Me, which came out just prior to 9/11 and became retroactively somewhat controversial due to its content. I really enjoyed that book, and […]

Track down classic, time-tested mystery stories

There are some mystery authors who withstand the test of time: Their works remain ageless despite the modern technical inventions of cell phones, boom boxes, and personal computers. The mysteries I feature below are short story collections, although at least two of the authors are known for their full-length tales. I prefer the short […]

Our favorite books that inspired Oscar wins

The Academy Awards are around the corner. As usual, Oscar has been inspired this year by movies that originally were books. Little Children is up for a couple acting awards. Meryl Streep, Forest Whitaker, Will Smith, and Judi Dench respectively owe The Devil Wears Prada, The Last King of Scotland, The Pursuit of Happyness, and […]

Enjoy the best books we forgot to review

I was in a bookstore yesterday and noticed The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters sitting on a shelf—its bright-blue, evocative cover evoking a slap-the-forehead reaction in me. After all, I’d eagerly made my way through its unusual, intriguing pages last summer, and then promptly forgot it. (That’s more a reflection on my flagging memory […]

“Tenderness of Wolves” wins Costa Book of the Year award

It used to be the Whitbread Book Awards. Beginning this year, it’s under different sponsorship as the Costa Book Awards. Whatever you call it, it’s a major literary award in the United Kingdom—actually a series of awards that recognizes the top books in different categories and then names the best of those bests as the […]