While away the winter with stacks of outstanding books

I like summer, with shorts, sandals, hot sidewalks, ice cream, and long, bright sunshine days that extend well into the night. However, the cold, hard, long winter is great for hibernating and reading all sorts of interesting tomes. I’m always greatly cheered by books and marvelous titles on my just-read, going-to-read, and partially read lists. […]

Greet the new year with stacks of books

Despite my failure to locate a pink plastic flamingo to festoon in red, velvet, flocked ribbons as kitschy decoration for the holidays, it was a pleasant and surprisingly fun season. Now that the holidays are well over, books for my reading pleasure are in transit, resting on tables, shelved in bookcases, or piled willy-nilly in […]

Best books of 2006: “Anansi Boys” and “Rocket Boys” are books that mirror art and life

Editor’s note: Join us in celebrating the end of 2006 by revisiting some of our favorite books of the year—like Anansi Boys and Rocket Boys, which we originally reviewed together in August.
It’s said that fiction mirrors life. Here are two stories—Anansi Boys, a fiction by Neil Gaiman, and Rocket Boys, a nonfiction by Homer H. […]

“Eloise at Christmastime” celebrates the season

There are some books that appeal to children of all ages, and this slender volume with well-chosen words and whimsical illustrations has withstood the test of time. Eloise at Christmastime is a classic, with a known, irrepressible, and slightly tarnished heroine—a six-year-old child who lives on the top floor of a very tony hotel, The […]

Book blogs for bibliophiles to pore over

In the last several months, I’ve taken to exploring the blogosphere again, discovering new-to-me and uncharted book sites that are enjoyable, entertaining, and informative. The owners and authors of these sites enjoy books, and that joy is reflected in their writings. These sketches are simultaneously humorous, opinionated, biting, and articulate, and they encompass a wide […]

David Sedaris skewers the merry season in “Holidays on Ice”

For those who are weary of the holiday season, here is a wonderfully witty book on why it is perhaps better to ignore the holiday with all the tinsel, glitter, and folderol. In Holidays on Ice, David Sedaris, a writer of none-too-gentle commentaries, collects six of his evil little essays into a small, thin, […]

“A Joyous Season” lampoons good holidays gone bad

Are you already weary of the holiday season? Have you had your fill of good cheer, gaudy gift-wrapped presents, sugar cookies, tinsel ground into the carpet, blue-plastic snowflakes, and saccharine television specials? Do you wince when you see Santa Claus with the three wise men at the Nativity scene? Do you mutter something rude under […]

A gift idea for the bibliophile: five fine books about books by Nicholas Basbanes

In 1995, Nicholas A. Basbanes, a former literary editor and author of a nationally syndicated book column, scripted his first book, A Gentle Madness: Bibliophiles, Bibliomanes, and the Eternal Passion for Books. In the 11 years since, this important and comprehensive work has seen multiple printings and is considered a classic for those who sell, […]

“Casanova Was a Book Lover” is a match made for bibliophiles

Serendipity. Another one of my blind forages through the wonderful world of books about books yielded a fine and rather amazingly perceptive volume with the unlikely title of Casanova Was a Book Lover: And Other Naked Truths and Provocative Curiosities about the Writing, Selling, and Reading of Books. As the author, John Maxwell Hamilton, blithely […]

“Gil’s All Fright Diner” serves up a satisfying, scary main course

On a recent forage into the haunted and ghostly corner of a tony, upscale, and astonishingly bright bookstore, I discovered a garishly embellished softcover with the unlikely and totally camp title of Gil’s All Fright Diner. Forging bravely onward, I encountered a strong opening that reached evilly from its pages and clutched me about the […]