What We’re Reading
Just Finished
Two Books Back
The Bloodiest, Most Stomach-Turning Book You’ve Ever Read
“All of European literature springs from a fight,” says a Classics professor in Philip Roth’s The Human Stain. He’s talking about Homer’s The Iliad, and what a nasty little story it is. A few lines from Book 4, during the first major battle scene between the Trojans and the Achians, offers a sanguine taste: Then fate fell upon … Read more
A 4 Million Word Betrayal
By some estimations, Marcel Proust’s In Search of Lost Time is the longest novel ever written. It is also considered one of the best. Though broken up into seven volumes, with the last three still rough drafts at the time of Proust’s death, the 1,200,000 word novel is lauded as a singular work of “daily epiphanies.” Christopher Hitchens … Read more
What Novels to Read When Facing Death
Like thousands of others in the Boston area, I felt like the thin thread between life and death was more closely measured last month. My wife and I were near the finish line of the Boston Marathon on Monday, April 15, roughly 160 feet from where one of the bombs would later go off. We … Read more
What is the Wind in “The Wind in the Willows?”
Growing up, one of the first bands I really got into was Pink Floyd. I remember borrowing a copy of the Floyd’s first album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, from a friend (a cassette version). He handed it over with the warning that I may not like it: “It’s not like anything else.” Piper truly is sui … Read more
Tracking Down Gunter Grass
The Tin Drum is a novel I’ve seen on bookstore shelves for years. Books with especially hefty spines are easy to spot, and The Tin Drum, at more than 600 pages, takes up a good bit of shelf real estate. (Quick aside, I’ve always thought the spine of the book should be shown when you consider … Read more
