The Sex Pistols and the Beating of an Exceptionally Dead Horse
Sometimes the best thing about a book is its cover.
Book Bites
‘The Glassblower’s Children’ Explores the Existential Melancholia of the Child’s World
Deep at the existentialist heart of this story there's a solemn treatise on the socially inequitable struggles between the worlds of the child and the adult.
Lyricists and Composers are ‘Links in a Chain’ in Absorbing ‘More Songwriters on Songwriting’
Paul Zollo's book is a satisfying sequel in which composers from Paul Simon to Sia, Elvis Costello to Loretta Lynn, discuss their creative processes.
Trevor Noah on the Biracial Divide
The indelible experiences of Trevor Noah's past have been parlayed into his memoir, Born a Crime, a history of a life living under racial divide.
‘Rachel’s Blue’ Left Me Perplexed
There are times when a reviewer and book simply do not jibe.
‘LEGO Star Wars’ Is a Photographic Wonderland
Vesa Lehtimäki's collection of photographs featuring LEGO toys in inventive situations is an inspiring and innovative collection.
Rehashing ‘Becoming a Marihuana User’
A short and pleasant little tour with Howard S. Becker into the world of marihuana.
What Can a Book Really Tell You About Whiskey?
If you're old enough to drink whiskey, you're too old for scratch n' sniff.
From Manuscripts to Pop Culture, Dante Endures
Dante's English Public glances at current adaptations of Dante's work, from the comic Nightcrawler's Inferno to Mark Danielewski's House of Leaves.
A New Edition of Sandra Cisneros’s Poetry Looks at the “Girl Grief Decade”
Few of us can wring art from our grief as Sandra Cisneros has, here.
‘Epitaph’ Dispels Hollywood Myths About the Gunfight at O.K. Corral
Doria Russell finds heroes in the errant in Epitaph, a novel that captures the realities of the famous gunfight at the O.K. Corral, and much more.
Novelist Richard Price Doesn’t Need a Pseudonym
The language and dialogue in Richard White’s latest novel, The Whites, gives away his identity, and that’s a good thing.