Joan Didion has been writing books for more than 40 years. Her newest and most unforgettable book is “The Year of Magical Thinking.”
Literature
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
Tested by Fire
J Robert Oppenheimer, the physicist whose brilliant blue eyes came to express such engulfing sadness, brought a new kind of fire into the world and was burned by it. Like Hesiod’s Prometheus, Oppenheimer fought on the side of humankind, giving us the tools and weapons to determine our own fate; and fate punished him for it.
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
Savagery in South Midland
Upon John Gregory Dunne’s death of a heart attack in December 2003 the many obituaries and eulogies for this famous man of letters stressed the deft touch Dunne brought as a writer to those subjects he knew well.
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
‘I don’t know who I am yet’: Gabriel García Márquez’s ‘Living to Tell the Tale’
The front cover of ‘Living to Tell the Tale’ shows the author as a wide-eyed child of 2, while the back cover shows the Nobel laureate as a distinguished gentleman of 75.
Posted inArts & Culture, Film
The Call of the King: ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King’
Whether we love or hate the “Lord of the Rings” films, we have to admire them: they are a monumental cinematic achievement. Shot over 274 days for $281 million and lasting 558 minutes, these films have, at the time of writing and in the United States alone, grossed over $897 million.
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
A Force to Reckon With
In this brief but compelling little book Joseph Kelly professor of religious studies at John Carroll University in Cleveland Ohio offers a thoughtful contemporary theodicy for young Christians Framed as a meditation on the events of Sept 11 2001 the book marshals Kelly rsquo s wide knowledge
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
Boston Boy
The most startling fact about Edwin O’Connor’s life was its brevity The acclaimed author of such mid-century Irish and Catholic classics as ‘The Last Hurrah’ and ‘The Edge of Sadness’ seemed a fit and healthy man. Yet he died when he was just 49 in 1968.
Posted inBooks
Doctor to the Poor
My take-home message from this review is similar to the line I wrote on my book reports in elementary school: I would recommend this book to all my friends. It is a rare experience for me to find a book that sets me on fire, stirs me up and makes me think critically about my […]
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
Sweetness and Light
Ron Hansen’s new novel is a dollop of sweet cream, an entertainment, a sip of champagne, a screwball comedy, a romp, a bauble, a love letter to Nebraska.
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
Paradise Lost
During an interview several years ago Edna O’Brien told me a story about an appearance of hers in the 1960’s on an Irish television program during which the host said to the studio audience: “Hands up all of you who think Edna O’Brien has shamed her country.”