To want to magic away Covid-19 is wishful thinking at its very worst. But that impulse is a forgivable offense. And it is exactly why “Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts” is what 2022 needs.

Reading Andrew Sullivan’s collection, ‘Out on a Limb: Selected Writing, 1989-2021,’ made me realize I’d never heard Sullivan mentioned in conversations about Catholic writers. Why wasn’t he there? And why wasn’t I surprised?

Joan Didion was capable both of conjuring up the horrors of modern life and of offering solace that there was still a point to it all.

Sixty years after the publication of ‘Black Like Me,’ John Howard Griffin's book can still be part of much-needed discussions of race for many white Americans who remain unaware of racism's ongoing effects.

Anne Rice's lush fantasy fiction reflected the lifelong influences of religion and spirituality in her life.

John Updike, long one of the nation's finest novelists and short story writers, also wrote extensively about the Christian imagination (and once on his misgivings about Santa Claus).