A thought-provoking novel with few easy answers
Donna Leon’s “The Girl of His Dreams” asks questions that cannot always be answered.
All posts tagged: Recommended Readings
Reinvention . . . with the twist of a knife
Richard Osman’s third installment in the Thursday Murder Club series is clever and charming.
Connecting across rivers, roads, and time
A new book on the bridges of Washington, DC is a delight for both historians and casual readers.
From the bookshelf: September 2026
Five books. Every month. A variety of topics from different genres. Here is the list from September 2026.
Of manners and mystery
A wealthy bachelor drops dead. A young lady becomes a detective. The first of my October murder mysteries.
A story as important as it is overlooked
Music’s affirmation of an individual’s sense of humanity in dehumanizing circumstances.
A lingering, loving, nutty, melancholy portrait
Nancy Lemann’s 1985 debut novel is “hilarious, haunting, poignant;” a treasure I discovered at Solid State Books.
In the beginning
My latest conversation with Dr. Amy-Jill Levine, this time about her new book on Genesis.
An eternal struggle
Every advance in equality must contend with forces of reaction. America is an eternal struggle.
The singularity of consciousness
A dreamy, haunting, and evocative novella about a young girl’s year in the Austrian countryside.
