Julian Barnes' The Noise of Time is a fictionalized biography of Dmitri Shostakovitch written in a very close third person. Not...

In 1961, Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers returned to Rudy Van Gelder's studio in Englewood Cliffs, NJ to record what would be the last...

I can think of few books that have stayed with me the way Lisa Halliday's "Asymmetry" has. A 2018 novel in three parts, it begins with...

I Am the Clay seems on the surface to be something different from Potok, who we know from books such as My Name is Asher Lev and The...

I have been away from the blog while I travel and do summer things. I read The Ninth Hour by Alice McDermott and it is one of those books...

Two vocalists I have discovered lately. One, Vanisha Gould, a Californian, is a bandleader, composer, and vocalist and just plain fun to...

I recently picked up a collection of Elizabeth McCracken's stories, "Thunderstruck" from 2011. In particular, one story, "Property," has...

I did a conference presentation last fall on the way Shawn Fain and the United Auto Workers used Facebook Live in their successful 2024...

Happy Easter, if you celebrate. I'm a cradle Catholic with all the sacraments under his belt and so, this holiday always gives me pause....

In 1973, Frank Sinatra's "comeback" was launched with the release of "Old Blue Eyes is Back" and, while the voice had diminished, his...

I am a Professor of English at a small university in Oklahoma. I had been looking for a way to share some observations I had about books,...