Books

The Wedding People helps a Brontë-like protagonist find her way in life

Perhaps I identify so much with author Alison Espach’s style because she got her master’s in creative writing at Washington University and now lives out…

Jun 8 •

The trash waste on your sidewalk is just beginning an epic journey

I love that my house is in a town that separately picks up not just our trash and recyclables weekly, but also our compost.

Jun 6 •

Kurt Vonnegut clearly saw a future of overpopulation that would lead to many ethical questions

Kurt Vonnegut Complete Stories is one of the best gifts I’ve received in recent memory (thanks Dad) because he’s one of my favorite novelists and I have…

May 27 •

Seeking the sources of Rafael Nadal's unbelievable French Open dominance

This is part 1 of a series on the latest book out now about tennis legend Rafael Nadal.

May 22 •

Perry Farrell gets the ball rolling in an entertaining new book on Lollapalooza

After sitting through Paramount+’s somewhat unenlightening recent three-part documentary on the now-mythic Lollapalooza music festival’s history, I…

May 20 •

Living a creative life just got easier with Sulieka Jaouad's 100 suggestions

Sulieka Jaouad was very sick as a 22-year-old and what drove her out of her near complete despair was something created by a Yale professor called the…

May 19 •

Celebrating 100 years of fiction from The New Yorker

I’ve religiously read The New Yorker ever since I was an undergrad literature major.

May 17 •

The 1990s reconditioned America's attitude, turning us into sexual creatures

After the “evolving exploration” of the 1960s’ sexual revolution and 1970s and ‘80s’ women’s and gay rights movements, the 1990s began with Ivana Trump…

May 8 •

Joyce Carol Oates is a master at examining tension in relationships

I had never read any works by Joyce Carol Oates, but “The Frenzy” appeared in the March 24, 2025 issue of The New Yorker and it displays an 86-year-old…

May 5 •

April Pop Culture RIPs, including an almost more real Jim Morrison than the real Jim Morrison

Val Kilmer leads the list of influentual figures we lost this past month.

Apr 30 •

Girlfriend on Mars asks questions about ourselves more than the science of blasting far into space

I can often be a sucker for novels about terraforming on Mars.

Apr 29 •

"The Ledge" is a true highlight of a monumental Stephen King short-story collection

This is the fourth part of my review of Stephen King’s monumental Night Shift short-story collection.

Apr 5 •

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