Keats’ Roman home honors one of our great poets
It is not yet ten o’clock on this Saturday morning in late June, and already Rome’s Spanish Steps and the…
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Scotland pays homage to its writers
With literary tours, literary pub crawls, monuments, plaques, and museums, Scotland honors her writers.
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Bronte sisters part and parcel of the magic of Haworth
Haworth, West Riding of Yorkshire, England. It’s 4:30 in the morning, Sunday June 18, and I stood a few moments…
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Stratford-on-Avon: in search of ‘The Bard’
It is mid-June in England, and the skies are a brilliant blue. Sunshine spills on the street and the clipped…
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The literary signposts will point the way
In the opening pages of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, we meet Bilbo Baggins, a hobbit who treasures his snug home…
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A fantastic collection of life-changing stories
I have always been a Russell Banks fan, and when I look back over the last 40 years, he has…
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Ten years of soaking up great books
About two months ago, I began culling books from my shelves. I live in an apartment with several thousand books,…
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Soil harkens back to the Southern gothic tradition
Some 30 years ago, I saw a disturbing film entitled “Koyaanisqatsi.” The title comes from a Hopi word meaning “unbalanced life.”…
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A place where home is an elusive ideal
In the last decade, British authorities uncovered evidence of massive sexual abuse and human trafficking in Rotherham, South Yorkshire. Two…
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A Mother’s Day bouquet: Ten quotes and comments on motherhood
Back in the days when I still believed in Santa Claus (well, actually I still believe, I just no longer…
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A withering cultural critic takes aim
In Withering Slights: The Bent Pin Collection (National Review Books, 2015, ISBN 978-0-9847650-3-4, 186 pages, $24.95), Florence King demonstrates once…
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Dam politics and freedom of religion
The growing threat of drought in the Southeast and the problems of “water politics” has prodded the memory of many…
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Fate and fortune sing in new novel
Spartanburg poet and nonfiction writer John Lane has broken out of his comfort zone and journeyed into the netherworld of…
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Remembering the horrors of Europe’s wars
Many Americans — and I count myself among them — are often hard on Europeans when it comes to issues…
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An outlandish life makes for hilarious novel
Irish novelist Kennedy Marr is making millions of dollars through the sale of his books and as a Hollywood scriptwriter.…
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A story that makes one look differently at life
Like some other readers I know, my taste in books these last 20 years or so has shifted from fiction…
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Below ‘the line,’ it’s a world unto itself
I spent a week reading this novel, and each time I laid it down, I expected to find a damp…
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Book captures turn-of-the-century north Georgia
In Annaliese From Off (Five Points Press, ISBN 978-0-692-24434-0, 362 pages, $15.99), Lindy Keane Carter gives us a rich, old-fashioned…
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First novel by local writer strikes a chord
Eighteen-year-old Jacob McNeely, a shy high school dropout from Walter Middleton High School in Jackson County, North Carolina, seems resigned to…
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Words, language and grammar do matter
“In a time of universal deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” — George Orwell We live in an…
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Larry Brown earns his spot in Southern pantheon
One of my bookshelves is reserved for books that I have not read, but that I am saving for some…
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Guys, don’t fear Valentine’s Day, embrace it
Note to readers: this is one of the few times I have written a column addressed to one sex —…
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King’s newest novel is as good as it gets
During the past 60 years, I have maintained a hearty appreciation for what is called “fantasy/horror” literature. I guess it…
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Painted Horses is one for the ages
When people ask me what I’ve been doing this fall, I tell them I’ve been on a reading jag —…
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Advice for becoming a body ‘gardener’
In French Women Don’t Get Fat: The Secret of Eating for Pleasure, Mirielle Guiliano produced a No. 1 New York…
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Regrets: books I now know I shall never read
For many of us, the bells ringing in the New Year carry a bittersweet tune. We look forward to better…
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The fascinating evolution of the fool killer
One of the oldest traditional folktales, ‘Godfather Death,’ exists in all cultures; however, the tone of the stories may vary…
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A renewed appreciation for ‘The Great Gatsby’
In 1977 I fell in love with F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. That was a year of deep reading…
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Country noir masterpiece gets its due — again
One of the things that I admire about the New York Review of Books is a special honor that they…
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Start your holiday shopping at the bookstore
For all of you who haven’t started your holiday shopping yet, for you who scorn Black Friday, who keep telling…
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Tolle Lege: Reading that changed my Life
When I was 6 years old, I entered the first grade at Boonville Elementary School. For months, various adults had…
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Teen horror sequel is a wild ride
About three years ago, I reviewed a bloody little horror tale filled with black humor called Breed. It was a…
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Is democracy bad for the country?
The story goes that as Benjamin Franklin was leaving the final session of the Constitutional Convention of 1787, a Mrs.…
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Book explores clash between religion and science
In Lauren Grodstein’s novel The Explanation For Everything (Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2013, 336 pages, $24.95), we meet Andrew…
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Celebrating the ever-popular essay
This week it’s time to break out the champagne, pop that cork, and raise a flute of bubbly to the…
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Being manipulated by a book not all bad
Gone Girl is currently the most popular novel in America and it has been around since 2012; it is also…
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Learning how to organize information overload
Twenty-five years ago, while under a good deal of pressure and stress, I began noticing I was forgetting things. I…
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Complicated, confusing and utterly fascinating
I am intimidated by this book. In fact, this is one of the most challenging reviews that I have ever undertaken.…
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The end is near — now what?
When the novel, The Leftovers came out several years ago, it was an immediate success. (Oprah gave it a significant boost…
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A realist writer examines uncomfortable topics
“Evil is no more at an end than History, and so long as there are men there will be no…
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Collective guilt permeates novel’s characters
A little over one year ago, Mark Powell published The Dark Corner, a novel that was set in the northwest…
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Time to clear the desk of books waiting for review
For many reasons, this summer in particular afforded many opportunities for reading. During a 60-hour stay at Figure Eight Island,…
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A dark world explored by a gifted writer
In case you haven’t noticed, let me call your attention to a disturbing fact regarding current Appalachian literature: some critics have been…
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Book challenges me to critique the critic
In Why Read?, University of Virginia professor Mark Edmundson discusses the practice of student reviews of a teacher, then writes:…
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Poems to honor the insatiable mystery of cats
By Michael Beadle • Contributing writer Anyone who’s spent serious time with a cat knows there are a myriad of ways…
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Novel explores life in Chairman Mao’s China
After running into numerous critical references to this little novel, which has won a series of international awards and has…
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A critic’s guide to literary genres renamed
Not so long ago, a neighbor in the building where I love in Montford, a budding comedian in her early…
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Stephen King’s newest is more noir than horror
Each time Stephen King is interviewed, he finds himself responding to the same question: “Where do you get your ideas?”…
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Summer reading always takes a different tack
For whatever reason — the leisurely pace of days, the break in my work routine, the annual trip to the…
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Harlem Hellfighters deserve their due
I have always been something of a fanatic about graphic novels and my collection includes Maus (which depicts the holocaust…
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