The Masterpiece
The Masterpiece set off a few shockwaves, not just among literary critics who loved to grouse about Zola's gritty and extreme approach to realism
Vanity Fair Review,
I learned this past week that I share a birthday with an eminent Vanity Fair novelist, William Makepeace Thackeray
From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
We all agree that E. L. Konigsburg's From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler is a brilliant read, no matter what your age.
The Queen’s Gambit
The Queen's Gambit, by Walter Tevis, is one of those rare books that as soon as I had I finished it, I started reading it again. It's that good.
The Flanders Panel
The Flanders Panel, by Arturo Perez-Reverte, is about art conservator uncovering an inscription hidden for nearly five centuries
Rosemary’s Baby
Rosemary's Baby is one of those rare cases of which the film is just as good (as in complex and riveting) as the novel.
The Bullet Trick
The Bullet Trick is a crime thriller that begins in a seedy club in a Soho. The narrative cuts back and forth from a cabaret in Berlin, Glasgow and London
LaBute’s Razor
In Fat Pig and This Is How It Goes, LaBute gives voice to all those ugly things that propel the human tendency toward selfishness and approval-seeking.
The Uncommon Reader
Alan Bennett's The Uncommon Reader is a clever turn of the ages-old idea that if you want to keep your subjects in line, keep them in the dark.
The Arrival
I promise that "reading" the Arrival by Shaun Tan, is the real voyage of discovery. This complex and fascinating work occupies some other reading realm
The Fairy Tales
The Fairy Tales are also appropriate, despite their darker elements, for children who have perhaps overindulged on the sugar-coated Disney versions
The Adventures of Frog and Toad
Arnold Lobel's Frog and Toad Are Friends, published in 1970, is the first in a series of four books about these two famous friends
The Moonstone
The Moonstone is a very long tale about a precious gem stolen from the brow of a Hindu deity that wreaks havoc on an English family
Blaming
Blaming by Elizabeth Taylor is the story of an unlikely friendship that forms between Amy, an Englishwoman, and Martha, an American