Book Reviews

Books

Why I Love Biographies, Even If They’re Not Great: ‘Fire and Rain: The James Taylor Story’

By Antoinette Weil. Fire and Rain is one of the most memorable and well known James Taylor songs, and is also the title of Ian Halpernin’s biography about the iconic…

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4 min
3K

Books

“The wicked lie, that the past is always tense”: The Genius of Zadie Smith

By Kelsey A. Liebenson-Morse …the wicked lie, that the past is always tense and the future, perfect. – Zadie Smith, White Teeth Zadie Smith’s grand and sweeping novel White Teeth (2000) spans years, locations (Kingston,…

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7 min
3.3K

Books

Methods of Adaptation: Is Bigger Always Better?

By Wesley Sharer When it comes to adapting much-loved stories for the big screen, whether the source is a popular novel, a classic fairy tale, or even another movie, there…

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4 min
2.4K

Books

Ender’s Game — What to Expect from the Film Adaptation

By Wesley Sharer Ender’s Game, which we recommended as part of our Summer Reading Challenge, is a 1985 science fiction novel by Orson Scott Card, which was recently adapted for…

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3 min
1.9K

Books

Gemma Hardy vs. Jane Eyre

By Kelsey A. Liebenson-Morse Margot Livesey’s novel, The Flight of Gemma Hardy, is a bold and brave new adaption of Charlotte Bronte’s much beloved Jane Eyre. Being a devoted fan…

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2 min
1.3K

Books

Movie Review: On the Road

By Wes Newbury A brief reflection on literature, and an even briefer one on the movie, On the Road. Jack Kerouac’s On the Road captured the beat of a generation. It bottled the…

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2 min
1.4K

Books

Book Review: The Casual Vacancy

J.K. Rowling hit literary (and literal) gold when she wrote Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. The series made her world famous, and rightly so. Like many adults my age,…

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2 min
1.8K

Books

Dennis Lehane’s Live by Night: Island of Misfits

By Wes Newbury “As far as the writer as an outlaw,” said Dennis Lehane in his Literary Traveler interview, “we are sort of the square pegs, and the world is the…

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4 min
1.7K

Books

Murder She Wrote: Reviewing “Gone Girl” by Gillian Flynn

By Katy Kelleher Books, like all other products we consume, are subject to trends. What was popular mere months ago might suddenly feel stale, and overnight sensations are always apt…

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3 min
1.5K

Books

Bring It To The Beach: Oryx and Crake

by Katy Kelleher Even though I don’t like to call books “beach reads,” I do understand the appeal of the term. Some books are meant for reading late at night,…

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