Paul Kalanithi’s memoir, completed and published posthumously, is an eloquent and thoughtful reflection on what makes life meaningful, purposeful and worth living. In May 2013, Kalanithi, 36, was about to complete 10 years of rigorous training as a neurosurgery resident at Stanford and was preparing to entertain top offers in
Read More →The community of Monroeville, Alabama takes enormous pride in being the model for “To Kill a Mockingbird’s” fictional town of Maycomb, written by its most famous resident, author Harper Lee. Fifty years after the fictional Atticus Finch defended a falsely-accused black man, Bryan Stevenson came to the aid of a
Read More →In the 15th century, five different kings — all with claims extending from King Edward III — ruled England. There were two direct lines involved: The House of Lancaster and the House of York. The wars of this period were between these two houses, represented by the red rose for
Read More →How much do you know about how your hand computer (smart phone) works? What about the box that cleans food holders (dishwasher)? Ever feel completely lost when talking about your car to a mechanic? Randall Monroe is here for you. The genius behind the Internet’s most popular comic — XKCD
Read More →Turn off your phone, don’t answer the door, and crack open the quirky political scene created by Zachary Michael Jack in his new book, “CORN POLL: A Novel of the Iowa Caucuses.” Follow Jacob “Press” Preston, a journalist from Denver, Colorado, as he cruises through the Iowa political landscape and
Read More →“Go big or go home.” This is the phrase that the smart, funny, confident and fat Texas teen Willowdean Dickson uses to confront the new challenges to her self-esteem. Willowdean (her former beauty queen mother calls her “Dumplin”) certainly goes big. Willowdean has a good sense of herself, and with
Read More →As dawn breaks over the small Connecticut town where Bill Clegg’s debut fiction takes place, we learn that a tragedy has occurred. During the night, a gas leak in June Reid’s home has caused an explosion that has killed her entire family. June’s daughter was to be married later that
Read More →Leonard Gardner’s “Fat City” is a novel about two boxers from Stockton, California, but to say it’s a novel about boxing would be misleading. Very few of the novel’s 191 pages take place in the ring. Instead, it is the story of Ernie Munger, an up-and-coming boxer, and Billy Tully,
Read More →When successful New York magazine and book editor George Hodgman returns to his hometown of Paris, Missouri, for his mother’s 91st birthday, he comes to the heartbreaking realization that his once-indomitable mother has lost her driver’s license and is not really able to live independently. His planned visit of two
Read More →“From the Halls of Montezuma to the Shores of Tripoli” are the beginning words of the Marine Corps Hymn. These words make little sense until you read about the first Barbary war. It is called the Forgotten War because that is what it is — seldom referred to in the
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