Sticks and stones and presidential speeches
Are words pitchforks? That is, do they goad people into doing things — both good and bad things — they wouldn't otherwise do? Surely not, some say; surely the process...
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Sticks and stones and presidential speeches
We're awash in words. And not just words themselves: We're also bobbing along on a sea of words about words, as the great national debate continues about the pernicious effects...
New leaf for Bob Newhart
He's the king of the shrug, the dean of the deliberate stammer, the prince of the sideways peep. He's the guy telling everybody else to calm down. Life leaves him...
Love and other headaches
Love is a many hindered thing. It's thwarted at every turn, imperiled every second, and the fact that it works out for anybody anywhere for any length of time whatsoever...
Oprah goes classic: A good idea?
Oprah Winfrey has spoken. Her latest pick for her book club — and "book club" is a misleadingly humble phrase for the most important cultural force on behalf of the...
Literary scene heating up
Furnaces and fireplaces aren't the only entities generating the kind of warmth that can banish winter's chill. Another source of that sustenance is a great bookstore. Winter 2011 is a...
Whipping up White House kitchen intrigue
Politics is all about labels: Democrat, Republican or independent. Right, left or center. Conservative or liberal. For the characters in a Julie Hyzy novel, though, there's only one label that...
Whipping up White House kitchen intrigue
Politics is all about labels: Democrat, Republican or independent. Right, left or center. Conservative or liberal. For the characters in a Julie Hyzy novel, though, there's only one label that...
Balliett broadens younghorizons
Sit them down with copies of Balliett's four novels for young adults, either "Chasing Vermeer" (2004), "The Wright 3" (2006), "The Calder Game" (2008) or her latest, "The Danger Box"...
Last-minute literary rescues
A book and a fruitcake have two things in common: Both are frequently given as Christmas gifts. And neither one is edible. When the pressure's on, however, and you need...