Jodi Picoult talks about life, writing
She takes none of it for granted. Not the sales figures, the fame, the fortune, the fact that her name pops up on best-seller lists with the frequency of freakishly...
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What can make or break an actor’s performance?
She could chew the scenery with the best of them — munch the drapes, snack on the sofa, nibble the ottoman. But what Joan Crawford couldn't do, according to F....
Works of fiction tackle economic realities
Thanks to the Winter Olympics and my sudden passion for curling, I have a new metaphor to describe the relationship between fiction and current events: Fiction has the hammer. As...
When to give up on a book
The prospect of tucking into Hilary Mantel's "Wolf Hall," indisputably the Big Book of 2009, made me shiver with anticipatory delight. Awaiting me within its 532 pages was, I felt...
Flu tube
For those grappling with seasonal maladies, watching regular TV can be torture. When your stomach feels as if it is trapped at a TSA checkpoint — that is, it's perpetually...
Why mysteries still matter
In the atmospheric first paragraph of "Blacklands" (Simon & Schuster) by Belinda Bauer, a bewitching new mystery set in a small British town, we quickly learn what we're in for...
3 favorite football books
Football is not a business of words. No verbs, nouns or adjectives need apply, and here's a tip for the wise adverb: Pick up your gear right now and clear...
Measuring cultural impact of New Orleans, Indianapolis
At first glance, it's a mismatch of epic proportions. One, after all, is a cultural heavyweight, a place famous for its sinful food and its scrumptious music and its freewheeling...
Holden C. — and you and me
For anyone who ever stuffed a dusty, heavily underlined copy of "The Catcher in the Rye" in a backpack and left it there a long time, so that it could...
Thoughts on J.D. Salinger
To read "Salinger" and "91" in the same sentence is a shock, an abomination. And yet there it is, the blunt and brutal fact of it, showing up in news...