11 Sci-Fi Classics 7/8/16: The Handmaid’s Tale 6/3/16: The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch 4/8/16: Kindred 3/25/16: High Aztech 3/11/16: Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World 2/26/16: Frankenstein 2/12/16: Dune 2/5/16: 1984 1/29/16: Ender’s Game 1/22/16: The Left Hand of Darkness Other reviews 2/19/16: Mariachi Ekphrasis 3/18/16: Japanese Ghost…
Here are all the book reviews I did for The Monitor in 2015. 13 Timeless Tragedies January 23, 2015: Oresteia February 20, 2015: Oedipus the King March 27, 2015: Medea April 24, 2015: The Madness of Hercules May 29, 2015: Hamlet June 26, 2015: Punishment without Revenge July 24, 2015: Phèdre …
Each Friday in the Festiva Magazine insert of The Monitor my book review column Top Shelf is published. Here are the columns from 2014.
Last year in my TOP SHELF review column I featured a special retrospective on best novels from the United Kingdom. Links to the reviews can be found below.
Twelve Best of the US (retrospective on greatest American novels) July 25, 2013: Blood Meridian August 1, 2013: Beloved August 8, 2013: The House on Mango Street August 15, 2013: Bless Me, Ultima August 23, 2013: The Left Hand of Darkness August 30, 2013: To Kill a Mockingbird September 5, 2013: Invisible Man September 12, 2013: The Grapes of…
In the early 1970s, Stephen R. Donaldson dropped out of a Ph.D. program and dedicated himself to writing. Energized by the additional time and focus, he crafted a bold, 250,000-word fantasy novel, his modern response to Tolkien. Over the next four years, however, as he rewrote the book and penned…
In 1990, inspired by the success that its Bluebonnet list had in suggesting great recreational reading titles for upper elementary students, the Texas Library Association published a pilot list for middle schools. This Lone Star Reading List was hailed as a fantastic idea, and beginning in 1992, a standing committee…
December 27, 2012: Classical Recommendations for 2013 December 20, 2012: Some Teen Christmas Picks December 13, 2012: Powerful Poems and Purple Days November 29, 2012: The Consequences of Playing God November 22, 2012: Exploration of Indigenous Literature November 8, 2012: Instructional Strategies from a Samurai November 1, 2012: Two Timeless…
Originally published in The Monitor. As the New Year approaches, many of us begin to create reading resolutions for 2013. I have had many friends resolve in the past to read more of the classics, those works of world literature that have withstood the test of time, becoming universally regarded…
In my latest column, I review K.J. Parker’s Sharps. Visit The Monitor’s website to check it out.
