A Cineaste’s Bookshelf
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REVIEW: The Hymn to Dionysus
Natasha Pulley is one of the best and most consistently stunning novelists of our time. Just as The Iliad isn't (really) about the Trojan war, The Hymn to Dionysus is not about an endangered kingdom. It's about looking at oneself and finding the divine heroism within.Read More »
ACCENT: The Wheel Spins and To Catch a Thief
There are plenty of reasons Hitchcock's films are considered classic, even genius. But often overlooked is the fact that they were nearly always based on books. Two are again available in print.Read More »
REVIEW: The Undoing of Violet Claybourne
Set in 1938 England, the story is steeped in the very particular interwar setting, with dozens of connotations. Crucially, it's the year Rebecca was written (and set). Like the classic Du Maurier novel, this book focuses on a shabby manor house, a young woman who struggles to fit in, and a crumbling aristocracy intent on covering up dark secrets. Read More »
REVIEW: The Sinners All Bow
On a freezing morning in December 1832, a woman named Sarah Maria Cornell was found dead on a local farm. The mystery was covered by Catharine Williams, a contemporary who became convinced it was murder. Kate Winkler Dawson takes another look at Williams' work and brings modern technology to the case. Read More »
Books for February
One strong, one strange, and three duds for this month's round-up of new and forthcoming books. Read More »
REVIEW: Bibliophobia
Believe it not, bibliophobia is a real thing. The fear of books, or the fear of words and reading, is a psychological condition that disrupts people's ability to enjoy a book or even a visit to the library. Author Sarah Chihaya recounts her bout with it as well as exploring how we absorb and tell stories.Read More »
REVIEW: Her Lotus Year
It's hard to find anyone who doesn't have an opinion about Wallis Simpson -- even harder to find someone with a good opinion of her. This is a new look at a famous figure, set against a very specific time and place. It brings new perspective to both Wallis Simpson and 1920s legation Peking.Read More »
Books for December
A little heat in the iron radiator, / the dog breathing at the foot of the bed, / and the windows shut tight, / encrusted with hexagons of frost.Read More »
REVIEW: The Heads of Ceberus
Francis Stevens published her first story in 1904. She was just 17 years old. Like the teenage Mary Shelley and Frankenstein before her, she changed how speculative fiction would be written afterwards, but for some reason Stevens is not a household name. Hopefully, that is about to change. Read More »
Books for November
Remember, remember... November feels like the start of the slow turn to the close of the year. Everything outside gets browner and crunchier. There's the quiet dying of the light. It happens subtly, then all at once. It also gives us a moment to sit with the quiet, find a small corner, wrap up in a blanket, and read by lamplight.Read More »
REVIEW: Death at the Sign of a Rook
Brodie's inner monologue is always cranky, sharp, and amusing, and this book is no different. He remains the reluctant hero, by dint of being the one who shows up, not because he has any magnificent altruism.Read More »
REVIEW: Typhoid Mary
Mary Mallon was a carrier of the deadly disease, infected dozens of people (many of whom died) and once she was diagnosed all she had to do was not prepare food to save lives. It seems simple. So why didn't she?Read More »
From Russia, with disquiet
Two new and very different books tackle the same complicated and largely inscrutable Russian history. One makes the ghosts of Russian past very real, and the other explores the demons haunting a Soviet escapee.Read More »
REVIEW: What Time the Sexton's Spade Doth Rust
There is nothing better than embarking on a new adventure with Flavia de Luce. I too enjoy riding my bike to an old cemetery while solving a crime. I just need a manor house in the English countryside. But luckily we can drop in and visit Flavia anytime.Read More »
REVIEW: The Examiner
It's all well and good until the students become more interested in their own agendas than the coursework. When a corporate client with a sketchy past "hires" the the team for a launch party a crosscurrent of morals turns into a whirlpool of chaos.Read More »