Jill Lepore’s biography of Joe Gould, enticingly titled Joe Gould’s Teeth, is about a writer who couldn’t stop writing. Joe Gould claimed for years to be writing the longest book ever written, a book he called “The Oral History of Our Time.” In her book, Lepore searches through various archives for any parts of Gould’s … Continue reading
The non-fiction book discussion participants were very interested in reading this. The group was given two and a half months to do so, but only two actually finished it. So first, let’s get the negativity out of the way. Here are those comments: “WAY, WAY, WAY too long.” OK, that is true. “WAY, WAY, WAY … Continue reading
According to author Jeff Guinn’s research for The Road to Jonestown: Jim Jones and the Peoples Temple, the commonly used expression “Don’t drink the Kool-Aid” should actually be “Don’t drink the Flavor Aid.” It was this cheaper version of Kool-Aid that Jim Jones’ most devoted followers mixed with cyanide on that day at the Jonestown … Continue reading
It’s always interesting in seeing a young person evolve from child to adult and Anne Frank is no different. Her world was very different from that of a normal 13 year old, but her process of maturation was not. She talked too much, often disliked her mother, thought everyone believed her older sister was perfect, … Continue reading
A book built on two literary elites arguing about the translation of Russian writer Alexander Pushkin’s narrative poem “Eugene Onegin” may not sound like thrilling reading. While I won’t say it’s on par with Stuart Woods or Lee Child, Alex Beam’s The Feud: Vladimir Nabokov, Edmund Wilson, and the End of a Beautiful Friendship is … Continue reading
When I was an undergrad at Illinois State University many years ago, a writing workshop classmate of mine claimed that he and some friends had made a visit to Lawrence, Kansas in hopes of meeting William S. Burroughs, who was living there at the time. Not only had they met him, he said, but they’d … Continue reading
Wes Moore got the idea for his nonfiction work The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates when he heard about another man named Wes Moore who had recently been involved in the violent robbery of a jewelry store. The author wondered how the two of them, who were roughly the same age and from … Continue reading
