Published in 1945, Richard Wright's classic childhood autobiography vividly reveals what it was like growing up black and poor in the Jim Crow South long before the Civil Rights Movement. It’s an unsentimental but moving and distressing travel back in time that should not be missed.
Category: old books
A bookshop closes
Much of my book collecting mania got spent at Acorn Bookshop that’s now going out of business. Here are a few of the treasures I found, in this tribute.
My two favorite memoirs this year
Benjamin Taylor and Joyce Johnson lived dramatically different young lives, but their stories similarly and movingly capture two iconic times in history: the Beat Movement and November 22, 1963.
A city inspector’s book list
Every once in a while, a person I hire to work at my house will pause in front of the book cases. This is one of those occasions.
An old good book for the beach
"Birdsong" by Stephen Faulks is a powerful epic not to be overlooked and a stunning portrayal of courage and redemption.
Great books go a step further
What's the difference between a good book and a great one? Jonathan Safran Foer answers in an introduction to "The Fixer" by Bernard Malamud.
Books you can’t stop reading
Sometimes you just want a good literary page turner. The kind that’s got more heft to it than "Gone Girl" and gives you something to think about after you’ve breathlessly reached the end. Well, here you go.
“They think we’re different, you know.”
Most know "In the Heat of the Night" for the 1967 Academy Award-winning movie starring Sydney Poitier and Rod Steiger. The film is based on the mystery novel with the same title by John Ball, which celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2015. I thought it was time I read it.
The books I gave this holiday season
Here are six books I selected and wrapped with a bow to surprise and delight my friends.
A bibliomaniac’s burden
I became determined in my need to find the right reading copy of Pat Barker's World War I novel, "Regeneration." Here's what happened that afternoon.
