Allow me to start with the simple end: Ru Freeman's On Sal Mal Lane is stupendous. I'll even embellish that verdict and add that it is actually fan-huththa-tastic...
Some years back, during a discussion about what was then the latest tragic news coming out of the Middle East, a friend's mother softly remarked about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, "The absolute worst arguments happen among families." She (the widow of conservative rabbi) was referring specifically...
If beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, then perhaps bad behavior might be, too. "In this book we are taking a look back through history at all manner of famous female felons," write mother/daughter author-team Jane Yolen and Heidi E. Y. Stemple (who,...
Rome, 128 AD. Even back then architects had a hard time finding work. Poor, poor Lucius – in spite of his fancy Athens training, his designs are considered "half-baked," and he finds himself "blacklisted out of the industry." Instead of sulking, an old friend convinces him...
If you look at the bottom of this post at "Filed under," you'll see this title is listed as both "Fiction" and "Nonfiction." That's not a mistake – and the explanation is found in the book's "Postscript": "This is a book of fiction based on...
No other word than epic describes this almost 700-page tome. It's epic in content: six decades of one ordinary man's extraordinary life, told through detailed, rich depictions in swirling black-and-white pen and ink that never seem to still. It's epic in context: 60 years of...
I'm compelled to start backwards with a number: 84. As children's writer (more than 25 times over) Maryann Macdonald explains in her ending "Author's Note," 84% of French children survived the horrors of World War II; in fact, "more children survived in France than in any other...
1958, Little Rock, Arkansas: A year has passed since nine courageous African American students – history's "Little Rock Nine" – integrated Central High School. Just days before the new school year is scheduled to begin that September 15, then-Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus closed the city's three high...
Absolute details surrounding the life of Dave the Potter are limited and uncertain. What remains of his life story almost two centuries later, is scattered with uncertain words, including 'sometime,' 'about,' 'believed to be,' 'might,' 'possibly,' and other such noncommittal qualifiers. The few surviving documents...
A couple of days after filing my feature on Pauline A. Chen, I got on the phone to ask her all the questions I couldn’t find answers to out there in the virtual world of google-ing. True confession moment: I admit I was a wee bit...
When the teenaged Pauline Chen arrived in Harvard Yard, her intention was to become a writer. The American-born daughter of Taiwanese parents, she grew up amidst Long Island’s endless strip malls and was determined – she wrote in July 2012 at Tribute Books – to shed her “provincial” upbringing....
I think at least a decade has passed since I read a Chris Bohjalian title (Midwives remains my favorite). Two shocks came with this, his latest: 1. He's got 15 books out already; and 2. He's of Armenian descent (yes, I should have connected that '-ian'...
Official word of warning: this is NOT your kiddies' manga. Both in subject matter and graphics, Message is definitely for mature audiences. So if you have younger ones in the house, be careful not to leave the book lying around. The "godfather of manga" has...
Here's a common occurrence at our house: I can't go to bed without a book, which usually means I'm a constant barrage of 'Did you know that ...
Already designated “definitive political biography” on its back cover, The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks by Brooklyn College political science professor Jeanne Theoharis will reside in my personal reading history as the most difficult book I’ve ever reviewed. Never before – and hopefully never...
Let me start with what has been deemed as historical record. According to the Thomas Jefferson Foundation – which not only owns and operates Jefferson's legendary home, Monticello, but maintains the most comprehensive website focused on "Monticello, Jefferson, his family, and his times" – this is the official...
Life along the Silk Road – 19th-century style, imagined by and translated from a 21st-century Japanese original – moves onward west, meticulously detailed in creator Kaoru Mori's breathtaking manga. To catch up, make sure to read the first three installments; you definitely need the back story of young...
As the mother of three young girls, Ellen Oh is constantly on the lookout for good books that showcase female empowerment. She's found a few here and there – say, The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins, The Girl of Fire and Thorns trilogy by Rae Carson, The Hero and the...
Ready to ring in the new year? Sing with me now – I'm pretty sure you know the words to this one: "O beautiful for spacious skies ...
"Based on the life of Princess Pari Khan Khanoom" seems to be the dominant short-hand description (even on its own back cover) of Anita Amirrezvani's historical novel set in 16th-century Persia, now modern Iran. Some might find that description misleading, and expect this to be...
