Colson Whitehead won both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award for his novel The Underground Railroad, a compelling story of slaves escaping from Southern plantations on a fictional below-ground train. Now he follows that masterpiece with the story of a brutal boys’ reform school in the Florida Panhandle. The central character is a black … [Read more...]
Journalist Brooks finds service is the true road to character
New York Times columnist David Brooks won wide praise for his 2015 book The Road to Character, which celebrated the happiness found in personal achievement. He now believes he was wrong and that “the rampant individualism of our current culture is a catastrophe.” He argues in his new book that true joy comes from service to others. Brooks cites … [Read more...]
‘Library Book’ is one for the bibliophiles
Susan Orlean was living in New York in 1986 when she heard the shocking news that the Los Angeles Public Library had been destroyed by a monster fire. More than 1 million books were burned or damaged, while 350 firefighters battled the blaze for seven hours. Orlean was raised in a book-loving family where her mother took her to a library near their home in … [Read more...]
‘Line Becomes a River’ finds tragedy on both sides of the border
After Francisco Cantú graduated from college with honors, he decided to enlist in the U.S. Border Patrol, which detains Mexicans illegally crossing into the United States. In The Line Becomes a River, the author’s illuminating prose cites injustices and tragedy on both sides of the border. Mexicans enter the United States in the middle of the night far from … [Read more...]
Khizr Khan: The man who fell in love with America
Few people will ever forget the dramatic moment at the 2016 Democratic National Convention when a Muslim-American speaker held up a copy of the U.S. Constitution and challenged Republican Donald Trump to read it. The speaker, Pakistan native Khizr Khan, had lost his son, Army Capt. Humayun Khan, who was killed in Iraq when he tried to stop two suicide bombers. He won … [Read more...]
Thorough research enlarges compelling tale of man wrongfully convicted
Willie J. Grimes was a mild-mannered, middle-aged black man who was convicted of first-degree rape and sentenced to life in prison. But Grimes had nothing to do with the crime. The jury relied on flimsy evidence, such as the victim having picked him out of a hazy picture lineup. After Grimes spent 24 years in prison, he was released in 2012 when DNA evidence showed he was … [Read more...]
Leaning in for grief: Facebook exec Sandberg explores pain of loss in ‘Option B’
When Sheryl Sandberg lost her husband, Dave, to a heart attack two years ago, the story attracted broad interest because of her position as a top executive at Facebook. In this new book, Sandberg describes in poignant detail her consuming sadness. “The fear of forever without Dave was paralyzing,” she writes. When she told their children, ages 7 and 10, that their father … [Read more...]
Author tells compelling story of struggle with depression
Daphne Merkin begins this compelling new book with these words, “Lately I’ve been thinking about the allure of suicide again.” Merkin has battled depression since she was a child. She has moved in and out of psychiatric hospitals and therapists’ offices, while gulping down countless bottles of anti-psychotic drugs “just to get through the day.” A voracious … [Read more...]
Author celebrates the wonders of books, reading
At a time of growing reliance on smartphones and electronic devices, we need a strong reminder of the importance of reading books. In Books for Living, Will Schwalbe celebrates multiple genres, including cookbooks, memoirs, novels, poetry, children’s stories and ancient texts. His well-received previous book, The End of Your Life Book Club, related the decision by the … [Read more...]
Book argues U.S. leaves its soldiers unprepared for war’s moral questions
Many American soldiers returning home from combat in Iraq and Afghanistan suffer from nightmares and physical symptoms grouped under the label Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. That label, though, does not include the moral injury and guilt that afflicts soldiers devastated by memories of killing civilians and children, and watching comrades die in battle. In What Have We … [Read more...]