Latest reviews
Two Novels that Strike Close to Home: On Finding Oneself in a Book
The novel Disclaimer uses a “book-within-a-book” literary device and that got my attention as I’m now finishing a novel in which I use the same literary device.
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The Philosophy of Marvin Goodspeed
The Regular, the new novel by Dave Buckhout, is a philosophical novel, and its main protagonist, Marvin Goodspeed, is a philosopher. That said, what is the philosophy of…
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Grave Seas and A Syrian Riddle
“For a Syrian, like myself, the whole road to my country has been, and always will be, filled with fatal riddles and dangerous words.”-Hussam Eddin Baramo
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The Serpent Papers
The Serpent Papers is about the completion of Joseph Bell’s soul. This battle is fought within and without, and the outcome determines whether his soul lives or dies.
From Glasgow to Damascus
David Forrest weaves a narrative of friendship amid a catastrophe of war. This booklet elicits thoughts of how strange humanity is when it comes to war.
The Philosophy of Marvin Goodspeed
The Regular, the new novel by Dave Buckhout, is a philosophical novel, and its main protagonist, Marvin Goodspeed, is a philosopher. That said, what is the…
Two Novels that Strike Close to Home: On Finding Oneself in a Book
The novel Disclaimer uses a “book-within-a-book” literary device and that got my attention as I’m now finishing a novel in which I use the same literary device.
Grave Seas and A Syrian Riddle
“For a Syrian, like myself, the whole road to my country has been, and always will be, filled with fatal riddles and dangerous words.”-Hussam Eddin Baramo
The Warmth of Other Suns
The Warmth of Other Suns is a magisterial book examining the Great Migration from the South that began during World War I and lasted until the 1970s.
The Writer’s Journey
The Beach and the Blues
“A Train Whistle Blows” was my first short story that was not conceived and developed from first-hand experiences or any individual(s) that I’ve encountered, known, read about, interacted with, or heard about. I purposely veered away from farming and harvesting a story from the…
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A Matter of Serendipity
Today, I am reveling, writing in Edith Wharton’s house, The Mount. It’s quiet. I am sitting at a small table in front of a window in the room on the third floor that was Henry James’ bedroom.
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Any Road Will Take You There
In an album released after his death in 2001, George Harrison shared this wonderful observation: “If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there.” When I think about the past seven years and my writing journey, Harrison’s words resonate.
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Twenty-Eight Years and Counting
Seed of Doubt, my novel in progress, was inspired by a true crime that I researched for more than a year with the intention of writing an article for a Philadelphia Inquirer series. However, after reading 2,000 pages of trial transcripts, examining boxes of police records, and interviewing…
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Essays
Liu Xiaobo: Tyranny, Freedom of Conscience, and the Incompleteness of the Individual
After Liu Xiaobo won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010, I followed the news about him—this dissident public intellectual who had given the Chinese government a major headache. Having read many books about nonviolent thought and action, I sensed that Liu Xiaobo’s life and writing could deepen my understanding further: He believed that words followed by action could change the direction of a country.
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The End of the Beginning: Building the Structural Foundation
When I write, I have a plot sketched out in my mind and sometimes laying out the groundwork can be laborious and even boring. It’s essential, though, that I push my way through the initial drudgery and progress to the middle and the end of the story. When I finally type “The End,” I know I’m deluding myself. It’s only the end of the beginning. Usually at that point I am weary of the story…
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Tell Me a Fractal
Think of a snowflake forming around a molecule of water clinging to a tiny particle of something, how it blossoms and diverges as other molecules join in, seeking their hexagonal destiny, becoming a perfect thing of beauty. Then think of it melting, its sharp edges blurring, its interstices blotting out until it plops to earth. That’s a story, right there, in full surround. Matter, space…
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What is the longform book review?
The Longform Book Review
The longform book reviews on bookscover2cover are narrative, descriptive and analytical. Through a close reading of the text, the reviewer identifies themes and motifs embedded in the text and examines contextual information to verify facts. To develop a coherent argument in favor of the book, the reviewer offers readers insight, not mere judgement.
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What is the longform book review?
The Longform Book Review
The longform book reviews on bookscover2cover are narrative, descriptive and analytical. Through a close reading of the text, the reviewer identifies themes and motifs embedded in the text and examines contextual information to verify facts. To develop a coherent argument in favor of the book, the reviewer offers readers insight, not mere judgement.
Share
Longform reviews
The Way to the Spring: Life and Death in Palestine
Ben Ehrenreich, on assignment for Harper’s magazine, went to Palestine’s West Bank in 2011 to report on Israel’s water war with Palestine. The Way to the Spring is based on his eye-witness account of life in the West Bank—in the village of Nabi Saleh and the cities of Hebron and Ramallah.
The New Jim Crow
Why has an academic book with a title that includes this mix—“Jim Crow,” “mass incarceration,” and “colorblindness”— resonated with the public? Clearly, Alexander has hit a nerve. Something profound is happening in American society.
Hip Set
Michael Fertik’s novel Hip Set is not only a thrilling detective story but also a literary inquiry into the sacred and the profane—the secular sandwiched between both. When it comes to human behavior, there is nothing pure about it, just as there is nothing pure about what lies on an arc between good and bad or between heaven and hell.
God Help the Child
The reality and impact of child abuse rests uneasily, front and center, with the interwoven themes of love and transformation. Meticulously crafted, God Help the Child is a journey of souls and hearts, a must-read book.
No Enemies, No Hatred: Selected Essays and Poems
Liu Xiaobo is the author of hundreds of essays and seventeen books. Most of the essays in No Enemies, No Hatred are from the period between 2004 and 2008, and reflect, in the service of freedom of speech, how words followed by action can change the direction of a country.
From the Archive
You’ll Find Me in the Darkness, If I Let You
The poetry of Anthony Perales comprises straightforward and telling narratives about growing up in San Pedro, chasing the dragon, spending time in prison, learning native doctrine in the…
Empire of the Summer Moon
S. C. Gwynne’s Empire of the Summer Moon is an historical narrative of heroes and legends set against the panorama of the American West, particularly the Texas frontier between the years 1836…
Chaya Bhuvaneswar: a reading list from a powerful voice in fiction
Chaya Bhuvaneswar is a new voice in fiction with the recent publication of her debut story collection, White Dancing Elephants. In her interview with bookscover2cover, Chaya notes that her…
Diane Chamberlain, an Author Study
Diane Chamberlain writes compelling fiction that features young female protagonists striving to prevail in a world that proves to be hostile towards them for reasons that are revealed as the…