Boundary The Last Summer by Andree Michaud Biblioasis Windsor, Ontario 2017 332 pages Within the protective cocoon of childhood, I can recall my pre-teen anticipation of adolescence. Summer vacation in cottage country offered pre-teens and adolescents ready-made friends with whom to explore the enclaves by the water. Summer in…
So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed by Jon Ronson Riverhead Books New York, NY 2015 290 pages Avoiding, rejecting, repudiating, shunning, publicly shaming and ostracizing have been part of most human cultures as long as humans have been organized into…
The Crimes of Paris by Dorothy and Thomas Hoobler Little, Brown and Company 2009 “Elle est partie!” cried Georges Benedicte, acting director of the Louvre. The Mona Lisa was gone. Stolen off the wall of the Louvre August 21, 1911. Undoubtedly the most recognized painting in the world, it was assumed that it would,…
Evil by Dr. Julia Shaw Doubleday Canada 2019 320 pages In this post-modern age of relativity, the concept of evil seems passe. Yet, when confronted by the immorality of exploitation and the horrors of abuse, violence and terrorism, many of us, in an effort to understand motivation,…
Kings of the Grail by Margarita Torres Sevilla & Jose Miguel Ortega Del Rio The Overlook Press New York, New York 256 pages La Morte d’Arthur, Excalibur, Sword in the Stone… the Grail stories have captivated our imaginations for centuries. Is it even real? Would our fascination end if it was finally revealed where the…
Zoroaster’s Children by Marius Kociejowski Biblioasis 2015 Windsor, Ontario 167 pages “… I think it has become incumbent upon authors to write not so much about getting to a place as in being able to write out of it.” This, Marius Kociejowski…
The Road to Unfreedom: Russia, Europe and America by Timothy Snyder Crown/Archetype 2018 368 pages In the wake of the devastation of World War II, reconstruction of Europe (bankrolled by United States) designed to create economic stability and peace, lead to the institution of the European Economic Community, forerunner of…
. Irresistible North From Venice to Greenland on the Trail of the Zen Brothers by Andrea di Robilant Alfred A. Knopf, 2011 History and travel combine for an enlightening read about the scandal caused by the publication of a travel book and maps in 1558 … Continue reading History
Shadow Play: The Hidden Beliefs and Coded Politics of William Shakespeare by Clare Asquith Kobo E Book Publicaffairs 2018 It was not a good time to be Catholic in Elizabethean England. Fearful of plots to overthrown Elizabeth, she of the “reformed religion”, Catholics were perceived as traitors. All manner of persecution could…
Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders Random House Publishing 2017 368 pages Beset by tragedy, Lincoln nonetheless, became a revered President. At a young age, he lost his mother, then his older sister who, after their mother’s death raised him.…
Bibliophilia 