Today at CCLaP, Jason Pettus reviews N. John Hall's Bibliophilia, a charming but weird epistolary story about book collecting that just barely qualifies as a three-act novel to begin with. Posted on by Jason Pettus
Today at CCLaP, Jason Pettus reviews Atul Gawande's 2014 Being Mortal, a fascinating and clear-eyed look at the thorny complications that affect the issue of "eldercare." Posted on by Jason Pettus
Today at CCLaP, Jason Pettus reviews Mark Harris' 2008 book Pictures at a Revolution, which takes a look at the five movies nominated for the 1967 Best Picture Oscar to examine the larger revolution going on in Hollywood at the time. Posted on by Jason Pettus
This week at CCLaP, Karl Wolff reviews "How to Speak Midwestern" by Edward McClelland, a fascinating look at the Midwest's many different accents. Posted on by Karl Wolff
Today at CCLaP, Jason Pettus reviews Esther Schor's Bridge of Words, an exhaustive new look at the history and culture of "utopian language" Esperanto, and a book whose main fault is ironically that it might be too much information for the average general reader. Posted on by Jason Pettus
Today at CCLaP, Jason Pettus reviews David Leach's "Chasing Utopia," in which this Canadian Catholic journalist looks at the long-term fate of Israel's "kibbutz" collective farms formed during the dawn of the Zionist era. Posted on by Jason Pettus
Today at CCLaP, Jason Pettus reviews Michael Rosenthal's Barney, an engaging new biography of Grove Press founder, First Amendment crusader and sexist lothario Barney Rosset. Posted on by Jason Pettus
Today at CCLaP, Jason Pettus reviews Mark Kurlansky's "Havana: A Subtropical Delirium," not quite a travel book, history book or memoir but rather a combination of them all, and a light and engaging introduction to this Caribbean city. Posted on by Jason Pettus
Today at CCLaP, Jason Pettus reviews W. Scott Poole's In the Mountains of Madness, not just a newly revealing biography of horror author HP Lovecraft but perhaps the first-ever scholarly look at the fan community that has built up around him in the decades since his death. Posted on by Jason Pettus