Lauren Groff (http://laurengroff.com/) is a young American novelist and short story writer. She has had stories published in the New Yorker, the Atlantic Monthly, Five Points, and Ploughshares, and the anthologies Best New American Voices 2008, and Best American Short Stories 2007, 2010 and 2014 editions. Fates and Furies (2015) starts with honeymoon sex on […]
There is a phrase which has entered English usage recently. This is ‘the elephant in the room’. It is used to indicate a large inconvenient truth about which some prefer to remain blind. It could well be used in discussions of ‘theodicy’, otherwise known as ‘the problem of evil’ (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/evil/). This is an entire branch of
Evil, Suffering and Religion by Brian Hebblethwaite Read More »
The prolific author Nora Roberts (http://www.noraroberts.com/) has been prolific again for the 4th time this year alone. (The total number of her novels including those written under the author name J.D. Robb amount to over 200 novels. Her readers fall upon each new work like a thirsty cat leaps to a dish of cool water in
Edgar Lawrence “E. L.” Doctorow (January 6, 1931 – July 21, 2015, http://www.eldoctorow.com/) was an American author, editor, and professor, best known for his works of historical fiction. Many regard him as one of the most important American novelists of the 20th century. His novels The Book of Daniel (1971) and Ragtime (1975) may be better known,
World’s Fair by E.L. Doctorow Read More »
The Accidental Tourist is a novel by Anne Tyler (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Tyler) that was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction in 1985 and the Ambassador Book Award for Fiction in 1986. The novel was adapted into a 1988 award-winning film starring William Hurt, Kathleen Turner, and Geena Davis,
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Harlan Coben (http://www.harlancoben.com/), born January 4, 1962) is an American author of mystery novels and thrillers. The plots of his novels often involve the resurfacing of unresolved or misinterpreted events in the past (such as murders, fatal accidents, etc.) and often have multiple plot twists. In Coben’s series of ‘Myron Bolitar’ novels the setting is in and
We live in times (2008-2015 >) of swingeing public sector cuts. Town hall chiefs are forced by central government to bring the hatchet down on local government spending. Public libraries have taken a hammering the length and breadth of Britain, a trend carefully documented in a blog by Ian Anstice available here http://www.publiclibrariesnews.com/. The nostalgic whimpering of politicians,
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Religion is an extremely complex social and cultural phenomenon. No simple definition can capture its manifold nature. Rich, simple, consoling, disturbing, unifying, divisive, colourful, austere, prayerful, practical, doctrinal, mystical, peaceful, militaristic, solitary, communitarian, supernatural, worldly. It has all of these (often contradictory) aspects. The very briefest attempt to get a conceptual handle on the phenomenon can be found at this link http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/philosophy-religion/.
The World’s Religions by Ninian Smart Read More »
Larry McMurtry (born June 3, 1936) is an American novelist, essayist, bookseller and screenwriter whose work is predominantly set in either the old West or in contemporary Texas. His novels include Horseman, Pass By (1962), The Last Picture Show (1966) and Terms of Endearment (1975), which were adapted into films earning 26 Academy Award nominations. This
Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurty Read More »
