Polls show that two thirds of Americans are mentally exhausted and taking a break from a steady diet of news consumption. Count me among them, at least aspirationally. Since the election, mainstream newspapers, cable and network news have bled readers and viewers, most significantly at CNN and MSNBC. I, too, have simply overdosed on national …
Category: Culture
16th C. England: leaders worse than ours today
Hunting the Falcon: Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn, and the Marriage That Shook Europe by historians John Guy and Julia Fox (husband and wife team)is a deeply researched tome larded with the tumultuous history of the reigns of Henry VIII, Francis I of France, and Charles V Holy Roman Emperor and ruler of the Hapsburg Empire, …
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New painting gladdens 19th c. wartime Paris
Paris in Ruins: Love, War and the Birth of Impressionism by Sebastian Smee is a well-researched account of France from the reign of Napoleon III through the end of his empire, the Franco-Prussian War he had provoked, the radical socialist “Commune” that followed, and, finally, the establishment of a calmer republic that lasted into the …
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An absorbing novel as cold weather sets in
Intermezzo by Sally Rooney is a noteworthy piece of fiction. If you liked Rooney’s Normal People, you’ll enjoy being drawn into this newest book. The narrative line is: two brothers, both grieving the recent death of their father, are alienated from each other and, we learn, from themselves. Peter, age 32, is a barrister known …
Yes, we can still give thanks!
My stuffing is made. If the weather permits, we'll be together with family for the Thanksgiving holiday. Friends and acquaintances keep reaching out, asking "what are we going to do?" They're not referring to how best to carve the turkey, which football games to watch, or whether to tune in to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day …
Fiction to distract from post-election angst
Here are two novels in which key characters are named Gabe. The similarity ends there. The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides is a psychological thriller that plumbs the depth of the human psyche. The simplest narrative – a woman is convicted of murdering her husband, Gabriel Berenson. She becomes mute, is sent for years to …
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Margin of error won. We lost. A first look.
This time the pollsters were right. They had held all along that the election outcome was within the margin of error. It could go either way. And so it did. But in the wrong direction. Donald J. Trump won on a campaign of lies and grievances, fear and loathing. We’re a deeply divided nation, preferring …
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Two more novels where small towns are defining
Bluebird, Bluebird by Attica Locke is a nicely woven mystery set in rural East Texas. Two murders occur in just a matter of days in a tiny town called Lark. Are the two crimes related? That’s just one of the questions being explored by principal character Darren Matthews, an African-American who dropped out of law …
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Don’t wanna go back? Our clocks will
Kamala Harris pledges, "We won't go back." Tonight, however, we all will. At 2 a.m. tomorrow morning we set the clocks back an hour. Sure, it means an extra hour of sleep, but, for many of us, this is a real downer. Except for sunshine states like Arizona and Hawaii, it will be black as …
Fiction to escape doom-scrolling election coverage
The Hunter by Tana French is a murder mystery set in the hardworking village of Ardnakelty in Ireland during an abnormally dry, searingly hot summer, oppressive to humans and animals alike. Nerves are on edge. The only relief for the farmers and shopkeepers is gathering for a pint or more at the local pub, to …
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Marjorie Arons-Barron 