Swedish writer delivers an epic autobiographical novel

Two weeks ago, I had knee replacement surgery, so my posting will be limited through the rest of the month. Here's a great big book to hold you over in the interim. Meanwhile, happy holidays - yes, all of them.....Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanzaa, New Year's, etc. See you in 2026! The Sisters, by Swedish writer Jonas …

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Eminent education writer reverses course

An Education: How I changed My mind about Schools and Almost Everything Else is an eye-opening and deeply personal memoir, intricately wound up with the story of how our nation has been swept up with and jerked around by changing approaches to education. It's not often that a highly visible scholar or public official admits …

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Collecting art – and artists

The Age of Acquiring: A Portrait of Etta and Claribel Cone by Mary Gabriel is a lush portrait of the burgeoning world of modern art, especially in Paris, in the early 20th century.  If you love Paris, if you love Matisse, Degas, Picasso, Cezanne and other giants of the time,  and if you have always …

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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 …

Continue reading New painting gladdens 19th c. wartime Paris