Blogroll

Book Review: A Peace of My Mind by John Noltner

Peace is a popular term this time of year. You know, “Peace on Earth” and the like. But what does peace mean? Even dictionary definitions show it has varying meaning. Perspective is important. Do we view things externally as in there being no armed conflict, as an internal state of mind, or must both exist […]

Book Review: Running Away to Home by Jennifer Wilson

We all think about running away at times. We imagine leaving the stresses and obligations of daily life and embarking on a life enhancing adventure. It’s doubtful, though, that Croatia tops the list of escapes for most people. Yet Jennifer Wilson, along with her husband and their two young children, left the comforts of home […]

Book Review: Stasiland: Stories from Behind the Berlin Wall by Anna Funder

Early into reading Anna Funder’s Stasiland: Stories from Behind the Berlin Wall, I came across a passage that made me think, “That is truly Kafkaesque.” For some reason, that sent my mind on a digression into the difference between something being Kafkaesque and something being Orwellian. While I eventually sorted it out in my own […]

Book Review: And So It Goes: Kurt Vonnegut: A Life by Charles J. Shields

“Idols are best when they’re made of stone,” Joan Baez wrote in a song about Bob Dylan, the songwriting voice of a generation. It could also apply to a man many viewed as being the literary hero of the counterculture. As Charles J. Shields shows in his outstanding biography of the author, Vonnegut was far […]

Book Review: A History of the World Since 9/11 by Dominic Streatfeild

The main ramifications of historic events are frequently easy to see. Often, though, we overlook the ripples that produce unexpected, or even untended, effects. Take 9/11, for example. It didn’t take a great deal of thought to realize it would bring the U.S. into direct armed conflict with al-Qaeda. And it was barely six weeks […]