It is a grainy video clip, shot with a shaky camera. A reporter offscreen asks ominously, “Is there anything else that’s going to come out about you that we don’t already know?” The woman laughs nervously, “You know, I don’t think so, but who knows?” It’s clear that she was kidding, but in the context »
“Gone Girl” was awesome, but I can’t tell you why. Gillian Flynn’s new novel was darkly comic, deliciously entertaining, ridiculously addictive and downright messed-up, but I can’t tell you why. Seriously. To give away the shocking plot twists and titillating psychological thrills would just be criminal. It looked like Nick and Amy Dunne had it »
Let’s get a few things out of the way. First, I was predisposed to hate “Sex and God at Yale” by Nathan Harden. I did. (More on that later.) Second, it was engaging, funny and, at times, well-written. I’ll admit that much. Finally, it amounted to little more than a pretentious argument against pornography and »
“The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness” by Michelle Alexander is an important book. Don’t believe me? Just ask the Baltimore Sun, which called it an “important book.” Still not convinced? Well, the Birmingham News called it “Undoubtedly the most important book published this century about the U.S.” In my opinion, »
When “The U.S. Supreme Court: A Very Short Introduction” arrived in the mail, I initially thought I had ordered incorrectly. It looked too short, too cute — maybe only nine inches tall with barely 100 bite-sized pages. Yet after a moment’s pause, I realized that this was what the title had promised: a very short, »
“A few hours later, the stampede of feet shakes me from slumber. I look around in bewilderment. It’s not yet dawn, but my stinging eyes can see it. It would be hard to miss the wall of fire descending on me.” I mean, you have to admit it’s engaging. Captivating, really. This is a line »
A lawyer walks into a bar. Wait, wait, I’ve already heard this one. You probably have, too, as it’s one of the first scenes in the latest John Grisham novel, “The Litigators,” and one of the most frequent criticisms of Grisham is that all of his books are the same. We’ll get to that later. »
