Category Archives: Books

Books In Brief

Luis Alfredo Garcia-Roza: Alone in the Crowd. Garcia-Roza’s Espinosa mysteries, of which this is the seventh, need not necessarily be read in sequence. This is a good thing, since that makes this book as good a place to start as … Continue reading

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Barnes and Noble’s new Nook Considered (From a Distance)

 I don’t think I’ve ever been, nor do I think I’ll ever really be, what hardcore tech types and marketing gurus like to call an “early adopter.” I tend to adopt late, if I bother to adopt at all. Let … Continue reading

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Martin Palmer: The Jesus Sutras

We’ve never suffered from a dearth of books on Christianity. Even leaving aside the Bible, books on all things Christian–apologetics, fiction, inspirational tracts, and even books that take on Christianity from an atheistic viewpoint–have never been in short supply. The … Continue reading

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Michael Chabon: The Yiddish Policemen’s Union

I’ve been told by a handful of people that I have to read Michael Chabon. Given the sources–thankfully not the same people who told me I had to read Dan Brown–I kept it in the back of my mind. I … Continue reading

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Simon Winchester: The Man Who Loved China

Reading Simon Winchester is a bit like listening to a well-traveled friend at a cocktail party who’s always just come back from somewhere, brimming with interesting stories about people you would otherwise never have heard of. His previous books, among … Continue reading

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Neil Gaiman: The Graveyard Book

I shouldn’t be surprised that Neil Gaiman’s latest offering, The Graveyard Book, is as good as it is. Many moons ago, when he and Terry Pratchett wrote Good Omens (which I’d also suggest you read), they captured the kids to … Continue reading

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How You Say…

A good book is a wonderful thing; you can lose yourself in someone else’s imagination, learn of things you would never otherwise have known, or just take pleasure in well-wrought sentences and memorable turns of phrase. English as She is … Continue reading

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Robert S. McElvaine: Grand Theft Jesus

Robert McElvaine is one pissed-off individual. It’s hard to escape the conclusion, all the way from the cover to the very last page of his Grand Theft Jesus: The Hijacking of Religion in America. On the other hand, all the old … Continue reading

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John McWhorter: Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue

“The ideal antidote to Eats, Shoots, and Leaves.” Okay, we’ve gotten that part out of the way. Now, on to the book. John McWhorter’s Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue is like manna from heaven for people who get all weak-kneed over … Continue reading

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Gustav Niebuhr: Beyond Tolerance

So when, exactly, is tolerance a bad, or at the very least counterproductive, thing? Former New York Times religion writer (and current Syracuse professor) Gustav Niebuhr sets out to answer that question in Beyond Tolerance: Searching for Interfaith Understanding in … Continue reading

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