"Cut these words and they would bleed." — Ralph Waldo Emerson

"A book must be the axe for the frozen sea inside us." -- Franz Kafka

"That which is seen may never be unseen" -- Arundhati Roy

A children’s story: The Tygrine Cat by Inbali Iserles
the young writing for the young Two years ago, I was commissioned to write a review about this children’s book.  At the time, it struck me as amateurish and even rather silly.  My son read it too, and agreed. However, just the other day, he said, “Remember that book about the cat with all those powers?  I think about it all the

Review: Sons of the Rumour by David Foster
David Foster’s novel Sons of the Rumour is billed as a “genre-defying work of genius”.  I’d go further and say that it also defies description, which makes this review difficult to write. The first few hundred pages tell of the complicated relationship between the Shah and his wife, the shapely Shahrazad, who just won’t shut up.  To find some peace, the Shah wanders incognito thro

Review: Lovesong by Alex Miller
Alex Miller’s beautiful Lovesong is anything but a simple love story.  Ken, a retired novelist returns home from an extended stay in Venice to find his neighborhood changed.  There is a new pastry shop run by Sabiha, a lovely woman with an air of sorrow.  Ken befriends her husband, John, and listens as John tells their story. In Paris many years earlier, John took a wrong train and then was caught in a sudden rainstorm.  Taking shelter in a nearby café, he met Sabiha, a cha

In search of sleep in literature
Sleep in Literature The oblivion of sleep is a parallel of death.  Time stands still.  In sleep, we remain in the cocoon of eternity.  And yet, the idea of sleep holds within it the promise of an awakening, a resurrection. States of pre-adolescent sexuality, psychological disorder, drug- or alcohol-induced stupor, and even some diseases are all variants of the sl

Review: The Gate at the Stairs by Lorrie Moore
A view from the bottom of the stairs As an admirer of Lorrie Moore’s short stories, I’ve long looked forward to the publication of The Gate at the Stairs, her first novel in fourteen years. Tassie Keltjin, a naïve student at a university in the Midwest, takes a job as a babysitter for a couple in the process of adopting a child.  The time she spends with them and with their little girl, Mary-Emma, gives