Books Archive

Five Books I’d Read

in which the author discusses five books he'd read, if time permitted.

1. The Billy Bob Tapes: A Cave Full of Ghosts, by Billy Bob Thornton and Kinky Friedman.
Does anyone else think it's weird that William Robert Thornton, the auteur who made Sling Blade, is now a Canada-hating country singer while Angelina Jolie, his former wife, [...]

“Like a Hidden Track on a CD”: A Conversation With Tania James

More evidence of globalization at work: Novelist and short-story writer Tania James lives in D.C., but her most recent publication is a story about two brothers from Lahore, India, and it was published in the new, England-themed issue of Granta. That story, "Lion and Panther in London," is also included in her first story collection, [...]

Five Books I’d Read

in which the author discusses five books he'd read, if time permitted.

1. In One Person, by John Irving.
I'm in my fourth decade of confusing John Irving with John Updike and, rather than fake my way through conversations among the literary set, have decided to go public. Sometimes, this confusion works in Updike's favor, as when [...]

Five Books I’d Read

in which the author discusses five books he'd read, if time permitted.
1. Joss Whedon: The Complete Companion: The TV Series, the Movies, the Comic Books and More: The Essential Guide to the Whedonverse, by PopMatters.
Joss Whedon went to my college. So did Jem Cohen and, uh, MGMT and, uh—did I mention Joss Whedon?
2. A [...]

Five Books I’d Read

in which the author discusses five books he'd read, if time permitted.

1. Darth Vader and Son, by Jeffrey Brown.
I suppose at some point the whole "Star Wars" thing will be played out—that young children will never known about Han, Luke, Leia, Obi-Wan, Darth, C3P0, R2D2, et. al. That day isn't today.
2. The Listeners, by Leni [...]

Five Books I’d Read

in which the author discusses five books he'd read, if time permitted.

1. The "I Ching": A Biography, by Richard J. Smith.
I was in a band with a dude who consulted the I Ching regularly, even when making setlists. This makes me curious about the I Ching, and I was excited to find this book abandoned [...]

Five Books I’d Read

in which the author discusses five books he'd read, if time permitted.

1. The Studio, edited by Jens Hoffmann.
My first "studio" was my high school bedroom. Then my band played in my friend's basement, which his parents inexplicably converted into a practice space/marijuana-smoking area. At college, I played in the basement of my dorm, and the [...]

Chilean Sea Blobs in D.C.: What the Hell?

Local author Theodore Carter took to the streets at 4:30 a.m. Thursday to plop glittery Chilean sea blobs at three intersections in Northwest D.C. and Maryland: 16th Street and North Portal Drive NW, Connecticut and Nebraska avenues NW, and Fenton Street and Philadelphia Avenue in Silver Spring. The “invasion” was part publicity stunt, part public art project [...]

Five Books I’d Read

in which the author discusses five books he'd read, if time permitted.

1. New American Haggadah, by Jonathan Safran Foer, translated by Nathan Englander.
Rewriting a religious text to suit your taste proves that, in the world of arts and letters, you're a baller. King James did it. Thomas Jefferson did it. Joseph Smith did it. So [...]

Is Monica Hesse Writing the Next Hunger Games?

Monica Hesse's debut novel does not involve vampires, she assures us. Phew.
Then again, we're living in the era of The Hunger Games now, not Twilight, and the Washington Post feature writer's upcoming book sounds like a square fit for the dystopian young adult niche. It's "about a teenage girl raised in the Path—a virtual reality experiment designed [...]