Books News & Reviews A Book A Week: The Frozen Rabbi by Steve SternBecky Holmes on Friday 02/03/2012 6:00 pmRabbi Eliezer, a great sage, is accidentally frozen in a block of ice in Russia in 1889. He remains thusly preserved for over a hundred years until he is inadvertently thawed out and reanimated during a power surge in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1999. His unwitting rescuer is Bernie Karp, an overweight, socially awkward Jewish teenager who has found the frozen rabbi in his parents' basement chest freezer. >More  Madison Central Library sells outAustin Duerst on Wednesday 02/01/2012 2:04 pmSince moving to a temporary location last year in advance of renovations to its home on West Mifflin, frequent visitors to the Madison Central Library have no doubt felt a piece of their lives missing, be it in the form of a favorite door handle or metal shelf. But for a limited time, those who wish to reclaim a portion of the library for themselves can do so through a public sale of the building’s various accessories and materials. >More A Book A Week: Faith by Jennifer HaighBecky Holmes on Friday 01/27/2012 6:00 pmFaith is the book I've been waiting for Mary Gordon or Alice McDermott to write. These women are leading writers of Irish-American fiction, but neither has taken on the subject of the sexual abuse scandals in the Catholic church. Jennifer Haigh has done it instead, and done it well. >More A Book A Week: A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer EganBecky Holmes on Thursday 01/26/2012 6:00 pmJennifer Egan's A Visit from the Goon Squad is just the kind of book I like, so my year is off to a good start. It's clever and original, complicated but not difficult to read. It's funny and a bit sad at the same time. >More A Book A Week: The Oriental Wife by Evelyn ToyntonBecky Holmes on Wednesday 01/25/2012 6:00 pmI swore I wasn't going to do this: pick up random books at the library. This was what got me into trouble last year; most of the books I found this way proved dull or annoying, and I wasted several days on each one. However, I can't seem to resist the habit, and this time it paid off. >More A Book A Week: The Paris Wife by Paula McLainBecky Holmes on Wednesday 10/26/2011 6:00 pmIn the Woody Allen movie Midnight in Paris, Ernest Hemingway talks in clichés as he tosses his lovely hair out of his eyes. In The Paris Wife Hemingway also speaks in clichés, but whereas in the movie you know it's all a joke, in the book it's supposed to be serious dialogue. >More Wisconsin Book Festival 2011: Monsters of Poetry take over OvertureAustin Duerst on Friday 10/21/2011 4:00 pmEmerging from the depths of Madison's literary scene, the Monsters of Poetry reading series has hosted events displaying the talents of up-and-coming writers from around the Midwest for two yearts. Created from a handful of University of Wisconsin-Madison and University of Iowa grads, the series has developed a dedicated following and emerged as a venue for both readers and writers to come together, usually at the Project Lodge, to enjoy a night of poetry and fiction. >More A Book A Week: Nemesis by Philip RothBecky Holmes on Friday 10/21/2011 6:00 pmLeah Hager Cohen, writing in The New York Times, says she always thought Philip Roth's books were "for boys." Then she goes on to say how much she liked Nemesis. Why? It's just as boy-centric as all the others. >More Jacquelyn Mitchard says farewell to Madison with an extremely candid reading at the Wisconsin Book FestivalDean Robbins on Friday 10/21/2011 8:26 amOn Thursday, Jacquelyn Mitchard read with Mary Gordon and Diana Abu-Jaber at the Wisconsin Book Festival, but it was hard to focus on the other two. While they were dressed drably in black, our bestselling local author (The Deep End of the Ocean) was colorful in silver and purple. While they were low-key, Mitchard was funny, brazen and, at times, maybe a tad inappropriate. >More The 2011 Wisconsin Book Festival: Five highlightsRosemary Zurlo-Cuva on Wednesday 10/19/2011 2:30 pmThe Wisconsin Book Festival has way too many things to see between Oct. 19 and 23. Here are five good places to start. >More Back to the Wisconsin Book Festival: An interview with author and former book fest honcho Dean BakopoulosAustin Duerst on Monday 10/17/2011 2:30 pmWhile living in Madison, Bakopoulos served for many years as director of both the Wisconsin Book Festival and the Wisconsin Humanities Council. Drawing heavily from his personal experiences, his newest novel My American Unhappiness takes place in Madison during the second Bush Administration. Before arriving in Madison for his appearances at the Wisconsin Book Festival, Bakopoulos took some time to talk about his newest book and how it was informed by his experiences living in Madison. >More |
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