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The plain truth: A great new series
Look in any bookstore or airport newsstand, or on the shelves of many variety, grocery and drugstores for that matter, and you will see that mystery series are flourishing. Some are the more hard-boiled detective types; some are heavy on violence. There are also plenty of series for those of us who prefer the cozier…
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Off to France
Knowing Bob Moyer and how much he travels, I have a prediction: If Martin Walker’s mystery series has made Bob want to visit the Perigord region of France, Bob will be visiting the Perigord region of France. One day, I’ll be hard at work in Stokes County, N.C., and my phone will ring. When I…
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Let the debate continue!
Paul O’Connor’s amazing (?) feat of reading Moby-Dick on his iPhone prompted Stephen Wishnevsky of Winston-Salem to write about another classic of American literature, Huckleberry Finn, and to confess to an act of literary heresy. By Stephen Wishnevsky. In the same thread as Paul O’Connor’s review of “Moby-Dick; or, The Whale,” by Herman Melville, I…
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Whirlwind memoir
Anne Barnhill of Garner, N.C., who’s hard at work on a novel to be published by St. Martin’s, has also written a short-story collection and a moving memoir, At Home in the Land of Oz, which tells her story of growing up with an autistic sister. Here, Anne takes a look at a new memoir…
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Is this man insane?
Paul O’Connor is special. All those who write for this book blog do so because they love books. They like to read them, and they also like to talk about what they have read. They enjoy the thoughtful conversation about books that’s increasingly moving to the Internet as more and more print publications give up…
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Praise for a History of Christianity
Stephen Wishnevsky of Winston-Salem weighs in on a weighty book. He hasn’t quite finished the book – it’s long – but his review is worthwhile nonetheless. By Stephen Wishnevsky CHRISTIANITY: THE FIRST THREE THOUSAND YEARS. By Diarmaid MacCulloch. Viking Press. 2010. 1016 pages. $45. As much as I hate to review a book that I…
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Hello Again – Tentatively
Forgive me reviewers and readers. I have been remiss in posting reviews. I have a number of good reviews waiting in the wings, and they’ve been waiting for a while. But it’s not my fault. Or if it is my fault, it’s only in that I celebrated publicly the coming of high-speed Internet to the…
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Moonlight Mile
World traveler Bob Moyer sometimes finds it hard to stay home long enough to write a review, but recently he touched down in Winston-Salem long enough to dish this one out. By Robert Moyer MOONLIGHT MILE. By Dennis Lehane. William Morrow. 324 pages. $26.99. It’s been 12 years since Patrick and Angie found the baby…
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Jack London, The Road
Steve Wishnevsky of Winston-Salem likes to review many kinds of books, including classics that people may not have read but might enjoy. One of the many things to recommend such books is that they are now in the public domain, and if you search for them you might find them where you can download them…
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Michael Malone’s latest (I think), and editors or their lack
Michael Malone, a North Carolina writer, is one of my favorite contemporary authors. He’s also one of the most frustrating. At times, he goes long stretches without publishing a novel. Somehow, when he does come out with a new novel, it takes me by surprise. Even though I’ve been a book-review editor for 25 years,…