Many years ago, I had an old friend who was severely addicted to murder mystery novels. He wasn’t interested in true tales of actual murders (he could be surprisingly squeamish), nor was he all that keen on murders when they happened elsewhere in the fictional world.
I’ve been in what’s vaguely referred to as ‘the book business’ for a fairly long time. I’ve been a book reviewer, of course, but also a retail bookseller, a copy editor, an Arts & Entertainment writer, a Books section editor, and, as you see, a Books columnist.
If you’re lucky – and if you aren’t selflessly devoting your time to things like emergency medical services or highway safety or the long-haul trucking on which so much of the rest of the season depends – the holidays represent an island of rest. True, you might have lots of traveling to do, family
By Steve DonoghueI presided over a sad private ceremony last weekend. Well, it wasn’t entirely private – my bossy little Schnauzer was technically present, but she was entirely indifferent. I myself was anything but indifferent, because the ceremony was the death of a book.The book was George Dangerfield’s once-classic 1935 work of history, “The Strange […]
You come back home from Little League coaching and see the cat lolling lazily in the sunlight. You notice that you still have your game whistle hanging around your neck.