A college education must include learning how to read literature. Professors of language and literature teach students how to garner the pleasures, the comforts, and the knowledge contained in books of all languages and times. The news reported in the New York Times today, December 18th, that college teaching positions...

Three new books offer ghosts from Christmases past, bringing laughs, tears, and a bit of joy into the present (yes, pun intended) season. Augusten Burroughs' You Better Not Cry, Wally Lamb's Wishin' and Hopin', and John Mortimer's posthumous release of five Rumpole Christmas stories in A Rumpole Christmas all pop...

I've thanked the women authors who made my year great. Now it is time to name the male writers who have made my life good in 2009. I wouldn't ordinarily list these thank-yous by gender but Publisher's Weekly Top Ten Y-chromosome dominated list gave me a way to get...

The best tennis book of the year is not Open by Andre Agassi. Nor is it On the Line by Serena Williams. The winner, racquets down, is A Terrible Splendor by Marshall Jon Fisher. Not only is the book intelligent and enthralling, distinguishing it from the others, but unlike...

Thanksgiving is here and I want to give thanks to five women writers who in 2009 excited, enlivened, and energized me through their great books. Maybe these books did not make the male-dominated Publisher's Weekly List of Top Ten Books of 2009 but they made my top ten list in...

Realistic fiction is a powerful paradox: a made-up story used to convey truth. I should qualify my statement by adding an adjective: good realistic fiction offers truth through imagination. And great realistic fiction goes one better: by providing testament to a genuine way of life or situation or condition through...

People ask me how I found time to read during my year of reading one book a day. Based on how often and from how many places around the world the question has been asked, it is clear that time is the biggest hurdle to sitting down and reading. For...

In the past year I have read a book a day. Every day for 365 days. I didn't just read, I also wrote and posted on my website (the most truthful site name ever) my response to what I'd read, my personal and visceral (no time for editing) reaction...