Revisiting Favorite Books and Authors: Kristin Lavransdatter
Culture Watch: March 7, 2001 - Book reviews: Ahdaf Soueif's novel, The Map of Love and Shop Girl by Steve Martin
April 10, 2001 - Book Reviews: We Were The Mulvaneys and Galileo's Daughter
SeniorWomenWeb Interviews: Nancy Flowers
April 20, 2002 - Book review: Thoughts From a Queen-Sized Bed by Mimi Schwartz
October 29, 2002 - Book review: The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
March 17, 2003 - Book Review, Suburban Nation by Andres Duany, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, Jeff Speck
April 24, 2003 - Book Review, In My Mother's Closet by Eugenia Zukerman
May 21, 2003: Book Review, The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
June 21, 2003: Book Reviews, Oryx and Crake, Isaac Newton, My Father Had a Daughter: Judith Shakespeare's Tale
July 22, 2003: A review of Getting Along (almost) With Your Adult Kids by Lois and Joel R. Davitz
October 21, 2003: Books: What Makes Harry Sell? And Consider This: Getting Along (almost) With Your Adult Kids, a handy manual for anyone with grown children.
January 21, 2004: Culturewatch: Reading Lolita in Tehran and Riding the Dragon
February 25, 2004 Culture Watch: Jeffrey Eugenides' Pulitzer-prize novel, Middlesex, is in paperback; Thomas Mallon's Bandbox.
March 25th, 2004 CultureWatch: One Thousand White Women; The Journals of May Dodd. A wry look at the debate over legalized same-sex unions with a three level license Proposal
April 20th, 2004 CultureWatch: The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd,
Regional Museums: The Mint Museums in Charlotte, NC
May 21st, 2004 Culture Watch: The Life of Pi
July 20th, 2004 Culture Watch: Good Grief: Julia Glass’s 2002 National Book Award winner, Three Junes
September 20th, 2004 Culture Watch: The Lemon Table and The Time Traveler's Wife. Overcoming Dyslexia
October 27th, 2004 Culture Watch: The Opposite of Fate - A Book Of Musings andThe Rule of Four
January 2005 CultureWatch: Anita Shreve's Light on Snow, David Guterson's Our Lady of the Forest and Susan Vreeland's The Forest Lover
February 2005: CultureWatch: Hypocrite in a Pouffy White Dress, The True and Outstanding Adventures of the Hunt Sisters and Age-Proof Your Mind
March 2005 CultureWatch: The Namesake and Interpreter of Maladies
April 2005 CultureWatch: Democratic Capitalism and Jane Fonda's autobiography, My Life So Far
June 2005 CultureWatch: Will in the World and A Great Improvisation; Franklin, France, and the Birth of America
July 2005 CultureWatch: Brunelleschi’s Dome and Mourning Ruby
August 2005 CultureWatch: Vindication: A Life of Mary Wollstonecraft and Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince is a rattling good story, one that entertains but also explores moral dilemmas.
October 2005 CultureWatch: The Mermaid Chair and a trio of mysteries by Kay Scarpetta, Bailey Weggins and partners Leaphorn and Chee
November 2005 CultureWatch: 1491 by Charles Mann; Robert Hicks' historical novel, The Widow of the South; Andrew Weil's good advice in Healthy Aging
January 2006 CultureWatch: In Our Endangered Values, America ’s Moral Crisis, Jimmy Carter sounds a clarion cry for change in the future. Toyin Falola writes with humor, truth, and purpose in A Mouth Sweeter Than Salt; Simi Linton’s memoir, My Body Politic, is a summon to the necessity for “affirmative actions of a new and as yet unwritten form to make inclusion, integration, and participation a given of the 21st century”
CultureWatch — P.D. James' The Lighthouse: A masterful plotter, a creator of believable and fascinating characters that makes reading her an unmitigated joy; Linda Fairstein's Death Dance: Fairstein’s workmanlike writing serves her chosen genre well, but don’t look for great literature in this series; Patricia Cornwell's Predator crawls without any instances of positive interaction between characters
CultureWatch: A Special Education: One Family’s Journey Through the Maze of Learning Disabilities is a brave book by Dana Buchman, in which the author looks back at herself with amazing candor. Gilead is Marilynne Robinson's first novel since Housekeeping and is well worth the wait. The standard of writing in Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules is satisfyingly high, with authors well-known to those of us who admire the short story
CultureWatch: Digging to America by Ann Tyler is an engaging read, even if it is fairly slim stuff. She is an exceptionally accessible writer, one who has the modern idiom down pat. Roger Angel introducing Let Me Finish writes “The title of this book ... isn’t about wrapping up a life or a time of life but should only evoke a garrulous gent at the end of the table holding up one hand while he tries to remember the great last line of his monologue”
CultureWatch: Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick, with its impeccable research and lively text, should be a mandatory read for anyone who loves history and a delightful surprise for those who do not. Walter Isaacson's Benjamin Franklin — An American Life has found its way into a place of honor on my long shelf of Frankliniana and should find its way into the hands of any American interested in our country’s beginnings, or for that matter into the hands of anyone interested in good historical writing. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen manages to be engaging, touching, scary, and just plain fun to read, all at once
CultureWatch: The Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards is emotionally engaging and thought-provoking in its exploration of the ramifications an initial falsehood can cause. What could be a better end-of-summer read than a romp with Fannie Flagg, author of Can't Wait To Get To Heaven, an upbeat, on-the-nose novel to make you laugh out loud. Judith Viorst, writing in I'm Too Young To Be Seventy And Other Delusions, supplies the kind of good laughter that finds you shaking your head in agreement
CultureWatch: In I Feel Bad About My Neck, Nora Ephron, has let fly with her own trenchant thoughts on things like wrinkles and graying hair but alas, The Man Who Loved Jane Austin by Sally Smith O’Rourke is full of unfortunate examples of dreadful writing. Morels by Michael Kuo is a beautiful book of particular interest to mycologists and mushroom hunters.
CultureWatch: Daniel Woodrell in Winter's Bone delves deeply into the brutality and the tenderness of people in a marginalized segment of our society. Deceit by James Siegel will inspire conspiracy theorists to be drawn to this book like flies to honey. The Night Gardener by George Pelecanos is a beautifully written and constructed crime novel. John Ehle's The Land Breakers, reissued in paperback offers a chance for new readers to discover this quiet, authoritative novelist
CultureWatch: It is Elizabeth Edwards's kindness and honesty and common sense that shine through every chapter of Saving Graces. In Imperium, Robert Harris has given us more than just the life of a great orator and politician; he has also given us the voice, mind and soul of his narrator. If you want a sweet escape and some fun re-living the decades from 1962 to the present, you’ll like Spring and Fall. Hidden Kitchens is high in entertainment value, as well as being informative for those of us who enjoy kitchen talk and action
CultureWatch: Charles Frazier's Thirteen Moons is a fascinating look at nineteenth century mountain life, and an introduction to the place of the Cherokee therein. Diane Setterfield's The Thirteenth Tale begins with a paean to the published word, an almost sensual appreciation for literature. Tony Hillerman's Shape Shifter involves a case that has continued to haunt Lt. Joe Leaphorn since his retirement.
CultureWatch: A Needle in the Right Hand of God is an analysis of the Bayeux Tapestry's creation, its importance, and its purpose. The Crimson Portrait is about a WWI group of doctors, scientists, nurses, and an artist who cared for soldiers with severe facial wounds, becoming developers of a new branch of medicine: plastic surgery. What is the What is a paean to the human spirit which can grow and thrive in the face of incredible deprivation
CultureWatch: The Foundation by Joel Fleishman: Anyone interested in the world of foundations and the dispersal of private wealth for common good will find this book enlightening and often surprising. Step on a Crack by James Patterson doesn’t just ramp up your adrenaline; it also tries to rip out your heartstrings.
CultureWatch: Afternoons With Emily: The characters, for the most part, ring true, and whether or not you’re interested in a new interpretation of Emily Dickinson, this book is fun to read. If anyone can keep the reader glued to page after grim page, Cormac McCarthy does in The Road. In the Naming of the Dead, female characters also have depth and dimension, something the male writers of thrillers often overlook
Culture Watch, Three for the Beach: Our reviewer confesses she read straight through North River, caught up in Pete Hamill’s lovely writing and the yarn he has spun. For a read that will make you laugh at the same time you’re shaking your head in recognition, JoeAnn Hart's Addled is it. If you’re looking for a lively mystery involving a grandmother who still has all her faculties including her sex drive, Relative Danger by June Shaw is for you
CultureWatch: The Blood of Flowers is set in 17th century Persia, a complex and fascinating tale written in the voice of a young woman from a small village; Still Summer is not the story to read before embarking on a cruise in anything smaller than a liner; Barefoot, a take on the interactions of siblings, as well as the anguish of a mother facing her mortality; The Empty Nest, a series of meditations on the fact that being a good parent demands the strength to let go of the job
CultureWatch: A Thousand Splendid Suns speaks deeply to the universal human spirit and the values of patience and loyalty and hope and honesty in the face of overwhelming odds. The Rest of Her Life is an event-driven novel about a family’s reaction to tragedy. Getting Rid of Matthew is a fun read that manages also to be quite touching
CultureWatch: By George is an engaging and sometimes confusing little novel. That’s not surprising, inasmuch as it is told in the voice of a ventriloquist’s dummy named George. If you love romances where everyone talks at length (o, endlessly) about feelings, The Choice is the book for you. Also, Books About Health and Retirement Concerns
CultureWatch: John Donne is an eminently readable book for the layman, especially for those of us who have read and loved John Donne’s poetry or sermons; Loving Frank is a remarkable piece of research, a novel, if you will, built on truth, and in the hands of a first-rate writer; The Italian Lover is about an American book conservator/restorer, who discovers a unique copy of Renaissance erotic drawings, Pietro Aretino’sI Modi
CultureWatch: Signed, Mata Hari by Yannick Murphy is a complex, brilliant, fascinating book; John Lithgow's Poets’ Corner would make a fine gift for any teenager or poetry-loving adult; Best Choices from the People's Pharmacy by Joe and Terry Graedon is a collection of common sense and effective self-care remedies covering
hundreds of common medical conditions
CultureWatch — People of the Book: Our reviewer didn’t get out of her chair for a very long time, and when she did, she made the move with regret; Beginner's Greek is a comedy of manners; it’s a cynic’s delight; it’s a social satire; it’s a paean to love at first sight. And If a high-class, feel-good tale is your cup of tea, you will love World Without End
CultureWatch: An Irish Country Village recalls Patrick Taylor’s firm grip on how to spin a wild Irish tale, full of very real (although often eccentric) folk, and the lively times in the life of the village of Ballybucklebo. Firefly Lane displays some good writing but its soap opera ways turns off our reviewer. Where Did I Leave My Glasses; The What, When, and Why of Normal Memory Loss demonstrates easy style and humor, along with the author's impressive research making this new book a must-have for anyone concerned about lapses of memo
CultureWatch — In The Thing About Life is That One Day You'll Be Dead the author's relationship to his father is full of love and laughter, but he reveals old wolf/young wolf competition; The Blue Star is more than evocative of the early days of World War II. It rings true in every way; The Life of the Skies links our desire to watch birds as from a time when apprehending the natural world was a matter of life and death
CultureWatch: In After Dark, Haruki Murakami’s virtuosity draws you in even as it puzzles and dazzles. Jhumpa Lahiri's writing in Unaccustomed Earth has a resonance that is rare in so young an author: every layer of it is full of rich intention. The Alzheimer's Action Plan is rich in medical and practical advice; run, don't walk to your bookstore for a copy
CultureWatch: Ladies of Liberty by Cokie Roberts has quality gossip. Even at its meanest, it's well-articulated and pertinent. Patricia Cornwell's prose in The Front moves fast and furiously, like the noire novels of the ‘30’s. The First 30 Days and Just Who Will You Be? represent books review-worthy in the self-help category
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