We are made to see these places that for most of us never existed in our consciousness, and how they connect to ourselves, in concrete terms of war or policy and in abstract terms of fear and empathy. In these moments, the variables of distance, speed, and time that keep us from knowing these places through our own experience collapse. more »

A child who loves to read may beg for just a few more minutes so that she can finish the chapter before lights-out. If you refuse her, she may well sneak a flashlight and her book under the covers. It’s a minor dilemma, but a parent must ultimately decide: do you punish the deception, or do you just wait a bit, and then quietly remove the flashlight and book from underneath the sleeping child? more »

From the razor's edge between what we know and what we absolutely cannot know and the coping with dread draws the reader to viewpoints often far from ordinary consideration, though no distance at all from what is vital to humanity. more »

Joan Cannon, Jill Norgren and Julia Sneden Review:  Kristin Hannah's The Winter Gardenis a slightly flawed but enjoyable tale about people who fit the fiction, but some of them perhaps not quite to the life; Daniyal Mueenuddin's In Other Rooms, Other Won… more »