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Category Archives: Reviews by Bethany
A Review of Elif Batuman’s The Idiot
When we were freshmen in college, Jill gave me a book of cartoons for Christmas called I Went to College… and it Was Okay. I looked for the book before I started writing this review, and I couldn’t find it. … Continue reading
A Review of Olivia Manning’s School for Love
This novel is about Felix, a British boy whose mother has just died. Felix and his mother lived in Baghdad back when Iraq was a British colony, so Felix, whose father is also deceased, has to make a long journey … Continue reading
A Review of John Kaag’s American Philosophy: A Love Story
If nothing else, this memoir will make book lovers everywhere envious of John Kaag. Some six or seven years before he wrote this book, Kaag was in rural New Hampshire helping to organize a conference on William James. He was … Continue reading
A Review of Mike Brown’s How I Killed Pluto And Why It Had It Coming
I bought this book several years ago, back when I qualified for an educator discount and could get paperbacks from Random House for $3 apiece. Whenever you see me review a book that seems out of my usual oeuvre (I … Continue reading
A Review of Colson Whitehead’s The Underground Railroad
The greatest trick Colson Whitehead ever pulled was convincing this bookblogger that he had written a realistic novel. Yes, yes, I know that the fact the railroad in this novel is a literal series of tracks running under the nineteenth-century … Continue reading
A Review of Andre Dubus’ The Lieutenant
My reading goal for 2017 is to read more of what I call “quietly good” fiction. By this I mean stories that are well told but in traditional ways. I’m taking a moratorium on shifting point of view for a … Continue reading
Thoughts on Paulo Coehlo’s The Alchemist
It’s possible that I was the last English teacher on earth who hadn’t read The Alchemist. When did this book become so omnipresent on 9th grade reading lists? Many students list it as a favorite, and it’s not surprising that … Continue reading
