Ashes and Embers
Taking a second look at Michael Wolff’s “Fire and Fury.”
Letter from Europe: Worst-Case Scenarios
The Grand Tour is more precarious than it used to be.
2017: Last Year’s Reading
Longer than a tweet, faster than a Fox News lie, here are some of the books of the year — read, re-read, and not-so-red in the Age of Trumpty-Dumpty.
The Ins and Outs of the Labyrinth
It’s a flash-mob Greek tragedy. Stan Persky reviews “Adults in the Room,” the political memoir that tells you almost everything you need to know about the EU.
Our Intrepid Reporter
Martha Gellhorn’s journalistic beat covered the globe. Today, there’s more reason than ever to read her dispatches from the front.
The Martian Invasion: (Ch. 2) Travel Morons
In Ch. 2 of “The Martian Invasion,” Brian Fawcett, a coming-of-age young Canadian, is on the Grand Tour of Europe in 1963. The “Rover Boys” (Brian and a pal) are driving a 1953 Opel through a blizzard in the Alps, eventually ending up behind the Iron Curtain in Belgrade, Serbia. The adventures of “travel morons.”
SENTENCE: LIFE HAPPENED
Mikhail Iossel is in Kenya, being interviewed by a Young Writer for a Nairobi-based publication, who, upon being shown some photos of Iossel in his youthful 20s, asks, “But… but… what happened?” SENTENCE: LIFE HAPPENED is the latest in Iossel’s series of stories-in-one-sentence.
Scribbles from Italy: Men Who Know How, Hurt Words, Permission, Meta Metaverse, A Pressing Time
Vian Andrews’ journals from Italy’s Umbrian countryside include woodpiles, competent workers, words that hurt, bureaucratic permits, Sunday theme-parks, and lots of olives, harvested and pressed, and olive oil drizzled on hot grilled bread.
The Martian Invasion: A Love Story: (Ch. 1) An Incident in an Alley
Brian Fawcett relates an incident in an alley in Brighton, England in 1963 that involves dope, Rockers, switchblades, and books. But how to tell a story that doesn’t violate the principles of the Creative Writing Department Manual or the fact that there is no fiction in the real world? “The Martians are always coming,” as one writer once said.
The Sussex Variations, or Two Boars: (Ch. 15) Nightingales, and a Short Journey Through the Darkness
In the concluding chapter of Brian Fawcett’s “The Sussex Variations, or Two Boars,” the young Canadian acquiring an “education” on an English pig farm in 1962 is still learning about the birds and the boars. “Nightingales, and a Short Journey Through the Darkness” features robins, starlings, nightingales and a deadly dangerous boar.