Sometimes it’s possible to determine how much one loves a novel by considering how much hate the characters inspire. I despised two of the central characters in debut author Charles Dubow’s Indiscretion. It is also already on my list of best books of 2013 (yes, we’re only one month in, but I’m pretty sure I’ll [...]
“Rollicking adventure” is one of those ridiculous terms that no one actually says in normal conversation but which reviewers love to use (“madcap romp” and “laugh-out-loud hilarious” are some other favorites). I hate to use such a cliché when describing Dave Barry’s Insane City. However, that is the perfect way to describe the Pulitzer Prize-winning [...]
I’ve never had any qualms about expressing my love for the simultaneously predictable (Ripped from the headlines! There will be a plot twist!), yet unpredictable (What will that twist be?) Law & Order franchise. Actually that’s not totally true: I’m not particularly fond of Criminal Intent (Vincent D’onofrio’s character is one of the most irritating [...]
With the rise of blogs and all the other fancy Internet stuff, it seemed, at first, that zines might fall by the wayside. Those underground magazines, covering including from personal essays to poetry to art to music criticism, used to be one of the few ways to self-publish to the world. And yes, the advent [...]
What would you do if you lost your mind? How would you feel if you were stricken with paranoia — not trusting your family or friends? Or if you began having seizures? Imagine struggling to simply speak. Or draw basic shapes. What if the doctors didn’t have any answers, and you had to accept the [...]
In his latest thriller, bestselling author James Grippando seems to take a cue from Law & Order with a novel ripped from the headlines. In a very non-scientific poll (i.e. asking my friends over drinks), people are torn over these type of stories. Some (including me) love the twist on events so sick, crazy, or [...]
We’re coming up on the last half of that long, indeterminate holiday stretch between Christmas and New Year’s Eve. You might be saving your energy and bucks for Monday night’s shebang, but there are still a few interesting things to check out around town this weekend. Here are five. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 28 Cristy Road’s Spit [...]
In 2010, the Miami natives behind the Foryoucansee collective brought you Hialeah Haikus, a patently absurd but hilarious little book full of Miami-in jokes told across sets of three lines. “I hate Abuela/Why she gotta call my girl, ‘La tira-flecha,’” went a memorable classic playing on our city’s arcane racial and ethnic obsessions. “She mani-pedis/At [...]
As Mortimer J. Adler wrote in the preface of the 1972 version of his classic How to Read a Book, “the educators of the country have acknowledged that teaching the young to read, in the most elementary sense of that word, is our paramount educational problem.” It’s been 40 years since that revised guide was published, [...]
You already know this: while earning your college degree was informative and pleasant enough, plenty of us head in a different direction. Or maybe the experience wasn’t so awesome or helpful, but we’re sticking, steadfast and stubborn, to what we set out for in the first place. Joshua Miller, the executive director and founder of [...]
Venezuela has been in the media lately: following the death of Hugo Chávez, his chosen successor, Nicolas Maduro, beat challenger Henrique Capriles in the current election for presidency. It was a miniscule margin of a win—about 50.7%–and as of this write-up, a contested verdict. But if you’re the average United Statesian, you are less aware [...]
