Dining with Squirrels

Another WWII novel — not on purpose, really! — that moves back and forth between Land’s End in the US and London. I didn’t think it was a deftly written as 22 Britannia Road and I thought the author’s note better explained the philosophical questions she was exploring than did the actual narrative. I hate […]

A total page-turner. If you can stomach the premise — a 5-year old raised entirely as a hostage with his mother in a garden shed — then you will be rewarded with the perfect twists and turns of a summer beach read. Read Room, but maybe don’t go on Wikipedia and read the true background […]

Absolutely fascinating documentary about the controversial take-over of perhaps the premier mid-century private art collection in the world, the Barnes Collection of suburban Philadelphia by the city’s powerful politicians, philanthropists, and power-brokers. Karl grew up about 25 minutes from the Barnes Museum and I got to visit it when it was still there. Every room […]