What We’ve Been Reading—February 2021

by Editors

This month it's The Count of Monte Cristo, the Hapsburgs, and a foray into Sinclair Lewis.
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23 Feb 2021

The Gratuitous Abundance of Books

by John Wilson

There are so many books to instruct and divert us, miming Creation itself in their gratuitous abundance. Continue Reading »

18 Feb 2021

Those Who Hunger and Thirst

by John Wilson

Doubt and faith are intertwined in Thirst. Continue Reading »

4 Feb 2021

Briefly Noted

by Various

In the late sixth century, the monk John Moschos called the Judean Desert a “spiritual meadow,” one blossoming with men and women seeking God alone. Fourteen centuries later, William Dalrymple retraced Moschos’s footsteps in From the Holy Mountain: A Journey Among the Christians of the . . . . Continue Reading »

1 Feb 2021

James Herriot and the Desire for Home

by Jonathon Van Maren

James Herriot’s values had nothing to do with comfort and everything to do with gratitude. Continue Reading »

28 Jan 2021

What We've Been Reading—January 2021

by Editors

Our editors' recent musings on Glenn Arbery, Dana Gioia, Lauren Oyler, and Rumer Godden. Continue Reading »

19 Jan 2021

Odds and Ends for Wendy

by John Wilson

When my wife went to visit family, I would sometimes keep notes of things she might enjoy hearing about when she got back. Continue Reading »

8 Jan 2021

Briefly Noted

by Various

This handsomely produced book represents both the riches and the absurdities of the academic world circa 2020. Anyone who is, as I am, besotted with books to a degree some judge unhealthy will want to have a copy at hand, along with Roger S. Bagnall’s Early Christian Books in Egypt, Richard . . . . Continue Reading »

1 Jan 2021

Papa Don’t Preach

by Randy Boyagoda

For about three years, I read fiction on my phone. I’d never done so before, and I haven’t since. I had to, during this period, because my wife and I were working our way through “The Neapolitan Quartet,” a series of novels by the Italian writer Elena Ferrante. The books were so readable . . . . Continue Reading »

1 Jan 2021

Our Year in Books: 2020

by Various

We asked some of our writers to contribute a paragraph about the most memorable books they read this year. Continue Reading »

25 Dec 2020