Like his previous novels, Snow Falling on Cedars and East of the Mountains, David Guterson’s latest, Our Lady of the Forest, follows another band of confused, rain-chilled characters battling tragic pasts and uncertain futures. In the sodden forests of North Fork, Washington, a homeless and asthmatic teenage pothead named Ann Holmes claims to be visited … Read more
As a playwright, Ann-Marie MacDonald is best known for the lighthearted Shakespeare parody Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet), but her novels travel a considerably darker emotional terrain. In her Oprah-blessed debut Fall on Your Knees, she detailed the corrosive secrets and lies destroying a dysfunctional Nova Scotian family. Her followup, The Way the Crow Flies, … Read more
A whisper in your ear: Canadian author Itani’s debut novel, Deafening, is a true joy, a moving and observant story of love, sorrow, and survival during the days of World War I. It’s made up of three entwining stories: a girl named Grania (inspired by Itani’s grandmother) learning how to cope with profound deafness in … Read more
Children’s books are not immune to the trends of adult publishing-in fact some grand old pretensions of the book trade do best in titles for the little people, like pop-ups and picture books. Czech-born Peter Sís is an extraordinary artist whose books are works of fine art that can be cherished by and for generations. … Read more
This fall’s two new exhibits at the Science Museum showcase the spookier side of the invertebrate world. Glow explores the fascinating topic of bioluminescence-that is, how creatures like fireflies and jellyfish have the ability to produce their own light. This whole glowing thing is useful in mating rituals, prey attraction, and cancer research (by humans, … Read more
The original Singing Detective, Dennis Potter’s 1986 BBC miniseries, was one of those bizarre and unrepeatable triumphs of pure creativity over the strictures of narrative form-a hallucinatory mix of noir film, paranoid fever dream, and Fosse-esque musical that built up and intertwined layers of story just so it could rip them apart and recombine them. … Read more
If Pirates of the Caribbean was any indication, there is an unmet public appetite for seafaring and swashbuckling, which bodes well for what could be a long series of movie adaptations of the well-loved series of historical novels by Patrick O’Brian. In a way, casting Russell Crowe as a hard-fighting Napoleon-era British sea captain is … Read more
These four films from the most productive decade of Humphrey Bogart’s career might be second-tier in the Bogie canon, but only because pretty much anything is second-tier to Casablanca and The Maltese Falcon. Included here are two of the last films of his pre-leading-man days when he was still playing villains and supporting charactersÑthe gritty … Read more
We go back and forth about which of Sergio Leone’s mid-sixties spaghetti Westerns is our favorite, like an indecisive diner trying to choose between their four favorite pie flavors at Bakers Square. Right now we lean toward For a Few Dollars More, but if anyone wanted to argue for West, the last, longest and most … Read more
After six years out of the music scene since 1997’s Surfacing was the toast of Lilith Fair, Sarah McLachlan is resurfacing with a new album. About time. While Surfacing’s “Angel” is a good song, we’re ready to hear that brilliant voice sing a different tune. And true to McLachlan’s success, Afterglow’s lead single “Fallen” has … Read more