Book Reviews

Evil is vividly depicted in “The Big Sleep”, but the author never lapses into excess.  The result is a very enjoyable read, even for readers who are not big fans of mystery or detective fiction. 

Though I decided long ago to maintain some degree of skepticism where any historian is concerned, I enjoy and trust Paul Johnson above the rest.

Readers should not expect realism from this book. The Soviet and Nazi regimes served only as raw material for a work that is in large part fantastical.

Stories about the supernatural fascinate and attract, I suppose, because they deal with those realms of human experience that are mysterious.

Anyone who has spent a night or two in the wilderness knows that there is always a potential for danger.

Merton himself was an interesting man.  He was a twentieth century Roman Catholic monk whose writings became very popular even among nonreligious readers. 

Though James Farl Powers (1917—1999) focused his fiction on a variety of subjects, he is best known for his depictions of Catholic priests.

In a 1974 movie called The Yakuza, it is claimed that the Japanese do not believe in a heaven or hell.

Again, this is a painful read; and also lengthy. But for anyone who wants to know the whole story of the Holocaust—insofar as that is obtainable to mere readers of history—Martin Gilbert’s work is invaluable.

“The Brothers Karamazov”, Dostoyevsky’s last novel (1880), is generally considered to be his masterpiece. Its central theme is arresting and provocative: if there is no God and no life beyond this life, then morality is non-existent; ANYTHING goes.