Book Reviews

Sigrid Undset’s masterpiece is actually a trilogy.

I was a young man and about to begin four years of military service when I came across a haiku poem that struck me profoundly:

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

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

Franz Kafka, insurance agent and literary genius, died from tuberculosis in 1924 at the age of forty.

Similar to Emily Bronte, Sappho fascinates men and women from all over the world. Perhaps this is due to certain combinations that are very much present in the works of these two gifted artists:

“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.

I have a certain rule of thumb with respect to the great philosophers of the past...

“Light in August” (1932) is set in the American South during the era of racial segregation and is focused chiefly on a protagonist named Joe Christmas.

This is the sort of book that a person could hold onto indefinitely, delve into repeatedly, and emerge with an arsenal of life- and sanity-saving insights.