Shaun of the Dead

OK, so zombies are big these days. Huge, in fact. Fictional and historical characters have taken up the eternal battle against the undead with great success. But what if you were a 20-something slacker and the Day dawned? Shaun is the classic underachiever. In fact, the greatest triumph of his life is probably living away [...]

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The Murder of My Aunt, by Richard Hull

Since this is a mystery story, I must be somewhat circumspect in my description, lest this review provide too much information.  I apologize in advance. The Murder of My Aunt, though not widely known in this degraded age, is considered a classic murder mystery. When published in 1935, it overturned every convention of the genre, [...]

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The Killer Angels, by Michael Shaara

As the anniversary of the date South Carolina fired on Fort Sumter, April 12 marked the sesquicentennial of the start of the Civil War. In Virginia, where many of the best-known generals served, and where many of the highest profile battles were fought, it’s a pretty big deal. And around here, where so many firsts [...]

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The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford

OK, the first strike against this movie for most people is the title. Yes, it is long for our day and time. We like one- or two-word titles, punchy and succinct. But Assassination is so grounded in the events of 1882 that the title fits right in with the headlines, ballads, and dime novels of [...]

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Who Murdered Chaucer?: A Medieval Mystery, by Terry Jones

Let’s dispense with the minor details first: yes, it is the Terry Jones of Monty Python and the Flying Circus.  Second, he introduces the book with a caveat: “This book is less of a Whodunnit? than a Wasitdunnatall?” Third, he worked with five distinguished historians in producing it, but, hey, his name is more recognizable [...]

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Endpoint and Other Poems, by John Updike

Poetry allows the reader to examine familiar things in extraordinary ways as well as to experience completely new things. John Updike’s Endpoint allows us both opportunities. While he is known by most readers as a novelist of unmatched skill, Updike is also a poet whose work does not rely on his fame in the fiction [...]

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Music of a Distant Drum: Classical Arabic, Persian, Turkish, and Hebrew Poems

Yesterday’s post explored the roots of English poetry, looking at the poems of Anglo-Saxon England. Today, we look at medieval poetry of the four great Middle Eastern cultures–Arabic, Persian, Turkish, and Hebrew. Editor and translator Bernard Lewis brings together both classic, for example Rumi and Hafiz, and less well-known writers in this captivating collection. Lewis’s [...]

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The Word Exchange: Anglo-Saxon Poems in Translation

If you enjoy poetry of any sort, you should find something to enjoy in editors Greg Delanty and Michael Matto’s collection of Anglo-Saxon poems in translation. Delanty has assembled a superb selection of contemporary poets, including Eavan Boland, Robert Hass, Mary Jo Salter, Seamus Heaney, Billy Collins, and others, to offer their versions of poems [...]

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Otherwise, by Jane Kenyon

Poet Jane Kenyon died, far too young, in 1995. Otherwise collects some of the best work from her four previous books as well as twenty previously unpublished poems. Kenyon writes quiet, thoughtful poems, frequently set in the home and community in New Hampshire that she shared with her husband, poet Donald Hall. She has the [...]

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The Trouble With Poetry, by Billy Collins

April is poetry month, and so this week will feature five favorite poets. If you have a chance this April, find a poem and read it out loud. Or, better yet, memorize a poem just for fun. Be sure to check out the poetry display at the Williamsburg Library or see our poetry display on [...]

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The Essential New York Times Cookbook, by Amanda Hesser

How can this be? The library’s copy of The Essential New York Times Cookbook is sitting on the shelf. Cooks of Williamsburg, you are seriously missing out. Here are recipes that readers have clipped from the pages of The New York Times and treasured for decades. Amanda Hesser sifted through 150 years’ worth of food [...]

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The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival, by John Vaillant

The fact that Vladimir Markov was killed and eaten by a tiger is horrifying enough. But even more chilling is that the tiger singled out Markov for death, stalked him, and waited patiently at Markov’s house until his victim appeared. This was no random case of man-eating—it was first-degree murder. Around this sensational 1997 attack, [...]

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Travels in Siberia, by Ian Frazier

Siberia is known for the gulag, cold weather, and mosquitoes, none of which is a big tourist draw. Fortunately for those of us who are unlikely ever to visit Siberia, Ian Frazier has been there five times. As a traveler, he is omnivorous, investigating and reporting on the history, the people, the land, the language, [...]

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A Shadow Falls, by Nick Brandt

In these majestic photographs, the great mammals of East Africa seem to be passing away before our eyes. Elephant, lion, zebra, cheetah, and giraffe are captured in poses so timeless and perfect that it is hard to believe they were taken in the wild. The sepia tone makes them look like old photographs of long-dead [...]

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Perfumes: The Guide, by Luca Turin and Tania Sanchez

A book of perfume criticism? And why not? Just as music is art for the ear and painting is art for the eye, perfume is art for the nose. You and I might not be able to distinguish a perfume masterpiece from a dud, but the authors can, and they are at their most entertaining [...]

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The Iron Duke, by Meljean Brook

Prepare to set sail on the Iron Seas… The Iron Duke is the first in the gripping new steampunk series by paranormal romance author Meljean Brook.  The novel is set in an alternate Victorian England, after Britain’s expulsion of the Horde, an oppressive empire from Asia.  The rebellion was led by the heroic but mysterious [...]

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Silent in the Grave, by Deanna Raybourn

Without doubt, Lady Julia Grey lives a charmed life, with a large, loving family, a handsome, indulgent husband, and great wealth– that is, until one evening, when her husband Sir Edward Grey collapses in a twitching heap on the music room floor, and dies mere hours later.  Everyone accepts the death as natural.  Even after [...]

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Release Me, by The Like

First of all, a note of warning: this CD is very, very catchy.  So if you don’t want to find yourself humming these songs at work one day, I suggest you read no further. If however you are not averse to making a fool of yourself humming away while standing at the photocopier as your [...]

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