Literature
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Book Review: Anonymous public servants are the heart of George Stephanopoulos’ ‘Situation Room’May 13, 2024 11:04 am - The biggest challenge for an author tackling the history of the Situation Room, the basement room of the White House where some of the biggest intelligence crises have be...
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Book review: ‘Challenger’ is definitive account of shuttle disaster and missteps that led to tragedy
May 13, 2024 10:57 am - When the Challenger space shuttle exploded a little over a minute after its launch in 1986, it pierced the dreams of millions who watched the tragedy unfold live on telev...
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Book review: Memoirist Lilly Dancyger’s penetrating essays explore the power of female friendships
May 06, 2024 10:38 am - Who means more to you — your friends or your lovers? In a vivid, thoughtful and nuanced collection of essays, Lilly Dancyger explores the powerful role that female friend...
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Book Review: Novelist Amy Tan shares love of the natural world in ‘The Backyard Bird Chronicles’
May 06, 2024 10:33 am - Birdwatching has become a cherished pastime for many since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, when people stuck at home for months looked out their windows for entertain...
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Book review: Rachel Khong’s novel ‘Real Americans’ explores race, class and cultural identityApr 29, 2024 1:02 pm - Rachel Khong’s “Real Americans” wrestles with issues of class, race and the genetic component of disease. Though largely a work of social realism, it has a touch of science fiction.
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Book review: ‘Nothing But the Bones’ is a compelling noir novel at a breakneck pace
Apr 29, 2024 7:05 am - Nelson “Nails” McKenna isn’t very bright, stumbles over his words and often says what he’s thinking without realizing it. We first meet him as a boy reading a superhero c...
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Book review: Emily Henry is still the modern-day rom-com queen with ‘Funny Story’
Apr 23, 2024 9:41 am - “Funny Story” isn’t a funny story at all. But it is a good one. Emily Henry's new romance novel starts with dueling breakups that have rocked the two main characters’ worlds — and forced them to bond over their shared broken hearts.
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Book review: Hampton Sides revisits Captain James Cook, a divisive figure in the South Pacific
Apr 15, 2024 5:01 pm - Captain James Cook’s voyages in the South Pacific in the late 1700s exemplify the law of unintended consequences. He set out to find a westward ocean passage from Europe to Asia but instead, with the maps he created and his reports, Cook revealed the Pacific islands and their people to the world.
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Batavia’s Books Between Bites welcomes author Marnie Mamminga April 18Apr 12, 2024 9:40 pm - Batavia's popular monthly noontime book program, “Books Between Bites,” continues Thursday, April 18, with a third visit by Batavia author Marnie Mamminga. She has coll...
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Book review: Short story anthology ‘The Black Girl Survives in This One’ challenges the horror canon
Apr 08, 2024 3:39 pm - Ahh, the Final Girl — a point of pride, a point of contention. Too often, the white, virginal, Western ideal. But not this time. “The Black Girl Survives in This One,” a ...