3 favorite football books

Football is not a business of words. No verbs, nouns or adjectives need apply, and here's a tip for the wise adverb: Pick up your gear right now and clear out — quickly. Nobody wants you.

… Continue

Short and sharp artfulness

Attenberg's third book mesmerizes

Words are always weapons. Sometimes they're goofy, harmless weapons — a squirt gun, say, or a slingshot — and sometimes they're AK-47s. But they aim to get your attention, and they can do it the easy way or the hard way.

… Continue

What you ought to be reading right now

Toward the end of "Still Alice" (2009), Lisa Genova's remarkable debut novel recently published in paperback by Pocket Books, the title character gives voice to her worst fear: Soon she might not recognize her loved ones. Once a high-functioning Harvard University professor, 50-year-old Alice now suffers from early onset Alzheimer's. She loses her way on familiar streets. She can't remember colleagues' names. But it is the specter of not knowing her adult daughter, Lydia, that most frightens Alice.

… Continue

Weird (and wonderful)

Adding to lore of Lovecraft, by creeps and bounds

One of my favorite scenes in "Howard Lovecraft and the Frozen Kingdom" — and there are many contenders in this splendid new graphic novel by Chicago native Bruce Brown — occurs when young Howie stands before a gigantic, green, grotesque and multi-tentacled monster.

… Continue

Who was the real Alice of 'Wonderland' fame?

Glen Ellyn writer rescues Alice from Wonderland

Before "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" (1865), most children's books were like hickory sticks: Hard, boring, humorless, intended only to punish or instruct. And then came the magical adventure story by the Oxford mathematician who wrote under the pen name Lewis Carroll:

… Continue

'The Second Plane' by Martin Amis

September 11: Terror and Boredom

IT would be too easy to read Martin Amis' slim book on Sept. 11 in a day and to dismiss it with a politically correct glare. The dozen essays, columns and reviews and two short stories in "The Second Plane: September 11, Terror and Boredom" are more illuminating than that, though deeply, sometimes self-indulgently flawed.

'The House of Widows' by Askold Melnyczuk

Family secrets lie at the end of a dark and twisted path

FROM its puzzling opening line ("The most common grammatical error is the lie"), there's an ominous vibe to Askold Melnyczuk's third novel, "The House of Widows," and the sense of unease lingers until the final sentence. It's a mysterious, masterfully taut story in which dread plays a prominent role.

'Marco Polo' by Laurence Bergreen

An account of the adventures of the celebrated 13th century world traveler.

MARCO POLO was only 17 when he departed for China in 1271 with his father, Niccolò, and his uncle, Maffeo. Those two merchants of Venice were known to the boy primarily as storytellers of their fabulous exploits, writes award-winning biographer and historian Laurence Bergreen, for they had been absent more than 16 years, Marco's entire childhood. The pair had followed trade routes east, encountered exotic countries and customs and survived many perils; they had even lived for a time at the court of Kublai Khan, the leader of the Mongol Empire. Eventually they agreed to accompany his emissary west to the pope, vowing to return to Cambulac (Beijing) with several items the Great Khan had requested.