Celebrating Community
Hearing someone tell you about a dream they had can make your eyes glaze over. It could be because dreams follow their own logic, unique to each of us. Dreams can feel specific, urgent and compelling after we’ve experienced them, but vague, meandering and uninteresting in the retelling. Cartoonist Roz Chast understands this completely—but she still wants to tell you […]
Review of The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store, by James McBride (Riverhead Books; 2023; 386 pages; $28) Reviewed by Michael Quinn Two kinds of people live in Chicken Hill, Pennsylvania: immigrant Jews and Blacks. These two groups eye each other warily, thinking they have nothing in common. Neither is especially thrilled to be there. It’s a rundown place, cut off […]
Review of Maud Martha, by Gwendolyn Brooks Gwendolyn Brooks (1917–2000) was an American poet and the first Black person to win the Pulitzer Prize in 1950. Her award-winning book of poems, Annie Allen, focused on the life of an ordinary Black girl living in Chicago’s South Side. Brooks returned to this subject in the only novel she ever published, Maud […]
Review of Mel Brooks: Disobedient Jew, by Jeremy Dauber Review by Michael Quinn Born in Brooklyn in 1926, Melvin Kaminsky was the youngest of four boys whom the fatherless family doted on. “Until I was six, my feet didn’t touch the ground,” he remembers. He was quick with a smile, a natural mimic, and good at making people laugh. He […]
An Interview with Bookseller and Novelist Emma Straub, by Michael Quinn Once a bookseller at the legendary BookCourt, today Emma Straub has a bookstore of her own — with two locations. Six years ago, she and her husband Michael Fusco-Straub opened Books Are Magic on Smith Street in Cobble Hill. Last fall, they opened a second store on Montague Street […]
Review of War Diary, by Yevgenia Belorusets, translated by Greg Nissan Right now, as you read this, there’s a war going on. Maybe you know every detail. Maybe you’ve skimmed the headlines. Maybe it feels like it has nothing to do with you. But what if the war was happening where you lived? You might think, This can’t be happening. […]
Review of Forgotten No More: The Restoration of Untermyer Gardens, by the Untermyer Gardens Conservancy Review by Michael Quinn Who’s up for a day trip? It’s helpful if you have a car, but not necessary. You can get to Yonkers from Grand Central Station in less than an hour. Now, I know what you’re thinking: Yonkers? What do I want […]
Review by Michael Quinn Like the Ghost of Christmas Past in Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, I’m taking you back in time. Come. Hold my hand. No need to be afraid. We’re flying out your apartment window, and heading toward Manhattan. Look at all those people down there. So much hustle and bustle. Why, it’s Christmastime! There’s the tree in […]
Review of TV Snapshots: An Archive of Everyday Life, by Lynn Spigel Review by Michael Quinn For a long stretch of years, I lived without a TV. What do you do at night?, people would ask me, more concerned than curious, as if there was only one thing you could do and one thing you needed to do it. As […]
Review of My Perfect Life, by Lynda Barry Review by Michael Quinn In the `90s, when I was in college, a friend showed me a book from her women’s studies course. She thought I might like it. It was a comic book with a bright pink cover with a drawing of a homely-looking girl standing in front of a mirror. […]