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Review of Carpenters: The Musical Legacy, by Mike Cidoni Lennox and Chris May, with Richard Carpenter Review by Michael Quinn Two journalists approached musician Richard Carpenter to get his blessing on a book they were developing on the band that he’d he fronted in the 1970s and ’80s with his sister Karen (now deceased). Richard offered more than his approval. […]
Review of Fierce Love: A Bold Path to Ferocious Courage and Rule-Breaking Kindness That Can Heal the World by Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis Review by Michael Quinn My partner is a Christian. He’s been seeking a spiritual home. Prior to the pandemic, he spent many Sundays trying out different churches throughout Brooklyn and Manhattan. Some, he felt, had a drowsy, […]
Drag queen Linda Simpson has been a unique presence in New York City nightlife since the 1980s. She’s not known for barn-burning performances (her longstanding gig is as a Bingo hostess) or for being a look queen (her off-the-rack outfits veer toward the pedestrian, capped with an out-of-the-bag, shake-and-go red wig). Her wisecracks and corny sense of humor are as […]
Review of Black Star by Eric Anthony Glover, illustrated by Arielle Jovellanos Extreme temperatures. Flash flood alerts. Wildfires. Sounds like this past summer, no? These conditions are also found on the fictional planet Eleos, the setting for Eric Anthony Glover’s debut graphic novel, Black Star. Brilliantly illustrated by Arielle Jovellanos, the story follows an all-female team of scientists dispatched on […]
Jonathan Ames, author of several books (including You Were Never Really Here, adapted into a film starring Joaquin Phoenix), creator of two television series (Blunt Talk and Bored to Death), and sometimes boxer (fighting as “The Herring Wonder”), continues building an eclectic body of passion projects with his latest work, A Man Named Doll. This novel focuses on the improbably […]
Review of Mona by Pola Oloixarac, Translated from the Spanish by Adam Morris Review by Michael Quinn Waking up on a Palo Alto train station platform, covered in blood, with no memory of what happened or how she got there, Mona, the title character of the third novel by Argentinian writer Pola Oloixarac (translated from the Spanish by Adam Morris), […]
Review of Marvelous Manhattan: Stories of the Restaurants, Bars, and Shops That Make This City Special by Reggie Nadelson Review by Michael Quinn. Now that the city’s opening up, where are you looking forward to going? Should you be willing to venture across the river, author Reggie Nadelson has some swell suggestions. Her new book, Marvelous Manhattan: Stories of the […]
Review of Taking a Long Look: Essays on Culture, Literature, and Feminism in Our Time by Vivian Gornick Review by Michael Quinn Bronx-born Vivian Gornick cut her teeth as a journalist working as a reporter for Village Voice in the early ’70s. An urgent need to “put the reader behind my eyes—see the scene as I had seen it, feel […]
Review of Another Day’s Begun: Thornton Wilder’s Our Town in the 21st Century by Howard Sherman Review by Michael Quinn “What is trivial and what is significant about any one person’s making a breakfast, engaging in a domestic quarrel, in a ‘love scene,’ in dying?” asked Thornton Wilder, reflecting on the question at the heart of his play, Our Town. […]
Born in 1955, Donna Florio lives in the same “barbell”-shaped West Village apartment she grew up in. Her new book, Growing Up Bank Street, recounts her bohemian childhood and coming of age, as well as the history of the neighborhood, stories from some of its longtime residents, and notable celebrity encounters, including John Lennon (whom she sprinkled while watering her […]