Novel

I'm very interested in learning more about the Vietnam War, and in better understanding both how the United States got entangled in the conflict and what has happened in the decades since we withdrew. Today, Vietnam has transformed into one of the most dynamic economies in Asia. I also hear that it's an amazing place to visit. One book that came highly recommended is The Best and the Brightest by David Halberstam, and I already have a copy sitting on my bookshelf. It is wide

I almost did a double take when I read that the new film adaptation of Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights is being released this weekend to coincide with Valentine's Day. Seriously? This book is many things — brilliant, intense and unforgettable — but a date-night romance it is not. At least not in any traditional sense. For many years, I put off reading this book, but I finally tackled it during the pandemic when I had more time to read. I don't know what took me so long.

Ernest Hemingway famously used the term "the iceberg theory" to describe his writing technique, in which only a small part of his meaning is visible, and the rest is submerged. Reading his work today, it's easy to forget how experimental his approach was at the time. I underlined the following passage because I think it encapsulates Hemingway's mastery of understatement, as well as his flair for pointing out the absurd in subtle ways. This paragraph appears toward the end of

In 1926, Ernest Hemingway published The Sun Also Rises , his first novel. To mark its 100th anniversary, it felt fitting to re-read the book and to reflect on why I think it's an American masterpiece. The first time I encountered this book was in my AP English class in high school. I was instantly hooked on Hemingway's style and his Prohibition-era tale of American and British expats behaving badly as they gallivanted through Europe. At the same time, I didn't really get a l

Ever since I read The Hebrew Teacher , the first book translated into English by the US-based, Israeli-born writer Maya Arad, I have been eagerly anticipating the publication of her next book in English. The Hebrew Teacher is a collection of three novellas, all centered around Israeli transplants in America and the complicated bonds they have with one another and their homeland. The title story takes place at a college in the Midwest, and the other two are set in Northern C