Followers of J.R.R. Tolkien know what "The Hobbit" is: It's a prelude. A delicious dish, but not the main course. The adventures are wonderful, but the story plays out on a much smaller canvas than "The Lord of the Rings" -- though you wouldn't know it from watching the first installment of Peter Jackson's "Hobbit" … Continue reading What to bring with you when you join Bilbo & Company: new in bookstores
Tag: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Etc.: early Saramago, plus Frank Herbert’s ‘Dune’ meets poet Ted Hughes
JOSE VS. THE MAN: Back in 1980, 18 years before he won the Nobel Prize for Literature, Jose Saramago was a newspaper deputy editor who got canned from his job (nobody treats deputy editors right, do they?). He penned a big, fat novel that lets us know exactly how he was feeling, "Raised from the … Continue reading Etc.: early Saramago, plus Frank Herbert’s ‘Dune’ meets poet Ted Hughes
Relic, relique, reliquus: Part I
Recently, two unusual objects entered my life: an icon, and an old newspaper article. The icon, of St. Nicholas (good name), was made in Minsk -- the gift of a Belarus friend. The saint's holy image is painted on a thin slip of parchment that's been pasted to the smooth side of a piece of … Continue reading Relic, relique, reliquus: Part I
Nick Owchar 
You must be logged in to post a comment.