2021
April
In the wake of the Plague: the black death and the world it made
The Black Death was the fourteenth century's equivalent of a nuclear war. It wiped out one-third of Europe's population, taking some 20 million lives. And yet, most of what we know ... >>
Ask the Dust
Ask the Dust is the story of Arturo Bandini, a young Italian-American writer in 1930s Los Angeles who falls hard for the elusive, mocking, unstable Camilla Lopez, a Mexican waitress ... >>
March
On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous
Poet Ocean Vuong's debut novel is a shattering portrait of a family, a first love, and the redemptive power of storytelling... >>
His Only Wife
Afi Tekple is a young seamstress whose life is narrowing rapidly. She lives in a small town in Ghana with her widowed mother, spending much of her time in her uncle Pious’s house with his many wives and children. Then ... >>
How Proust Can Change Your Life: Not a Novel
The defining geopolitical contest of the twenty-first century is between China and the US. But is it avoidable? And if it happens, is the outcome already inevitable?... >>
Gros plan sur les arbres - Guide nature
We read from a french book written by a German botanist W. Lippert ... >>
February
Amnesty
A riveting, suspenseful, and exuberant novel from the bestselling, Man Booker Prize–winning author of The White Tiger and Selection Day about a young illegal immigrant who must decide whether to report crucial information about a murder—and thereby risk deportation.... >>
Wild Mountain Thyme
When you read a novel by Rosamunde Pilcher you enter a special world where emotions sing from the heart. A world that lovingly captures the ties that bind us to one another-the joys and sorrows, heartbreaks and misunderstandings, and ... >>
Has China Won? The Chinese Challenge to American Primacy
The defining geopolitical contest of the twenty-first century is between China and the US. But is it avoidable? And if it happens, is the outcome already inevitable?... >>
Nothing to Be Frightened of
Two years after the best-selling Arthur & George, Julian Barnes gives us a memoir on mortality that touches on faith and science and family as well as a rich array of ... >>
Clip Viewed
We discussed a presentation by Mukesh Kapila on The GLAS Hour: Meet the Author, online.
January
This is Happiness
Change is coming to Faha, a small Irish parish that hasn't changed in a thousand years.
For one thing, the rain is stopping... >>
A Promised Land
riveting, deeply personal account of history in the making, from the president who inspired us to believe in the power of democracy... >>