Beauty matters. Creating matters. I mean it matters like clean water matters. It is essential to our survival. It keeps our hearts soft and open. It focuses our minds on the truth. It makes us cry—for reasons much different and more noble than why the news makes us cry.

My show touches each person differently. My great pleasure is when people snag me after the performance and tell me a story, or show me a photograph, or hug me. All I care about is that they are touched. They take it from there. Art is, at its best, collaboration.

The downside I fear the most is one I don’t hear talked about much, perhaps because it’s small and personal and can’t be easily monetized: the value of wondering.

Mom rarely dared to disagree—the cost was too high.

Being curious about someone’s story isn’t all that can be done, but it’s some of what can be done.

I’m scared unlike I’ve ever been scared in my life. That’s simply true. What helps me is to remember my one job: Keep flying the plane.

Buen Camino My Walk Through 540 Miles of Rain, Resentment, and Redemption Susan has a perfect life, a perfect love, and perfect...

Fugitive Pieces by Canadian poet and novelist Anne Michaels might be the best book I’ve ever read in my life. I’ve had it for 25 years,...

Signs Preceding the End of the World  by Mexican author Yuri Herrera is a slim (107 pages) novel that gets inside the psyche and myth of...

When Brood by Jackie Polzin came my way, a friend of mine worried that I wouldn’t like it. “Not depressing enough for you,” she said....

Red Clocks by Leni Zumas is a rare pleasure that I long for with every book I read, but rarely experience. The pleasure and beauty of the...

Well, the Irish. As writers, they don’t disappoint. Last week I was at one of those moments in life when I simply needed the comfort of...

Nothing much happens in Andrea Bajani’s book If You Kept a Record of Sins—and in that inconsequential story lies everything. It’s a...

Years ago I was sitting in the bar of a Holiday Inn right off the freeway in Boston. It wasn’t exactly a dive, but it was a chain hotel...

Doomi Golo: The Hidden Notebooks by Boubacar Boris Diop is the first novel to be translated from Wolof, the most widely spoken language...

The Book of Goose by Yiyun Li shook me up. It affected me like a slow poison. By the time I figured out what was going on, my heart was...

What hole have I been living in that I have never read the work of John Edgar Wideman until now? I stayed up half the night to finish his...

I was having rather a dry spell of reading—kept putting book after book aside. So I figured it was time to turn, again, to the Irish....

It’s no secret that I like depressing books—well written depressing books. I like books that get to the heart of the human matter—how we...

I came to Wolf In White Van by John Darnielle reluctantly. Probably because it’s heavy on pop culture and involves a role-playing game...

Lampedusa by Steven Price, published in 2019, is the fictional account of Giuseppe di Lampedusa, the author of the acclaimed novel The...

Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont by Elizabeth Taylor (no, not that Elizabeth Taylor) was first published in 1971. It might be the saddest...

The Lost Thoughts of Soldiers by the Australian writer Delia Falconer is an unusual book. It’s narrated by Captain Frederick Benteen, a...

I search like a madwoman for book recommendations that I would not otherwise come across. It’s why I subscribe to four book services...

There are a few things I am glad I didn’t know before I picked up this book, the foremost being that it is one sentence long (and 217...

I am so devoted to my hunt for good books, that I have enlisted the help of quite a few book services in the last couple of years—people...

I dig and dig to find book recommendations. Every morning I go to lithub.com and dig through there. I follow all kinds of rabbit trails...

The Wild Laughter is one of the best books I’ve ever read. I read it in two sittings and cried at the end. I couldn’t go to sleep for...

I read Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss in one sitting. It's only 132 pages so the length wasn't a hurdle. It was so well-written it would have...

I came across a note on my desk that said “History Of Wolves—BRILLIANT!” It was a book I’d read four years ago and, although I evidently...

During the Reign of the Queen of Persia by Joan Chase was published in 1983. I had no idea. That's probably just as well because I am far...

I am pretty much done with falling for books with reviews boasting “Magnificent!” “Dazzling!” “Brilliant!” only to find them “Meh!”...

Independent People by Halldór Laxness It took me 100 pages to commit to Independent People by Icelandic author Halldór Laxness--and then...

The End by Salvatore Scibona I just finished The End by Salvatore Scibona and am having the same experience I had when I finished...

My friend Stephen sent me this link to this amazing animated poem by his friend Brendan Constantine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KO65...

Schroder by Amity Gaige Several weeks ago I posted an article by Amity Gaige about the research she did for her book Sea Wife. The...

The Innocents by Michael Crummey It is both thrilling and disconcerting to come across an author whose writing and imagination are so...

Telephone by Percival Everett Telephone by Percival Everett is the third book by Everett that I've read. I can't believe I hadn't heard...

Lighthousekeeping by Jeanette Winterson I have read Jeanette Winterson's Lighthousekeeping many, many times. Every time I come to it...

The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell This book is on my Sacred Texts shelf. The basic plot: In 2019, humanity finally finds proof of...

Erasure by Percival Everett When I lived in Vermont the bulb catalogues would arrive in the mail when you were at your weakest—in the...

The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien by Tim O'Brien I just finished reading The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien. I think it's the...

A Prayer for the Dying by Stewart O'Nan A Prayer for the Dying by Stewart O'Nan is on my Sacred Texts shelf. Wow what a book. Set just...

Fire Sermon by Jamie Quatro I am not sure what to say about this book except: it possessed me. And it landed directly on my Sacred Texts...

Leaning Towards Infinity Sue Woolfe Sometimes, just to be able to manage the wealth of good writing in a bookstore, I limit myself to a...

A Complicated Kindness Miriam Toews Miriam Toews is a brilliant writer. She's getting well-deserved press for her latest book Women...

Weather Jenny Offill Weather is as good as Jenny Offill's previous book Dept. of Speculation. She has mastered an unusual story structure...

All I Need Is The News Joan Frank I have no idea how I managed not to know about this book the minute it came out. I finished it a few...

Subtle Bodies Norman Rush I love this book. It's about friendship, love, idealism, disappointment, and longing. It's gorgeously written...

The Collected Stories of Amy Hempel Amy Hempel Amy Hempel's way of seeing inspires me. She conveys all that is going on inside someone's...