Readers' Review

Readers' Review: "The Scarlet Letter" by Nathaniel Hawthorne

March 31, 2010

The "Scarlet Letter" tells the story of a passionate young woman; her cowardly lover; and her aging, vengeful husband. Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote it in the nineteenth century but set it in the Puritan community of seventeenth-century...

Readers' Review: "The Ghost at the Table" (Algonquin)

November 25, 2009

It's the day before Thanksgiving. So, for the Readers Review this month Diane chose a novel centering on a family gathering. It's set in an old, New England farmhouse and explores the ways we project our visions of the perfect holiday on...

Readers' Review: "Dancing at the Rascal Fair" by Ivan Doig

August 26, 2009

Thanks to everyone who submitted their favorite summer reads for this month's Readers' Review. Diane picked "Dancing at the Rascal Fair" by Ivan Doig, which is also one of her favorite books. It is the central volume in a trilogy that...

Readers' Review: "Olive Kitteridge" (Random House)

June 24, 2009

Diane leads a discussion about the collection of stories which won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for fiction.

Readers' Review: "The Hound of the Baskervilles" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

May 20, 2009

To mark the anniversary of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's birth 150 years ago this month, Diane and her guests discuss the most famous of his mysteries. It's the tale of an ancient curse and a savage ghostly beast.

Readers' Review: "The Elegance of the Hedgehog" by Muriel  Barbery

April 22, 2009

One French critic called "The Elegance of the Hedgehog "the ultimate celebration of every person's invisible part." Diane invites listeners to join in a discussion of this international best-seller by French novelist and professor of...

Readers' Review: "Dreams from My Father" by Barack Obama (Rebroadcast)

January 25, 2009

As the first black president of the "Harvard Law Review," Barack Obama received an advance from a publisher in 1995 to write a book. He decided to tell the story of his family in the hopes it might help people understand the fissures of...

Readers' Review: "Dreams from My Father" by Barack Obama

January 22, 2009

As the first black president of the "Harvard Law Review," Barack Obama received an advance from a publisher in 1995 to write a book. He decided to tell the story of his family in the hopes it might help people understand the fissures of...

Readers' Review: "The White Tiger" by Aravind Adiga

November 26, 2008

Diane invites listeners to join a discussion of the book which received this year's Mann Booker Prize. The judges said it was chosen because it shocked and entertained them in equal measure. "The White Tiger" is a darkly humorous novel...

Readers' Review: "The Plot Against America" by Philip Roth (Rebroadcast)

November 2, 2008

Diane invites listeners to join a discussion of what some reviewers called Philip Roth's most powerful political novel. It presents an alternate world in which Charles Lindbergh defeats FDR in the 1940 presidential election.

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