Author: Jay Ruud

Deacon King Kong James McBride (2020) James McBride is the acclaimed author of the National Book Award winning novel The Good Lord Bird (2013). He also wrote the popular memoir The Color of Water: A Black Man’sTribute to His White Mother (1995), which spent two years on the New York Times bestseller list; wrote the historical World War… Continue reading Deacon King Kong

The Dig Simon Stone (2020) Facts for You: Where to Watch: Streaming on Netflix Length: 1 hour 52 minutes Names You Might Know: Ralph Fiennes, Carey Mulligan, Lily James He Said:If you’re a big fan of Beowulf (and let’s face it, who isn’t?) then you’re well aware of the dark, elegiac tone that hangs over that poem, and the… Continue reading The Dig

Hamnet Maggie O’Farrell (2020) There is at the center of Maggie O’Farrell’s novel about the death of William Shakespeare’s 11-year-old son Hamnet a chapter that backs away from the story we are in the midst of and examines it from a transcendent perspective. It is unlikely that O’Farrell could have conceived at the time of… Continue reading Hamnet

News of the World Paul Greengrass (2020) Facts for You: Where to Watch: Streaming on Amazon Prime Length: 1 hour 58 minutes Names You Might Know: Tom Hanks She Said: Well, it’s happened: We’ve been home for the Pandemic long enough to get TWO Tom Hanks movies on streaming; the first was Greyhound, last year when streaming major studio… Continue reading News of the World

A Children’s Bible Lydia Millet (2020) It’s not unusual for a literary text on any level to depict parents as complete idiots whom their children are forced to save through their superior savvy and common sense, and replace those in power with a “new society.” This is almost the universal plot of comedy, from Menander… Continue reading A Children’s Bible