PositiveBookslutIn Dutch author Herman Koch's latest book The Dinner, translated by Sam Garrett, polite conversation in polite company in a polite restaurant is truly secret savagery ...a savagery that lurks beneath even the most mundane of events where that very common surface doesn't smooth the unsavory over but simply masks and amplifies it ... Over the multicourse meal, Paul Lohman, the narrator, provides a blow-by-blow account of the meal in exacting detail ... Again, the language of the dinner table purposefully obfuscates the issue at hand. Perhaps it is a defense mechanism employed in polite company ... Koch seems to know how easy it is to simply apply labels to those that are outside of our polite dinner conversations ... While a little prolonged and puffed out midway, this is a novel with teeth that latches on for a truly savory experience.
Jeanette Winterson
PositiveThe Chicago Review of BooksChristmas Days embodies compelling aspects of the holiday. Without being overly sentimental, Winterson’s stories ride a line that embodies the optimism of the season contrasted with the deeper, pagan roots of the winter solstice ... For a fine bit of fireside reading with a needed dose of sour to combat the often overpowering sweetness of Christmas, this book should do the trick.
Donald Ray Pollack
PositiveThe Chicago Review of BooksThe Heavenly Table, feels both timely and timeless, a contradiction that nevertheless holds together in satisfying and surprising ways ... Pollock has a way of providing a clean, clear sketch in a paragraph or so whenever the reader comes across someone new...Pollock’s prose is so delicious that these rapid-fire details are a delight, little morsels that quickly satisfy the who, what, when, and where.
