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Book review: ‘Bone Fire’ shows how the modern world invades a small town.

Mar 14, 2:44 AM

In his third novel, “Bone Fire,” Mark Spragg returns to Ishawooa, Wyo., the setting of his previous novels, “The Fruit of Stone” and “An Unfinished Life” (made into the 2005 film of the same name). “Bone Fire” is the story of 80-year-old Einar Gilkyson, a man so grizzled that town tourists ask if they can take his picture, and Griff, his college dropout granddaughter, who keeps an eye on Einar when she’s not firing bizarre sculptures or arguing with her indecisive boyfriend, Paul.

Book review | ‘The Possessed’ takes an entertaining and insightful look at the giants of Russian literature

Mar 11, 7:19 PM

Reading “The Possessed” is like sitting next to the smartest girl in class. Her wisecracks make the hands on the clock whiz past, and her sardonic commentaries behind the teacher’s back seem to make life worth living. If you haven’t guessed by now, the genius in question is Elif Batuman, a writer of subtle humor and rigorous learning who has been kind enough to take us along on her personal journey into the great minds of Russian literature. This, dear friends, is a journey not to be missed.

Book review | ‘Savage Lands’ tames a historical love triangle

Mar 11, 7:19 PM

Following her acclaimed “The Great Stink” and “The Nature of Monsters,” British historical novelist Clare Clark returns with a powerful third novel, set in the early 1700s in the struggling French colony of Louisiana. Clark’s descriptions of the land –– brutally hot, swampy, fetid with stagnant, mosquito-breeding water, unprotected from floods and hurricanes –– provide a richly atmospheric backdrop for the intertwined lives of three settlers.

Readorama | March 14

Mar 11, 7:20 PM

I-70 travel guide Think of the drive between Kansas City and St. Louis as a chore? A new book from the University of Kansas Press might change that.

Book review | ‘I Am an Emotional Creature’ reveals pain of young women around the globe

Mar 11, 8:47 PM

Anyone familiar with the work of activist-writer Eve Ensler knows she’s all about girl power. Ensler wrote “The Vagina Monologues,” which through the years has featured well-known actresses reading speeches about sexuality. The tone of the play ranges from funny to awkward to heartbreaking, but its main goal is female empowerment.