In 1988, David Simon lingered like a ghost in the hallways of the Baltimore PD, immersing himself into the homicide department of one of America’s most violent cities. He rode in the backseats of department-issued Chevy Cavaliers and stood on the sidelines while detectives deconstructed grotesque crime scenes and inspected bodies still cooling on couches,…
Resident information sponge Bill Bryson goes through his home, room-by-room, to present the history of private life and how many of the items we see and interact with on a daily basis came to find their way into our everyday lives. At Home feels like a handbook for making small talk at social gatherings. Let’s…
In 2011, the mysterious disappearance of Maura Murray caught the eye of freelance investigative journalist James Renner. But this wasn’t exactly new territory for Renner. Years before, he had dug into the disappearance of Amy Mihaljevic, a case that left Renner with PTSD. Why would he want to subject himself to this scenario again, you…
In 1997, three organizations battled for sports entertainment supremacy. You had the juggernaut WWF (World Wrestling Federation), who despite a massively successful 1980s, had entered a cooling off period as it struggled to find its footing amid a steady stream of superstar exits. You had Ted Turner’s WCW (World Championship Wrestling), a company filled with…
I’m a big sucker for pro wrestling memoirs and when I heard Bob Backlund was writing one, I jumped at the chance to get it. The truth is, while I’m a huge fan of the 80s and 90s wrestling scenes, I know next to nothing about the 70s, which is where Backlund rose to prominence,…
Back in 1978, Lawrence Block released a book detailing his advice for prospective novelists. Now, nearly forty years later, while much of the material is still relevant, Block decided to add and expand the text with the digital world in mind. Now dubbed, “Writing the Novel: From Plot to Print to Pixel”, Block’s gives important…
“The Bruins story of all time had Esposito recuperating at Mass General after surgery. In burst a masked surgeon – Orr in blue scrubs. “OK wop-po, you’re coming with us.” Acting on Dr. Orr’s orders, teammates wheeled Espo out the door and into an elevator. The kidnappers peeled off existing railings to ram their fallen…
Picking up where he left off with 2013’s Anchorboy, Onrait brings us the aptly titled Number Two, a book with more essays about bathroom misadventures, travelling to an Olympics host city and the wonders of being a Canadian ex-pat living in the U.S. Did anyone ask to hear about Jay’s masturbation stories (the very first…
Every Read Thing 