Briar Rose, by Robert Coover

He is surprised to discover how easy it is. The branches part like thighs, the silky petals caress his cheeks. His drawn sword is stained, not with blood, but with dew and pollen. Yet another inflated legend. He has undertaken this great adventure, not for the supposed reward—what is another lonely bedridden princess?—but in order […]

Shakespeare, the Sexy Fantatist

Most people will never read Shakespeare after wading through Romeo and Juliet and maybe Hamlet in high school, and that’s understandable. Elizabethan English is a bit of brain twister. It’s a shame, though, because unlike many greats of the past that we know we should read because it’s good for us, Shakespeare should be read […]

The House of the Spirits, by Isabel Allende

The House of the Spirits is a classic, magical realist epic, somewhat in the style of Garcia Marquez. The story follows the Trueba family, living in an unnamed South American country, presumed to be Chile in the years leading up to and following the 1973 coup that brought Pinochet to power. Written in a populist, […]