@roncharles.bsky.social
I write about books at https://roncharles.substack.com/
@roncharles.bsky.socialWinnie-the-Pooh turns 100 this month, and I’m still under the influence of that silly old bear.
In this week’s newsletter: childhood, fatherhood, Dorothy Parker, and what Pooh taught me about literature.
@roncharles.bsky.socialI calm myself at night by pretending that Rat is Mouse.
@roncharles.bsky.socialMetaphor Alert!
@roncharles.bsky.socialAfter "Demon Copperhead," Barbara Kingsolver’s "Partita" turns down the emotional volume for a quieter story about thwarted ambition, old love, music, marriage, and learning to value the life you actually have.
My review: roncharles.substack.com/p/barbara-ki...
@roncharles.bsky.socialI truly enjoy my work, but serving the literary community is not all fun and games. Like last night I had to eat four different pints of ice cream inspired by Edgar Allan Poe.
You’re welcome.
roncharles.substack.com/i/218268260/...
@roncharles.bsky.socialNot all book review sections are dying. @wirobooks.bsky.social is thriving! At the 15th anniversary party, I finally got to ask Kitty Kelley about that legendary box of fish heads sent to Jonathan Yardley: roncharles.substack.com/i/218268260/...
@roncharles.bsky.socialTwenty years ago, Patricia McCormick’s "Sold" united readers around the horrors of child trafficking. Now it’s one of America’s most banned books.
What gets lost when powerful books are pushed out of schools?
@roncharles.bsky.socialTrump's nanny-state socialist agenda proceeds apace.
@roncharles.bsky.socialAndy Borowitz should sue for plagiarism.
@roncharles.bsky.socialA draft dodger annoyed by hippies. A Jaguar heading east. A bag of speed pills. Patrick deWitt’s wonderfully strange "Dodge City" is my Tuesday Review.
roncharles.substack.com/p/the-reluct...
@roncharles.bsky.socialThe purely mathematical formula -- More Police = More Peace -- suggests that the ideal society would have streets lined with police. But surely nobody wants to live there.
@roncharles.bsky.socialBut I'd like to see much more discussion about other forces (training, culture, economics) that encourage officers to act with excessive force and violence.
@roncharles.bsky.socialYes, that's one of the points he covers in this new book (chapter 5). I can accept the claim that understaffed police officers in violent communities would be more likely to panic and act out in violent ways.
@roncharles.bsky.socialMalcolm Gladwell takes on America’s gun violence — but his provocative new book kept making me argue with him even when I agreed with him.
roncharles.substack.com/p/malcolm-gl...
@roncharles.bsky.socialDeesha Philyaw’s first novel stars a wealthy pastor’s wife with secrets, ambition, and a wicked wit. "The True Confessions of First Lady Freeman" is smart, saucy — and very funny.
My review: roncharles.substack.com/p/holy-scandal
@roncharles.bsky.socialTrump’s latest effort to suppress Democratic votes may have hit a Supreme Court roadblock, but David F. Walbert’s rollicking “Stealing Elections, American Style” shows how old — and effective — the Very Stable Genius's playbook is. roncharles.substack.com/p/stop-stop-...
@roncharles.bsky.socialThis is how cults behave in the latter days…. www.washingtonsun.com/congress/hou...
@roncharles.bsky.socialEnshittification:
"'We started with a total focus on user trust,' OpenAI’s Dave Dugan said, adding that the company is in a different place now that the ad operation has matured."
www.wsj.com/business/med...
@roncharles.bsky.socialEmily St. John Mandel’s Exit Party traces parallel versions of America — one shattered by chaos, the other crushed by order.
@roncharles.bsky.socialOr the anecdote about making poor Jeff Bezos pout. Really, it's just an amazing piece from start to finish.....
