In that first class, the narrator’s one defender is Billy, a young scholarship student from Illinois who shows great literary promise despite never having heard of David Foster Wallace, whose “Infinite Jest” has just been published. (“He writes pretty avant-garde stuff,” the narrator helpfully explains to his new friend. “He’s …

GREENWOODBy Michael Christie Imagine that you’re a humble woodland guide, working for pitiful wages at an island resort northwest of Vancouver, British Columbia. The year is 2038, and Greenwood Arboreal Cathedral, as it’s called, is home to “one of the last remaining old-growth forests on Earth.” Most of the world …

If you’re looking for context, history or scientific information about the spread of disease, these books are a good place to start. AIDS Image ‘And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic,’ by Randy Shilts As Shilts writes in the prologue of his award-winning 1987 book: “The …

CHARLESTON, S.C. (Reuters) – Democratic presidential hopeful Michael Bloomberg on Monday clashed with front-runner Bernie Sanders over vandalism at Bloomberg’s Chicago office and their gun control stances, while centrist rival Pete Buttigieg was heckled at a labor march. Democratic U.S. presidential candidate and former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg marches …

CHARLESTON, S.C. (Reuters) – Democratic presidential hopeful Mike Bloomberg on Monday called on front-runner Bernie Sanders to denounce vandals who scrawled the word “oligarch” on Bloomberg’s Chicago office, and moderate rival Pete Buttigieg was heckled at a march with labor activists. Democratic U.S. presidential candidate and former South Bend Mayor …

CHARLESTON, S.C. (Reuters) – Democratic presidential front-runner Bernie Sanders came under fire on Monday for comments about late Cuban President Fidel Castro, and moderate rival Pete Buttigieg was heckled at a march with labor activists. Democratic U.S. presidential candidate and former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg marches with striking McDonald’s …

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (Reuters) – Democratic presidential front-runner Bernie Sanders came under fire on Monday for comments about late Cuban President Fidel Castro, while moderate rival Joe Biden rolled out an affordable-housing plan in South Carolina, the next state to vote. Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders speaks an …

The Rubik Mona Lisa (2005) by French street artist Invader is displayed at ArtCurial in Paris, France, February 3, 2020. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes PARIS (Reuters) – A French street artist’s interpretation of the Mona Lisa made of 330 Rubik’s Cubes sold for 480,200 euros ($520,680) on Sunday at a modern art …

Grimes finds herself by losing herself: in concepts and characters and costumes, in surreally larger-than-life music, in overarching ideas and omens of apocalypse. That doesn’t stop her from being playful, hedonistic or perverse when she chooses. “We party when the sun goes low/Imminent annihilation is so dope,” she chirps in …

Colum McCann’s new novel, “Apeirogon,” is based on an uplifting true story. It’s about two fathers — Rami Elhanan, an Israeli, and Bassam Aramin, a Palestinian — who each lost a young daughter to senseless violence. They have become friends and work together, through an organization called Combatants for Peace, …