Author: Anna

Wrestling: It’s Acting and it Takes Practice

It’s a cast straight out of a professional wrestling story line. There is a 13-year-old boy who recently made his wrestling debut; the Bouncer with life-threatening illnesses; the shy herbalist who sports attitude in the ring; and a former architect now wrestling professionally in Japan.

Book Review: Seabiscuit: An American Legend

. . Seabiscuit: An American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand Random House, 399 pp., $24.95 Once upon a time, one of America’s biggest celebrities was a horse named Seabiscuit. In 1938 he got more news...

Book Review: Casual Rex

Casual Rex A Novel by Eric Garcia Villard, 352 pp., $23.95 Casual Rex, the charming and absorbing tale of a dinosaur-inhabited, modern-day universe, delivers practically everything a comic/ noir/magical realism/mystery novel could be expected...

Donkeys and Mules Are the Stars of This Show

This weekend’s 17th annual Donkey and Mule Show at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo features some of the most unusual events in equine competition. Coon Hunters Jumping is one. Beginning from a dead...

Book Review: The Spirit Cabinet

. . . The Spirit Cabinet by Paul Quarrington Atlantic Monthly Press, 352 pp., $24 Treading on ground that readers of Tom Tryon’s Night Magic may find familiar, The Spirit Cabinet looks at the...

Book Review: Mistletoe Man: A China Bales Mystery

. . . Mistletoe Man: A China Bales Mystery by Susan Wittig Albert Berkeley, 296 pp., $21.95 We all know that good fences make good neighbors, but judging from Mistletoe Man, the latest herbal...

Book Review: A Book of Memories

. . . A Book of Memories by Péter Nádas translated by Ivan Sanders with Imre Goldstein Overlook Press, 720 pp., $14.95 (paper) You may think the world needs another 700-page Hungarian novel like...