Paris Bookshop Review by William Weger I'd seen Shakespeare and Company in the movies—from Midnight in Paris to Julie & Julia. And from afar, this piqued my interest in seeing this iconic bookstore. Understand that I had worked in book stores for nearly two decades. And I have leisurely walked the aisles of hundreds of book shops, all marvelous in their own way. But I itched to see Shakespeare and Company up close. Last summer, I joined my family in finally exploring this mag

Book Review by William Weger It’s not love at first sight. Far from it. We initially look upon Quasimodo—the severely deformed, deaf, and orphaned bell-ringer of Notre-Dame de Paris—with repulsion. Truly his face is the sort fit for classic monster magazines. Yet readers and film buffs are curiously drawn to the hideous looking Quasimodo. Much like when we slow down to see if dead bodies are being carted away from a car accident or when we watch a horror film for thrills. Ha

Book Review by Jeff Rosenberg Great writing is small, in my view. Sentences are short and build on a simple structure. Words do their work and nothing more—they don’t show off. Words give the reader only what they need to feel and visualize the story. Great writers stay small. They illuminate the drama in the interactions, movements, and thoughts of everyday life. It doesn’t matter if they are writing about a woman walking her dog, a wedding, or a war. No matter how big the s