The regional basis of a hard heart

Last night, during the Republican presidential debate in Orlando, Florida, Governor Rick Perry defended his state’s decision to admit the ch...

Men and friendship

This morning I heard from a longtime friend who, like me, has recently moved from Houston to another city. “Big community here and easy to g...

Maybe not just an archive after all

So I’ve decided that A Commonplace Blog will not “continue to exist, but as an archive,” despite what I originally wrote below. I find tha...

LITERARY COMMENTARY

As of today, A Commonplace Blog will be succeeded by a new book blog hosted and sponsored by Commentary magazine. The new blog will be cal...

#overrated

It’s the question that everyone has an answer to. What is the most overrated book of all time? The three titles most often cited are Ulysses...

The tyranny of suspense

Don’t know when exactly A Commonplace Blog will move into its new digs and hang out a new shingle. In the mean time, I need to get back to ...

The end of the beginning

Several people have written—friends, readers, the morbidly curious—to ask when I am coming back, if A Commonplace Blog will resume normal o...