KP Reads | Key Peninsula News

Dusk, late summer. A deer works the edge of the pasture. A lonely frog, peeping, is answered by a cricket. As the light slips, a bat skitters in and out of the shrinking circle I can see. more

Chris Rurik, KP News | 9/27/23

Whatever History Has Forgotten, Seattle Put His People First

A year ago in September, I wrote about a few books in these pages that I thought our community might read and asked for suggestions for those many titles I certainly missed. One that came in … more

Ted Olinger, KP News | 8/30/23

Like Climbing a Real Mountain, Only Better

As someone who teaches college-level literature classes for a living, once or twice a year I find myself giving my students some version of this speech: It’s no surprise to me that I only … more

José Alaniz | 8/2/23

‘The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows’

One day last month I was standing in line at my neighborhood gas station with a six-pack in one hand and a three-day-old corndog in the other when a tall, younger (than me) Black man with a … more

Ted Olinger, KP News | 6/28/23

Reading William L. Shirer, or Why I Miss the 20th Century

Maybe you miss it too. Or maybe you just missed it, or missed most of it. Not that it was all lollipops and moonbeams. There was plenty of horrible stuff. But looking back, a lot of important things … more

Jack Dunne | 5/31/23

Learning from a Memoir

Do you know what nonbinary means? If you don’t care to know, do you think others should have the opportunity to read about it if they so choose, like at a library? What if … more

José Alaniz | 4/27/23

Critical Indigenous Theory

One of the greatest summers of my life was spent in New York City in 1986. I had worked my way through a prestigious university with honors, survived a year of lymphoma, and landed my dream job … more

Ted Olinger, KP News | 3/29/23

The Laughing Voice of Doom

Late last fall I read that one of my favorite directors, Noah Baumbach, had written and directed a movie based on the novel “White Noise” by Don DeLillo from the 1980s. I read the book … more

Sara Thompson, KP News | 3/1/23

A Story of Justice and Redemption

In 1986, an 18-year-old white woman named Ronda Morrison was murdered during an apparent sexual assault at the dry cleaners where she worked in Monroeville, Alabama. The community was stunned but … more

Ted Olinger, KP News | 2/1/23

'Saving Us:' A Climate Scientist’s Case

In “Saving Us,” Katharine Hayhoe suggests that the most important thing any of us can do to fight climate change is to discuss it with others. She admits it can be hard to have a … more

Richard Gelinas | 12/28/22

‘The War of the Worlds’ by H.G. Wells

A strange thing happened last winter when I was teaching H.G. Wells’ 1897 sci-fi novel “The War of the Worlds” to a class of college freshmen. All of a sudden, the story became … more

José Alaniz | 11/30/22

“When the Emperor Was Divine” by Julia Otsuka, published 2002 by Alfred A. Knopf.

‘When the Emperor Was Divine’ by Julie Otsuka

A friend recommended this novel to me after it was banned from the curriculum last summer by the Muskego-Norway school board in Wisconsin, a district of about 4,800 students. There were no complaints … more

Ted Olinger, KP News | 10/27/22

‘Being Mortal’ by Atul Gawande

I was driven to read Atul Gawande’s compelling book for the first time shortly after its publication in 2014. more

Maureen Reilly | 9/28/22

'Weather' — a Novel by Jenny Offill

In mid-May, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration tracked its highest-ever weekly CO2 levels in Earth’s atmosphere … more

José Alaniz | 8/31/22

Saving the Planet Isn’t Science Fiction

Kim Stanley Robinson’s 2020 novel presents a sobering but plausible time for us as our planet warms due to sunlight-trapping gases derived from the use of fossil fuels. While fiction, its … more

Richard Gelinas | 7/27/22

'The Violence Project'

When it comes to murder and mass shootings, America is a freak among nations. Murder rates are highest in countries with the most income inequality, and the U.S. is high on that list with the likes … more

Vicki Biggs | 6/29/22

George Orwell: ‘Facing Unpleasant Facts’

One of the better memories I have from my 1970s high school years are the hours I stole for myself by ditching an English class I despised. I hid out in the stacks of the library, sneaking along the … more

Ted Olinger, KP News | 6/1/22

Russia Goes Medieval

Since time immemorial, writers in Russia have had the most forceful, penetrating and far-reaching responses to what was happening in their country — for those willing to listen, … more

José Alaniz | 4/26/22

The Second Mountain by David Brooks

Many times over the last 18-plus years I have wondered why I feel so much at home and so contented on the Key Peninsula. Certainly, there are many similarities to Scotland but that really … more

Maureen Riley | 3/31/22

Of ‘Maus’ and McMinn

Some dirty comic book about the Holocaust got banned from the eighth grade English Language Arts curriculum by the McMinn County School Board in southeast Tennessee Jan. 10, because the book has cuss … more

José Alaniz, KP News | 2/28/22