In middle school, instead of an elective, I was a Library Aide.   I was a super goob, but I got to read a lot of really good books — I stumbled across du Maurier …

Dear Sars,
A longtime lurker peeking out into the light.
No amount of Googling has helped me turn up an old favorite from my Catholic school days, so I’m giving it a shot here. There was a …

Dear Sars,
I’m hoping readers can point me toward a poem. In a college Asian history class, our professor showed us a Chinese poem. It was a nice but fairly standard poem, had been submitted anonymously …

Hi, Sars —
I’m looking for a short story, narrated by a guy who I think has a connection with the federal government (i.e., he’s a BIA rep or something like that) who’s been sent to …

Hi Sars,
I want this book to exist, but I’m not certain that it does.   It’s such a great concept that it HAS to exist, I figure.
I want a cookbook containing recipes entirely composed from …

Good morning, friends. Today’s Vine will work a bit differently; I have a huge backlog of find-that-book requests, so I’ll post one every hour or so throughout the day and put y’all to work on …

The best part of the Oscars Death Race project is the nice surprises: the films I expected to have to endure that gripped me instead.
I faced Ajami as one does a hated vegetable, and got …

It’s hard to tell if the movie intends to portray Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel as morally compromised and often bratty, as part of a larger conversation about the forging of genius. If so, the script could …

Shear Genius has had problems from the beginning. The use of the Project Runway cookie-cutter for competitive reality shows about other lifestyle genres is understandable, but not always successful; with Top Design, the glitch seemed …

The first hour is diverting, with beautiful costumes and some interesting shot-making, but in the end, the movie tries to do too much and doesn’t pull it off. The last five minutes throw their hands …