Ron Charles

Washington, D.C.

Book Critic and Editor at The Washington Post

I write about books at The Washington Post. To read my weekly newsletter, 'The Book Club,' click on the link below:

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Articles

Elaine Pagels sifts through history in search of Jesus

1 week ago | washingtonpost.com | Ron Charles

Elaine Pagels sifts through history in search of Jesus (washingtonpost.com) Elaine Pagels sifts through history in search of Jesus By Ron Charles 2025041516301300 It sounds like a strategy meeting with the campaign team: "Whom do men say that I am?" Staff members start tossing out responses from the latest polling: "Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets." But when Jesus presses them for their own thoughts, Simon Peter nails it:...
In ‘Sky Daddy,’ a woman searches for a most unusual soulmate

2 weeks ago | washingtonpost.com | Ron Charles

In ‘Sky Daddy,’ a woman searches for a most unusual soulmate (washingtonpost.com) In ‘Sky Daddy,’ a woman searches for a most unusual soulmate By Ron Charles 2025040914000000 Confronted with Freud's condescending question "What does a woman want?," Kate Folk might sigh, "What have you got?" Folk's debut story collection, "Out There" (2022), disrupted a quiet night with unnerving tales about the persistence of desire in a grotesque world.
Miners MTB - Back to back XC excitement

2 weeks ago | theunion.com | Ron Charles

Miners MTB has been busy traveling throughout Northern California, bringing that Miners grit and determination with back to back weekend races. As the Granite Bay Grinder was canceled due to weather, the race was rescheduled for March 22 at the popular Six Sigma Ranch in Lake County, CA for the Six Sigma Shred. A beautiful weekend brought out all the Redwood / Repack teams from around Nor Cal for an energetic competition.
A fascinating look at a fraught topic: pronouns

3 weeks ago | irishnews.com | Ron Charles

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In John Kenney’s comic novel, an obituary writer’s joke goes wrong

3 weeks ago | washingtonpost.com | Ron Charles

In John Kenney’s comic novel, an obituary writer’s joke goes wrong (washingtonpost.com) In John Kenney’s comic novel, an obituary writer’s joke goes wrong By Ron Charles 2025040117365700 In 2019, Robert S. Mueller III delivered exceedingly fastidious responses to Congress about his report on Russian interference in the presidential election. Two days later, writing in the New Yorker, John Kenney imagined Mueller as a restaurant waiter: Diner 1: Hi there.
A fascinating look at a fraught topic: pronouns

3 weeks ago | washingtonpost.com | Ron Charles

A fascinating look at a fraught topic: pronouns (washingtonpost.com) A fascinating look at a fraught topic: pronouns By Ron Charles 2025033115273400 Years ago, when my younger daughter, Madeline, started a new job at the Public Theater in New York, the employees sat in a circle and were asked to share their names and pronouns. Nervous about making a good impression on her first day, Madeline panicked and suddenly couldn't remember what a pronoun was. "After"?
El premio Nobel Abdulrazak Gurnah indaga en las marcas que dejó el colonialismo en la vida

4 weeks ago | infobae.com | Ron Charles

En su discurso de aceptación del Premio Nobel de Literatura 2021, Abdulrazak Gurnah alabó la capacidad de la narrativa para ver lo que “el ojo duro y dominante no puede ver, lo que hace que personas aparentemente pequeñas en estatura se sientan seguras de sí mismas a pesar del desdén de los demás”.
Review | In ‘Heartwood,’ a lost hiker fights for survival

4 weeks ago | washingtonpost.com | Ron Charles

Five years after the pandemic shut down the world, covid is still proving to be a novel virus for American fiction. Of course, there are classic stories of isolation and grief, such as Michael Cunningham’s exquisite “Day.” In the work of other writers, covid has mutated in surprising ways.
Review | Colum McCann’s ‘Twist’ drags us to the depths of the ocean

1 month ago | washingtonpost.com | Ron Charles

In 2009, Colum McCann published a curious book called “Let the Great World Spin” that had everybody looking up. The novel, which went on to win both a National Book Award and the International Dublin Literary Award, presents several apparently disparate stories while a tightrope-walker modeled after Philippe Petit tiptoes between the twin towers on a wire. Fifteen years later, McCann is back traversing a much longer, more fragile wire.
Review | A Nobel Prize winner offers a compassionate view of the world

1 month ago | washingtonpost.com | Ron Charles

In his acceptance speech for the 2021 Nobel Prize in literature, Abdulrazak Gurnah extolled storytelling that sees what “the hard domineering eye cannot see, what makes people, apparently small in stature, feel assured in themselves regardless of the disdain of others.” Such writing, the Zanzibari novelist said, requires a way of looking that “makes room for frailty and weakness, for tenderness amid cruelty, and for a capacity for kindness in unlooked-for sources.” “Theft,” the first novel...

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