Ron Charles

I started reading Matthew Aldrich’s new novel, "The Natural Order," just a few hours after getting a colonoscopy. In the end, the novel was better. roncharles.substack.com/p/from-here-...

There's a bog near my father's farmhouse where beautiful little plants are quietly murdering their neighbors. This week's newsletter takes you into that strange world, inspired by Merritt Turetsky's "Bogland." Plus Hemingway at 100 and Kramers at 50. roncharles.substack.com/p/bog-bites-...

In 1983, I stole a gourd from Herman Melville's garden. I held on to that gourd for decades. That probably tells you everything you need to know about my obsession with "Moby-Dick." In this week’s newsletter: roncharles.substack.com/i/219512776/...

After decades of working in a moldy basement, I finally have a room of my own. But what color should I paint it? An unsettling new book about white paint changed the way I see the walls around me. My Friday newsletter: roncharles.substack.com/p/white-noise

“The president’s swiftness in firing her showed his willingness to cut off anyone who becomes a liability and an embarrassment.” Imagine writing that sentence about a president whose entire cabinet is “a liability and an embarrassment”! www.nytimes.com/2026/10/13/u...

Trump’s corruption gets all the attention, but this is a great time to be an unethical local politician.

A forgotten Irish composer. A resourceful girl in French India. Two lives driven by ambition and shadowed by tragedy. Yiyun Li’s magnificent new novel, "Music Against the Night," is a symphony of wit, heartbreak, and suspense. My review: roncharles.substack.com/p/a-composer...

Winnie-the-Pooh turns 100 this month, and I’m still under the influence of that silly old bear. In this week’s newsletter: childhood, fatherhood, Dorothy Parker, and what Pooh taught me about literature. roncharles.substack.com/p/in-which-w...

After "Demon Copperhead," Barbara Kingsolver’s "Partita" turns down the emotional volume for a quieter story about thwarted ambition, old love, music, marriage, and learning to value the life you actually have. My review: roncharles.substack.com/p/barbara-ki...

I truly enjoy my work, but serving the literary community is not all fun and games. Like last night I had to eat four different pints of ice cream inspired by Edgar Allan Poe. You’re welcome. roncharles.substack.com/i/218268260/...

Not all book review sections are dying. @wirobooks.bsky.social is thriving! At the 15th anniversary party, I finally got to ask Kitty Kelley about that legendary box of fish heads sent to Jonathan Yardley: roncharles.substack.com/i/218268260/...

Twenty years ago, Patricia McCormick’s "Sold" united readers around the horrors of child trafficking. Now it’s one of America’s most banned books. What gets lost when powerful books are pushed out of schools? roncharles.substack.com/p/whats-so-s...

Trump's nanny-state socialist agenda proceeds apace. www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

A draft dodger annoyed by hippies. A Jaguar heading east. A bag of speed pills. Patrick deWitt’s wonderfully strange "Dodge City" is my Tuesday Review. roncharles.substack.com/p/the-reluct...

Malcolm Gladwell takes on America’s gun violence — but his provocative new book kept making me argue with him even when I agreed with him. roncharles.substack.com/p/malcolm-gl...

Deesha Philyaw’s first novel stars a wealthy pastor’s wife with secrets, ambition, and a wicked wit. "The True Confessions of First Lady Freeman" is smart, saucy — and very funny. My review: roncharles.substack.com/p/holy-scandal

Trump’s latest effort to suppress Democratic votes may have hit a Supreme Court roadblock, but David F. Walbert’s rollicking “Stealing Elections, American Style” shows how old — and effective — the Very Stable Genius's playbook is. roncharles.substack.com/p/stop-stop-...

This is how cults behave in the latter days…. www.washingtonsun.com/congress/hou...

Enshittification: "'We started with a total focus on user trust,' OpenAI’s Dave Dugan said, adding that the company is in a different place now that the ad operation has matured." www.wsj.com/business/med...

Emily St. John Mandel’s Exit Party traces parallel versions of America — one shattered by chaos, the other crushed by order. roncharles.substack.com/p/it-was-the...

Why sanewash this silly lie? “Wednesday, Trump vowed to distribute a $5,000 check to every American adult if Republicans keep control of Congress, a bump to economic activity that could further fuel inflation.” www.nytimes.com/2026/09/11/b...

On the 25th anniversary of Sept. 11, I’m thinking about how steel from the World Trade Center has been used in memorials around the country and the world. This week’s newsletter explores how wreckage became relics. roncharles.substack.com/p/beating-wr...

Trump and his brilliant Secretary of Partying have totally obliterated Iran 7 times, won the war 26 times, completely disarmed Iran 15 times, and bombed Iran back to the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, even the Jazz Age, and yet somehow this…. www.wsj.com/world/middle...

Emma Cline’s new novel, "Switzy," follows a businessman with Alzheimer’s who flies to Zurich to end his life while he’s still lucid enough to do it. What makes the story effective is the way Cline lets us experience his mind coming apart. My review: roncharles.substack.com/p/emma-cline...

So sad… www.wsj.com/politics/in-...

Public libraries are fighting book bans, funding cuts, political interference, and harassment of librarians. Meanwhile, publishers are worried that libraries are lending too many ebooks. This week’s newsletter: Read the Room. roncharles.substack.com/p/libraries-...

Read Marlon James’s new novel wearing asbestos gloves. “The Disappearers” is fueled by desire and torched by rage. roncharles.substack.com/p/marlon-jam...

Why does government make it so damn hard to get the help you’re entitled to? This week’s newsletter starts with Annie Lowrey’s "The Time Tax" about the maddening bureaucracy that wastes billions of hours of Americans’ lives. roncharles.substack.com/p/stop-wasti...

Hail, horrors! hail, Infernal world! and thou, profoundest Hell, Receive thy new possessor. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/27/w...

Edwidge Danticat’s "Dèy" is a novel about gun violence that refuses to shout. Its restraint only makes it more powerful. My review: roncharles.substack.com/p/the-united...

For years, I’ve been getting emails intended for the Rev. Dr. Ron Charles. Now Reese Witherspoon is calling. Surely, TV stardom is just around the corner. roncharles.substack.com/p/chasing-ro...

Chang-rae Lee’s “A Tender Age” burns the nostalgia off 1970s childhood. It's a remarkable novel about the unbearable burdens of being 11: roncharles.substack.com/p/the-unbear...

Silicon Valley’s great paradox: Democracy must be circumvented and the natural world sacrificed so that AI can become powerful enough to save democracy and the natural world. Jill Lepore takes on that absurdity in The Rise and Fall of the Artificial State. roncharles.substack.com/p/the-future...

Silicon Valley’s pitch: We must circumvent democracy and sacrifice the natural world so AI can save democracy and the natural world. Jill Lepore has some thoughts... roncharles.substack.com/p/the-future...

Richard Russo’s "Under the Falls" turns a rock star’s homecoming into a dark reckoning with guilt, success, and the town he left behind. It also gave me a chance to tell the story of how Russo inadvertently launched my career as a book critic 30 years ago. roncharles.substack.com/p/richard-ru...

Dawn has me dressed like I'm heading into a mosquito apocalypse. Turns out the bigger danger may be what we're doing to bees. This morning I'm reviewing a fascinating new book about the hidden costs of modern agriculture. 🐝📚 roncharles.substack.com/p/buzz-kill

This sentence — good grief: “Rattle charged users a minimum of $20 a month, attracting dozens of customers and raised nearly $30 million from investor.” www.wsj.com/tech/ai/saas...

Cockroaches can survive anything. Apparently, so can book critics. Six months after "leaving" The Washington Post, I’m taking stock of life as an independent journalist — with no colleagues, no IT support, and lots of books. roncharles.substack.com/p/six-months...

When it comes to their history, Americans are not as fragile or stupid as the White House claims. There’s no need to wreck the Smithsonian to “save our story.” roncharles.substack.com/p/americans-...

Extraordinary reporting on how the whole White House shakedown scheme works: www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

Trump’s long-range voter suppression plan: www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

Claire Vaye Watkins's "Yellow Pine" is funny, sexy, and surprisingly hopeful—about the world going to hell. Plus: I asked Watkins why anyone would long for a child amid environmental collapse. Her answer is embedded in this review. roncharles.substack.com/p/hot-and-bo...

I thought H.R. 7661 — the national book-banning bill — would quietly die in Congress. I was wrong. roncharles.substack.com/p/the-book-b...