THE STORYTELLING ANIMAL – “Not a Happy Ending”

The Storytelling Animal: How Stories Make Us Human

by Jonathan Gottschall

Houghton Mifflin Hartcourt, 2012

250 Pages, $24

This book begins with startling questions, such as, “The riddle of fiction comes to this: Evolution is ruthlessly utilitarian. How has the seeming luxury of fiction not been eliminated from human life?” and picks up other equally thought-provoking ones along the way—why is storytelling fixated on trouble, why do boys and girls play in different ways, what is the link between madness and creativity and exactly what role do stories play in religion?

LIFE ITSELF: A MEMOIR BY ROGER EBERT – “Aren’t They Those Two Guys?”

Life Itself: A Memoir by Roger Ebert, 2011

448 pages, Grand Central Publishing, 27.99

Usually our “butting heads” approach to books is pitting one of them against another, but in the case of this Roger Ebert autobiography, we thought it might be interesting to invite our movie review critics, John and his dog. Spanky, in from the other room to get their take.

JOHN: Well this long book has some ups and downs, mainly because I think a reader goes to it for some specific interest (behind the scenes on his relationship with Gene Siskel or Ebert’s take on famous movie directors) and then