Thad McIlroy undergoes a hernia operation—and with Neil Diamond and the right kind of drugs, it might only take ten minutes.

Thad McIlroy spends the night in hospital to get a hernia—possibly on his left side, possibly on his right—repaired.

Ebb and flow in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Thad McIlroy on Brian Busby's The Dusty Bookcase.

In Hanya Yanagihara’s A Little Life (Doubleday) the main character Jude says “I’m sorry” over 100 times. And he adds in “I’m so sorry” 30 times.

Thad McIlroy reads Kilodney Does Shakespeare and Other Stories by Lorette Luzajic, the only book that discusses Crad Kilodney’s life and writing.

Thad McIlroy on "The Weekend Man" by Richard B. Wright.

Thad McIlroy reviews Slumdog Millionaire, a 2009 film by Danny Boyle.

Thad McIlroy reviews Poems That Make Grown Men Cry: 100 Men on the Words That Move Them.

Thad McIlroy on Jan Morris's "Smile Test" throughout Canadian cities.

Three generations of the Crosby family live and die, but all you really need to know about Tinkers by Paul Harding is the writer’s exceptional use of language.

Thad McIlroy reviews The Reaper by Steven Dunne.

Thad McIlroy urges us to run from big tech before the death knell tolls.

"At the back of the line a woman with no teeth was trying to hold an eighteen-pack of budget toilet paper with one hand."

Thad McIlroy reviews Paris Nocturne by Patrick Modiano, a Nobel Prize-winning author.

The art of the obituary lives on: Obituaries of note from The Economist magazine, including those of the "gunrunner of CIA front companies" and "last interesting Marxist."

Thad McIlroy reviews Ernest Hemingway's Paris memoir, A Moveable Feast.

Review of "The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer's Guide to Character Expression" by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi.

Thad McIlroy on Witold Szabłowski’s Dancing Bears: True Stories of People Nostalgic for Life Under Tyranny.

Thad McIlroy thinks you should watch Zach Galifianakis' Baskets.