Oh, this book. This beautiful, sad, moving book. I can’t even imagine my literary life without Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie in it. Americanah is going straight to my to-read list. If you’ve never read anything by hers, do yourself a favor and read this book. Half of a Yellow Sun takes place when Biafra is asserting its independence from Nigeria. It follows a beautifully complex array of characters: a teenager, Ugwu who comes to work as a houseboy for a professor, Odenigbo; the professor himself; Olanna, […]
NPR betrayed me: CBR7’s big disappointment so far.
I’ll admit, when it comes to literature, I have pretty high standards. I am trying to read more multi-culturally oriented works by writers who are more than just white, and that includes writers who have indigenous (Native American) ties. My favorites are Louise Erdrich and Sherman Alexie, but I am trying to develop a diverse palate. The Chancellor listens to NPR on his afternoon commute home, and they raved about David Treuer’s Prudence. The description intrigued me, so I put in a library request. The […]
The Nac Mac Feegle! The Wee Free Men! We willna be fooled again!!!
I don’t remember if it was during my first CBR or a pre-CBR year that I read the first Discworld book, The Color of Magic. It wasn’t my jam. I just didn’t get into it. My sister, an avid reader of Pratchett, suggested that I would *really* like the Tiffany Aching books, and said, “Start with The Wee Free Men.” So I did, in honor of Sir Pratchett’s recent passing, and I am delighted with this new encounter. Tiffany Aching is a nine-year-old girl who […]
In which I admit my addiction to Cormac McCarthy…
I know a LOT of people who have read The Road and were thoroughly traumatized by it. Several advised me to wait and read it when it was sunny outside, so I wouldn’t be depressed afterwards. I did follow that advice, but I also read two McCarthy books that did not coincide with sunshine. And, frankly, I found Blood Meridian to be such a bloodbath that The Road, as bleak as it is, cannot even compare. I’ve concluded that The Road is the most traumatizing […]
Cormac McCarthy’s closest foray into sentiment
I’m trying to work my way through certain authors, and Cormac McCarthy has definitely been on that list. After reading Blood Meridian this year, I decided to go with something a little less..visceral. Thankfully, All the Pretty Horses is a gorgeous, melancholy book that does not get gross. John Grady Cole is sixteen years old, when the ranch he has lived on passes out of his inheritance upon his grandfather’s death. He and his best friend, Lacey Rawlins, determine to make their way south out […]
The Spell–marking love and despair.
Alan Hollinghurst is one of the authors who featured in my dissertation, so I’ve been trying to work my way through all his novels. The Line of Beauty was the text in my second chapter, then I read The Stranger’s Child and The Swimming-Pool Library in summer 2012. I read The Folding Star last year for CBR6, and was not a super huge fan of it. The Spell is the last of Hollinghurst’s books I hadn’t read, so I decided to “collect” another author. You […]
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