After watching the film, The Painted Veil, my interest has been piqued by the Boxer Rebellion era of China’s vast history. Really, “empire” is a concept that both astounds me and invokes my curiosity. So when I saw Gene Luen Yang’s, Saints, I couldn’t resist giving it a read. Focusing on the time just before the Boxer Rebellion breaks out, a young woman leaves home and winds up becoming a Christian. Ultimately this gets her into some trouble with her family and countrymen and she […]
What Does God Look Like?
The Shack, by William Paul Young, had a lot of buzz a little more than five years ago, but I never got around to reading it for myself. When you’re in graduate school, you tend to focus more on surviving the books you’re required to read rather than to thrive on books you’d like to read. Plus, the book’s subject was a guy going to a shack in the country and having an encounter with God. As religious as I am, I didn’t find the […]
Make Something of Yourself
Marjane Satrapi’s, Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return, was insightful and intriguing. Continuing the story from Persepolis 1, it begins with her life at the Viennese French school. Having been away from home for part of my high school education, I related a lot to her experience. Except the part where she basically has no adult supervision. It hit home how bad things were in Iran in the late 80′s. So bad that her parents were wiling to send her halfway around the world […]
Snapping, Iranian Wit
To much of my chagrin, I’m not well read in world literature nor in graphic novels. So coming across Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis, I felt like I was killing two birds with one stone. I’ve enjoyed the few graphic novels I’ve read and this one was no different. Much of it is due to Satrapi’s ability to take a story with so many layers and keep it moving forward and organized while adding her own wit and sarcasm to it. I honestly started reading and lost […]
Dogs, Fog, and Moors. Oh, My!
The Hound of the Baskervilles was first introduced to me by Wishbone. When I got to college I picked up the novel to read it but never got to finishing it. Finally, in an effort to see if I would teach the novel, I decided to finish it, once and for all. I’m glad I did. It’s not a novel of any specific depth or significance, but it’s good writing. If you like thrillers than this is a good one to get through on lonely, […]
Emma, or Why Guys Can Read Jane Austen Too
Jane Austen. Most guys, upon hearing this name, usually have two reactions. They roll their eyes and mutter something about chick lit or they stare back at you blankly and say, “Jane Who?”. I didn’t have any experience with Austen until the 2005 Pride & Prejudice movie was released. And then, later, I met my future wife who was as in love with Austen as Darcy was with Elizabeth. So needless to say, I started reading Austen’s oeuvre to see what all the fuss was […]