Charley Skedaddle by Patricia Beatty
“As he set the hatbox on a crate beside him, Charley Quinn heard the words in his head: “If you ever got to fight alone, Charley, me lad, get your back to the wall.” This is a reread from a long time ago for me, and it’s of a type to be sure. It’s a historical middle-grade novel published in 1987 about a boy from New York City who is in the gang “The Bowery Boys,” a real gang who’s primary rival in the city […]
The Lamp of Psyche by Edith Wharton
The Valley of Childish Things, and Other Emblems by Edith Wharton
The Journey by Edith Wharton
The Debt by Edith Wharton
The Moving Finger by Edith Wharton
Daunt Diana by Edith Wharton
The Eyes by Edith Wharton
Quicksand by Edith Wharton
“The Lamp of Psyche” “Delia Corbett was too happy; her happiness frightened her.” The story begins with Mrs. Delia Corbett making a series of reflections on her happiness. She’s newly married now in her mid-thirties, having been previously married and widowed (more or less both unhappily). She also reflects that her first husband’s wanderlust (and lust) made her not want to be with him anymore and if she benefited from his death so be it. Her new marriage is just two months old and has […]
Burning Bright by John Steinbeck
“The canvas walls of the dressing tent were discolored with brown water spots, green grass stains and grey streaks of mildew, and the prickles of sun glittering came through.” This is a book I bought and almost immediately regretted because the more I looked at it and thought about it, the less I wanted to read it. It reminds me of a weird mix of the Christopher Isherwood/Aldous Huxley book “Jacob’s Hands” mixed with a Thornton Wilder play. It says it’s a play in stories. […]
Selected Poetry by Nikki Giovanni
This is an audio collection by Nikki Giovanni, where she reads several of her poems, including well known poems like the one shared below. What’s great about this: in general it’s always better to have a poet read their own poetry, especially contemporary poetry where the meter is more likely to irregular at times because the poem lives in their brain and heart. Better, for this collection Nikki Giovanni doesn’t just read her poems, but introduces each with what feels like a free-wheeling introduction about […]
The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
“My father had a face that could stop a clock.” Somewhere in the heart of every reader lies the desire to write a series of time-travelling mystery novels in which, among other things, famous books and certainly puns about books, play significant roles. It helps if you’re English like Jasper Fforde or Jodi Taylor, but you can be an Anglophiliac like Connie Stevens, or just you’re own thing like Tim Powers if need be. This one in particular is quite famous and I think beloved, […]
Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
I’m teaching Pygmalion alongside Frankenstein….I will let the kids review them for you. Personally I love it. Pygmalion “I didn’t like the play that much as I found it not the easiest plot to follow and the ending was unsatisfying. I think the play did well in raising a question about language and it’s role/purpose. Something that didn’t is the ending as it is deeply inconclusive and unsatisfying.” “I think the play is interesting because there are multiple different characters from different backgrounds. there […]
