For some reason, I never read Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Maybe it was the reports of bathos, hand-wringing, and tear-filled emotions, or maybe it was when I convinced myself that I didn’t like nineteenth-century American fiction (spoiler: I do. I just don’t like Emerson all that much), but somehow, that part of my education got skipped. I’ve read several nonfiction accounts of slavery as experienced by the enslaved, such as Frederick Douglass, Harriet Jacobs (who initially published as Linda Brent), and Solomon Northup. My students and […]
The Circle is trying to be your friend. Don’t let it.
It was my friend A’s turn to pick our month’s Book Club selection, and she went with The Circle. I’d never read Dave Eggers before (though A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius has been languishing on my shelf for a few years now), but I was highly curious about the premise. After reading it, I can only say: WOW. Our digital world is scary. Mae is naive, impressionable, and eager to please. She gets a job at The Circle, a social media networking corporation, through […]
Dear James Dashner: Really?
Think of the cheapest-tasting candy you have ever eaten. It will differ for all of us, but for me, it’s Tootsie Rolls. They’re not bad, per se, but they’re just not great as far as candy is concerned. Think about it: when you’re cruising the candy aisles at Target, there are great bags of Reese’s or Hershey candies or even Wonka Candy varieties for $9, but the Tootsie Roll bag is always $3 or $4, and there’s a ton there, because no one wants to […]
Son: A Beautiful End to a Beautiful Quartet
Having got a late start on The Giver, I decided to make up for lost time by reading the entire quartet. How beautifully wonderful it was! I don’t know what critics or readers think of it, but I thought it was the perfect ending to an original and piercing series. The story begins with a girl named Claire. A disappointing student, she is assigned the role of Birthmother. And then it all goes wrong. She feels things she cannot explain, things that no one else […]
Jane Austen meets Jonathan Strange and we all win.
Paging Jane Austen enthusiasts! Paging Jane Austen enthusiasts! Here’s an enjoyable and delightful read that merges Austen’s Regency-era novel of manners with fantasy and science fiction. It’s delightful and entertaining and innovative at once. My sister recommended this book to me–and since I recommend so many books to her, it seemed only fair to read one of her choices. So glad that I did! Jane Ellsworth is a single woman in her late twenties, part of a respectable family and a skilled glamourist. While her […]
Ahab’s Wife
After reading Moby-Dick, I decided that after letting Ahab’s Wife languish for years and years on my reading list, that it was finally time to read it. I’m honestly glad that I did. It’s an interesting book, with only a few silly moments. Una’s story begins when she is laboring with her first child, at her mother’s home in Kentucky. She then moves backwards in time, describing her tumultuous childhood, her adolescence at her aunt and uncle’s lighthouse, and her impetuous voyage as a cabin […]
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