Back in July, ElCicco reviewed The Fever by Megan Abbott. I was intrigued. I got it from the library and devoured it on a rainy weekend afternoon. It’s a great and thrilling read, but it’s also a relevant and chilling one, too. The Nash family lives in Dryden, where they’ve always lived. Dad Tom is a high school science teacher, mom Georgia has left, son Eli is an attractive hockey star at the high school, and daughter Deenie is studious and friend-oriented. The novel opens […]
A Tragedy of Psychological Proportions
On July 11, 1906, Grace Brown, a skirt factory worker, was killed after she was evicted from a boat and fell into a lake in upstate New York. Her body was found the next day, and her lover was targeted as the chief suspect in a homicide. Grace had been pregnant, and letters to Gillette proved that their relationship had been covert and tempestuous. Gillette was convicted of her murder and later executed after an appeal and appeal to the governor failed. Theodore Dreiser’s An […]
Undying Faith and Friendship
Once I find an author I like, I find all of his/her books and read away like a crazy person. I never expected to say that of Willa Cather. But seriously: she’s The Best. Death Comes for the Archbishop covers the saga of bringing the Catholic faith to the American Southwest through the eyes of French bishop, Jean Latour and his best friend Joseph Vaillant. They endure hardships, uncharted territory, language barriers, and cultural barriers to bring church to the Mexicans and Indians living in […]
Mark Twain isn’t such a pudd’nhead after all.
I’ve never been a huge Mark Twain fan. I read Tom Sawyer as a kid, and Huckleberry Finn in college, and my overall response was “Eh.” I never appreciated Twain’s remarks about Jane Austen, particularly because his own style of writing sometimes felt very…crude? unfinished? to me. Now that I’ve read Pudd’nhead Wilson, however, I feel somewhat more magnanimous towards Twain and his witticisms. Dave Wilson is a young attorney who moves to Dawson’s Landing, Missouri and promptly makes a foolish joke. People call him […]
Emily Blunt was a better Full Metal Bitch.
Last month, I finally saw the film Edge of Tomorrow and loved it. I was initially very reluctant to throw my money at Tom Cruise, because…Tom Cruise. And yet I really wanted to see it, because of this lady. Well done, John Krasinski. When I heard that this fantastic film was based on a book, All You Need Is Kill, I was intrigued and promptly put in a request through my library. In short: Keiji Kiriya is a humble foot soldier fighting a seemingly invincible […]
A Stranger, a Strange Land, a Strange Room
I don’t know if I’ve ever read something as beautiful, evocative, or postmodern as this. Damon Galgut’s In a Strange Room is a very idea-driven novel, but one of the most gorgeous pieces of prose I’ve ever read. I first heard of it when I was listening to a panel on the pastoral in contemporary fiction for Modern Language Association this past January (that’s my professional organization), and I was intrigued by the concept. I wanted to see what it was all about. So glad […]
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