I’ve read two Edith Wharton novels, so I’d consider myself a fan. I thought The House of Mirth, while extremely depressing, was very compelling and engaging. The Age of Innocence has been my favorite so far, because it is an elegant novel. Also, I read it for a class The Chancellor and I were in when we first started seeing each other, so…yeah. There *might* be a touch of nostalgia surrounding it. I’d never read Ethan Frome, but I remember a student complaining about having […]
Maggie: a poor, unfortunate soul.
In a shocking twist, I read another depressing book by an American author. Something is wrong with me. I think I need a good dose of something safe and saccharine after this. So: Maggie Johnson is a beautiful and innocent girl growing up in a city slum. Her parents are drunks and her brother Jimmie is a fighter, not a lover. What’s a girl to do? Apart from trying to clean up after her mother and keep Jimmie from fighting, she falls in love with […]
(Another) depressing entry by another American author
I read The Glass Menagerie in college, but somehow missed out on the crazytown show that is A Streetcar Named Desire. I’m telling you, these American writers did not get hugged enough as kids. And now they’re taking it out on me. I knew very little about Streetcar before I read it, but I do remember something about a young and beautiful Marlon Brandon yelling “STELLAAAAAAA!” And really, the play is quite simple in concept: Blanche DuBois is a faded Southern belle who comes to […]
The Invisible American
When we Americans talk about World War II from a cultural context, we (rightfully) discuss the Holocaust. It was a horrible crime against humanity, and we should never be allowed to erase the depths to which the human soul can sink. However, we never talk much about the crimes happening on our own soil–namely, the internment of innocent Japanese-American citizens, many of whom were born and raised in the U.S., and most (if not ALL) guilty of nothing whatsoever than looking “Japanese. Yoshiko Uchida’s memoir, […]
Jack London, you are one screwed up SOB. Also, Cannonball.
First of all, a confession. I was, like, one of a teeny handful of girls my age who didn’t care for horses. Everyone was all about Black Beauty and the Black Stallion, and tons of other horseback-riding paperbacks, and I was all, “Eh. I’ll take dolphins” (Misty of Chincoteague was not half bad, but I liked the story, not the horses). Ergo, I thought Black Beauty was a horribly depressing book, and no amount of horse porn could redeem that book for me. I realize […]
Sherman Alexie is one of my favorites.
*Disclaimer: this book was read via audiobook.* Sherman Alexie’s writing never ceases to astonish me. He is brutally honest while also being personal, funny, and witty at once. I appreciate the stories he tells, and the way he tells them keeps me interested and engaged. I saw the audiobook at my library and what got me to check it out was his narration of the book–well worth it. War Dances is a collection of short stories and poetry, like much of his other work. One […]
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