I’ve recently read two essays by Laurie Penny: “Most Women You Know Are Angry—And That’s All Right” and “On the Milo Bus with the Lost Boys of America’s New Right.” Both are engaging and provocative in their different approaches to an interlinked topic: the clash between right and left in the United States, as well as the way men and women see each other in Trump’s America. I heard that Penny’s new book, Bitch Doctrine: Essays for Dissenting Adults, and I was intrigued enough to […]
An interesting, if uneven, story collection
I took a Women’s Literature class about ten years ago (oof, that’s so painful to admit), and Carol Shields was one of the discoveries for me. We read Swann, which was a revelation. Sometime later, I was in a discount bookstore, and I stumbled upon a copy of her collected short stories, which was comprised of her three collections, Various Miracles, The Orange Fish, and Dressing Up for the Carnival. It also includes a previously unpublished short story, “Segue,” which would prove to be her […]
An intriguing character study from London
I first read Zadie Smith in grad school, when we read White Teeth for a British contemporary class. I was instantly in love. There are few novels that capture lightning in a bottle in one try, and Smith did it. I decided that I needed to read her other work. Nothing has quite held the same kind of magic that White Teeth did, though I am pleased to say that everything except The Autograph Man is quite good and engrossing. I read On Beauty earlier […]
A reliable/unreliable narrative
One of my 2017-2018 goals, besides reading all the books on my shelf (a project that is rapidly winding down, thank goodness!), is to read all of Margaret Atwood’s books. She’s so prolific that it’s an act easier said than done, but with my book club pick coming up, I decided to use it wisely on a book I’d never read. And that’s the story of how I ended up reading Alias Grace. Also, the arrival of the Netflix show has me intrigued (also, WHEN […]
He may be able to turn a phrase, but I’m thinking Hemingway isn’t for me
A few weeks ago, I put out a plea on my Facebook page – I had overlooked choosing a book for this year’s Banned Book Week. While emmalita sang the praises of This One Summer a book I already had on my to read list (which I did read that week), another friend gamely suggested that I read A Farewell to Arms since he was reading it as well. I checked out the audio offerings, and decided to give it a go since John Slattery […]
A last year’s book revisited, with splendid results
The Chancellor has chosen Louise Erdrich’s LaRose for his September book club pick, and I was really excited. I read it for CBR8 last year, and I gave it a solid 4.5 stars. I was still on a readers’ high from The Round-House, which colored my judgment of LaRose. The beauty of a re-read is that you can really dig into major themes and ideas, because you know how the book already ends. Since I reviewed this book last year, I won’t reiterate the plot […]
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