I’m always looking for intersections between academic writing and popular culture, and so, when I saw that my library had added Queer: A Graphic History to its new graphic novel shelf, I was instantly intrigued. My journey to LGBT+ allyship has been a long and winding road, and I didn’t get any queer theory in my collegiate career until graduate school. What Meg-John Barker and Julia Scheele do is unpack the idea of “queer” as a cultural and intellectual concept and help explain the ideology […]
A strange but intriguing little tale
’ve been going through a Glamourist Histories withdrawal. I’ve been wishing that the series wasn’t over, even though I was really happy with the way Mary Robinette Kowal wrapped it up. I did a library search to see what else I could read and happily, there are a few things left that I had not yet uncovered. I decided to start with a novella, Forest of Memory. It’s a short, tense, and captivating read, and you see where Kowal’s fantasy and sci-fi roots take hold. […]
Eh. Room was better.
Last year, I read Room for the first time and never forgot the experience. I was curious to see how Emma Donoghue’s other works would stack up. When I saw her latest book, The Wonder, on my library’s new books shelf, I thought that I’d give it a try. I’ll have to read a different book, because The Wonder was a mixed bag and very different than Room. Lib Wright is an English nurse who was mentored by Florence Nightingale in the Crimea. She’s now […]
Jane Austen steampunk space adventure
I’m a picky science fiction reader, but that doesn’t mean I’m against it. And if you throw a sci-fi or fantasy novel at me and say anything “Jane Austen,” chances are I’m going to read it. See: Mary Robinette Kowal’s Glamourist Histories and Diana Peterfreund’s For Darkness Shows the Stars books. I was scanning my library’s new science fiction and fantasy books, when David D. Levine’s Arabella of Mars appeared and had the tagline of “would have amused Jane Austen” attached to it. Obviously, I […]
Disappointing.
I follow the new literary fiction releases as much as I can, and last year, Brit Bennett’s debut novel The Mothers made it on a LOT of lists. I quickly put in a library hold, because I figured that so many people giving it raves would not steer me wrong. Oh, man. This book just did not grab me at all, and in fact, I’m puzzled why so many liberal-minded friends and critics raved about it. I mean, I grew up a pro-life Christian, and […]
My last Toni Morrison, and it was a good one.
I’m a huge fan of Toni Morrison, which is no secret around these parts. I’ve read all but Song of Solomon, but I had found it a paperback copy at Goodwill. I never know how a Morrison novel will turn out, but this one is absolutely in the top half of her oeuvre. Hooray! I’m glad I invested in the purchased copy, for sure. I am looking forward to unpacking the novel and revisiting it (maybe teaching it) in the years to come. It’s always […]
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