Describe your new book. Oddfellow's Orphanage is a series of stories/vignettes that tell the tale of the newest arrival to a curious orphanage, a...
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I am not surprised by all the negative feedback Mark Danielewski's second novel (if you can call it that) has received. I'd like to offer up a brief defense, because it is a lovely and worthwhile volume. His first book, "House of Leaves" was clearly a novel written with readers in mind. "Only Revolutions" feels written for writers. This is a twenty-first century Odyssey, composed in raucous Gerard Manley Hopkins-style alliterative verse. If Walt Whitman had written a post-modern anti-novel, this is what it might look like. "House of Leaves" proved Danielewski to be a cool, edgy, cerebral novelist. In "Only Revolutions" we catch a glimpse of a poet with a lot of heart. Not your typical page-turner, but gripping in its own way. If you are looking for a tribute to the power and folly of youth, mingled with an intimate exploration of what makes America what it is, or if you just need a break from straightforward, predictable narrative prose, this is it.
Persistence pays off; for the first 500 pages, I was not convinced that this was Pamuk's finest work, but the last soaringly tragic chapters convinced me otherwise. Although the meandering melancholy of the narrator, a lovesick thirty-something from Turkey's upper crust, may at first come off as self-indulgent, Orhan Pamuk is too skilled to craft a simple sad tale of obsession gone awry. In The Museum of Innocence, Pamuk mines deep into every vein of obsession, love, lust, infidelity and fidelity that he can find--in the end, turning on their heads our common notions of virtue, success, and life well lived. Reading, I couldn't help but recall some lines by Sam Beam on the newest Iron & Wine album: "We bricked up the garden and oh, what it means,/ and we've all kissed a virgin as if she were clean."
Moreover, Pamuk's ability to bring myriad minute details together into a moving whole is staggering. Not only is this a story of romance between human beings, but of the romance which grows between people and inanimate things. I go through my days now reflecting on the everyday objects that shape me, each one a defining piece of who I am. Pamuk has subtly shifted the way I think about materialism. More Iron & Wine: "I saw strangers stealing kisses,/ leaving only their clothes, only their clothes."
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(2 of 4 readers found this comment helpful)
Theresa Funiciello truly speaks truth to power. Her writing is engaging intellectually and emotionally, and her arguments cut right to the heart of how America could solve its poverty problem if the powers that be were so inclined. The greed and self-interest on the part of "not-for-profit" corporations receiving government dollars left and right is astonishing and appalling. What Funiciello knows about poverty, she learned on the ground as a welfare mom and activist. Although the policies and stats (from the 80s and early 90s) are dated, I can't stop talking about what this book has taught me.
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(22 of 43 readers found this comment helpful)
Picked up this collection because I love Bly's translations of Pablo Neruda, Rilke, and Tomas Transtromer. This selection is a delight to browse through, as Bly has included many lesser-known poets from around the world, including Scandinavian poets Olav Hauge and Harry Martinson. I only wish Bly had featured more women writers; it is difficult to find poetry collections that strike a balance between male and female voices.
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(20 of 41 readers found this comment helpful)
I recommend this book regularly to friends who are curious about twentieth century poetry but don't know where to begin. The voices in this collection come from practically every continent and span the entire twentieth century. These are socially and politically rooted poems that give voice to suffering and sorrow--but there is nonetheless great beauty here. A tribute to the ability to keep singing through the darkest times.
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(22 of 43 readers found this comment helpful)
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K Magill has commented on (16) products.
Only Revolutions by Mark Z Danielewski
K Magill, August 5, 2011
I am not surprised by all the negative feedback Mark Danielewski's second novel (if you can call it that) has received. I'd like to offer up a brief defense, because it is a lovely and worthwhile volume. His first book, "House of Leaves" was clearly a novel written with readers in mind. "Only Revolutions" feels written for writers. This is a twenty-first century Odyssey, composed in raucous Gerard Manley Hopkins-style alliterative verse. If Walt Whitman had written a post-modern anti-novel, this is what it might look like. "House of Leaves" proved Danielewski to be a cool, edgy, cerebral novelist. In "Only Revolutions" we catch a glimpse of a poet with a lot of heart. Not your typical page-turner, but gripping in its own way. If you are looking for a tribute to the power and folly of youth, mingled with an intimate exploration of what makes America what it is, or if you just need a break from straightforward, predictable narrative prose, this is it.The Museum of Innocence by Orhan Pamuk
K Magill, February 27, 2011
Persistence pays off; for the first 500 pages, I was not convinced that this was Pamuk's finest work, but the last soaringly tragic chapters convinced me otherwise. Although the meandering melancholy of the narrator, a lovesick thirty-something from Turkey's upper crust, may at first come off as self-indulgent, Orhan Pamuk is too skilled to craft a simple sad tale of obsession gone awry. In The Museum of Innocence, Pamuk mines deep into every vein of obsession, love, lust, infidelity and fidelity that he can find--in the end, turning on their heads our common notions of virtue, success, and life well lived. Reading, I couldn't help but recall some lines by Sam Beam on the newest Iron & Wine album: "We bricked up the garden and oh, what it means,/ and we've all kissed a virgin as if she were clean."Moreover, Pamuk's ability to bring myriad minute details together into a moving whole is staggering. Not only is this a story of romance between human beings, but of the romance which grows between people and inanimate things. I go through my days now reflecting on the everyday objects that shape me, each one a defining piece of who I am. Pamuk has subtly shifted the way I think about materialism. More Iron & Wine: "I saw strangers stealing kisses,/ leaving only their clothes, only their clothes."
(2 of 4 readers found this comment helpful)
Tyranny of Kindness: Dismantling the Welfare System to End Poverty in America by Theresa Funiciello
K Magill, August 2, 2010
Theresa Funiciello truly speaks truth to power. Her writing is engaging intellectually and emotionally, and her arguments cut right to the heart of how America could solve its poverty problem if the powers that be were so inclined. The greed and self-interest on the part of "not-for-profit" corporations receiving government dollars left and right is astonishing and appalling. What Funiciello knows about poverty, she learned on the ground as a welfare mom and activist. Although the policies and stats (from the 80s and early 90s) are dated, I can't stop talking about what this book has taught me.(22 of 43 readers found this comment helpful)
The Winged Energy of Delight: Selected Translations by Robert Bly
K Magill, July 15, 2010
Picked up this collection because I love Bly's translations of Pablo Neruda, Rilke, and Tomas Transtromer. This selection is a delight to browse through, as Bly has included many lesser-known poets from around the world, including Scandinavian poets Olav Hauge and Harry Martinson. I only wish Bly had featured more women writers; it is difficult to find poetry collections that strike a balance between male and female voices.(20 of 41 readers found this comment helpful)
Against Forgetting: Twentieth-Century Poetry of Witness by Carolyn Forche
K Magill, July 15, 2010
I recommend this book regularly to friends who are curious about twentieth century poetry but don't know where to begin. The voices in this collection come from practically every continent and span the entire twentieth century. These are socially and politically rooted poems that give voice to suffering and sorrow--but there is nonetheless great beauty here. A tribute to the ability to keep singing through the darkest times.(22 of 43 readers found this comment helpful)
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