So, yesterday was the official kick-off of the Keep Portland Weird festival here in Paris, which meant that I had a reading/screening in the...
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This is a must for University types with experience facing down the tenure process. It is a well-told story communicated in a variety of ways, full of literary trivia and lively characters (especially the unreal ones). It seems strange that it isn't one of Grudin's most popular novels.
This mostly forgotten collection of short stories by the enigmatic 60's icon and Willamette Valley resident, Ken Kesey, has a lot to offer. While not every story is a gem, every story has a complete visceral Kesey moment where you live the feelings the author offers up. Kesey still trumpets through the mundane to touch the sky, and several of the stories, including "In Search of the Secret Pyramid" and the ghostly Dickensian "Now We Know How Many Holes it Takes to Fill the Albert Hall" show the writer for the true master he was. This collection is honest, deconstructionist, and full of tributes to earlier works, times, and experiences. Worth the time, although a table of contents would have been nice.
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Murder mystery fans (and children's literature fans of all ages), this book is too much fun! It makes hilarious references even if you are more of a well-heeled public television viewer than a reader of British-style crime dramas. Read this. You'll never think of Jack Spratt (or Columbo) the same way.
"Politics right on the sleeve" has made me a little reluctant to start a new Kingsolver, but I'm almost always more reluctant to have it end. The Lacuna is a scrap book that collects interesting events and characters. It is about the history of political views, and about political views of history. It looks at how the media of the day (of any day?) interprets events for consumption. The book weaves together a plausible tale with an amazing cast of real historical characters. Mexican beauty and tribulations of the last hundred years, contrasted to US strengths and disgraces during the same time period, are rendered in letters, articles and journal entries. Interest in semantics, art, pre-Cortez Mexico, propaganda, and how we all live with who we are, are all here in challenging thought-provoking interjections.
Barbara Kingsolver is not a storyteller who lets you learn, but a teacher who has stories to tell. It's always worth the work.
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Spy-C has commented on (6) products.
Book :a novel by Robert Grudin
Spy-C, October 13, 2011
This is a must for University types with experience facing down the tenure process. It is a well-told story communicated in a variety of ways, full of literary trivia and lively characters (especially the unreal ones). It seems strange that it isn't one of Grudin's most popular novels.Kafka's Soup: A Complete History of World Literature in 14 Recipes by Mark Crick
Spy-C, September 30, 2011
Fun! This is great out-loud reading. The personality of each author shines through Crick's culinary homage.Demon Box by Ken Kesey
Spy-C, February 2, 2011
This mostly forgotten collection of short stories by the enigmatic 60's icon and Willamette Valley resident, Ken Kesey, has a lot to offer. While not every story is a gem, every story has a complete visceral Kesey moment where you live the feelings the author offers up. Kesey still trumpets through the mundane to touch the sky, and several of the stories, including "In Search of the Secret Pyramid" and the ghostly Dickensian "Now We Know How Many Holes it Takes to Fill the Albert Hall" show the writer for the true master he was. This collection is honest, deconstructionist, and full of tributes to earlier works, times, and experiences. Worth the time, although a table of contents would have been nice.(2 of 2 readers found this comment helpful)
The Big Over Easy: A Nursery Crime by Jasper Fforde
Spy-C, March 22, 2010
Murder mystery fans (and children's literature fans of all ages), this book is too much fun! It makes hilarious references even if you are more of a well-heeled public television viewer than a reader of British-style crime dramas. Read this. You'll never think of Jack Spratt (or Columbo) the same way.The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver
Spy-C, March 22, 2010
"Politics right on the sleeve" has made me a little reluctant to start a new Kingsolver, but I'm almost always more reluctant to have it end. The Lacuna is a scrap book that collects interesting events and characters. It is about the history of political views, and about political views of history. It looks at how the media of the day (of any day?) interprets events for consumption. The book weaves together a plausible tale with an amazing cast of real historical characters. Mexican beauty and tribulations of the last hundred years, contrasted to US strengths and disgraces during the same time period, are rendered in letters, articles and journal entries. Interest in semantics, art, pre-Cortez Mexico, propaganda, and how we all live with who we are, are all here in challenging thought-provoking interjections.Barbara Kingsolver is not a storyteller who lets you learn, but a teacher who has stories to tell. It's always worth the work.
(2 of 3 readers found this comment helpful)
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