Leni Zumas's writing crackles. Her books are sharp, bleak, funny, and possibly dangerous. When her collection of short stories, Farewell Navigator,...
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Do you have any Native American story collections on your bookshelf? If yes, you've got to get this. Anyone interested in American, not just Native American history will enjoy this book. Most of us will know when we encounter an Algonquian place name, but how many are aware of the many Native American words that are part of mainstay in American English? The most well known is arguably Yankees. Yankees for the English right? But I didn't know Yankees comes from "Yengeese" the name for European visitors who spoke their Ma'am's tongue (okay, okay the queen's English), now the name of New York baseball players. Redundant info? Perhaps, but it does show how connected we are today to Native American language.
Swann covers an astounding territory literally, historically and figuratively. I don't think there's another work this complete. While written by an academic, it's not an academic read, tip to the hat for Brian Swann. An American lit collection won't be complete without Algonquian Spirit —much more than a transcript of an oral tradition.
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(3 of 5 readers found this comment helpful)
Don't miss this author appearance. Whether you're a Theologist, film buff/ lover or fan of Paul Verhoeven's movies, you'll be in for a surprise. The man who brought us Turkish Delight, Prince of Orange and The Black Book is as erudite as scholars come. Add the analytical mind of a mathematician, the questioning mind of a sceptic and the wit of ... ( you may fill that one in yourself).
Want a good question for Q&A? Ask him whether/ how he made Robocop (yes he signed for that one as well) walk on water...
As for the book - you're in the hands of a storyteller with a consciece, no made-up (good for film) facts, just a lot of good old speculation.
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(3 of 5 readers found this comment helpful)
An honest memoir in which the author admits with one startling sentence toward the end of the book, how she and her brother missed out on the truly joyful and enjoyable person her mother became in her old age, because they were unable to see her as anything else but sad old Mom. A sullen warning for adult children to open their eyes to the transformation from parent to human being.
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(4 of 7 readers found this comment helpful)
After reading At Home in the World by Joyce Maynard I have the feeling I now know more about the author and the famously reclusive Jerry Salinger than I should. Still there's something shamefully delicious about pouring over the lives of other people. Memoirs are per definition self involved, but when combining object with subject results in a compelling (auto-) biographical read, what is there to do, but just that: read.
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(3 of 4 readers found this comment helpful)
The first 100 pages cover the author's parents' life before her birth and clarify why her famous father may have become the recluse he is.
Ms. Salinger's rebuke at the address of biographer Ian Hamilton for suggesting that Salinger "didn't bother to become a professor", sheds clarifying light on the role that antisemitism played in her father's career and life.
About her arrival in the world, Ms. Salinger writes: "I was on a collision course with my father's fiction." And while Salinger "became enchanted" with his baby daughter, that line pretty much sums up their relationship. For as becomes clear in reading Dream Catcher, Salinger's children were as much his inspiration as a source of irritation.
As is often the case in memoirs written by children of famous parents, Ms. Salinger's has a tugging undertow of barely resolved issues, which contradict the supposed resolve of the main storyline. No wonder, for in the author-father's (neurotic) quest for perfection, the child can't but disappoint, even if that's what only the child perceives.
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(4 of 8 readers found this comment helpful)
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dutchessabroad has commented on (21) products.
Algonquian Spirit: Contemporary Translations of the Algonquian Literatures of North America by Brian Swann
dutchessabroad, June 3, 2010
Do you have any Native American story collections on your bookshelf? If yes, you've got to get this. Anyone interested in American, not just Native American history will enjoy this book. Most of us will know when we encounter an Algonquian place name, but how many are aware of the many Native American words that are part of mainstay in American English? The most well known is arguably Yankees. Yankees for the English right? But I didn't know Yankees comes from "Yengeese" the name for European visitors who spoke their Ma'am's tongue (okay, okay the queen's English), now the name of New York baseball players. Redundant info? Perhaps, but it does show how connected we are today to Native American language.Swann covers an astounding territory literally, historically and figuratively. I don't think there's another work this complete. While written by an academic, it's not an academic read, tip to the hat for Brian Swann. An American lit collection won't be complete without Algonquian Spirit —much more than a transcript of an oral tradition.
(3 of 5 readers found this comment helpful)
Jesus of Nazareth by Paul Verhoeven
dutchessabroad, April 6, 2010
Don't miss this author appearance. Whether you're a Theologist, film buff/ lover or fan of Paul Verhoeven's movies, you'll be in for a surprise. The man who brought us Turkish Delight, Prince of Orange and The Black Book is as erudite as scholars come. Add the analytical mind of a mathematician, the questioning mind of a sceptic and the wit of ... ( you may fill that one in yourself).Want a good question for Q&A? Ask him whether/ how he made Robocop (yes he signed for that one as well) walk on water...
As for the book - you're in the hands of a storyteller with a consciece, no made-up (good for film) facts, just a lot of good old speculation.
(3 of 5 readers found this comment helpful)
Not Becoming My Mother: And Other Things She Taught Me Along the Way by Ruth Reichl
dutchessabroad, February 25, 2010
An honest memoir in which the author admits with one startling sentence toward the end of the book, how she and her brother missed out on the truly joyful and enjoyable person her mother became in her old age, because they were unable to see her as anything else but sad old Mom. A sullen warning for adult children to open their eyes to the transformation from parent to human being.(4 of 7 readers found this comment helpful)
At Home in the World: A Memoir by Joyce Maynard
dutchessabroad, July 12, 2009
After reading At Home in the World by Joyce Maynard I have the feeling I now know more about the author and the famously reclusive Jerry Salinger than I should. Still there's something shamefully delicious about pouring over the lives of other people. Memoirs are per definition self involved, but when combining object with subject results in a compelling (auto-) biographical read, what is there to do, but just that: read.(3 of 4 readers found this comment helpful)
Dream Catcher: A Memoir by Margaret A Salinger
dutchessabroad, July 12, 2009
The first 100 pages cover the author's parents' life before her birth and clarify why her famous father may have become the recluse he is.Ms. Salinger's rebuke at the address of biographer Ian Hamilton for suggesting that Salinger "didn't bother to become a professor", sheds clarifying light on the role that antisemitism played in her father's career and life.
About her arrival in the world, Ms. Salinger writes: "I was on a collision course with my father's fiction." And while Salinger "became enchanted" with his baby daughter, that line pretty much sums up their relationship. For as becomes clear in reading Dream Catcher, Salinger's children were as much his inspiration as a source of irritation.
As is often the case in memoirs written by children of famous parents, Ms. Salinger's has a tugging undertow of barely resolved issues, which contradict the supposed resolve of the main storyline. No wonder, for in the author-father's (neurotic) quest for perfection, the child can't but disappoint, even if that's what only the child perceives.
(4 of 8 readers found this comment helpful)
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