Have you finished reading Still Alice? Just one week left until our meeting!5=I love it!
4=I really like it.
3=I like it.
2=It's just okay.
1=I don't like it.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Sunday Survey
Have you finished reading Still Alice? Just one week left until our meeting!5=I love it!
4=I really like it.
3=I like it.
2=It's just okay.
1=I don't like it.
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Saturday Spotlight
Today's author is Junot Díaz.
1. He was born December 31, 1968 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
2. He lived in the Dominican with his mother until he emigrated to Parlin, New Jersey in 1974, where he re-united with his father.
3. He finished his BA in English at Rutgers in 1992.
4. After graduation, he was employed at Rutgers University Press as an editorial assistant.
5. He earned his MFA from Cornell in 1995.
6. He teaches creative writing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
7. His short stories have appeared in The New Yorker, Story and The Paris Review.
8. His first book, a short story collection called Drown, was published in 1996.
9. His second book, a novel called The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, was published in 2007; it won the Pulitzer Prize and Miramax has the film rights.
10. His awards include a Eugene McDermott Award, a Lila Acheson Wallace Readers Digest Award, a Pen/Malamud Award, and the Rome Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
Have you read anything by Junot Díaz? I haven't yet, but his novel is on my 100 books list. I'm hoping I like his book about the immigrant experience as much as I like Jhumpa Lahiri's.
1. He was born December 31, 1968 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
2. He lived in the Dominican with his mother until he emigrated to Parlin, New Jersey in 1974, where he re-united with his father.
3. He finished his BA in English at Rutgers in 1992.
4. After graduation, he was employed at Rutgers University Press as an editorial assistant.
5. He earned his MFA from Cornell in 1995.
6. He teaches creative writing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
7. His short stories have appeared in The New Yorker, Story and The Paris Review.
8. His first book, a short story collection called Drown, was published in 1996.
9. His second book, a novel called The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, was published in 2007; it won the Pulitzer Prize and Miramax has the film rights.
10. His awards include a Eugene McDermott Award, a Lila Acheson Wallace Readers Digest Award, a Pen/Malamud Award, and the Rome Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
Have you read anything by Junot Díaz? I haven't yet, but his novel is on my 100 books list. I'm hoping I like his book about the immigrant experience as much as I like Jhumpa Lahiri's.
Friday, December 11, 2009
Feature Fridays
Today's classic is The Bell Jar (1963) by Sylvia Plath.
Plath was an excellent poet but is known to many for this largely autobiographical novel. Plath committed suicide in 1963 and left behind this scathingly sad, honest and perfectly-written book, which remains one of the best-told tales of a woman's descent into insanity.
We follow Esther Greenwood's personal life from her summer job in New York with Ladies' Day magazine, back through her days at New England's largest school for women, and forward through her attempted suicide, her bad treatment at one asylum and her good treatment at another, to her final re-entry into the world like a used tyre: "patched, retreaded, and approved for the road" ... Esther Greenwood's account of her year in the bell jar is as clear and readable as it is witty and disturbing.
If you've read it, take the SparkNotes quiz to test your memory.
Did you know? The Bell Jar is Plath's only novel and was originally published under a pseudonym; it is a roman à clef.
Read an excerpt here.
Have you read The Bell Jar?
Plath was an excellent poet but is known to many for this largely autobiographical novel. Plath committed suicide in 1963 and left behind this scathingly sad, honest and perfectly-written book, which remains one of the best-told tales of a woman's descent into insanity. We follow Esther Greenwood's personal life from her summer job in New York with Ladies' Day magazine, back through her days at New England's largest school for women, and forward through her attempted suicide, her bad treatment at one asylum and her good treatment at another, to her final re-entry into the world like a used tyre: "patched, retreaded, and approved for the road" ... Esther Greenwood's account of her year in the bell jar is as clear and readable as it is witty and disturbing.
If you've read it, take the SparkNotes quiz to test your memory.
Did you know? The Bell Jar is Plath's only novel and was originally published under a pseudonym; it is a roman à clef.
Read an excerpt here.
Have you read The Bell Jar?
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Thoughts for Thursday
What's the most eye-catching or interesing book cover you've seen lately?
Bonk by Mary Roach
"Roach's ever-present eye and ear for the absurd and her loopy sense of humor make her a delectable guide through this unesteemed scientific outback. . . .Roach's forays offer fascinating evidence of the full range of human weirdness, the nonsense that has often passed for medical science and, more poignantly, the extreme lengths to which people will go to find sexual satisfaction."
—Publishers Weekly
"Roach's ever-present eye and ear for the absurd and her loopy sense of humor make her a delectable guide through this unesteemed scientific outback. . . .Roach's forays offer fascinating evidence of the full range of human weirdness, the nonsense that has often passed for medical science and, more poignantly, the extreme lengths to which people will go to find sexual satisfaction."
—Publishers Weekly
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Wednesday Wish List
I don't normally read young adult books but I saw this one reviewed on Luxury Reading and it sounded like something I would like. The author has a cool website too.
After by Amy Efaw
An infant left in the trash to die. A teenage mother who never knew she was pregnant . . .
Before That Morning, these were the words most often used to describe straight-A student and star soccer player Devon Davenport: responsible, hardworking, mature. But all that changes when the police find Devon home sick from school as they investigate the case of an abandoned baby. Soon the connection is made—Devon has just given birth; the baby in the trash is hers. After That Morning, there’s only one way to define Devon: attempted murderer.
And yet gifted author Amy Efaw does the impossible— she turns Devon into an empathetic character, a girl who was in such deep denial that she refused to believe she was pregnant. Through airtight writing and fast-paced, gripping storytelling, Ms. Efaw takes the reader on Devon’s unforgettable journey toward clarity, acceptance, and redemption.
An infant left in the trash to die. A teenage mother who never knew she was pregnant . . .
Before That Morning, these were the words most often used to describe straight-A student and star soccer player Devon Davenport: responsible, hardworking, mature. But all that changes when the police find Devon home sick from school as they investigate the case of an abandoned baby. Soon the connection is made—Devon has just given birth; the baby in the trash is hers. After That Morning, there’s only one way to define Devon: attempted murderer.
And yet gifted author Amy Efaw does the impossible— she turns Devon into an empathetic character, a girl who was in such deep denial that she refused to believe she was pregnant. Through airtight writing and fast-paced, gripping storytelling, Ms. Efaw takes the reader on Devon’s unforgettable journey toward clarity, acceptance, and redemption.
