Three Books that I Would Have Avoided

2014-07-11T16:41:03-04:00

In my books, this is unmissable bookishness. At one point, I had fallen six months behind in my listening, but there was no question of deleting those episodes of The Next Chapter; it's a no-fail source of reading recommendations for me. Shelagh Rogers’ casual around-the-kitchen-table bookchat brings out a layer to the

Three Books that I Would Have Avoided2014-07-11T16:41:03-04:00

Alice Munro’s Dance of the Happy Shades (1968) I

2014-03-11T20:07:52-04:00

Back at the beginning of December, the idea of reading Alice Munro’s stories from the beginning, through her most recent collection, Too Much Happiness, just seemed like a good idea. But now that I’ve actually begun. Now that it’s moved from the sphere of the possible to the sphere of

Alice Munro’s Dance of the Happy Shades (1968) I2014-03-11T20:07:52-04:00

Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake (2003)

2014-03-10T20:13:05-04:00

Jhumpa Lahiri's The Namesake (2003) Boston: Mariner-Houghton Mifflin, 2004 In Anne of Green Gables, Anne muses: "How do you know but that it hurts a geranium's feelings just to be called a geranium and nothing else?” The act of naming is one of primary importance -- from PEI to India

Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake (2003)2014-03-10T20:13:05-04:00

Drawing Conclusions: Sarah Leavitt’s Tangles

2014-03-10T19:58:12-04:00

Sarah Leavitt’s Tangles: A Story about Alzheimer’s, My Mother and Me Freehand Books, 2010 It’s not just a problem for the curly-headed folks: even with straight hair, there are tangles, knots, and snarls. Everybody can relate to the struggle to make a course smooth once more. And these days, increasingly

Drawing Conclusions: Sarah Leavitt’s Tangles2014-03-10T19:58:12-04:00

Sarah Selecky’s This Cake is for the Party (2010)

2014-03-10T20:10:23-04:00

Sarah Selecky’s This Cake is for the Party Thomas Allen, 2010 A lot of readers think of short stories like the crumbs on the cover image of Sarah Selecky’s stories: short stories are what’s left behind when a writer couldn’t make something whole out of an idea, couldn’t serve it

Sarah Selecky’s This Cake is for the Party (2010)2014-03-10T20:10:23-04:00
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