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Category Archives: Authors
Initial thoughts on Rose Tremain’s The Road Home, as well as a reading technology update (by Jill)
It took me a while to figure out what I wanted to read after finishing The Best of McSweeney’s. I usually have a plan, and this time I really didn’t. I usually read one of my boss Cathy’s booksm, … Continue reading
Posted in Fiction - general, Reviews by Jill, Rose Tremain
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A Review of Jennifer Miller’s The Year of the Gadfly (by Bethany)
Books often present adolescent angst as more organized than it actually is. Books for and about teenagers are full of secret societies, secret passageways in the bowels of high schools, passwords and codes that are passed along through the years … Continue reading
The Parallel Lives of Jay and Grey (by Bethany)
When I used to teach The Great Gatsby, I spent the better part of a class period on the vehicles depicted in the first three chapters. My goal, of course, was to prepare the students for the climactic scene when … Continue reading
A Review of Miranda July’s The First Bad Man (by Bethany)
It seems that everywhere I go these days, everyone is talking about female sexuality: Fifty Shades of Grey, to name one omnipresent example, plus Lena Dunham and Girls, and of course the ongoing national debate about rape and the many, … Continue reading
Posted in Authors, Fiction - general, Miranda July, Reviews by Bethany
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Thoughts on A.H. Jones’ Constantine and the Conversion of Europe (by Bethany)
About 75 pages of this book were assigned for one of the MOOC’s I’m taking, and since I’m a bit of an overachiever (at least in College Education 2.0 I’m an overachiever; in the first go-round not so much), I … Continue reading
And now I need to go have Chinese food…. Final Thoughts on Nicole Mones’ The Last Chinese Chef (by Jill)
I just finished this book and it’s made me face a difficult truth: I’m not as cynical as I like to think I am. When Sam and Maggie finally get together at the very end I was overjoyed for them, … Continue reading
Posted in Fiction - general, Nicole Mones, Reviews by Jill
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Progress Report on Nicole Mones’ The Last Chinese Chef (by Jill)
I feel like I have a hundred new years resolutions this year. Okay, maybe five. But the one that pertains to the blog is that I want to not disappear for weeks on end like I did towards the end … Continue reading
Posted in Fiction - general, Nicole Mones, Reviews by Jill
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Final Thoughts on Isabel Allende’s Maya’s Notebook (by Jill)
I finished Maya’s Notebook Thursday night, and I was immediately annoyed with myself for writing so much in my progress report on Tuesday, because I don’t have much additional to say now. The two big surprises at the end of … Continue reading
Progress report on Isabel Allende’s Maya’s Notebook (by Jill)
I think I will look back on the books I’ve read in the past six months and the main thing I’ll remember is this: bad things happen to teenagers who end up in Las Vegas. Very. Bad. Things. Remember … Continue reading
Some Brief Almost-Final Thoughts on We Are Not Ourselves (by Bethany)
It’s official. This is an Alzheimer’s book. I did not know it was an Alzheimer’s book before I read it; the book jacket hints but does not make this statement directly. I feel a little bit cheated. I’ve stayed away … Continue reading
Posted in Authors, Fiction - general, Fiction - literary, Matthew Thomas, Reviews by Bethany
Tagged Alzheimer’s Disease
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Postcards From Purgatory 