Spring 2018, In My Reading Log

2018-06-05T10:29:52-04:00

Junot Díaz’s The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (2008) I thought the footnotes would make it fun (like in a Steven Haywood short story); I was more focussed on the ‘wondrous’ than the warning of brevity. In fact, Oscar’s life emerges from dictatorship and constricted choices, and you

Spring 2018, In My Reading Log2018-06-05T10:29:52-04:00

Zadie Smith’s Swing Time (2016)

2021-07-02T16:34:41-04:00

In the first musical number in the classic RKO comedy film "Swing Time", Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers dance with grace and finesse; towards the end of the number, they even leap across the fence-like borders which circle the floor. Hamish Hamilton - PRH, 2016 Astaire and Rogers

Zadie Smith’s Swing Time (2016)2021-07-02T16:34:41-04:00

Janet Ellis’ The Butcher’s Hook (2016)

2017-07-24T15:23:15-04:00

It's clear from the beginning: one might long for escape from this narrative, might opt for a bloody end rather than endure more misery. House of Anansi, 2016 "No one but a fool could look so happy in a miserable house, could they? The mice here probably throw

Janet Ellis’ The Butcher’s Hook (2016)2017-07-24T15:23:15-04:00

John Bart’s Middenrammers (2016)

2016-06-04T15:04:07-04:00

Although Middenrammers is set in 1970s England, it is not the England of English literature which Helene Hanff discovered in 84 Charing Cross Road. Freehand Books, 2016 Nonetheless, the hospital which lies at the heart of the story does have a familiar air to it, for narrator and reader

John Bart’s Middenrammers (2016)2016-06-04T15:04:07-04:00

Michelle Butler Hallett’s This Marlowe (2016)

2016-06-02T14:26:54-04:00

Christopher Marlowe's story begins and ends with a brawl, in the hands of Michelle Butler Hallett. Goose Lane Editions, 2016 This Marlowe focuses on the final months of the playwright's life, with his death registered as May 30, 1593. His patron, Thomas Walsingham, openly supported his plays and verses,

Michelle Butler Hallett’s This Marlowe (2016)2016-06-02T14:26:54-04:00
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