If you have not already seen, Michael Rosenberg's book War as They Knew It was reviewed in today's New York Times Book Review. We on the staff like the book (and its author). Come in and check it out!
- Nathan Schuur
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Judging Books by Their Covers
Sometimes book covers demand that you open them up and take a look at what's inside. But who would have thought that some of the best covers would show up on the classics? I've been raving about the covers that Penguin came out with for a handful of classic reads like Frankenstein, The Three Musketeers, and Candide. I want to give Penguin a big hug, not just for creating hilarious comic strip renditions of the tales inside, but for devoting their design efforts to older literature that often gets overlooked among the zillions of new reads that make their way onto store shelves. It's great to see these stories get revived covers; I don't know why people think that "classic" books should have oil paintings on the cover. Come on, these books are still great - that's why they're called "classics" (though I know different people have different definitions of what constitutes a classic. But that's a different topic altogether).
Anyway, the comic covers are fantastic in and of themselves. When you combine them with a great read, it's a winning combination. These are some of the best ever!
Anyway, the comic covers are fantastic in and of themselves. When you combine them with a great read, it's a winning combination. These are some of the best ever!
Friday, October 10, 2008
Love,war and potato peel pies
I've just finished reading The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Annie Fiery Barrows and Mary Ann Fiery. If you've heard good things about this book, they're all true. I was sorry to reach the last page and say goodbye to all the characters that I had come to know. Told in correspondence between a writer and the inhabitants of Guernsey, the book takes place in 1946 while Britain and the world are still recovering from the devestation of WWII. It starts out relatively light in content and feeling, but as the letters grow longer and true friendships are formed, more is revealed about life under German occupation in Guernsey for those who stayed on the island and for those unfortunates sent off to camps. If you're looking for a book that is a pure pleasure to read, I highly recommend this one.
Also, if you have read this book and enjoyed both the format and tone, I'd also recommend 84 Charing Cross Road. One of my favorites.
Also, if you have read this book and enjoyed both the format and tone, I'd also recommend 84 Charing Cross Road. One of my favorites.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Indignation - Nathan Schuur
Every few months, I encounter a book that simply defies being put down. Try as I might, I must read until I have either finished the book or collapsed with exhaustion. Today (yesterday, actually), I discovered that Philip Roth's latest book, Indignation, is one of those books. I started it at 2:30, read until the moment class started at 3:30, picked it back up again at 5:00, pried myself away from it again at 6:30 and pretended to be interested in the various German possessive adjectives, picked the book back up the second class ended at 9:00, and only now am I able to do anything else.
It is brilliant. There are few other ways to describe what I mean and most of those involve me shouting at the top of my lungs. Beautiful. Wonderful- the kind of wonderful where I think I might need to read it again tomorrow (today, in fact).
Writers like Philip Roth- who even after 29 novels has not run out of things to say- are rare and books like Indignation, which have a 224-page buildup to an elegantly delivered punch-in-the-gut conclusion that leaves the reader in total awe are doubly so.
It is brilliant. There are few other ways to describe what I mean and most of those involve me shouting at the top of my lungs. Beautiful. Wonderful- the kind of wonderful where I think I might need to read it again tomorrow (today, in fact).
Writers like Philip Roth- who even after 29 novels has not run out of things to say- are rare and books like Indignation, which have a 224-page buildup to an elegantly delivered punch-in-the-gut conclusion that leaves the reader in total awe are doubly so.
Friday, September 12, 2008
reading ahead
One problem we might run into doing a blog about the books we're reading, is that very often the books we're reading aren't out yet. Publishers send out advance copies of books to booksellers so that we can read them ahead and be ready to recommend them when they hit the shelves. So I may be reading a really great book that comes out next Febuary. Oh wait, I just did. I've just read Jonathan Barnes' upcoming book, The Domino Men. It's a gritty fantasy. And while set in modern London, it has the feel of an earlier time. I also enjoyed his previous book, The Somnambulist which is coming out in paperback in January. This one actually is set in an earlier London. So when you ask us what's the last book we've read that we really liked, you may have to wait a while to read them for yourself.
Monday, September 8, 2008
Did I really just cook a meal more complex than spaghetti? - Nate Schuur
One of my favorite ways to kill time during the three-and-a-half hour break between classes is browsing the McSweeney's blog. The current post, Ulysses reimagined in a few ways that have probably set James Joyce spinning in his grave, is absolutely excellent.
On Friday, I discovered what I consider to be the best cookbook ever printed on this earth. It's Freshman in the Kitchen by Max and Eli Sussman. I'm a pretty typical teenage male, so the fact that I am offering my praise to-- of all things-- a cookbook, should give some indication of how excellent a cookbook this is. The recipes are extraordinarily easy to follow and quite delicious. I particularly recommend the recipe for stuffed green peppers on page 76. I bought the only copy in the store, but if you check back in a few days, you should be able to find it.
Stay tuned for more.
On Friday, I discovered what I consider to be the best cookbook ever printed on this earth. It's Freshman in the Kitchen by Max and Eli Sussman. I'm a pretty typical teenage male, so the fact that I am offering my praise to-- of all things-- a cookbook, should give some indication of how excellent a cookbook this is. The recipes are extraordinarily easy to follow and quite delicious. I particularly recommend the recipe for stuffed green peppers on page 76. I bought the only copy in the store, but if you check back in a few days, you should be able to find it.
Stay tuned for more.
Friday, September 5, 2008
What It Is, pt 2
What It Is is a fantastic book. At first, I didn't really have any interest in it, but once I started looking through it I realized that even though it's primarily directed at a fiction writing audience, there are plenty of exersizes that I can use in my class. Actually, this book is the inspiration for a large part of the first essay my students have to write.
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