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A St. Paul girl
by Maxine
Patricia Hampl is a master of the memoir. Her latest, The Florist's Daughter traces her life growing up in in what she calls "old" St. Paul, Minnesota. Her Czech father is the florist of the title, one from whom she drew artistic inspiration because he was an artist with flowers. But it was her well-read Irish mother who was also a natural storyteller who gave Hampl a model for the literary life. Hampl's tribute to them attests to the need for beauty and purpose in one's life. You can listen to an interview with Hampl about her memoir on the Diane Rehm Show.
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(The New York Times) 10 Best Books of 2007
by muffy
The list is to be released on December 9th.
We thought you might like a head start for the readers on your gift list.
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He is still burning bright
by Maxine
Today, November 28 is the 250th birthday of poet William Blake. Blake was only four years old when he began seeing visions of angels. He began drawing and when his parents saw his talent sent him to art school to become an engraver. He produced engravings for works of Chaucer, Dante, the Bible and books on architecture, botany and medicine. Blake's work became more infused with his visions and not as salable. He had also been writing poetry for most of his life and began printing it on his own printing press. He wrote his poems on copper plates and engraved illustrations around them. He sold these small collections himself.
Blake never achieved fame in his lifetime but since his death, his poems have inspired generations and have been the source of musical productions of his Songs of Innocence and Experience by such luminaries as Ann Arbor composer William Bolcom. Tracy Chevalier's new novel, Burning Bright features Blake as a main character.
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Happy Birthday, Alistair and Dick
by Maxine
November 20 is the birthday of two unlikely bedfellows, Alistair Cooke and Chester Gould. Cooke, broadcast journalist and author, was born in 1908 in Salford, England but moved to the U.S. in the 1930's. His program, "Letter from America" on BBC radio was broadcast in more than fifty countries. He is perhaps best known to Americans for his eloquence as a host of PBS's Masterpiece Theatre.
Chester Gould's name may not ring a bell but his comic strip, Dick Tracy was read by thousands. Gould was born in Pawnee, OK, and later moved to Chicago. His square-jawed, clean-cut Tracy was the epitome of a no nonsense detective. The strip first appeared Oct.4, 1941 in the "Detroit Daily Mirror" and went on to be syndicated in nearly 1,000 newspapers. Who could forget lovely Tess Trueheart and bad guys named Mole and Pruneface?
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Jonathan Franzen's Non Fiction
by pumpkin
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Jonathan Franzen is known for his novels, especially “The Corrections” of several years back. But did you know that he is an engaging and intelligent non-fiction writer as well? I enjoyed his book of essays “How to be Alone,” which you will surmise is not a self-help book, but a more serious book about our culture. You might also like “The Discomfort Zone, a Personal History,” a memoir which displays a nice irony. Franzen can laugh at himself. You can find both these books, as well as Franzen’s novels in our collection.
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Winner of the 2007 National Book Award
by K.C.
The prize for young people’s literature was awarded to Sherman Alexie for the “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian”, an autobiographical story of a 14-year-old Spokane Indian who leaves his poverty-stricken reservation school and moves to a wealthy, all-white school. (New York Times, Nov. 15)
"The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian" is Alexie’s first book for young adults. "It's just astonishing. It's all because 27 years ago, I went up to my mom and dad and asked if I could leave the rez school, and they said yes." (Seattle Times, Nov. 14)
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The perils of being "gifted"
by Maxine
Gifted by Nikita Lalwani is a first novel about Rumi, who at the beginning of the story is a five year old math prodigy, daughter of Mahesh, a math professor at a university in Wales and Shreene, who futilely longs for a return to India. Mahesh is determined that his daughter will enter Oxford at 14 and institutes an arduous program of study at home in addition to school. As Rumi grows up, she feels more conflicted about the roles imposed on her and longs for the more normal life of a teenager. Her father's drive for her academic success eventually leads to tragedy.
Lalwani is adept at showing how stereotypes of Eastern Asian immigrants are played out by the characters in their ambitions for their children. But she also is critical of Western bias toward these immigrants who are trying to make a better life for themselves. Gifted, according to the Washington Post Book World, is "a tragic coming-of-age story full of the mingled love and anger that animates families of every culture."
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Little House on the Prairie Tunes Come to Life
by manz
Laura Ingalls Wilder’s books are noted for telling tales of frontier life. Not often mentioned are the over one hundred musical references in her books.
Happy Land Musical Tributes to Laura Ingalls Wilder is a CD that features a selection of these classic American songs that are ready to get your toes tapping if you’re not already setting off to reread your favorite Little House book. Fans of the Little House on the Prairie books might call this a soundtrack to the books that brings the sounds and music of the stories to life. Pa Ingalls would have his fiddle in high gear with this CD!
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Poetry and soldiers
by Nicole R
What place does literature have in preparing soldiers? How do future soldiers react while reading Wilfred Owen’s war poem, “An Anthem for Doomed Youth” ?
Elizabeth Samet, who has taught literature and poetry at West Point since 1997 explores these issues in her new book, Soldier's heart: reading literature through peace and war at West Point. NPR’s All Things Considered has an interesting interview with Samet, and an excerpt from the book, on their website.
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Short, short fiction
by Maxine
There's a growing body of what some call flash fiction or sudden fiction, characterized by the brevity of the piece, 500-1,000 words, yet containing all the elements of a longer story: character, plot and resolution. Some of the stories in Lydia Davis's most recent book of stories, Varieties of Disturbance meet these criteria. Her shortest on the house fly sums up his character as an apostrophe. She delights in absurdities but also plumbs the tragedy of war as in the moving story, "Burning House." Publishers Weekly says: "Davis's work defies categorization and possesses a moving, austere elegance."