Madah-Sartre: The Kidnapping, Trial, and Conver(sat/s)ion of Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir by Alek Baylee Toumi “Toumi is clearly passionate. . . . Librarians with backup collections in recent philosophy and Islamic issues will find this a good book with which to stimulate general readers to dig deeper.”—Library Journal Continue reading Praise for Madah-Sartre
Alan Cheuse reviewed Because a Fire Was in My Head by Lynn Stegner on NPR’s All Things Considered Listen to the review here. Continue reading
It is Thursday again and it’s the last Thursday in April. Tomorrow is the last day of our web poetry sale. This week, I thought I’d share with you our poets’ personal websites and blog sites. Next week, I’m not sure what I’ll be sharing with you, but we shall soon see, right? Now, for your Internet browsing pleasure, In alphabetical order, our poets! First up, nurse and poet Courtney Davis has a website. She won the Prairie Schooner Book Prize for Leopold’s Maneuvers. Courtney posted about National Poetry Month on our blog. Poet Kathleen Flenniken’s book Famous won the … Continue reading Is it Thursday again?
found this little book in a used bookshop and its paperback cover
has been laminated to protect it. It was $1.25 when it first came out
in 1974 and I bought it for $.95 22 years later. I wonder if Brackett
would appreciate how little her work has depreciated in the intervening
years.
You know Leigh Brackett from Empire Strikes Back script (though how much she had to do with it is debated) and from The Big Sleep screen adaptation that she did with William Faulkner (that was a question on Jeopardy
last Friday), but little of her work is still in print. It’s really too
bad. She was well loved and respected by her peers and her work is fun,
adventurous, and classic sf.
The Ginger Star is the reintroduction of her great character Eric John Stark. Stark is a larger than life survivor straight out of romance literature
(like James Fenimore Cooper’s characters, not "romance" genre sort of
thing). He was orphaned, rescued and raised by near beasts who were
destroyed by humans. He was then adopted by Simon Ashton who was the
first person to really care for him. At the start of The Ginger Star,
Stark is all grown up and currently on Pax, the planet for politics,
looking for information on Simon Ashton.
Paper Tiger: A Novel by Olivier Rolin “Martin, an aging French radical from the 60s, wonders where it all went and why. One night in 2000, when this rushing stream of a book is set, he broods out loud while driving around (and around and around) Paris with Marie, the 24-year-old daughter of his best friend from ‘the Cause.’ . . . [T]here are also treats that make the car ride worth taking, some serious (like Rolin’s observations—often pessimistic—about the human condition) and others delightfully comic (like the young revolutionaries’ many botched missions). When the journey to the end of … Continue reading More Praise for Paper Tiger
Because a Fire Was in My Head by Lynn Stegner “A novel fully realized on every level, Because a Fire Was in My Head is a provocative literary work of weight and luster. A risky, intermittently melodramatic tale, it casts light both on the timeless mysteries of the human psyche and on the paradoxes of a notoriously contrary epoch, namely, post-World War II North America. . . . [Stegner writes] with lyrical grandeur and psychological gravitas. . . . [P]rofound awakenings on the part of both a novel’s characters and its readers are the landmarks of powerful and lasting fiction. … Continue reading More Praise for Because a Fire Was in My Head
Bigger than Life: A Murder, a Memoir by Dinah Lenney “This affecting memoir ends on a note of grace as Lenney acknowledges her hard-won peace with her father’s memory and his murder. . . . Such transcendent realizations elevate Bigger Than Life . . . beyond an account of the bombastic life and brutal death of Nelson Gross to speak of life and healing found in the midst of tragedy.”—Paula L. Woods, Los Angeles Times Book Review Read More Reviews for Bigger than Life Continue reading More Praise for Bigger than Life
illiam Shakespeare was born on this day in the year 1564 and, incidentally, died on this day in 1616. All the world’s a stage,And all the men and women merely players.They have their exits and their entrances;And one man in his time plays many parts. —As You Like It Happy Birthday, William! And because it’s National Poetry Month, I think I’ll paste one of my favorite sonnets by Shakespeare below, Number 130: My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun;Coral is far more red than her lips’ red;If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;If hairs … Continue reading The Bard’s Birthday
Africa on Six Wheels: A Semester on Safari by Betty Levitov “Readers [are] sure to enjoy this virtual tour as Levitov takes them on a sometimes wild, sometimes exhausting, always instructive bus ride from Kenya through Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Botswana, Namibia and South Africa. . . . Levitov’s writing entices; one could plan an inexpensive itinerary through southern Africa based on her experiences, good and bad. . . . Any open-minded traveler can experience and appreciate the expanded sense of community that Levitov and her students bring home. For those without benefit of a transglobal plane ticket, Africa on Six … Continue reading Praise for Africa on Six Wheels
Ah, is it Thursday already? And a lovely Thursday it is, too. That is, here in Lincoln, it’s gorgeous–blue skies and warm weather. It’s one of those haiku-inspiring days. Or maybe a day that moves one to write a sonnet (think of spring, then think of love, then think of Shakespeare, then ask "What would Shakespeare do? Then take pen in hand). For your reading pleasure today, still with the poetry theme, of course (only one more Thursday for poetry links!). Haiku:First off, read your news headlines in haiku form at this neat little blog. The Australian Haiku Society keeps … Continue reading Get Your (poetry) Link On
UNP blog 