Category: Post-Academia (Page 2 of 4)

‘A LADDER TO THE SKY’

December 10, 2018 /

I can’t believe I forgot to put A Ladder to the Sky: A Novel on my winter reading list, but I read it as soon as I remembered!

A book by the same author, John Boyne, made my favorite books of 2017 list and this new book is a contender for this year’s list. Check back; my list is coming soon!!

Maurice Swift, a truly unforgettable and unique protagonist, is a charming psychopath who steals others’ ideas because although he can write well, he can’t come up with his own plots.

“There’s something in all our pasts that wouldn’t want revealed. And that’s where you’ll find your story,” his first mentor tells him. The book’s title is a reference to a proverb about ambition: “It’s like a ladder to the sky. A pointless waste of energy.” Maurice’s ambition leads him to do things you wouldn’t believe until you start anticipating just what he’ll do next and how far he’ll go!!

The book is entertaining, disturbing, funny, thought provoking, and irresistible.

For me personally it had two traits that I loved:

Intertextuality, something I write about a lot.
Pub references. The chapters of the last section are titled by the pubs he is sitting in. hysterical!

Through the last page, this book is brilliant. Bravo bravo – I hate that I don’t still have this book to read tonight.

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OHIO – A NOVEL

September 25, 2018 /

I was oddly fascinated with Ohio by Stephen Markley, but I wouldn’t recommend it to all. It is heavy, disturbing, and obsessed with phantoms of “high school.” But I stayed up really late last night because I just had to finish it!

So I will tell you a bit about it, and you can decide for yourself whether it may be for you…

I did appreciate the narrative format, which I will also discuss in this post.

SUMMER CONCERTS & A BOOK SIGNING

September 16, 2018 /

I need to cover a few events in one post; this must mean I had a great summer!!

Though it may seem strange to lump concerts and book signings together, last year I realized they have many similarities for me and sometimes book signings are even better!

Both types of events support the artists we love and allow us to enjoy their work in a different experience – outside of our headphones and off of our couches!

THE BEAT MUSEUM & CITY LIGHTS BOOKSTORE

July 27, 2018 /

On the Road is one of my most tattered books. It is underlined and dog-eared; it is not in good shape.

I love the freedom and excitement written in this book: the open road, the jazz, the late nights, every day as an adventure. This is a lifestyle I never could have lived (in my more nervous reality), but I have loved living it through Kerouac and the other beat writers I have been fascinated by, especially Neal Cassady who inspired many other works of literature and drove the Merry Pranksters bus.

So while visiting San Francisco, I had to visit the Beat Museum. I actually didn’t know this museum existed until I saw it listed on a Kerouac bookmark I picked up at the American Writers Museum, another great literary stop.

A second legendary attraction in San Francisco that had been calling to me for many years is the City Lights Bookstore, which comes up time and time again in the stories of beat culture and more recently in my Writer’s Almanac emails.

The OSF outdoor theatre seats 1,200 people. Photo by Kim Budd and provided by OSF.

MY TRIP TO THE OREGON SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL

July 6, 2018 /

I recently attended the world-class Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) in Ashland and thoroughly enjoyed this idyllic town with its Shakespeare-themed attractions. This was the first stop on my epic West Coast vacation.

The Festival is in its 83rd season; each year it presents 3-4 Shakespeare plays and additional adaptions and premieres. Plays run every day during a long season of February through October (except Mondays) in three different theaters. More than 400,000 people attend this event annually.

We decided to see Love Labor’s Lost in the Allen Elizabethan Theatre (an outdoor theatre) and learned that 1) one needs to dress for all types of weather and 2) the show will go on! In our case, it was storming in the hours before and still raining up to the 8pm showtime which made for a dramatic wait (while wondering will the show go on??). You can take wine and beer into your seats and even pre-order your drink for intermission. We also noticed this attracts a very serious audience, and no one moves an inch until intermission. And I was later told the outdoor theatre is the most “relaxed” of the three theaters!! These people are serious about their Shakespeare, and the production here is worthy of this level of respect.

‘Another Side of Paradise’ is a great vacation read

June 30, 2018 /

I am thrilled to recommend yet another book from my summer reading list:

Another Side of Paradise: A Novel by Sally Koslow.

This book is a fictionalized version of a romance between F. Scott Fitzgerald and Hollywood gossip columnist, Sheliah Graham. I read this book because I was intrigued by F. Scott, but I ended up liking the book so much because of the interesting female character.

CIRCE – an enchanting book

June 5, 2018 /

I was intrigued by the book I’m recommending today after seeing a GIF on Twitter of the book cover sparkling in the sunlight (yes this is a beautiful foil cover). And I am thankful for this cover attracting my attention because I really, really enjoyed CIRCE by Madeline Miller, and now I can recommend it to you.

This is a tale of a misfit heroine set among the gods and goddesses of Greek mythology. As the daughter of Helios, Titan god of the sun, Circe doesn’t quite fit in with the other gods and goddesses. She is not powerful like her father or alluring like her mother. When she turns to mortals for companionship she discovers she does have the power to use plants to create spells, pharmakis. Threatened and irritated by Circe, Helio banishes her to live out her (eternal) life on a deserted island.

But it is a beautiful island, and this is where Circe’s life really begins!
Continue reading

‘Less’ – the gay Ulysses

May 25, 2018 /

I finished the new Pulitzer prize winner for fiction, Less: A Novel last night. The Pulitzer committee obviously went in a different direction this year to showcase humor – although last year’s winner, The Sympathizer, was also funny in parts.

The protagonist Arthur ‘Less’ is a gay man traveling the world to avoid his ex-lovers wedding. Less is a somewhat acclaimed writer; some of the international invitations he has accepted are prize ceremonies and other author focused events. He is anxious about turning 50 and being “the first homosexual ever to grow old” but he is (at the very beginning of the novel) also excited about his new book:

“But this new book! This is the one! It is called Swift (to whom the race does not go): a peripatetic novel. A man on a walking tour of San Francisco, and of his past, returning home after a series of blows and disappointments (“All you do is write gay Ulysses,” said Freddy); a wistful, poignant novel of a man’s hard life. Of broke, gay middle age.”

As a former Ulysses scholar I loved this reference to a “gay Ulysses” walking around San Francisco.

My visit to the American Writers Museum

August 7, 2017 /

During my recent trip to Chicago, I checked out the new American Writers Museum.

I highly recommend this experience to all fans and beneficiaries of American literature (and if you are reading my blog I’m assuming you are both of these!!). I found it interesting, inspiring, and even emotional.

This museum just opened in May, and I think the word is still getting out about it. I am excited to tell you more!

New TV show about a young Shakespeare – Will

July 19, 2017 /

I was “accidentally” eavesdropping on a conversation the other day – it looked like a first date and I just couldn’t help myself because I was well within earshot! Well thank goodness because that’s how I heard of this new show on TNT, Will, about a young Shakespeare.

The girl said she and her roommates or friends were getting together to watch it later that evening (this was Monday – it airs on Monday nights on TNT and is also “On Demand” if you have Comcast.)

Oh how I remember those fun days when I would watch my shows with friends! But now I prefer everyone to be in bed before I even start my show, so I can enjoy the TV to myself in the dark – ha!!

But I am soooo thankful to this girl for turning me on to this show which I checked out last night.

Category: Post-Academia (Page 2 of 4)

‘A LADDER TO THE SKY’

OHIO – A NOVEL

SUMMER CONCERTS & A BOOK SIGNING

THE BEAT MUSEUM & CITY LIGHTS BOOKSTORE

MY TRIP TO THE OREGON SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL

‘Another Side of Paradise’ is a great vacation read

CIRCE – an enchanting book

‘Less’ – the gay Ulysses

My visit to the American Writers Museum

New TV show about a young Shakespeare – Will

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