Everett, Percival. Percival Everett by Virgil Russell. Minneapolis: Graywolf, 2013. I’ve only read one of Everett’s previous novels, Erasure, and loved it. I decided that acquiring his latest book would be a good way to begin reading the rest of his corpus. I am especially excited about its metafictional elements–any novel with a character namedContinue reading “Books Acquired Recently”
Author Archives: danielshankcruz
Book Acquired Recently: Leslie Feinberg’s Stone Butch Blues
Feinberg, Leslie. Stone Butch Blues. 1993. Los Angeles: Alyson, 2003. I’ve been meaning to read this queer classic for a while, and recently was on amazon.com buying something else, and decided to finally buy Feinberg’s novel to help me get to the $25.00 free shipping threshold. To my horror I discovered that the book isContinue reading “Book Acquired Recently: Leslie Feinberg’s Stone Butch Blues”
Ode to Mennonot
Mennonot, a zine “For Mennos [i.e., Mennonites] on the Margins,” published thirteen issues between 1993 and 2003 (though issue 12 appeared in 1999 and issue 13 did not appear until four years later). Happily, the full set has just been put online for free here. Mennonot included commentary on the state of institutional Mennonitism, interviews,Continue reading “Ode to Mennonot”
Books Acquired Recently
Baym, Nina, ed. The Norton Anthology of American Literature Volume A: Beginnings to 1820. 8th ed. New York: Norton, 2012. —. The Norton Anthology of American Literature Volume B: 1820-1865. 8th ed. New York: Norton, 2012. I requested these two exam copies from the publisher because I will be teaching an early American literature classContinue reading “Books Acquired Recently”
Manchester United’s 2013/2014 Change Strip
The design for Manchester United’s 2013/2014 change strip has been leaked, and you can view it here. I love United, but I must say that this is an ugly, ugly shirt. The blue is fine, as this has been a traditional color for United change strips and they wore it against Benfica at Wembley whenContinue reading “Manchester United’s 2013/2014 Change Strip”
Book Acquired Recently: Willie Masters’ Lonesome Wife, First Edition
Gass, William H. Willie Masters’ Lonesome Wife. TriQuarterly Supplement Number Two (1968): n.p. I recently bought and read the Dalkey Archive Press edition of Gass’s novella (the only one currently in print), but it does not replicated the colored pages of the original edition, so I was happy to find this copy for a reasonableContinue reading “Book Acquired Recently: Willie Masters’ Lonesome Wife, First Edition”
Natasha Sajé’s Poetry
I occupied part of my leisure time this holiday weekend reading Natasha Sajé’s two collections of poetry, Red Under the Skin (1994) and Bend (2004). As I mentioned in my post from 15 February, Sajé is a colleague of mine. It was thus quite pleasing to find that I enjoy her poetry immensely. So muchContinue reading “Natasha Sajé’s Poetry”
Books Acquired Recently
Miller, Walter M. A Canticle for Leibowitz. 1959. New York: Bantam, 2007. I have been slowly working to expand my knowledge of the field of science fiction, and read about this book in the chapter on SF from The Cambridge Companion to American Fiction After 1945 (edited by John N. Duvall). The description of itContinue reading “Books Acquired Recently”
The Northern Illinois University Shooting Five Years Later
Five years ago today, 14 February 2008, I was a graduate student at Northern Illinois University when a gunman walked into Cole Hall at the center of campus with a machine gun and opened fire. He killed five students and himself. I was fortunate enough to be several blocks away at the time of theContinue reading “The Northern Illinois University Shooting Five Years Later”
Books Acquired Recently
Gass, William. Willie Masters’ Lonesome Wife. 1968. Normal: Dalkey, 1989. I recently read about this novel, which includes a number of photographs, figures, and elements of typographical play. I am quite fond of these postmodern elements because I appreciate it when a book is fascinating as a physical object (as an artwork, even) as wellContinue reading “Books Acquired Recently”
Daniel Shank Cruz 