Mike Piazza’s autobiography Long Shot is a fascinating, candid, at times disturbing book. It is a true autobiography, covering his entire life up through the publication of the book in detail. Here are a few thoughts on what stood out to me. I found the first part of the book boring because I was readingContinue reading “Mike Piazza’s Long Shot”
Tag Archives: ethnicity
In Defense of Tiger Woods
Yesterday, Tiger Woods shot a 61 to give him a seven-stroke lead in the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational. He will now almost certainly win the tournament, which would give him four PGA Tour victories this year ahead of next week’s PGA Championship. Even though it isn’t finished, Tiger’s year is already one worthy of yet another PlayerContinue reading “In Defense of Tiger Woods”
And Now for Something Completely Different: Books Acquired Recently
D’anna, Lynnette. RagTimeBone. Vancouver: New Star, 1994. This is yet another of D’anna’s books that have been trickling in over the past few weeks. I am waiting until they all arrive to begin reading them. Summer is a great time for reading a writer’s oeuvre straight through because of the extra time off. I usedContinue reading “And Now for Something Completely Different: Books Acquired Recently”
Books Acquired Recently: Massachusetts Writers Edition
Espada, Martín. The Trouble Ball. 2011. New York: Norton, 2012. Espada gave a reading at my college this past Thursday, and I also had the privilege of having him speak in one of my classes. He is everything a writer should be: passionate, activist, happy to talk about his work, non-elitist. His poems are funContinue reading “Books Acquired Recently: Massachusetts Writers Edition”
Books Acquired Recently
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”
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”
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”
Books Acquired Recently
Cohen, Samuel, and Lee Konstantinou, eds. The Legacy of David Foster Wallace. Iowa City: U of Iowa P, 2012. I ordered this book at a discounted price at the Modern Language Association bookfair last month, and it finally arrived this week. As I’ve mentioned numerous times here, I am a big fan of Wallace’s work,Continue reading “Books Acquired Recently”
Fifty Shades of Grey
I just finished reading E L James’s bestselling romance novel Fifty Shades of Grey because one of my students is writing his senior thesis on it. It isn’t horrible, and is worth reading as sociological research. I had heard that the writing was atrocious, but aside from James’s overuse of the words “jeez” and “crap”Continue reading “Fifty Shades of Grey”
Books Acquired Recently: MLA Edition
Today I made my long-anticipated visit to the MLA Convention book fair. I acquired five books and ordered several more that will be shipped to me, which I will write about once I receive them. All of the books interest me, but the fact that I got several of them at a discount made themContinue reading “Books Acquired Recently: MLA Edition”
Daniel Shank Cruz 