Cortázar, Julio. Hopscotch. 1963. Trans. Gregory Rabassa. New York: Pantheon, 1966. I will be teaching Ana Castillo’s The Mixquiahuala Letters next semester, and its blurb claims that it is inspired by Cortázar’s novel. So I thought I would read it as research for teaching Castillo. Hopscotch is nearly 600 pages long in the edition I bought,Continue reading “Books Acquired Recently”
Tag Archives: LGBT
Books Acquired Recently: Rocky Mountain MLA Edition
I’m currently at the Rocky Mountain Modern Language Association conference, which has been fun so far although the conference hotel does not have free internet access. This afternoon I took a stroll through the book fair and picked up a few things (plus ordered several more that I will write about when I receive them):Continue reading “Books Acquired Recently: Rocky Mountain MLA Edition”
Somewhere Else by Jan Guenther Braun
I just finished reading Jan Guenther Braun’s 2008 novel Somewhere Else. Although the prose is a bit uneven in the first half of the book, reading it was one of the most powerful experiences I have ever had with literature. I felt physically uneasy while reading most of the book, which speaks to just howContinue reading “Somewhere Else by Jan Guenther Braun”
Books Acquired Recently
Braun, Jan Guenther. Somewhere Else. Winnipeg: Arbeiter Ring, 2008. A friend who knows that I like Stephen Beachy recommended this to me; apparently it’s another Mennonite novel dealing with queer issues. I will read it as soon as I have time, hopefully by the end of the week. Califia, Pat. Public Sex: The Culture ofContinue reading “Books Acquired Recently”
Books Acquired Recently
Beachy, Stephen. The Whistling Song. 1991. New York: Norton, 1992. I recently read and loved Beachy’s novel Boneyard, and thus have ordered several more of his books, as is my usual practice when I discover a new author. There’s another one on the way. Creekmur, Corey K., and Alexander Doty, eds. Out in Culture: Gay,Continue reading “Books Acquired Recently”
Books Acquired Recently
Aldrich, Nelson W., Jr., ed. George, Being George: George Plimpton’s Life as Told, Admired, Deplored, and Envied by 200 Friends, Relatives, Lovers, Acquaintances, Rivals–and a Few Unappreciative Observers. New York: Random, 2008. I am fascinated by George Plimpton as a sort of public intellectual who was one of the last of his kind. However, this fascinationContinue reading “Books Acquired Recently”
Books Acquired Recently
Castillo, Ana. The Mixquiahuala Letters. Tempe: Bilingual, 1986. This is Castillo’s first novel, and wow have I missed out waiting this long to acquire and read it! I began reading the book this afternoon as soon as I unwrapped it from its shipping envelope (as C.S. Lewis writes in Surprised by Joy, there is really nothing likeContinue reading “Books Acquired Recently”
Ana Castillo’s Loverboys
Ana Castillo’s short story collection Loverboys is one of the most beautiful books I have ever read. It’s so smooth, it feels like someone is talking to me and in doing so enchanting me instead of me actively reading. I feel like I’m in a dream while reading it to the point that I sometimes lose senseContinue reading “Ana Castillo’s Loverboys”
Books Acquired Recently
Castillo, Ana. Loverboys. New York: Norton, 1996. —. My Father Was a Toltec and Selected Poems 1973-1988. 1995. New York: Anchor, 2004. Ana Castillo is an author that I really enjoy, especially her novel The Guardians, which I’ve taught several times. She is the writer-in-residence this semester at my college, so I thought I wouldContinue reading “Books Acquired Recently”
Nicholson Baker’s U and I
Nicholson Baker’s 1991 long essay U and I on his obsession with John Updike is rife with the smooth, profoundly observational prose which make him one of my favorite fiction writers, though it is also marred by two deficiencies which make it my second-least favorite book of his that I’ve read. (My least favorite isContinue reading “Nicholson Baker’s U and I”
Daniel Shank Cruz 