A retrospective of Dorothea Lange’s photography is currently on exhibit at the MOMA, although, sadly, the museum is still closed due to COVID 19. You can visit the MOMA to learn more about Lange and view photographs from the exhibit online at https://www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/5079. “Migrant Mother,” an iconic image of the Great Depression, is one of
Category: Summer Reading 2020
This is a beautifully written book translated from the French by Molly Ringwald. The novel often seems more like a memoir; in fact, it does share threads from the author’s own life. It is the tale of young gay love complicated by class and cultural differences. The two high school boys come from very different
I saw this play starring Pat Carroll years ago, and I loved it. I was invited to a ModPo group to discuss one of Stein’s poems. It brought back the memory of the play, so I decided to read it. It is delightful. The one-character play allows the audience to spend a rainy afternoon in
I checked this book of poems out of the library because JNaz called my attention to this poet recently. It was published in 2013, and won the Pulitzer Prize. There are, indeed, three sections in this book, with a single bonus poem following the third section, titled “Light Verse (Standard Time Begins)”: 1) 31 short
I started reading The Dark Sides of Empathy by Fritz Breithaupt earlier this week and while the writing is fine, I couldn’t learn more at this time. I need literary escape for the next five weeks of summer reading. My original stack abandoned, these four books arrived over the last handful of days and we
This book must be considered a YA novel because I found at the end of it Sharon Creech’s acceptance speech for the Newbery Medal for the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children, which she received when it was published back in the 90’s. It seemed plenty adult enough for me. A thirteen-year-old protagonist
Here’s another book I learned about on this blog and just finished reading. It is a complicated story that struggles with identity in terms of class, culture, education, gender, historical context and family. It also explores the importance of the lens(es) one uses to reflect upon one’s experience. The mother/daughter relationship is especially central to
After re-reading John Steinbeck’s Tortilla Flat, I find myself wondering if I might ever reach the greatness of such storytelling. Tortilla Flat is a story about Danny, who inherits two houses, and his friends– Pablo, Pilon, Jesus Maria to name a few. Danny is an anti-hero (I think) and the story itself is rather simple–
This novel is based on an exceptional true story about the relationship between two men, Bassam Aramin, a Palestinian Muslim, and Rami Elhanan, an Israeli Jew. The Aramins and the Elhanans suffer in the aftermath of the violent deaths of their daughters. Rami’s daughter, Smadar, was killed when three young Palestinian men detonated suicide belts
I was more interested in the Writers than the Lovers, but I do love an ampersand. I was dismayed to see the audiobook had classified this as Women’s Fiction on its cover. What in the world is that? Is there Men’s Fiction? Can a man not enjoy a novel with a female protagonist? Lily King
