August 2012
11 posts
4 tags
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot My rating: 4 of 5 stars Very beautifully written account of Henrietta Lacks’ famous and hard working cells. Accessible science writing, fair profile of Henrietta Lacks and her family, and a clear sense of friendship between Rebecca Skloot and Dorothy—Henrietta’s surviving daughter—are evident in each chapter. Even in...
6 tags
Introducing: FRACAStore!
I’ve started a tumblr full of materials I sometimes use in my freshman comp courses. These are mostly links but even if I get it in my mind to type something up, feel free to use as you will (give credit where credit’s due, of course. This is, after all, created in the spirit of teaching good writing practices). So, without further ado, here is Freshman Rhet and Comp Argument Store!
5 tags
5 tags
Vanity
“Don’t accept your dog’s admiration as conclusive evidence that you are wonderful.”
― Ann Landers
(substitute mother for dog, lover for dog, best friend for dog, etc.)
So this is the last announcement of publication, award, acceptance, accolade, etc. here. I’ve been feeling like a blowhard. It all came about from the lovely list, compiled by Roxane Gay, on The Rumpus of writers...
7 tags
6 tags
6 tags
Review: The Laughing Game
The Laughing Game by Marianne Kunkel My rating: 4 of 5 stars The Laughing Game is only a chapbook, which is too bad because after page 26, which is the last page, I wanted to keep reading. Poems out of a dysfunctional but loving (and loved) family, of past loves and present joys—no sentimentality but touching—make for a compelling collection. I just wanted more. The title piece, a...
“Most people secretly believe they themselves have a book in them, which they...”
– From Negotiating with the Dead by Margaret Atwood.
5 tags
On Ha Jin's Waiting
Waiting by Ha Jin My rating: 4 of 5 stars By definition, Ha Jin’s gorgeous novel Waiting is suspenseful. It is a book about waiting. Most of the book is spent waiting for Lin Kong to win a divorce from his wife Shuyu, who he married through an arrangement, so that he may marry his lover (who he has never touched, out of loyalty to Shuyu and to his country’s expectations), Manna Wu. Every summer,...
