tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22672339947693989362024-03-14T06:59:17.674-05:00Readosaurus TextDevouring books like I'm going extinctREADOSAURUS TEXThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06756556397430892963noreply@blogger.comBlogger73125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2267233994769398936.post-53589310216561871222018-04-05T19:30:00.000-05:002018-05-13T11:17:34.231-05:00Goodreads Review: The Queen of the Night<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17912498-the-queen-of-the-night" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="The Queen of the Night" border="0" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1460425080m/17912498.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17912498-the-queen-of-the-night">The Queen of the Night</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/158735.Alexander_Chee">Alexander Chee</a><br />
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2235061850">3 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
This book is very long. There were so many tangents and asides, and in my opinion the book would have been stronger if the author had been able to distill the narrative down to the most essential elements of the plot.<br />
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/75795183-readosaurustext">View all my reviews</a><br />
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READOSAURUS TEXThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06756556397430892963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2267233994769398936.post-84661851717403417012018-03-25T10:33:00.000-05:002018-05-13T11:15:24.285-05:00Goodreads Review: Cosmopolis<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28703.Cosmopolis" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Cosmopolis" border="0" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1328389098m/28703.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28703.Cosmopolis">Cosmopolis</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/233.Don_DeLillo">Don DeLillo</a><br />
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2245338392">3 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
This book wasn’t for me. While I am always here for a critique of capitalism, the main character was too despicable, particularly in his continued sexual objectification of women, for me to appreciate the novel. I would have given it 2.5 stars if that were an option, because while I did not like it, I do recognize there were some thematic and symbolic through-lines in the book. So, more than 2 stars for literary efforts.<br />
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/75795183-readosaurustext">View all my reviews</a><br />
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READOSAURUS TEXThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06756556397430892963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2267233994769398936.post-2570861356345778152018-03-23T11:11:00.000-05:002018-05-13T11:12:05.895-05:00Goodreads Review: Red Clocks<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35099035-red-clocks" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Red Clocks" border="0" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1494345016m/35099035.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35099035-red-clocks">Red Clocks</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/803005.Leni_Zumas">Leni Zumas</a><br />
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2245338697">5 of 5 stars</a><br />
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This book was amazing. Relevant to our current political climate and written with compelling and artistic prose, the novel is the story of five women who lead different lives and make different life, career, and relationship choices. The book is set in an America where Roe v. Wade has been overturned, abortion is illegal nationwide, IVF is banned, and single people aren’t eligible to adopt children. The author gives a stark sense of what happens when society fails to support a spectrum of womanhood—there is no one right way to be a woman. I could barely put this book down and highly recommend it.<br />
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/75795183-readosaurustext">View all my reviews</a><br />
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READOSAURUS TEXThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06756556397430892963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2267233994769398936.post-7021707057578437382018-01-07T15:09:00.000-06:002018-05-13T11:11:04.790-05:00Goodreads Review: The Robber Bride<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17650" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="The Robber Bride" border="0" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1388263287m/17650.jpg" /></a>
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17650">The Robber Bride</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3472">Margaret Atwood</a><br />
My rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2235062346">5 of 5 stars</a>
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Yep, another Margaret Atwood book that is essentially literary perfection. She is an absolute wordsmith, and I especially enjoyed seeing themes in this work from the '90s that are echoed later in her MaddAddam series. The four main characters in this book seem to embody characteristics tied to interrelated themes of food and consumption, spirituality, history of civilization, and destruction. I am just completely enamored by Atwood's entire oeuvre, and found this to be a compelling, fast-paced book about women who are strong and feminist in very different ways.
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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2235062346">View all my reviews</a>
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READOSAURUS TEXThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06756556397430892963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2267233994769398936.post-43340511183880026862018-01-03T19:21:00.002-06:002018-01-03T19:21:40.500-06:002018 Goodreads Reading Challenge<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTsfBDiX1kJBktiKBjDpEX1o9VujUVm4yPVT0Yn-F3u3ntqjW6H_lxpZO9jrzkpjP1Tkl5204obkz5UF8EII11AxpA26K0QYa-mhIAc57cWIw0rDBGKEncEEbKm1NUrUijcwzOphSx6NA/s1600/2018+Goodreads.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="368" data-original-width="700" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTsfBDiX1kJBktiKBjDpEX1o9VujUVm4yPVT0Yn-F3u3ntqjW6H_lxpZO9jrzkpjP1Tkl5204obkz5UF8EII11AxpA26K0QYa-mhIAc57cWIw0rDBGKEncEEbKm1NUrUijcwzOphSx6NA/s400/2018+Goodreads.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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In 2017, I read <a href="http://readosaurustext.blogspot.com/p/book-list.html" target="_blank">18 books</a>. This doesn't seem like much to me, but then I think about all the proposals, manuscripts, journal articles, and monographs I read for work, and then I feel better.</div>
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In 2018, my goal is to read harder and finish 24 books.</div>
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<u>Here are the first books I am looking forward to reading in 2018!</u></div>
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Margaret Atwood's <i>The Robber Bride</i></div>
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Paul Beatty's <i>The Sellout</i></div>
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Alexander Chee's <i>The Queen of the Night</i></div>
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Gayl Jones's <i>Corregidora</i></div>
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Jaroslav Kalfar's <i>The Spaceman of Bohemia</i></div>
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Elizabeth Kostova's <i>The Historian</i></div>
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Nnedi Okorafor's <i>The Binti Trilogy</i><br />
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And, ReadosaurusText is now on Goodreads!<br />
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<span style="color: #382110;">my read shelf:</span><br /><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/75795183?shelf=read" rel="nofollow" title="ReadosaurusText's book recommendations, liked quotes, book clubs, book trivia, book lists (read shelf)"><img alt="ReadosaurusText's book recommendations, liked quotes, book clubs, book trivia, book lists (read shelf)" border="0" src="https://www.goodreads.com/images/badge/badge1.jpg" /></a></div>
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READOSAURUS TEXThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06756556397430892963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2267233994769398936.post-68561907764969812842017-12-31T16:00:00.000-06:002018-01-03T18:29:21.698-06:00My Top Book Pick of 2017: Julie Lekstrom Himes's Mikhail and Margarita<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpMF7DXk_p4BjNpAbkJj4t0s_WcDzFrcfX35PyghtzgPXQ8GNSTDszND0Co-9iGkn_00pob0tOBBosM5QpwR83U7uzCioQQUil7cBqWzBSMq3h4N3ZOUe10_3w5QWtMMST3RPNCq_XKpU/s1600/image1.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="398" data-original-width="398" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpMF7DXk_p4BjNpAbkJj4t0s_WcDzFrcfX35PyghtzgPXQ8GNSTDszND0Co-9iGkn_00pob0tOBBosM5QpwR83U7uzCioQQUil7cBqWzBSMq3h4N3ZOUe10_3w5QWtMMST3RPNCq_XKpU/s200/image1.png" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">2017 was a trash fire</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Well, 2017 was a trash fire, but you know what wasn't trash? Julie Lekstrom Hime's <i><a href="https://www.europaeditions.com/book/9781609453756/mikhail-and-margarita" target="_blank">Mikhail and Margarita</a></i>, published by Europa Editions. This novel is a treasure, and it was my favorite book this year. I wasn't alone in my appreciation: it won the <a href="http://www.centerforfiction.org/awards/the-first-novel-prize/2017-winner-julie-lekstrom-himes/" target="_blank">2017 First Novel Prize</a> from the Center for Fiction, which is awarded to the year's best debut novelist.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7D4Io2SdcNR4i_ekaxDxX9uXESXLP9cN2En30KlpTGldNX0BIiEAulBOGUvIRvMMxAqXZ1omOZawnixAEiiiBziAOnXzoPttU3AqOLAjISS3vS-a8nTRnbWWxwGSbue29_B8gpdIRqeM/s1600/Mikhail+%2526+M.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: right;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="257" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7D4Io2SdcNR4i_ekaxDxX9uXESXLP9cN2En30KlpTGldNX0BIiEAulBOGUvIRvMMxAqXZ1omOZawnixAEiiiBziAOnXzoPttU3AqOLAjISS3vS-a8nTRnbWWxwGSbue29_B8gpdIRqeM/s200/Mikhail+%2526+M.jpg" width="128" /></a>I admittedly have a weakness for all things published by Europa Editions, and in fact have an entire bookshelf devoted to the press, but this book also appealed to one of my other bookish weaknesses: Stalin- and Soviet-era literature. One of the most classic Russian texts is <i><a href="https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780802130112" target="_blank">Master and Margarita</a> </i>by Mikhail Bulgakov--a political commentary written as magical realism satire to subvert Stalin's censors and regime, and published in an uncensored version posthumously. Himes's book takes the author's life and his titular character, the beautiful Margarita Nikolaevna, and weaves a lovely historical fiction story about their relationship. I don't know how big the Venn diagram overlap is for people who like <i>Master and Margarita</i> and general Soviet history, but I am smack dab in the middle of it!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9IRtmhnmBMx8xnY_VsamEZnCg0XMGt9nN8pJDLMt-pEUbQAsswn3ExinXUVYiFpvEgbV5iDIP9BRnEsx26lp7vsIXPWH2Y4b-PLTzyFRNsr_flA6SHfgndvhNbkpN2tNN5H6KOGusdIo/s1600/M+%2526+M.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="254" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9IRtmhnmBMx8xnY_VsamEZnCg0XMGt9nN8pJDLMt-pEUbQAsswn3ExinXUVYiFpvEgbV5iDIP9BRnEsx26lp7vsIXPWH2Y4b-PLTzyFRNsr_flA6SHfgndvhNbkpN2tNN5H6KOGusdIo/s200/M+%2526+M.jpg" width="126" /></a></div>
Timely in its subthemes of authoritarian regimes, censorship, and the power of satire and the arts, <i>Mikhail and Margarita </i>is a wonderfully written novel. While much Soviet literature speaks to the triumph of the human spirit, Himes's book seems to speak more to the inescapability and perpetual cycles of authoritarianism. Conceptually, this book made me feel like someone crawled into my brain and tailor-made a novel to my liking. I cannot tell you how much I dorked out about this novel when I discovered it, and without remorse I broke my 2017 resolution not to buy new books (with the intention of making a dent in my ever-growing TBR pile). While there was one rather graphic scene that I could have done without, the novel really is impeccable in its pace, vivid writing style, and literary calibre. Both entertaining and impactful, <i>Mikhail and Margarita</i> is truly a fiction gem, and I look forward to reading what Julie Lekstrom Himes writes next.<br />
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Himes, Julie Lekstrom. <i>Mikhail and Margarita</i>. New York: Europa Editions, 2017.<br />
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READOSAURUS TEXThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06756556397430892963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2267233994769398936.post-21250246722316098562017-05-17T14:18:00.000-05:002017-08-05T14:53:41.818-05:00Punctuated Post: Anita Shreve's The Weight of Water<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Read Anita Shreve they said. You'll like her, they said.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBpxwlgEnxCNqIp8a5zwoOjyOuFjlARx4dhCVB1Z2EdXO2BwK7WhOAM6fACMbhaGkgEde7DpbZnfTbKVJeX6WQjQuaEEzXm5RxvVA1e0E9wYwVUnIZup-osKVJQqZYxXyMoGS_iv5DMZc/s1600/IMG_6224.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBpxwlgEnxCNqIp8a5zwoOjyOuFjlARx4dhCVB1Z2EdXO2BwK7WhOAM6fACMbhaGkgEde7DpbZnfTbKVJeX6WQjQuaEEzXm5RxvVA1e0E9wYwVUnIZup-osKVJQqZYxXyMoGS_iv5DMZc/s320/IMG_6224.JPG" width="240" /></a><i>The Weight of Water</i> takes place off the coast of Maine. So, when I traveled to Maine to a dear friend's graduation, I thought this book was a fitting pick! I love to read a book while being in the book's setting.<br />
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In a way, this was the perfect type of book to read during the hustle and bustle of travel: light and easy to dip in and out of while boarding flights and such. It has two narrative threads, one contemporary and one pertaining to a mystery from 1853. In the contemporary thread, a woman who is a photographer on a job at the island learns of gruesome murder. We also learn about the circumstances of another women, an immigrant to the area in the 1850s. An undercurrent of both narrative threads is the whodunit of the nineteenth century murder, partially as the contemporary woman finds archived letters written by the immigrant. I think the book could have been more enticing if the murderer didn't seem so obvious early in the book. While I am glad I gave an Anita Shreve book a chance, I am not sure that another is in my future soon.<br />
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Shreve, Anita. <i>The Weight of Water</i>. Back Bay Books, 1997.</div>
READOSAURUS TEXThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06756556397430892963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2267233994769398936.post-64362896106861000732017-04-05T14:15:00.000-05:002017-08-05T14:15:48.004-05:00How George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four Changed the World<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>On March 30, I had the opportunity to speak at a local history event. The Third Annual History Soapbox is a venue where ten people have 6 minutes each to persuade the audience that a book has changed the world. This was my humorous attempt to make a case for George Orwell's </i>Nineteen Eighty-Four.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Then the face of Big Brother faded away again, and instead the three slogans of</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
the Party stood out in bold capitals:</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
War is peace</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Freedom is slavery</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Ignorance is strength.<br />
<div class="Body" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: left;">
<span style="line-height: 200%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="Body" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: left;">
<span style="line-height: 200%;">This language of opposites, you will recognize, is the
Newspeak doubletalk of George Orwell's Oceania. In the novel <i>1984</i>, it is
the signature means by which the governance reinforces its agenda and policy to
keep down the masses. Originally published in 1949, there is no dystopian
classic more canonical, and no author who wished so ardently NOT to predict the
future, but prevent it. Orwell spins the cautionary tale of Winston Smith's
developing consciousness to the tyranny of Big Brother, the omnipresent
totalitarian government, who is always watching, always manipulating. In
Orwell's <i>1984</i>, the Ministry of Truth erases history and the Thought
Police can "disappear" you without so much as evidence or a trial.
They use data mining and surveillance, which kinda explains why Republicans
would want to revoke internet privacy rules. But, how can one man fight the
oppressive regime? In the end of the book, epically, all are reduced to loving
Big Brother.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 200%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="Body" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: left;">
<span style="line-height: 200%;">When I first set out to craft my case that <i>1984</i> has
changed the world for this Soapbox, I considered becoming goodthinkfullly
fluent in Newspeak and then writing an argument completely in Newspeakese. But
as I thought through this diabolically clever plan, I made an important
realization: a satirical use of doubletalk does not convey humor or purpose
when we are in fact living in a time of political doublespeak and alternative
facts. So, instead of wit and wordplay, I shall rely on facts----of the non-alternative
variety.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 200%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="Body" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: left;">
<span style="line-height: 200%;">Fact: On this very day, Mar 30, in 1984, the US ended its </span><span lang="FR" style="line-height: 200%;">participation
in</span><span style="line-height: 200%;"> a</span><span lang="FR" style="line-height: 200%;">
multinational </span><span style="line-height: 200%;">peacekeeping
force in </span><span lang="DE" style="line-height: 200%;">Lebanon</span><span style="line-height: 200%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Body" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: left;">
<span style="line-height: 200%;">Fact: In 1984, Prince's "When the Doves Cry" was
Billboard's #1 song of the year<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Body" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: left;">
<span style="line-height: 200%;">Fact: The film <i>Amadeus</i> won the Oscar for the best
picture of 1984<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Body" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: left;">
<span style="line-height: 200%;">Fact: These are not the first things we think of when we hear
(hand motion) 1984.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 200%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="Body" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: left;">
<span style="line-height: 200%;">What we think of is, oh, wait, was that the name of that
super popular Taylor Swift album, you know the one, oh that was 1989? Okay.
THEN, we think of George Orwell's book. And, this is because the most notable
thing about 1984 is a book about that year, yet predates it. A book that
anticipates and predicts, in an astonishingly accurate manner, the rise of a
neoliberal agenda, the smoke and mirrors elements of government, and a society
complicit in its own ignorance. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 200%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="Body" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: left;">
<span style="line-height: 200%;">Unfortunately for the world, but serendipitous for my
purposes here, George Orwell’s </span><i><span lang="NL" style="line-height: 200%;">Nineteen Eighty-Four</span></i><span style="line-height: 200%;">, is more prescient than ever after
the 2016 presidential election in the US and the developments that have
transpired under a Trump administration. To measure the book’s current
influence, look no further than a spike in book sales that put it on
bestsellers lists everywhere after Kellyanne Conway, Trump’s political advisor,
absurdly rationalized misinformation the current president of the United States
was dispensing by describing it as “alternative facts” </span><span lang="IT" style="line-height: 200%;">a la George
Orwell</span><span style="line-height: 200%;">’s “newspeak” and “doublethink."
<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 200%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="Body" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: left;">
<span style="line-height: 200%;">But Orwell’s masterpiece changed the world long before the
current political climate, and that <i>1984</i> had changed the word is
indisputable. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Body" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: left;">
<span style="line-height: 200%;">Exhibit A:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>CBS's
long-running hit show Big Brother, hosted by the one and only Julie Chen. Now,
what other book do you know of that has inspired a prime time reality
television show while simultaneously fulfilling the idea that a bunch of the
populous would willingly (and enthusiastically I might add) succumb to having
their free will curtailed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Body" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: left;">
<span style="line-height: 200%;">Exhibit B: Twitter says so, so it must be true.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Body" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: left;">
<span style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>@EKKAH writes: George
Orwell 1984 is one of the best books ever <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>written.
Book emoji. Heart emoji. #readabookday<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Body" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: left;">
<span style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>@reesnathan on June 25,
2013: Happy birthday George Orwell! 1984 is <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>still hands down the best book I ever read and
it comes at a time where it's <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Body" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: left;">
<span style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>significance is huge. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Body" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: left;">
<span style="line-height: 200%;">And, now I bring you to Exhibit C: This canonical book is on
high school reading lists everywhere. It is often the first book to open up a
young reader’s eyes to the possibilities of political dystopia and to encourage
critical thinking and skepticism about the social structures around us. Due to
the broad readership and accessibility of this book, it has been changing the
world of its readers since its publication nearly 70 years ago. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 200%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="Body" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: left;">
<span style="line-height: 200%;">Until now in this county, perhaps we have hoped doublespeak
and Big Brother could only be a figment of Orwell’s imagination. Given current
circumstances, though, this book is especially changing the world by helping
inspire daily resistance against a governmental regime that has jumped out of
the pages of fiction into reality. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Body" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: left;">
<span style="line-height: 200%;">So, esteemed judges, people's choice, when you make your
decision tonight about the book that has changed the world, I invite to you
consider these questions to guide you:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Body" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: left;">
<span style="line-height: 200%;">One: Which of these books have you actually read?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Body" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: left;">
<span style="line-height: 200%;">Two: What other presenter here is sporting an appropriately
bookish t-shirt (which by the way, was purchased years ago)?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Body" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: left;">
<span style="line-height: 200%;">And lastly, what other book has ever made you so acutely
aware of getting your face gnawed off by rats?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 200%;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
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<div class="Body" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: left;">
<span style="line-height: 200%;">There is only one answer, and it is <i>Nineteen Eighty-Four. </i>And
remember: Big Brother is watching.</span></div>
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READOSAURUS TEXThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06756556397430892963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2267233994769398936.post-8595456211707821492017-03-15T10:00:00.000-05:002017-03-15T10:00:20.111-05:00Punctuated Post: Emily St. John Mandel's Station Eleven<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcqCohAAyouQDLiYsxaAKfFLUNuuXoX4BVSbLmyNdwDGr_IgFukG98jo-t6sNQi8hH1mr0ptf0OP-W3OLqPwjGK-PGgJ42jIy1qqFY5HXJYYKrRyYiBRp0Lc9IkgOweIBnMURT5_Qsl-w/s1600/Station+Eleven+Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcqCohAAyouQDLiYsxaAKfFLUNuuXoX4BVSbLmyNdwDGr_IgFukG98jo-t6sNQi8hH1mr0ptf0OP-W3OLqPwjGK-PGgJ42jIy1qqFY5HXJYYKrRyYiBRp0Lc9IkgOweIBnMURT5_Qsl-w/s200/Station+Eleven+Cover.jpg" width="135" /></a></div>
It is not often the case that you embark on reading a best-selling book award finalist and have no idea what the novel is about. I lucked out, both in a sense that each page and plot twist was a surprise, and then in the sense that the book is premised on an epidemic. I am fascinated with epidemiology. In sixth grade, I used to read the goriest passages from Richard Preston's <i>The Hot Zone</i>. In college, my first major was microbiology because I wanted to become a virologist, but math is not my strong suit, so I get my epidemiological fix through books. My interest isn't even merely quite about the power of a small virus that can tear through civilization, it is about the post-apocalyptic humanity (or lack thereof) that comes with it, in books like <i>Parasites Like Us</i> by <a href="http://readosaurustext.blogspot.com/2015/01/adam-johnsons-orphan-masters-son.html" target="_blank">Adam Johnson</a>, <i>Blindnes</i>s by Jose Saramago, Margaret Atwood's MaddAddam series, and now <i>Station Eleven</i> by Emily St. John Mandel.<br />
<br />
I finished this book two years ago--exactly two years to the date I started drafting this post (oops!)--and with the benefit of hindsight I can still say that I really enjoyed this book and have recommended it on many occasions.<br />
<br />
Mandel, Emily St. John. <i>Station Eleven</i>. New York: Vintage Books, 2014.</div>
READOSAURUS TEXThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06756556397430892963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2267233994769398936.post-7116794148549689512017-02-26T12:56:00.001-06:002017-02-26T13:05:08.483-06:00Edward P. Jones's The Known World<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Happy Black History Month! When I started <i>The Known World</i> by Edward P. Jones last month, it was coincidental that I would be finishing it this month, but how appropriate that I'd be reading such a wonderfully powerful novel of African American historical fiction during a time we especially dedicate to the celebration of black history, and at a time when the president-elect has insulted and attempted to undermine the great civil rights hero, John Lewis, and seems to think Frederick Douglass is alive doing an "amazing job." Meanwhile, the vice president honored black history month by <a href="https://twitter.com/VP/status/826973464078716935" target="_blank">praising the work of a white man</a>. Lest we ever forget the power of books, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/01/15/rep-john-lewiss-books-sell-out-following-donald-trumps-attacks/?utm_term=.5b44fefba037" target="_blank">John Lewis's memoir and graphic novel trilogy</a> sold out on Amazon when news spread about Trump's attack on the now politician. It is so important for people to engage with stories and histories that provide insight on the continuing inequalities in our government, society, and world.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd4lYnnYZk3UCXjALw1YJ7fMo8FGNtMFSgmOpFK-Keq7oP4mLuyibeQEdQzdOax4ssWf8BZnGZuqlGNEM2-T_TFjJw5qpQy4IIF83ykGOCu0gGGe7YwpfyTyWa1J_5wsHyzz-Dltdp27w/s1600/IMG_0262.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd4lYnnYZk3UCXjALw1YJ7fMo8FGNtMFSgmOpFK-Keq7oP4mLuyibeQEdQzdOax4ssWf8BZnGZuqlGNEM2-T_TFjJw5qpQy4IIF83ykGOCu0gGGe7YwpfyTyWa1J_5wsHyzz-Dltdp27w/s320/IMG_0262.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The Known World </i>among just a few other <br />
books my TBR pile.<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<i>The Known World</i> is set in the antebellum South as the US nears its Civil War. The plot is compelling because it complicates the history of the slaveholding south by telling the story of a freed slave, Henry, who then becomes a slaveholder. The book illuminates the varied reactions to this reality: disappointed parents who were former slaves themselves; a proud former-master who facilitates the purchase of Henry's new slaves; poor men in the community who resent that a black man has slaves while they do not. All these relationships illuminate the system that on the one hand views black people as property, but on the other hand has so engrained the idea of slavery that it can be legal for anyone to own slaves and to continue to reinforce the system.<br />
<br />
I also celebrated Black History Month with Octavia E. Butler's <i>Kindred</i> and Miguel Barnet's <i>Biography of a Runaway Slave</i><i>. </i>Next I'll be digging into <a href="https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/history/faculty/db27553" target="_blank">Daina Ramey Berry's</a> hot-off-the-press <i>The Price for their Pound of Flesh: The Value of the Enslaved from Womb to Grave in the Building of a Nation </i>from Beacon Press. Don't limit reading about black history to this month--these stories and histories are crucial every day.<br />
<br />
<br />
Barnet, Miguel. <i>Biography of a Runaway Slave: Fiftieth Anniversary Edition</i>. Trans. W. Nick Hill.<br />
Evanston: Curbstone/Northwestern University Press, 2016.<br />
Butler, Octavia E. <i>Kindred</i>. Boston: Beacon Pres, 2003.<br />
Jones, Edward P. <i>The Known World</i>. New York: HarperCollins, 2004.</div>
READOSAURUS TEXThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06756556397430892963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2267233994769398936.post-14328241591204645482017-01-24T10:00:00.000-06:002017-01-24T10:00:32.154-06:00Punctuated Post: Jonathan Safran Foer's Here I Am<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Note the Arizona-themed bookmark <br />
cross-stitched by my mother.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
This book is long enough, so I will keep my thoughts to a Punctuated Post. I do not regret a single minute of the time I spent reading the nearly 600 pages of Jonathan Safran Foer's latest novel, <i>Here I Am</i>. In fact, most of it felt fairly fast-paced. There is a great deal of dialogue, and various narrative strategies keep the pages turning. If anything slows down the reading pace, it is the need to process some of the deep emotional episodes that sustain the book. From family to catastrophe, this book covers the gamut of heart-wrenching scenarios. And, I suppose it is this very breadth that became, in my opinion, the greatest weakness of the book. When a book is about everything, it sometimes feels like it is about nothing. Is this book about the father character, Jacob? His family? Dealing with crises? Politics and political catastrophe? Religion? Death and loss? I am never one to shy away from a long book with a complex plot, yet a can't fight the suspicion that this book would be even better if it were about just a little less.<br />
<br />
While I would have wished for a little more focus to guide me to the core message that the author wanted the reader to walk away with, there were little literary nuggets throughout the book that served as a huge payoff for the reader. I'll end with one sentiment that resounded with me.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifpiQ6QgpC4zTfgz3F8wm1s2zHzevnysfNMgO2XKyOT_DyDzL3GoMY6qrqv9LwLTnxJ9D-1Rd0dxCdGO0F8xS7UsSoKoa9OVXlUOjUQEyighaxDjd60yJgWq1R6OQT5KW39T9XCSLFexk/s1600/quote.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifpiQ6QgpC4zTfgz3F8wm1s2zHzevnysfNMgO2XKyOT_DyDzL3GoMY6qrqv9LwLTnxJ9D-1Rd0dxCdGO0F8xS7UsSoKoa9OVXlUOjUQEyighaxDjd60yJgWq1R6OQT5KW39T9XCSLFexk/s200/quote.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jonathan Safran Foer, <i>Here I Am</i>, p. 493</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Foer, Jonathan Safran. <i>Here I Am</i>. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2016.<br />
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READOSAURUS TEXThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06756556397430892963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2267233994769398936.post-53091238537359405592017-01-01T13:54:00.001-06:002017-01-01T14:31:23.529-06:00My Top Book Pick of 2016: Colson Whitehead's The Underground Railroad <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hasta la vista, 2016</td></tr>
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There were a lot of things not to like about 2016. A lot. But there was also some good interspersed among the gut-wrenching disappointments. Some of my favorite things about 2016 included my discovery of the book app <a href="http://litsy.com/" target="_blank">Litsy</a> (where you can find me @ReadosaurusText), <a href="http://www.teenvogue.com/story/donald-trump-is-gaslighting-america" target="_blank">Teen Vogue</a> emerging as a serious source of political news and commentary, and it was an incredible year for the visibility and popularity of African American nonfiction and fiction. Ibram X. Kendi won the National Book Award for Nonfiction for <i><a href="http://www.publicaffairsbooks.com/book/hardcover/stamped-from-the-beginning/9781568584638" target="_blank">Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America</a>.</i> Heather Ann Thompson's <i><a href="http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/178182/blood-in-the-water-by-heather-ann-thompson/9780375423222/" target="_blank">Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and Its Legacy</a> </i>was a finalist for the same award and has earned oodles of other accolades. On the fiction side, we saw the<a href="http://books.wwnorton.com/books/detail.aspx?ID=4294990779" target="_blank"> </a><i><a href="http://books.wwnorton.com/books/detail.aspx?ID=4294990779" target="_blank">Collected Poems: 1974-2004</a> </i>of Rita Dove, the latest <a href="http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/239475/charcoal-joe-by-walter-mosley/9780385539203/" target="_blank">Walter Mosley</a>, and of course Colson Whitehead's <i><a href="http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/232365/the-underground-railroad-national-book-award-winner-oprahs-book-club-by-colson-whitehead/9780385542364/" target="_blank">The Underground Railroad</a>.</i><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilIkDv6uExtpYeLTlBwsWsyPlx8WrT9xGJWvN1t5RgATqTjJAz3FMwKDGT_R6MEqo6iv1qZ79d5mAcQ7LxH8IdjnyNCtC5J0fhf0OBtMcYZpbqZO2KL1aXGGFtH4oxCeoaHWF3ZuWRWiM/s1600/Whitehead.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilIkDv6uExtpYeLTlBwsWsyPlx8WrT9xGJWvN1t5RgATqTjJAz3FMwKDGT_R6MEqo6iv1qZ79d5mAcQ7LxH8IdjnyNCtC5J0fhf0OBtMcYZpbqZO2KL1aXGGFtH4oxCeoaHWF3ZuWRWiM/s200/Whitehead.jpg" width="131" /></a></div>
I realize that picking <i>The Underground Railroad</i> as my favorite book of 2016 is not especially groundbreaking--as a best-selling, award-winning, Oprah's Book Club title, it is not much of a revelation to declare this book as good and worth reading. This book is truly special, though. <i>The Underground Railroad </i>follows the motivations and experiences of a young enslaved woman named Cora. As she undertakes a personal journey, so does the reader, and that journey is at once difficult to read and impossible to draw away from. I read this book months ago, and Cora still says with me, the way you think back to a person you met briefly but who had a deep impact on you. The book's mix of accessible while artistic prose and a history-inspired plot influenced by the genre of magical realism leaves nothing to be desired. The book adds to the exceptional body of literature (both fictional and nonfictional) that provides a lens into the legacy of slavery. Whitehead paints vibrant pictures of the historical realities of slavery, inequity, and the quest for freedom. Some parts of the narrative are alarmingly relevant almost 200 years later. In one passage describing the policing of slaves, Whitehead writes: "<span style="text-align: center;">The patroller required no reason to stop a person apart from color. . . . Rogue blacks who did not surrender could be shot." Sound a little familiar to how black bodies are still policed? The book's narrator goes into more detail about the systems that constantly worked to enforce the system of enslavement:</span><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Slaves caught off the plantation need passes, unless they wanted a licking and a visit to the country jail. Free blacks carried proof of manumission or risked being conveyed into the clutches of slavery; sometimes they were smuggledto the auction block anyway. (p. 153)</blockquote>
Is it any wonder that such egregious racial inequalities exist today when persistent systems of violence and suppression were unilaterally sanctioned? </div>
<br />
Reading this book was a plethora of experiences. There was the experience of pure appreciation of the book's prose and plot. There was a huge emotional component of experiencing this book, as we follow the hardships and brutality that Cora and her collaborators endure. What also added to my experience of reading this book was a small but exciting interaction with the author on Twitter. I don't expect famous people to respond to every cray cray fan, but given how easy social networking makes it to engage with people who are legitimately engaging with literature, I really appreciated that Colson Whitehead liked one of my tweets about his book.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmR7-HXJ3o92yD70NQ7DWrSSiDYZ2Rx_LGmnj_fWQMuYd4r2PNTM8Rq0eEGSIlLQHXjKad_ZRKSkmcmzdwFKOpSVyCzKLY5SmQnFccRLYkcnGsca6ZViBA4A7RuVQ-0oU5SEQLa8XCRFA/s1600/Screen+Shot+2016-12-31+at+6.08.22+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmR7-HXJ3o92yD70NQ7DWrSSiDYZ2Rx_LGmnj_fWQMuYd4r2PNTM8Rq0eEGSIlLQHXjKad_ZRKSkmcmzdwFKOpSVyCzKLY5SmQnFccRLYkcnGsca6ZViBA4A7RuVQ-0oU5SEQLa8XCRFA/s320/Screen+Shot+2016-12-31+at+6.08.22+PM.png" width="310" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Exhibit A: Colson Whitehead like my Tweet!</td></tr>
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We don't know what is in store for 2017 of course, but make sure that <i>The Underground Railroad</i> is in store for yourself if you have not yet read it. It is imperative that we all keep reading books that challenge our emotions and conceptions, because literature that challenges us remains one of the surest ways to expand our humanity, compassion, and knowledge. </div>
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Whitehead, Colson. <i>The Underground Railroad.</i> New York: Doubleday, 2016.</div>
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READOSAURUS TEXThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06756556397430892963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2267233994769398936.post-8420781665578585212016-12-21T11:08:00.001-06:002017-01-01T14:30:20.177-06:00Wendy Gamber's The Notorious Mrs. Clem<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Hollywood: make this book into a movie right now! Wendy Gamber's <i>The Notorious Mrs. Clem: Murder and Money in the Gilded Age</i> has all the trappings of an Oscar-worthy period piece: murder, intrigue, fashion, epic court battles, a cameo from future U.S. President Benjamin Harrison, and at the heart of it all is sex (okay, maybe more like questions of gender) and money. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR5qCzPVkkxgJponQMymSBDueq5pJB1ICctQrLUlb7Kp3J-j8h8ZxcizmVDGJxprWsZmX4No953roegj2AG8UEeS2RpE7J3vnkwE9MfTT6XtXNTQJIspcIULCT7OoWy7lhjw5-dgj-oBI/s1600/Clem.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR5qCzPVkkxgJponQMymSBDueq5pJB1ICctQrLUlb7Kp3J-j8h8ZxcizmVDGJxprWsZmX4No953roegj2AG8UEeS2RpE7J3vnkwE9MfTT6XtXNTQJIspcIULCT7OoWy7lhjw5-dgj-oBI/s200/Clem.jpg" width="133" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">In September 1868, a grisly murder took place in Indianapolis. A young couple was found mercilessly shot on the banks of White River at a point known as Cold Spring. As investigations of the deaths progressed, an unlikely suspect came under scrutiny: Nancy Clem, who was regarded by many as a respectable middle class wife of an upstanding local grocer. Upon closer inspection, Clem emerged as much more than a traditional nineteenth century housewife. She, in fact, was exposed as a talented and convincing con women who had widespread lending and borrowing scams throughout the city that involved an array of men and women in Indianapolis society, including the murdered couple found at Cold Spring. Her under-the-table financial connections to the couple is what lead to her arrest, as well as the arrest of one her business partners.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><i>The Notorious Mrs. Clem</i> is a fascinating true crime set on the stage of the Gilded Age (post-Civil War). <a href="https://history.indiana.edu/faculty_staff/faculty/gamber_wendy.html" target="_blank">Historian Wendy Gamber</a> has left no archival stone unturned--newspapers, court records, city plans. You name it, and Gamber has utilized it to paint the fullest picture possible of the social, industrial, and urban landscape of Indianapolis in the 1860s and leading up to the turn of the century. The real thread of the story is the saga of court cases as Mrs. Clem is tried and retried due to mistrials and appeals. But what seems to be on trial is not Mrs. Clem's guilt for murder, it is whether or not she is a good woman and wife. </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The prosecution and defense developed opposing arguments, but they both equally centered on how wifeliness and womanly virtue is connected to money and business dealings. Gamber puts it best:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> Competing interpretations of the political economy </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">of marriage were central to the </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> narratives constructed by her prosecution and defense. They echoed a cultural </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> conversation that took place in many arenas--in feminist demands; in statehouses, </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> as legislators contemplated revised married women's property acts and earning </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> laws; in courts, as judges considered women's claims; and in myriad negotiations </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> between husbands and wives. (p. 244) </span></div>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Facts of the murder were at play in the trial; however, opening statements, witnesses, and closing statements had a running theme of whether Mrs. Clem's financial acumen (she was financially self-sufficient as a widow prior to marrying the upstanding grocer) was brazen or praiseworthy.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">It is not every day that a book steeped in such careful research and archival work can also achieve the level of page-turner, but this is one of those marvelous cases. Nancy Clem, of course, if not the only women whose trial was sensationalized and called into question factors outside of mere guilt or innocence. From Lizzy Borden to Jodi Arias, the media continues to create a spectacle of women murderers, calling on trite tropes of femininity, purity, and sanity that are often present in the very trial records themselves. A book like <i>The Notorious Mrs. Clem</i> contributes to a genealogy of society's unfortunate preoccupations with gender stereotypes and how they are reliably institutionalized through the legal system. It is also a compelling story that will leave you wondering about Mrs. Clem and her mysterious business dealings. </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/content/notorious-mrs-clem" target="_blank">Gamber, Wendy. <i>The Notorious Mrs. Clem: Murder and Money in the Gilded Age</i>. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 2016</a>. </span><br />
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READOSAURUS TEXThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06756556397430892963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2267233994769398936.post-77957805974095784322016-05-15T15:19:00.000-05:002017-01-01T14:26:34.931-06:00BookExpo America 2016<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I had the opportunity to attend <a href="http://www.bookexpoamerica.com/" target="_blank">BookExpo America</a>, and while I have been to various book events before, none were as big as BEA, and certainly none as commercial. The 2016 Expo took place May 11 to 13 at McCormick Place, Chicago. I went on the last day of the Expo and could not have been more pleased about the fantastic books and ARCs I picked up! It was a smorgasbord of book totes, engaging discussions with book industry folks, and bookish swag (like artistic literary postcards from <a href="http://obviousstate.com/" target="_blank">Obvious State</a>).<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLRZWC7F85Am6OENL4TwpaCYyqa2I6Bbxa0rBxrjbDyYAwj8C2mPwr5Ttjpk0Vryf4x7l2CDyQpGVgtji5LZ3KgpkyjwugEL9FsHDXME5niYIJOg3a7ETmWVlnV3ARH93lM5qq0xNBs4g/s1600/IMG_4752.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLRZWC7F85Am6OENL4TwpaCYyqa2I6Bbxa0rBxrjbDyYAwj8C2mPwr5Ttjpk0Vryf4x7l2CDyQpGVgtji5LZ3KgpkyjwugEL9FsHDXME5niYIJOg3a7ETmWVlnV3ARH93lM5qq0xNBs4g/s200/IMG_4752.JPG" style="cursor: move;" width="150" /></a><br />
One of my favorite takeaways from the meeting was a journal. I do not journal (despite best attempts), but this is a notebook that I just could not resist: it is a <a href="http://blog.thunderbaybooks.com/2015/03/novel-journals/" target="_blank">novel journal</a>. The lined journal pages actually contain all the lines from classical literary favorites. Available from <a href="http://www.thunderbaybooks.com//catalog/ProductSearch.aspx?sj=225" target="_blank">Thunder Bay Press's Canterbury Classics imprint</a>, these journals are a clever concept and also struck me as well made, with covers soft to the touch. I picked up the <i>Great Expectations</i> journal.<br />
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I was also quite excited to learn about a relatively new book app from the same folks that founded the <a href="http://www.outofprintclothing.com/" target="_blank">Out of Print</a> clothing company. Their app is called <a href="http://litsy.com/" target="_blank">Litsy</a>, and I think think their tagline sums it up best: "Where books make friends." While I've only been using Litsy for the last 2 days since I first learned about the app, it is a bit like if Twitter and Instagram had an adorable little bookish social networking baby. Find me on Litsy with the username @ReadosaurusText, and learn more about Litsy from their engaged Twitter feed <a href="https://twitter.com/getlitsy" target="_blank">@getlitsy</a>.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhffBvScnkbt2Tn14WdEyD4BDx5rIFf7I22S0Axb0BM7M31vbc-JN1lrFmh61eVLc4m1bYJb1V0AYyBnDZ9VUNMmuDpkpRxsVjMyoFQ_tyvtf04OuBIVD1C5gNB2Fyswkxj0V7CzXs-x1E/s1600/IMG_4760.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhffBvScnkbt2Tn14WdEyD4BDx5rIFf7I22S0Axb0BM7M31vbc-JN1lrFmh61eVLc4m1bYJb1V0AYyBnDZ9VUNMmuDpkpRxsVjMyoFQ_tyvtf04OuBIVD1C5gNB2Fyswkxj0V7CzXs-x1E/s400/IMG_4760.JPG" width="300" /></a></div>
I cannot understate how incredibly enthusiastic I am about the stack of new books I picked up to read! My first objective was to find the Europa Editions booth--they are one of my favorite publishers because they consistently publish high quality literary fiction from international authors. When I found Europa Editions, I was delighted to discover they were having a signing! In addition to getting a copy of <a href="http://www.europaeditions.com/book/9781609453275/sergio-y" target="_blank"><i>Sergio Y.</i> </a>signed by author Alexandre Vidal Porto, I was also given a copy of <a href="http://www.europaeditions.com/book/9781609452995/animals" target="_blank"><i>Animals</i></a> by Emma Jane Unsworth. Northwestern University Press had hot-off-the-press copies of <a href="http://www.nupress.northwestern.edu/content/biography-runaway-slave-0" target="_blank">The Fiftieth Anniversary Edition of <i>Biography of a Runaway Slave</i></a>. I picked up a copy of <i><a href="http://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/product/Redskins,677175.aspx" target="_blank">Redskins: Insult and Brand</a></i> by C. Richard King from University of Nebraska Press. And yes, in the background of the picture, that is a t-shirt for University of Georgia Press's new book, <i><a href="http://www.ugapress.org/index.php/books/index/blood_bone_and_marrow" target="_blank">Blood, Bone, and Marrow: A Biography of Harry Crews</a></i> by Ted Geltner. <br />
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I received a number of advance review copies, which I am listing here along with their release dates. Stay tuned for posts about these books!<br />
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<u><br /></u>
<u>August 2016</u><br />
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Ulitskaya, Ludmila. <i>The Kukotsky Enigma. </i>Trans. Diana Nemec Ignashev. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press.<br />
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<u>September 2016</u><br />
Foer, Jonathan Safran. <i>Here I Am.</i> New York: Farrar, Strauss and Giroux.<br />
Gray, Sarah. <i>A Life Everlasting: The Extraordinary Gift of Thomas Ethan Gray</i>. New York: HarperOne.<br />
Mazzeo, Tilar J. <i>Irena's Children: A True Story of Courage. </i>New York: Gallery Books.<br />
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<u>October 2016</u><br />
Bennett, Britt. <i>The Mothers.</i> New York: Riverhead Books.<br />
Günday, Hakan. <i>More.</i> Trans. Zeynep Beler. New York: Arcade Publishing.<br />
Szalay, David. <i>All That Man Is.</i> Minneapolis: Graywolf Press.<br />
Whitehead, Colson. <i><a href="http://readosaurustext.blogspot.com/2017/01/my-top-book-pick-of-2016-colson.html" target="_blank">The Underground Railroad</a>. </i>New York: The Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.</div>
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READOSAURUS TEXThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06756556397430892963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2267233994769398936.post-55103257379193713392016-03-15T20:53:00.001-05:002016-03-15T20:53:34.686-05:00Punctuated Post: Amara Lakhous' Dispute Over a Very Italian Piglet<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Ever since I was introduced to Europa Editions, they have been my go-to publisher for international fiction, and especially translations of contemporary literature. My latest discovery from the publisher came at the Modern Language Association meeting in January. Penguin was there (they distribute for Europa Editions) selling paperback books for $3.00. Now, do not get me wrong, these books are worth every penny of the usual $15.00 to $18.00 they usually cost, but there is no way I could pass up a book deal that good, especially when I noticed the adorable cover of <i>Dispute Over a Very Italian Piglet</i> by Amara Lakhous and translated from the Italian by Ann Goldstein.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiImmuLM8_nOnYNDwiYEooPIRCJarIhW2gd2sbJ6sFicc0_vZJVSM9B69UoAlrQRYJR5g2lzsp31ZlLqJhzti-nHi0u4K75tMw1hHL7venbg8uw4fsde8sOAb4YPmBYb58xfDSaVbU7MIE/s1600/Lakhous.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiImmuLM8_nOnYNDwiYEooPIRCJarIhW2gd2sbJ6sFicc0_vZJVSM9B69UoAlrQRYJR5g2lzsp31ZlLqJhzti-nHi0u4K75tMw1hHL7venbg8uw4fsde8sOAb4YPmBYb58xfDSaVbU7MIE/s200/Lakhous.jpg" width="128" /></a></div>
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The book is truly charming. Lakhous, an award-winning author, manages to strike a smart balance between depth and humor--usually a tricky task. A lighthearted Italian novel about multiculturalism and a missing piglet, it is at once whimsical and prying as to the issues surrounding immigration, labor, and day-to-day life. Anyone who reads this will be able to see the obvious similarities to immigration debates in the United States along with the hypocrisies of xenophobia. I quite liked a <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/dispute-over-a-very-italian-piglet-by-amara-lakhous-trans-ann-goldstein-book-review-state-of-the-9524105.html" target="_blank">book review</a> from <i>The Independent</i> that both overviewed the plot and spoke to its literary contributions.<br />
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Lakhous, Amara. <i>Dispute Over a Very Italian Piglet</i>. Trans. by Ann Goldstein. New York: Europa Editions, 2014.</div>
READOSAURUS TEXThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06756556397430892963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2267233994769398936.post-35970005348364265232016-03-12T09:05:00.003-06:002016-03-15T20:10:22.303-05:00Professional Development Panel<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #141823; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">This morning, at 11 am, it is my honor to present on a professional development panel with Dr. Antoinette Burton (professor of history, UIUC) and Dr. Carina Ray (professor of African and Afro-American studies, Brandeis). The panel will take place at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's </span></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://uiucwghs.weebly.com/" target="_blank">Graduate Symposium on Women's and Gender History</a>. We'll discuss preparing papers for publication, transitioning to the tenure track, and revising your dissertation into a book.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">Of course, when the panel was planned, we had no idea that we'd be presenting at the same time as a Bernie Sanders rally elsewhere on campus!</span><br />
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READOSAURUS TEXThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06756556397430892963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2267233994769398936.post-89544193305380817552016-02-11T12:05:00.002-06:002016-03-15T20:11:09.932-05:00Reading Matters@IPRH Post: "Go Set a Watchwoman"<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgitZ6DSjkeVIvpF5-jRnsZWVIdFpnbmedwU003yQTEq9o4K8XAdk7_m4YYSkuOS5DMj7dZJk2MSTOlqMMhkjbwqUqatVM2DZaxIQ_WxFjQ4AWOLpcRrFpOGdtPVOe9rBAMkH18mvwBEeM/s1600/Watchman.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgitZ6DSjkeVIvpF5-jRnsZWVIdFpnbmedwU003yQTEq9o4K8XAdk7_m4YYSkuOS5DMj7dZJk2MSTOlqMMhkjbwqUqatVM2DZaxIQ_WxFjQ4AWOLpcRrFpOGdtPVOe9rBAMkH18mvwBEeM/s200/Watchman.jpg" width="131" /></a>I'm very excited to have had the opportunity to contribute a post to the <a href="https://iprh.wordpress.com/2016/01/22/go-set-a-watchwoman-by-dawn-durante/" target="_blank">Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities Reading Matters blog</a>. The post, titled "Go Set a Watchwoman," gave me an opportunity to air my grievances with the popular media, whose preoccupation with Finch as a racist completely undermined the merits of Scout's actions and sacrificed the narrative of our heroine and led to a male-centric focus on the book.<br />
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(originally posted to Reading Matters@IPRH blog January 22, 2016) <br />
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Lee, Harper. <i>Go Set a Watchman</i>. New York: HarperCollins, 2015.</div>
READOSAURUS TEXThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06756556397430892963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2267233994769398936.post-18984984350946994592015-07-16T15:12:00.000-05:002015-07-16T15:18:14.177-05:00New Book: Sabine N. Meyer's We Are What We Drink: The Temperance Battle in Minnesota<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
A book about the battle over the bottle in the Twin Cities.<br />
<i>We Are What We Drink: The Temperance Battle in Minnesota</i><br />
by Sabine N. Meyer<br />
University of Illinois Press, 2015<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZm0icHCyFpQpdGsbSmbjhAEMRmm4TxPWOxatUcjkmsovG6tIhacZ6Lf6p9RpShrYoAssjOBNTae9SBxFnz9GSeULaY8eOYGVzhaIgsUS2I-TWyTs6AM-KAMZwaCNvlV-Qrz8xEYQrazY/s1600/Meyer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZm0icHCyFpQpdGsbSmbjhAEMRmm4TxPWOxatUcjkmsovG6tIhacZ6Lf6p9RpShrYoAssjOBNTae9SBxFnz9GSeULaY8eOYGVzhaIgsUS2I-TWyTs6AM-KAMZwaCNvlV-Qrz8xEYQrazY/s320/Meyer.jpg" width="209" /></a>Focusing on the Twin Cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis, Minnesota, Sabine Meyer's <a href="http://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/catalog/86qnf4tt9780252039355.html" target="_blank"><i>We Are What We Drink</i></a> intertwines national, regional, and urban history during the Progressive era, along with the political motivations and legislative actions at the city and state level in Minnesota, to unravel the temperance movement’s relationship to and effect on identity constructions as well as social, ethnic, racial, religious and political elements. Covering a 100-year period (1819-1919), the project shows the ways that we are what we drink by examining the formation of civic identities of the cities themselves, Irish and German immigrants, and women in the public sphere and how the groups' involvement in the temperance movement helped to shape their categories of identity and establish a civic role: German immigrants continued to support public drinking to uphold their heritage; Irish immigrants joined religious forces to condemn drinking and to embed themselves in their new homeland; and women sought to protect the domestic sphere by moving their fight into the public sphere. Meanwhile, each Twin City had opposite stances on temperance with St. Paul being liquor friendly and Minneapolis being a hotbed for the liquor reform movement. <br />
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Meyer draws on a vast range of primary source materials including newspaper and court archival records and situates her own work within relevant scholarship on temperance, civic identity, Minnesota history, Irish and German American ethnic identity, and construction of female identity in the public sphere. In doing so, Meyer provides a thorough overview about how the role of drink and the attempt to regulate drink in connection with a social movement influenced local, ethnic, and gender identity construction.<br />
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This is one of the first books I acquired, and so I am especially pleased to see it out. If you think the cover is awesome, wait until you read what's on the inside! </div>
READOSAURUS TEXThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06756556397430892963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2267233994769398936.post-70483987679353136022015-07-05T09:49:00.002-05:002015-07-05T09:50:43.720-05:00The Crisis in the Dominican Republic: A Reading List<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
There is a humanitarian crisis that has been evolving in the Dominican Republic, and it is perplexing why more people aren't talking about it because of its significance regarding law, race, and basic human rights. For decades, Haitians have moved to the Dominican Republic, oftentimes to escape poverty in Haiti. Discrimination against people of Haitian descent is intense in the Dominican Republic (there was a lynching earlier this year), and in 2013 the Dominican Republic courts denied citizenship to all descendants of Haitian-born parents, impacting tens of thousands of people, some of whom have spent their entire lives in the Dominican Republic. Recently, there was news media coverage of authors Junot Diaz and Edwidge Danticat speaking out about the situation. There is a link to that article below, along with other articles assembled along a timeline that provide a sense of the situation, especially over the past several months as thousands of people face statelessness.<br />
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October 15, 2012 article about 1937 event: <a href="http://www.ibtimes.com/parsley-massacre-genocide-still-haunts-haiti-dominican-relations-846773" target="_blank">Parsley Massacre: The Genocide that Still Haunts Haiti-Dominican Relations</a>, <i>International Business Times</i>, by Palash Ghosh<br />
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October 7, 2013: <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/oct/07/dominican-republic-haiti-long-history-conflict" target="_blank">The Dominican Republican and Haiti: One Island Riven by An Unresolved Past</a>, <i>The Guardian</i>, by Carrie Gibson<br />
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October 24, 2013: <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/24/world/americas/dominicans-of-haitian-descent-cast-into-legal-limbo-by-court.html?_r=1" target="_blank">Dominicans of Haitian Descent Cast into Legal Limbo by Court</a>, <i>The New York Times</i>, by Randal C. Archibold<br />
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May 22, 2014: <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-27514955" target="_blank">Dominican Republic Lawmakers Pass Citizenship Bill</a>, <i>BBC News</i><br />
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February 3, 2015: <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/03/dominicans-citizenship_n_6606336.html" target="_blank">Thousands of Dominicans Woke Up This Week without Citizenship in Any Country</a>, <i>The Huffington Post Latino Voices</i>, Roque Planas<br />
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February 11, 2015: <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/11/haitian-lynched-dominican_n_6664276.html" target="_blank">Haitian Man Lynched amid Dominican Republic Immigration Controvers</a>y, <i>The Huffington Post Latino Voices</i>, Roque Planas<br />
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June 16, 2015: <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/16/dominican-republic-haiti-deportation-residency-permits" target="_blank">Dominicans of Haitian Descent Fear Mass Deportation as Headline Looms</a>, <i>The Guardian</i>, by Sibylla Brodzinsky<br />
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June 16, 2015: <a href="http://www.theroot.com/articles/news/2015/06/dominican_republic_plans_mass_deportation_of_haitian_families.html" target="_blank">Dominican Republic Threatens to Deport Haitian Families</a>, <i>The Root</i>, by Nsenga K. Burton<br />
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June 25, 2015: <a href="http://fusion.net/story/156597/junot-diaz-and-edwidge-danticat-jointly-call-for-travel-boycott-of-the-dominican-republic/" target="_blank">Junot Diaz and Edwidge Danticat Jointly Speak Out Against Dominican Republic Refugee Crisis</a>, <i>Fusion,</i> by Daniel Rivero<br />
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June 26, 2015: <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/26/dominican-republic-deportations-humanitarian-crisis-haiti-pm" target="_blank">Haiti PM Warns of "Humanitarian Crisis" Caused by Dominican Deportation Policy</a>, <i>The Guardian</i>, Associated Press<br />
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July 2, 2015: <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/02/magazine/the-dominican-time-bomb.html?emc=edit_tnt_20150703&eml_thmb=1&nlid=62338161&tntemail0=y&_r=0" target="_blank">The Dominican Time Bomb</a>, <i>The</i> <i>New York Times Magazine</i>, by Jonathan M. Katz<br />
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July 5, 2015: <a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/07/04/deportations-noncitizens-dominican-republic-protested-activists-boston/F6CdUXoM9099nshkh7REGJ/story.html" target="_blank">Deportations of Noncitizens in Dominican Republic Protested by Activists in Boston</a>, <i>The Boston Globe</i>, by Laura Crimaldi<br />
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I have found myself turning the most to the coverage in <i><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/us" target="_blank">The Guardian</a></i>. (Search "Dominican Republic" on <i>The Guardian</i>'s homepage for articles on the issue that go back several years.) How will you stay on top of news on this issue?</div>
READOSAURUS TEXThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06756556397430892963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2267233994769398936.post-42890537235571359492015-07-01T14:18:00.004-05:002016-03-15T20:13:23.766-05:00#AAUP2015<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
The Association of American University Presses (AAUP) met in Denver, Colorado, June 18 to 21, 2015. I travel to several academic conferences each year for acquisitions purposes where organizations meet to network, exchange ideas, promote professional development, and to present ideas about their current findings; the AAUP meeting is not much different. At Denver #AAUP15, people in all aspects of university press (UP) publishing convened, from production and marketing, to journals and design, to business and acquisitions. Much like UPs attend scholarly conferences to exhibit books to their target audiences, vendors that provide services for publishers attend AAUP, exhibiting while AAUP members dipped in and out of panels and catch up with old friends.<br />
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The theme of this year's meeting was "Connect, Collaborate," and that is truly what attendees did. To give a sense, I connected with people from press departments at a similar stage in their career, acquisitions editors at all career levels, early career and first time AAUP members, and a cohort of people who are tapped into social networking and the ways we can harness the power of social media for scholarly publishing purposes across a spectrum. There were also some panels dedicated to exploring the possibility of the intersection of scholarly and social. A roundtable panel that I was a part of asked "Should Scholarly Be Social?" Our conclusion: yes. Yes, because our mission as university presses is to disseminate scholarship to the broadest possible audience, and a tweet, a blog post, and an Instagram are in service of this. Yes, because we have to look to our authors and scholars in the fields we publish and take cues from their practices (oh, and how marvelously you scholars are tweeting and engaging in various media). Yes, because we are at a disadvantage if we don't think openly about the newest technologies at our disposal. Another session at the conference, "Scholarship in 140 Characters? Using Social Media in Acquisitions," spoke about social media specifically from the acquisitions perspective. The conclusions here were the same: the opportunities that social networking creates for you to build relationships far outweighs any potential drawbacks to what you might not be able to predict someone might post/share/tweet.</div>
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While the conferences panels are structured and offer enriching insights, some of the most valuable opportunities at the meeting are the informal discussions that happen between panels, during breaks, or over drinks. I see this as crucially beneficial on two main fronts. The first is that these candid moments of telling personal stories can bring to light different processes among jobs or presses that can lead to more efficient operations, whether institutionally, departmentally, or individually. The second is that the connections we make within the organizations have potential to grow into friendships and exchanges that will help to shape the organization and the future of university press publishing. To have established relationships that facilitate open dialogue and multiple perspectives prevent the risk of one, monolithic idea of what UP publishing has to be, because this breeds mediocrity and stifles possibility. The collegiality, generosity, respect toward different practices, and general enthusiasm that pervaded the meeting certainly bodes well for an industry that is always being told it is in crisis.</div>
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Of course, this post only covers a smidgeon of what happened. No post could adequately itemize the diverse, dynamic, and multifaceted exchanges throughout keynotes, lunches, and panels. Fortunately, the association has some very dedicated Tweeters, so take a look through the #AAUP15 hashtag, whether you are in publishing and looking for more insight into UP publishing specifically, are a prospective author who wants more insight into the functioning of the UP world, or are someone at a UP who wasn't able to attend the conference this year. </div>
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READOSAURUS TEXThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06756556397430892963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2267233994769398936.post-72050511149416561372015-06-21T17:30:00.000-05:002016-04-24T12:26:57.844-05:00Mario Lopez: A Classic Writer of Our Time<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I know that it was simply misshelved, but seeing Mario Lopez' <i>Entre Nosotros</i> mistakenly next to the classics/poetry sign amused me. Maybe it is a great literary work, but Mario Lopez will always be A.C. Slater to me.<br />
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I spotted this in a Salt Lake City airport bookstore before I boarded my plane. In looking more closely at this picture, I'm not quite sure I'd classify any of these books as classics, and I don't see any poetry.</div>
READOSAURUS TEXThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06756556397430892963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2267233994769398936.post-16398614690620662012015-06-12T09:27:00.000-05:002015-07-01T10:20:48.740-05:00Jurassic World and A Jurassic Library Sequel?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
As someone whose entire social media presence is predicated on the concept of a reading dinosaur, I feel absolutely obligated to post about <i>Jurassic World</i>. First impression: the movie was awesome! Last impression: the movie was awesome! I suspect anyone who didn't think it was awesome didn't want to think it was awesome, and went into the movie waiting to be disappointed. <br />
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Universal Pictures, how about <i>Jurassic Library </i>as the next movie in the franchise? With short arms and eyes on the side of his head, reading is pretty close to impossible for T-Rex, who clearly needs some help. The plot of <i>Jurassic Library </i>begins as BD Wong genetically engineers a T-Rex with longer arms and more forward eye placement for better binocular vision.</div>
READOSAURUS TEXThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06756556397430892963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2267233994769398936.post-82557226570622412942015-06-08T14:16:00.000-05:002015-07-27T10:29:01.686-05:00Reading in the Wild: Provo, Utah, and Alice Sebold's The Lovely Bones<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Work travel recently took me to Provo, Utah, in the gorgeous Utah Valley. As a Phoenix native, I feel most at home when I'm near mountains, and the snow-covered peaks of the Utah Valley mountains made quite the impression on me. Though it was my first time visiting Utah, I felt right at home.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Book Counter, Pioneer Book, Provo, UT</td></tr>
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When I'm traveling for work, it might go without saying that I don't have much in the way of free time, but I got to sneak in a couple of quick treats during my time in Provo. My first night in town, an open schedule coupled with a late 9 pm sunset gave me the opportunity to explore the small, adorable downtown area. Filled with small restaurants and shops, I came across <a href="http://pioneerbook.com/" target="_blank">Pioneer Book</a>, and never able to resist a bookstore (and a used one at that!), I went in to explore. I came to find that it was a newer establish, but I am not exaggerating when I say it was one of the most organized bookstores I've seen. I lost track of time browsing the fiction shelves, and before I knew it, the music volume turned up as a gentle reminder that the store was closing. I checked out with the exceptionally kind staff member who agreed to pay my loyalty card forward to the next local shopper, and I left quite happy with my decision to get Elie Wiesel's <i>Dawn</i> (it is my name after all!) and Alice Sebold's <i>The Lovely Bones</i>. </div>
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When I settled in for the night in my spacious yet noisy Marriott Hotel room, unmotivated to continue with my current read, <i>Continental Divide</i> by Russell Banks, which I've been forcing myself to read because I'm not a quitter, I picked up<i> The Lovely Bones</i>. I picked it up and carried it right up a mountain with me.<br />
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Y Mountain is one peak in the Wasatch Mountain Range. Because of it's proximity to the Brigham Young University campus, the mountain became involved in some junior versus senior class prank over a hundred years ago. In the years since, it became tradition to maintain a Y on the mountain. This must have been no easy feat. Now at least there is a trail, but one that consists of 11 painful switchbacks, not to mention the elevation change. I felt like a champion when I reached the top of the Y, only to discover a trail that goes further, but after I realized that proper hiking boots rather than sneakers might fit the bill better, I turned around, followed the trail to the bottom of the Y, and parked myself there reading until the sun rose over the mountain.</div>
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Over the next few days, I read the book in every spare moment, and due to several hours of frustrating travel delays out of Salt Lake City, I finished <i>The Lovely Bones</i> before the plane even left the runway. The book is moving and suspenseful. About the tragic murder of a young girl in a small community, the book details the struggle of the victim looking down from heaven as her family mourns and wonders if her murderer will ever be discovered. I was left with the thought that we would all hope to be fortunate to have a family that passionately remembers and seeks justice for their lost loved one, but simultaneously melancholy at the family's reality that the death grew into an obsessive life of its own.<br />
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Sebold, Alice. <i>The Lovely Bones</i>. New York: Little, Brown, and Company, 2007.<span style="color: #666666;"></span></div>
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READOSAURUS TEXThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06756556397430892963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2267233994769398936.post-84295585055230112122015-05-05T09:12:00.000-05:002015-07-01T10:21:17.391-05:00Punctuated Post: Breaking Bad As A Retelling of Yogi Bear<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
So, bear (pun!) with me on this, but I made an offhanded comparison between the relationship between Yogi Bear and Boo-Boo as they share a quest for stealing picnic baskets illegally to the relationship between Walter White and Jesse Pinkman as they share their quest for an illegal, successful drug business. I didn't think much about it when I first said it, but then I thought more about it.<br />
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First, the distribution of power seems odd in both relationships, and nothing any rational person would put up with over a prolonged period of time. Why do Boo-Boo and Jesse have such dysfunctional loyalty to Yogi and Walter, respectively, so much? They would both be in far less trouble, and are possibly more capable of acting on their own than in the shadow of the large egos of their partners in crime.</div>
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The other similarity, I realized, is the relationship between the criminals and the law enforcement. Park Ranger Smith and Yogi have always been a little too chummy for logic. The Ranger always knows what Yogi is up to, yet the bear always seems to elude him or consequences. Slightly different, but with obvious similarities, Hank always knows what Heisenberg is up to, but the drug dealer always eludes him. In this case, the law and criminal are also chummy; of course, in this case, Hank isn't aware of this. But from time to time, don't we wonder: how can Hank not suspect, just a little, if he really chose to see what was in front of him?</div>
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So, what I'm saying here is, if Albuquerque is Jellystone, and we equate the epidosidic goal of the criminal pairs, which is to subvert the law to cover up their activity, then perhaps we are left with an acclaimed drama that is little more than a nefarious Hanna-Barbera plotline.</div>
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. . . or maybe not, but what's the fun of watching an outlandish amount of television if you can't making speculative connections to amuse yourself from time to time.</div>
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READOSAURUS TEXThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06756556397430892963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2267233994769398936.post-3552410151733425962015-03-15T19:36:00.000-05:002015-07-27T10:30:12.705-05:00Paul Auster's Oracle Night<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Paul Auster's <i>Oracle Night</i> is writing (n.) about writing (v.). Our main character Sidney Orr is a New York author who, when we meet him, is convalescing after an accident that had him on the brink of death. As we get to know Sidney, we learn he is madly attracted to his wife Grace, who works in book design, and that his best friend is another author, John. Our stable of characters is entrenched in a literary world, and as such there is a great deal of material devoted to authorly things, like the frustrations of crafting a story and deep appreciation of stationary and notebooks.<br />
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At the core of the story, though, are characters who are struggling with nostalgia, mortality, and fulfillment.The theme of fulfillment is pervasive.(At this point, I'll caution that there are a number of spoilers in the following sentences. Skip to the last paragraph if you don't care to know major plot points.The novel is a veritable Russian nesting doll of stories; however, we find Sidney unable to bring any of his writerly pursuits to fruition. He takes one story to the point where the main character is locked into a room; instead of letting him die or writing him an escape route, Sidney abandons the story. Sidney wanders on daily walks, searching for fulfillment in meaningless encounters, but a stationary store that amuses him closes; the notebooks he finds the most inspiring are no longer in production; and Sidney's pinacle of sexual fulfillment is a result of infidelity, resulting in guilt and ultimate lack of fulfillment. One of the greatest sources of happiness for Sidney is Grace's pregnancy, yet she miscarries; an event which epitomizes how aligned the issues of mortality and fulfillment are in this text.<br />
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What we have here is a book with some really exceptional writing, but the fulfillment that lies out of reach for the characters in the novel in a Tantulus-like manner also creeps into the readers sense of fulfillment as the book transpires. Of course, this is an impact skillfully created by the author, but I still yearn for resolution for some of the subplots in the book. The point though, of course, is that fulfillment is not always obtainable, and the ways in which we seek fulfillment may not always result in it.<br />
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Auster, Paul. <i>Oracle Night. </i>New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2003.<span style="color: #666666;"></span></div>
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READOSAURUS TEXThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06756556397430892963noreply@blogger.com0