Monthly Archives: October 2013

Paying for the Party by Elizabeth A. Armstrong

American Literature

Synopsis: Subtitled: How College Maintains Inequality. Review: Paying for the Party is an ethnographic study of a so-called “party floor” at a midwestern university in one of the big football conferences. It looks at the effects of party culture on the young women who live on the floor and comes up with some shocking conclusions about the ramifications for society at large. Hint: the meritocracy is a myth. The author and her team identify three pathways through college life. The first, the party pathway, is…

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The Different Girl by Gordon Dahlquist

American Literature

Synopsis: Veronika and the three other girls who live with her on an isolated island are mostly the same except for their hair color, but when plane crash victim May washes up on shore, Veronika begins to think in ways she’s never thought before, even as May pushes her to wake up to a truth she’s not equipped to face. Review: Gordon Dahlquist’s background as a playwright is evident throughout The Different Girl. He’s not afraid to come at things sideways, and trusts the reader…

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Josie and Jack by Kelly Braffet

American Literature

Synopsis: An isolated but brilliant girl grows up under the thrall of her charismatic older brother, and when he leaves home the choice to follow him may be her undoing. Review: The dark, psychological thriller may possibly be my very favorite genre to read, and Josie and Jack was a gem-perfect example. These days I just don’t have a lot of time to read, between homeschooling my two kids, seeing private practice clients as a lactation consultant, and devouring Breaking Bad. But this book made…

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Dr. Sleep by Stephen King

American Literature

Synopsis: Danny Torrance from The Shining is now a grown man, an alcoholic that the demons inside him are no match for the demons driving the highways of America, looking for psychic kids so that they can torture them and steal their essence, and a young girl with whom he has a mysterious connection is their next target. Review: Of course I always read a Stephen King novel the minute it comes out, but I harbored trepidation about Dr. Sleep. In the afterword, King astutely…

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The Wes Anderson Collection by Matt Zoller Seitz

American Literature

Synopsis: An in-depth look at the career of filmmaker Wes Anderson, as told through film stills, production photos, essays, and interviews with the filmmaker himself. Review: For me, the excitement of opening up The Wes Anderson Collection had as much to do with film critic Matt Zoller Seitz as it did with Anderson (and nothing to do with Michael Chabon, who wrote the foreword and who still can’t do anything to please me.) Seitz opens the book with a few personal recollections of the times…

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MaddAddam by Margaret Atwood

Canadian Literature 1 Comment

Synopsis: The dystopian trilogy about a post-apocalyptic world concludes as the leftover humans and the man-made Crakers face off against the murderous Painballers and the threat that the plague isn’t over. Review: I loved so much in MaddAddam, and I adore Margaret Atwood to such a great extent that I feel guilty giving it anything other than high praise. But as with Oryx and Crake and The Year of the Flood, the other two books in the trilogy, I never fully lost myself in the…

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