Category Archives: Literature
What Is a Great Story?
A few weeks ago, Cate had a great post about readers reviewing books that clearly weren’t meant for them. The review she quoted contained, among other things, a wildly misunderstood quote from the movie As Good as It Gets. It … Continue reading
Filed under Literature, Teaching, Writing
The Elephant Reviews: A Hologram for the King
Dave Eggers is literary royalty right now. He’s behind McSweeney’s and all the associated publications. He’s had a number of highly-touted books himself. Sometimes, I’ve understood the hype and sometimes I haven’t. It may just be that I’ve read stuff … Continue reading
Filed under Literature, Reviews
Go back to your noodle salad, please.
I want to talk about audience and purpose. If you have attended public schools in the last decade, or taught in them, you’re probably groaning. “Audience and purpose” has become a sort of buzzphrase, and a tiring one one at … Continue reading
Filed under Literature, Reading - General
Jason’s April Book Log
This was a very strange reading month as I ended up re-reading three books. However, the two books I read for the first time were fantastic and I won’t be surprised if they show up on my end of the … Continue reading
Filed under Literature, Nonfiction, Poetry
Jason’s March Book Log
I continue to build a head of steam as I emerge from certification funk. Six books this month, and I’m generally happy with what I read. Found one real stinker, though. 1. In Pursuit of the Unknown: 17 Equations That … Continue reading
Filed under Literature, Nonfiction, Poetry
Embarrassingly, I Haven’t Read These
When I was in college, one of my professor’s told the class about a group of his friends, who had all been literature professors for ages and occasionally got into a game of “what haven’t you read?” with the goal … Continue reading
Filed under Literature
Is Now Different?
I tend to be a skeptic whenever someone decries the decline of civilization. Every generation, after all, makes a habit of saying that things aren’t like they used to be. Correspondingly, I am especially disinclined to believe such things when … Continue reading
Filed under Literature, Reading - General
Jason’s February Book Log
February is normally a slow reading month for me, so I was pretty happy to, almost by accident, finish five books. Work is finally easing up and I’m starting to feel more like myself. I’m interested to see what March … Continue reading
Filed under Literature, Nonfiction, Poetry
The Elephant Reviews: Open City
I first encountered Teju Cole via his Twitter feed. His “small fates” series of tweets garnered more than a little media attention. I thought they were interesting enough that I used them in a lesson I taught to my AP … Continue reading
Filed under Literature, Reviews
On Happy Endings
One of the refrains that has come up often in my AP literature class is that students don’t like it when books don’t have happy endings. Interestingly, they tend to bemoan the lack of a happy ending even when there … Continue reading
Filed under Literature
