As I recall, my local library when I was a kid (shout-out to the Thornhill Branch of the St. Louis County Public Library!) had a summer reading program for youth for which the goal was reading fifty books. Can this be right? You’d add a metallic star sticker to a big public chart each time you read one, and you’d get […]
June
28
What Stacy and Her Boys are Reading Now
posted by Stacy
Happy Summer, reader friends! In the six weeks since my semester ended I’ve done a bunch of running around – both literally (another 1⁄2 marathon and a trail race) and metaphorically (moving, quick work trip to Iowa City, teaching a Shakespeare class at a prison – more on that in a future blog post). But, […]
June
23
The Marriage Plot
posted by Laura
Although it has spent a solid couple of years languishing on my bedside table, I finally picked up Jeffrey Eugenides’ The Marriage Plot a few days ago. If I’ve done anything else the last few days, it has only been reluctantly, since this is a book I have despaired putting down and parting with, even […]
What are you reading this summer?
posted by Laura
I have started so many posts for this blog in my head over the past few months. A post about My Age of Anxiety, which I actually finished ages ago and would probably have to reread at this point to properly write about. A post about Mary Szybist’s Incarnadine and another about Leslie Jamison’s The […]
RIP Maya Angelou (1928-2014)
posted by Stacy
“When I look back, I am so impressed again with the life-giving power of literature. If I were a young person today, trying to gain a sense of myself in the world, I would do that again by reading, just as I did when I was young.” — Maya Angelou
April
20
Engraving in the 21st Century
posted by Laura
When asked if I would review the new textbook on engraving, Design to Touch, written by Rose Gonnella and Erin Smith and published by the International Engraved Graphics Association (IEGA), I of course leapt at the chance. As someone enchanted by letterpress printing, I am equally fascinated by its sister art. Physically, the processes are […]
April
14
Children’s Books I Hate (And My Son Loves)
posted by Lynne Nugent
When we visit the children’s room of the library, I gravitate toward the shelf of Caldecott winners: those inventively written and gorgeously illustrated books that I often remember from my own childhood. But ever since he’s had the power to move around independently, my son has toddled elsewhere. I know nothing about children’s book publishing, but there’s a class of […]
April
09
Reader Empathy
posted by Stacy
We’re reading The Reluctant Fundamentalist in my World Literature class right now. Included in the brief Q&A at the back of our book is a comment from author Mohsin Hamid about why he writes: “I believe that the core skill of a novelist is empathy: the ability to imagine what someone else might feel.” After […]
March
24
Spring Break Reading
posted by Stacy
I’ve noted before how excited I get when I have a break from teaching and can tackle the stack of “fun” and/or “mindless” books underneath my coffee table. Spring Break is no exception; I love this week of relief between meetings and grading and comforting stressed-out seniors, and my rest and recovery usually includes some […]
March
16
Continuing Ed
posted by Lynne Nugent
When I graduated with my PhD, I vowed never again to take any more classes in my life, except in yoga or perhaps felting. Soon enough, however, I found myself hearing about friends’ syllabi and thinking, “That sounds like an amazing class!” and feeling a twinge of nostalgia for my student days. And now I’ve […]
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