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, […]
Author Archives: Stacy
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
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
03
What Stacy’s Reading Now: My Age of Anxiety by Scott Stossel
posted by Stacy
A footnote found early in My Age of Anxiety, Scott Stossel’s recent memoir/social history, notes something that I’ve always suspected: “…there are plausible evolutionary explanations for why both intelligence and imagination ten to be allied with anxiety” (18). I have always hypothesized that anxiety is a “smart person” problem, and now I have evidence to […]
February
19
Endings
posted by Stacy
I realized last week something that I probably always knew – my favorite part of a book (or poem or story or movie) is the ending. In two different courses with two wildly different texts in front of me (a collection of contemporary Chinese short stories and a poem from 1633), I gushed in front […]
February
04
“The birth of the reader must be at the cost of the death of the Author”: Or, Ron + Hermione 4-Ever
posted by Stacy
One more reason I love my job: I spent my January sitting around a conference table talking with students about book covers, fan fiction, and the role of the “Author” and “Reader” in contemporary culture. My “Culture of the Book” class is always a favorite to teach – it’s based on my own research interests […]
January
12
(Un)sympathetic Characters
posted by Stacy
I tell my students that my favorite characters are the messy, complicated ones – the ones who do horrible things and are mean and rude and unlikeable, but still tug at our heart and push us to question our own values and choices. They are completely unsympathetic…yet at the same time completely sympathetic, too. Take […]
January
01
What Stacy’s Reading Now: Bittersweet
posted by Stacy
Ahhh…Christmas Break. The time when all English professors take a break from grading and lesson plans and meetings and …. read. (Hmmm…maybe we need new hobbies?) At least for me, the kind of reading I do during the three weeks in between the end of our Fall semester and the start of my January session […]
Just the kind of “list” that works for an nerdy English professor…
posted by Stacy
It’s Finals Week. And it’s 10 degrees. Holiday planning stress is upon me. Therefore, I’m falling captive to all kinds of distractions, including those on social media. Here’s the latest I found on Facebook – and it’s perfect for all of us Lettered Ladies (and Gents). What are your “significant” books, friends? (I included short […]
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