One of our family’s favorite poets to read is Ogden Nash. He takes up hilarious, unusual topics and delivers them with such endlessly clever and surprising rhymes. I have much more to say about him another day, but Lynne’s post on Beatrix Potter and dark narratives for children got me thinking about one of Nash’s […]
Author Archives: Laura
September
19
Beautiful Books for Kids (and Adults, Too!)
posted by Laura
I’m currently completing an MFA in Book Arts, so you can bet that I judge a book by its cover. And binding. And paper. And overarching design. I won’t refuse to read an aesthetically displeasing book (I have spent many hours over the course of my life with a Norton edition in my lap, after […]
You Must Revise Your Life
posted by Laura
When I taught various sections of Interpretation of Literature in graduate school over the course of some years, my major texts would shift and change. Pride and Prejudice one semester. Frankenstein another. Love in the Time of Cholera one semester. Everything is Illuminated another. And drama? Never the same play twice. Swapping out texts was an opportunity […]
September
04
Welcome Ann!
posted by Laura
I am beyond delighted to announce that another lettered lady is joining the fray. We welcome Ann, who is (like a few other folks around here) an English professor in the Midwest. As her bio states, Her academic interests include Shakespeare & early modern theater, contemporary theater performance, book and textual studies, trauma studies, and […]
August
22
What Laura is Reading Now
posted by Laura
Years ago, I was listening to an episode of This American Life when I heard a segment — and a voice — that I will never forget. It was my first encounter with David Rakoff. Part of an episode on “Frenemies,” the segment — a fictional wedding toast-in-verse given by the bride’s ex-boyfriend — was […]
August
05
Eleanor and Park
posted by Laura
I originally hail from outside of Omaha, Nebraska, so when I recently read about a YA novel by one-time columnist at The Omaha World-Herald, Rainbow Rowell, my curiosity was piqued. And when I learned that it was also set in Omaha, my intentions to read it were sealed. Omaha does not often play the backdrop […]
What Kids Aren’t Reading
posted by Laura
I recently read an article on NPR’s “monkey see” blog called “What Kids Are Reading” that discusses trends in high school students’ reading habits. The thrust of the article is that high school students are not reading at their grade level; neither their own leisure-reading choices nor their reading assignments in school tend to be as […]
July
02
Persephone Books
posted by Laura
Early in my reading days, I rarely paid attention to publishers, and even now, this is a topic better covered by fellow Lettered Ladies Stacy or Jessica, whose academic work focuses on printers, reprints, and the physical book. I recognized various imprints as a kid, of course — Little, Brown & Co., Random House, Penguin […]
June
19
Mommy Daddy Evan Sage
posted by Laura
It’s probably no surprise that I’m a person who is content to browse in a bookstore for hours. It’s my idea of a perfect lazy afternoon or date night. Browsing, I think, is like treasure-hunting; I scan and skim and scour until — eureka! — I discover that I am holding a veritable treasure chest […]
June
08
Prairie Lights Featured on Forbes.com
posted by Laura
Iowa City, home to the University of Iowa, where we ladies met an age ago, is also home to one of the best independently-owned bookstores nationwide: Prairie Lights. It’s a place where you can browse expertly-curated fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. Where you can lose hours on the magical floor of children’s books. Where you can […]
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