This was my first experience with YA non-fiction, and while this was incredibly well researched, interesting, and at times even heartbreaking, I found myself slightly annoyed at the word choice for much of this book. “Charles and Emma” chronicles an exceptionally detailed account of Charles and Emma Darwin’s life both professionally and familial from right before their wedding in 1839 to Emma’s death in 1896. It’s beautifully researched, with quotations from articles, diaries, personal letters, and an abundance of primary documentation. But the language….As usual, […]
The Dangers of Biographical Non-fiction
This was an excellent book that is part journalistic inquiry, part court-room drama, and part social discourse. Janet Malcolm is an experienced journalist who receives a mysterious letter from a lawyer suggesting that a libel court case may ruin the entire professional sphere of journalism. Malcolm takes the bait and begins investigating the already exhaustively investigated murder trial of a Dr. Jeff MacDonald and his follow up libel case with his court-biographer, Joseph McGrinnis. Throughout her book, Malcolm chronicles how Dr. MacDonald came to be […]
Never Rate a Book By Your Professor
Being objective is much harder when you know the author and she happens to be your professor. I decided to read Rene Steinke’s book as part of a ‘teaching early composition’ class I’m taking over the summer since “Friendswood” has been adopted as our official ‘college book’ for the year. It was good. There were even parts that made me feel things, and that’s really the whole goal of any book; to stir the emotions enough to make the reader feel something. But this wasn’t […]
Oh, Baby….
Paula Bomer spoke at my MFA last August and I’ve wanted to read some of her work for a while after listening to her presentation. Since her work is ridiculously funny while also being incredibly deep, I thought this would be a nice follow-up to Rachel Cusk’s memoir on motherhood, and it did not disappoint! Bomer is as funny and deep in her writing as she was in person. This short story collection focuses on the many facets of dysfunction that can (and often do) […]