Readings 4 & 5 for the masters program are two collections of poetry, “Holding Company” by Major Jackson, and “Poems” by Elizabeth Bishop. I’ve come out of it with the understanding that poetry isn’t for me. I mean, I sort of went in with that notion, but slogging through over 200 pages of it has really hit the nail into the coffin. This isn’t to say that I hated them; there were many of the 150 or so poems I read that I liked for […]
A War Story with Some Christianity Thrown In
Book 3 of the masters reading list is “The Martyred” by Richard Kim. I’ll start with saying that I’m glad I read it. I’ve been looking for some non-Western authors, and Kim’s writing style is solid and his characters relatable. It was also great to read about the Korean War from a Korean perspective. The story follows a professor turned army intelligence officer, Captain Lee, as he is forced to investigate the Communists’ murder of twelve Christian ministers after the invasion of […]
So Much Potential, So Much Letdown
I feel really bad about DNFing this book, but when you start finding anything and everything to avoid reading a book, it’s a sign. I REALLY wanted to like it based off the book jacket description. It had everything I should love. A historically based plot, a young protagonist, and a story completely about a musician and the playing of music. And it had all those things….they were just sort of not actually the real plot. I should have DNFed it at the 40% mark, […]
The Real World Is A Confusing Place
Book 2 of the masters reading list! I really enjoyed this one too, although I’d argue about this being considered YA. Marcelo is a 17 year old with high functioning Asbergers syndrome who’s spent most of his life at a special school where he’s learned the skills necessary to understand that how he processes information isn’t the way the rest of the world works. Marcelo’s father, Arturo, decides that Marcelo has learned all he really needs to in order to function in society and […]