I’m doing research in dystopian fiction, and I used an abstract for a conference to talk to my students about finding library database sources. One of my students came up to me after class and shyly offered up the title Ashes by Ilsa J. Bick and volunteered me her copy. It was incredibly sweet, and I have learned that when students want to share something (appropriately) personal with you, you don’t turn them down. I was delighted to read her copy and share my thoughts. […]
24: The Martian Chronicles
K has chosen The Martian Chronicles for our book club next week, and as soon as one of our titles is announced, I immediately request the book from the library in order to read it and keep up with my book clubs. I had read Fahrenheit 451 many years ago and loved it (I’m due for a re-read, I think), so I was excited to try out The Martian Chronicles. I got the 40th anniversary edition, in which Ray Bradbury explained the history of getting […]
23: Step Aside, Pops
What is better than Hark! A Vagrant? Why, a second collection of Kate Beaton comics, of course! There isn’t a whole lot to say that would be new from the first collection, but I am going to try my best. Forgive any squeeing I might do, because words don’t do this collection justice. Beaton knows her audience well, and the hits keep coming. Bronte jokes, peasant jokes, revolutionaries, and feminist/suffragette panels abound. Beaton revives her Nancy Drew cover panels, which delighted me to no end. […]
22: Hark! A Vagrant
I’ve seen Kate Beaton comics throughout the internet before, and I’ve greatly enjoyed them. On my library display, someone had emblazoned Hark! A Vagrant and Step Aside, Pops, so I thought I could use a little literary nerdy fun in my life. It’s clear that Beaton put her history degree and art/museum acumen to good use in her comics, and we are all the better for it. Beaton gets me. There’s just no other way to say it. She makes bountiful history jokes, literary panels, […]