Category > BooksPreviews
As the first annual Early Spring Literary Festival winds to a close almost as quickly as it started, you dear reader, have the chance to meet some of the writers who make the U of I such a unique pocket of literary goodness. In fact, one of the reasons we have to be excited about the ESLF (there's gotta be a better way to abbreviate this thing) is because it provides us with a surprisingly rare chance to meet and …
| Give this book to every adolescent girl you know. For Valentine's Day. For eighth-grade graduation. For just being her. Lindsey Markel's You Are Among Friends is the book I wish I read when I was 13, navigating the oily land mines of puberty: periods, zits, popularity, bullies, and body image. At 20 pages, it's a short read, but it's rich with knowing reassurance and encouragement. She seems to say, yeah, adolescence sucks — but you're awesome and here's what I …
Champaign-Urbana is a town fraught in a literary tradition all its own. Sure, if asked to compile a list of top ten literary cities, C-U wouldn't make many lists, but that doesn't keep it from having a unique flavor. The books included on this list are the tip of our literary iceberg — they do not by any means represent a comprehensive picture of C-U's literary landscape over the past decade. Critical Theory, such as Michael Rothberg's Multidirecional Memory or …
The story of Lies My Mother Never Told Me, the new memoir from Kaylie Jones, begins 115 miles southeast of Champaign-Urbana, in Robinson, Illinois. Robinson is the hometown of Jones' father, James Jones, the celebrated author of such WWII-themed novels as From Here to Eternity and The Thin Red Line. Kaylie Jones will be returning to her East Central Illinois ancestral roots this week, first stopping Wednesday at the Illini Union Bookstore for a reading and signing event at 4 …
A short primer on Michael Czyzniejewski: He's an instructor in creative writing at Bowling Green State University (the one in Ohio, not Kentucky); He wrote a book of short stories called Elephants in Our Bedroom, which was published earlier this year by Dzanc Books He splits his summers between Bowling Green and Chicago, where he's a vendor at Wrigley Field He's a graduate of our very own University of Illinois He'll be reading from Elephants in Our Bedroom this afternoon …
You've had the time of your life here at Urbana-Champaign. At some points it was wild and crazy, at others serious. You learned to think here. You were on your own for the first time. Whether you were an undergrad, or a professional acclimating to the real world, it was here that you became you. For that reason, you owe yourself a Larry Kanfer original. It's lucky for you that Larry Kanfer has another collection of his photographs available …
If your David Sedaris jones knows no nadir, you'll be mollified to know that a virtual methadone exists. Amy Cohen's The Late Bloomer's Revolution is available on audio. Amy is a brilliant, extremely single, highly Jewish New Yorker as seen on TV. Bloomer's is a narration in the Sedaris tradition, a memoir of everyday events made poignant by an unusually insightful narrator. It's also available in book form. But as with Sedaris and Garrison Keillor, Cohen's performance makes great content …
Thomas Pynchon's new novel looks like one of those Doritos bags full of chips somehow engineered to taste like peppers or pizza or tacos. I ate taco flavor once (after three or four weeks of thinking about it, becoming more and more comfortable with the decision just to eat a bag despite the inevitable bellyache I knew would follow) and the weirdest thing about them was the uncanny taste of lettuce. The chips taste of lettuce. Later, my sister-in-law made …
Why does a person choose to ride their bike for useful transportation? And why are there some communities where cyclists are a routinely seen and an acknowledged part of the commuting scene, while other towns and cities are strictly the domain of automobiles? These are complex questions, but they often boil down to the resolve of activists and legislators to fight the ever-beckoning temptation of cheap, unsustainable sprawl and carve out a small niche in state and local budgets to …
William: In Greg Kot’s book Ripped: How the Wired Generation Revolutionized Music, he traces ways in which the internet has enabled or accelerated independent music publishing, mass music marketing, and the entire arc of a band’s career — from favorable blog posting to worldwide fame. Although while reading the book I found no central thesis, and at times wondered whether the sorts of things he described had always happened, if more slowly (Paisley Park = Apple Records), after talking with …
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It’s a total shame this is only during working hours! It sounds great, but I’m one of those who can’t slip away very readily during the 9-to-5. Next time, a request: weekend events, please?
Nuts. Sorry I saw this, um, 15 minutes before CULitFest (my term!) begins. However, one deficit - no beer. SP.com 1, UIUC 0. In all seriousness, hope it goes well!
Good stuff as always! I like the theory Zelina presented…curious to see how it plays out with Sawyer, Jin/Sun, and Kate…
To get back to the show, if that’s allowed, we saw it last night. I know a lot about the films of the 30s and 40s and appreciated what Durang was trying to do, though some was pretty obvious and the ending was forced. A literal kitchen…
I had a great time reading around your post as I read it extensively. Gold Coins
Zeleni, I had the exact same theory only with the mysterious Man in Black/Smokie granting the wishes. MIB promised Sayid he could have anything in the world he wanted, which turned out to be Nadia. Although he does not necessarily “have” her, she has not died yet…
Zelini, I really like this - I’ll try to follow the theory more closely. As they reveal more about Kate (possibly next week), it might give us more perspective. I agree with your observation about Ben and I think Michael Emerson has done an excellent job conveying his lesser stature.
What if the sideways alternatives are where Jacob actually grants them their wishes, but in ways they didn’t quite expect? The elimination of one regret. Sayid gets to be with Nadia - although through his brother. Maybe he ends up with her at the expense of his…
I understood this totally differently than the other people that posted…this is what I got from it: - the more background you have going in, the more of the allusions you will understand when watching - afterwards, you can do a little research to fill in the…
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Most Recent Comments
What is an antibiotic-free egg? And how can you tell?
Great article. I’ve always found that by making it in the blender, I can be my typical impatient self and pour tons of oil in at once. It’s very forgiving that way, though not fool proof.
I will be at Danu this evening. And seeing as tomorrow - St. Pat’s - is my birthday, I will be celebrating with tons of green and fun!
Big Blue will actually be on 6-9, despite what is posted elsewhere. Then, hightail it over to Bentley’s!
Ahh - good point - I will plug them in the appropriate sections.
Yeeee! This sounds so fun! Any word on covers for any/all of these? Maybe SP could spring for punch cards and some discounts if we make it to all, eh?
Ok, just tell me when I can exhale - Just curious, since all the globalists, carbon traders, and pretty much anyone with copious amounts of wealth have weighed in on population reduction in recent years, i was wondering what yer magic number was. Some of the more…
ESPN360!!!!! For those that don’t know, you can watch the ESPNs’ games on your puter.
...and given the lack of smiley emoticons i chose to employ, that reads far more sarcastically than i ever intended (my apologies). i actually find this to be a great article and an interesting discussion, seriously : )
Once it leaves the basement, it is then called what? hmmm…....could it be mainstream? accessible? appealing on a mass-level? POP??? Quickly it will become a fad, over-saturate the media, and piss people off. Then everyone can write articles based on how that shit sucks, too. chickens are…
So John is seeing all comments as being authored by John. I am seeing all comments as authored by me. The first comment was Mysterious McDade who evidently acquired an Optimism Hat and is now seeing how it fits.
No, everyone is me! Muahahaha! I so didn’t make that first comment so I thought maybe someone was trying to get my goat, adding me to the staff. I hope jumping to that conclusion is forgivable. Yeah, uh, I guess I should say that I swear I…
I have reached Nirvana, I guess. Everyone is me.
Something weird is happening.
WTF guys? Does impersonating a user in the comments section run afoul of your commenting policy?
In general, I think music is much more interesting now than in 1995. I definitely am very glad contemporary music has expanded beyond the four-piece rock lineup that dominated much of the 90’s. The point of the above isn’t so much about a sound or an instrument…
2010 is not 1995. I’m not sure why anyone would expect a music scene to remain stationary as the world of popular music moves around it. Also, today, making popular music with mainstream appeal and being innovative and cutting-edge are usually exact opposites.
I didn’t know that the LED was created here. That’s awesome.
It’s a total shame this is only during working hours! It sounds great, but I’m one of those who can’t slip away very readily during the 9-to-5. Next time, a request: weekend events, please?
Nuts. Sorry I saw this, um, 15 minutes before CULitFest (my term!) begins. However, one deficit - no beer. SP.com 1, UIUC 0. In all seriousness, hope it goes well!
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I didn’t know that the LED was created here. That’s awesome.