I really liked this one when I started it. I was so into this book. I was also listening to a podcast about Pauline Sabin (a woman credited as a major force in repealing prohibition) so digging into a little story about organized crime and booze smuggling in the Depression was right in my sweet spot. Then it jumps forward in time and the focus is on his daughter and her working in the war industry during WWII and that was so cool too and […]
Six Degrees of Separation
This is one of the books that my partner is reading for his book club at work (the first book being Orhan Pamuk’s Snow), and I thought it would be fun to read the same ones he did. I enjoyed it, although it wasn’t quite what I was expecting. The description makes it seem like it’s going to be largely about music producer Bennie Salazar and his assistant Sasha, and to some extent it is; the first two chapters focus on them individually. However, all of […]
The Sea, The Sea
As a writing instructor, the problem with starting a book right after Thanksgiving is that there are so many other texts competing for your attention—revised drafts of analytical essays, annotated bibliographies, and thanks to my class for new writing center tutors, lots of wonderful reflections and projects. As a result, though I was sucked into the story of Jennifer Egan’s new novel right from page one, it took me awhile to get through it. I actually used it as motivation—read and respond to five essays […]