Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


The opposite of dark academia might be cozy

The English Experience by Julie Schumacher

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The English Experience is parody and gentle satire of a college professor and college work that also fits the cozy genre is almost fantasy, but not the D&D type. It’s the kind of thing most people who have not worked in academia probably think (erroneously, hence the fantasy) being a professor is like. Who wouldn’t want to lead study abroad, free trip, right? Wrong, mostly for reasons the story takes up in some way. Rather like its two predecessors, The English Experience is mostly only […]

How to probably not run the English Department at Payne U

The Shakespeare Requirement by Julie Schumacher

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The Shakespeare Requirement is part sequel, part novel, and part satire of the modern university system as seen from the mostly inside. This is one of those books that’s supposed to be fiction, but a lot of it realistic to the point of being a little scary. If you haven’t read the first novel featuring Jason Fitger (Dear Committee Members), you really should as it’s funny (especially if you have ever been to college or work at one) and it introduces his character. The Shakespeare […]

Unlucky Jason (a more painful Lucky Jim, in letters)

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As an academic, I do enjoy poking fun at myself and my profession every once in awhile. Like any other profession, there is plenty about academia that is ridiculous/absurd/unfair/hilarious. I don’t particularly enjoy Kingsley Amis’s Lucky Jim (and I suspect that has as much to do with the sort of white-boyisms that populate the novel, and that Jim is kind of a twit), and I haven’t yet read any of David Lodge’s work (I hear The British Museum Is Falling Down is excellent, however). So […]



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