Real Life

“People can be unpredictable in their cruelty.”

Real Life: A Novel by Brandon Taylor

October 4, 2020 by ElCicco 1 Comment

Cbr12bingo Debut BINGO diagonal, Money to Music Brandon Taylor’s debut novel Real Life has been nominated for a Booker Prize. Warning: contains scenes of violence, rape, abuse Real Life is the excellent debut novel from Brandon Taylor, nominated for the 2020 Booker Prize. Taylor shows the effect of memory, the past and racism on one man’s life. The setting is a mid-western university at the end of summer, and the protagonist Wallace is a graduate student who is gay and Black. The action takes place over […]

Mr. Utterson the lawyer was a man of a rugged countenance that was never lighted by a smile; cold, scanty and embarrassed in discourse; backward in sentiment; lean, long, dusty, dreary and yet somehow lovable.

Doctor Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

Real Life by Brandon Taylor

September 7, 2020 by vel veeter Leave a Comment

Doctor Jekyll and My Hyde – 4/5 Stars This is still a wonderful and silly novel. I am thinking of teaching this novel for twelfth graders in a few weeks, but I am realizing from this reread that while the novel is short, there’s some stylistic flourishes that I think are going to stand in the way of enjoyment and analysis. Even the opening few pages, in just describing a weird scene in the street, the opening chapter has to think about the nature of […]

I want to be her best friend.

Of Mess and Moxie by Jen Hatmaker

July 12, 2019 by kella Leave a Comment

I’m a huge Jen Hatmaker fan. I’ve read most of her books, follow her on social media, and have heard her speak live. My goal in life is to be her friend in real life, and not because she’s a glamorous celebrity, but just the opposite. She is honest and real and seems like the type of person you wouldn’t have to clean your house fore before she came over to visit. I appreciate her laugh-out loud humour, her real-life insights, and also the way […]

jomidi
on CBR Diversion – YAY for YA – Genre Discussion
When my daughter was in middle school and high school it was one depressing book after another (both assigned classroom...
BlackRaven
on CBR Diversion – YAY for YA – Genre Discussion
I can understand why people do not like the depressing stories, but I can appreciate the realism to them. And...
Jen K
on “Age would have taken her if they’d just had the sense to leave well enough alone.”
I have Red Sister - I picked it up on sale ages when I kept confusing/conflating Lawrence and Abercrombie. So...
LittlePlat
on “Age would have taken her if they’d just had the sense to leave well enough alone.”
I'll confess, I was sort of the same; I really did like the first installment, but by the time we...
Jen K
on “Age would have taken her if they’d just had the sense to leave well enough alone.”
I’m still holding a grudge against Lawrence because of the Library trilogy - I really liked the first one and...

Help Our Mission