I have spent years trying to be more productive. I have kept journals, made lists, set goals, and, more recently, filled pages of bullet journals with plans for how to use my time better. There is something hopeful in that practice, I think. The belief that if I can just organize things well enough, focusContinue reading “Quick Review–Why Four Thousand Weeks Hit Home for Me”
Tag Archives: book review
quick review of junot díaz’ this is how you lose her
I’ve long read and admired Junot Diaz‘ style of prose. I’m almost embarrassed to say how much I’ve modeled my own work after his. This latest collection of work contains all the themes of trouble and failure at its heart. And also the redemption. I continue to admire how the work follows a consistent universeContinue reading “quick review of junot díaz’ this is how you lose her”
stuart dybek’s the coast of chicago
We’re discussing a few stories tomorrow from Stuart Dybek‘s collection The Coast of Chicago. I admire “The Woman Who Fainted” and “Pet Milk” (4:27) and I was happy to find this reading for my Lit 50 students. So important to hear the author’s voice. I was lucky enough to hear him read years back atContinue reading “stuart dybek’s the coast of chicago”
quick review of daniel chacon’s hotel juarez
A few months back I wrote a quick review of Daniel Chacon’s book Unending Rooms. I admire Chacon’s aesthetic and overall writerly choices. I look forward to picking up his novel and his other work Chicano Chicanery. His work at times is surreal and also thought provoking. I find his work here playful and intelligent. AndContinue reading “quick review of daniel chacon’s hotel juarez”
quick thought on the man with the golden arm
Finished reading through Algren’s The Man with the Golden Arm and I’ve enjoyed the story of self-destruction. I can see why this book is such a classic. Does feel a bit overwritten at times but Algren’s Chicago is a gritty and dirty place–very naturalistic. I most enjoyed the sweeping third person narration.
quick review: orwell’s down and out in paris and london
Drafting and revising semi-orphaned novel project but had some time to finish reading Orwell’s memoir/nonfiction/autobiographical novel about a young writer’s time in the ghettos of Paris and London. He works in restaurants and sleeps in homeless hostels. Pawns his clothes for food and also closely observes the down and out people he encounters. What strikesContinue reading “quick review: orwell’s down and out in paris and london”
quick review: luis alberto urrea’s the hummingbird’s daughter and queen of america
I first read the short fiction of Luis Alberto Urrea in graduate school. The discovery of a prolific Latino author whose work moves so adeptly from English to Spanish was important to my development as a writer. I enjoyed his collection of short stories Six Kinds of Sky and the keen worlds and characters drawn,Continue reading “quick review: luis alberto urrea’s the hummingbird’s daughter and queen of america”
ernesto galarza’s barrio boy
Reading Galarza’s book Barrio Boy I was amazed at the brilliant memoir of Galarza’s boyhood experience of the Mexican Revolution and segregation in American neighborhoods. I was interested to find a different definition of the term chicano and also I was interested to read about the struggle for work and how that struggle for workContinue reading “ernesto galarza’s barrio boy”
quick note on troncoso’s from this wicked patch of dust
Last week–despite mountains of grading and student conferences–I spent time with Troncoso’s sweeping novel From This Wicked Patch of Dust and found so much to admire. I admired the form as well as the content. Told in a third person limited omniscient narration the story drops into the thoughts, feelings and questions of each member of a MexicanContinue reading “quick note on troncoso’s from this wicked patch of dust”