As a two-time auntie, I feel personally responsible to make sure that my nieces grow up with excellent books at their fingertips (as two of my aunts did for me, via a gorgeous Nancy Drew collection). But that's not the only reason I'm interested in The Telegraph's collection of children/YA book suggestions by a strong group of authors and critics; I love to read them myself. I mean, the last book that made me cry was The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson--that's one that'll knock your socks off.
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July 03, 2009
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Isak
- Isak is a space to celebrate tales and truth in the curious, joyful way embodied by the writer--Isak Dinesen--for which it is named.
By tales, I mean fiction (especially short fiction), as well as other literary and artistic narratives. By truth, I mean the world in which we live. I especially have my eye on creative social justice.
Isak: The Extended Version
Now Reading
Featured Book Reviews: December 2009
Edith Wharton: The House of Mirth
I tell you, it was fraught; this is a great book that I viscerally responded to. So engrossing is the tale of Lily Bart and New York society at the turn of the twentieth century, we ended up bringing that second copy home and continuing to read til 3 a.m (there was a short spaghetti break).
Read my full review here.Alison Bechdel: Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic
Fun Home is a timeshifting, living memory sort of story that leaves the chains of chronology far behind ... Bechdel plays at the ideas of artiface and fiction, using Camus, Proust, Nin, Fitzgerald and many other writers to tell the story of the 'reality' of the love, pain, and identity in a bookish family.
Read my full review here.Wendy Wasserstein: The Heidi Chronicles: Uncommon Women and Others & Isn't It Romantic
The voices ring in my mind, after several reads of this play since last summer; the dialogue is remarkably honest, funny, and just plain old interesting. Rarely have I come across stories and plays where the human instincts to demarcate characters with sharp lines ("she's the funny one,"he's the misunderstood one") is so futile as here; the characters' many-sidedness is made plain on every page.
Read my full appreciation here.George Orwell: Down and Out in Paris and London
George Orwell is a damn good writer. Sure, he whipped out 1984 and Animal Farm, but it's from his essays and nonfiction that I'm learning Orwellian tricks--and by that I mean, the very best sort of craft points. Read my full review here.Leonard Gardner: Fat City
A book that still excites me every time I page through it, though I first read it a year ago. Gardner’s novel thrives on contradictions. His characters say what they don’t mean, hope for what they don’t want, and act in ways that hurt themselves and those that they attempt, ever so slightly, to love. And the novel comes together splendidly.
Read my full review here.Robert Louis Stevenson: Treasure Island
I knew that a great deal of pirate lore could be traced to the Scotsman's 1883 novel, but I had no idea the reach of it: Treasure Island damn near invented the modern conception of pirates, even as it blended contemporary buccaneers into its fictional landscape.
Read my full review here.Richard Bausch: The Stories of Richard Bausch
There’s one kind of ending that I’ve been thinking about since I read through The Stories of Richard Bausch: the “unfinished” ending.
Read my full review here.
Contributors
Isak Video Series
- Isak Video Series #4
REVIEW: Four Books
Selected Articles
by Anna Clark
- Read Local -- The American Prospect
- Society of the Incarcerated -- Common Dreams
- Where Physics, Poetry, and Politics Collide -- The American Prospect
- The Ambition Condition: Women, Writing, and the Problem of Success -- Bitch Magazine
- The Nation of Islam at the End of the Apocalyptic Age? -- Religion Dispatches
- Book Review: The Collected Stories by Flannery O'Connor -- National Book Foundation
In Print
Isak Top Five:
Brilliant Podcasts
- 1. On the Media : Incisive and charming weekly media criticism show. Hosted by a truly dynamic duo, Brooke Gladstone and Bob Garfield.
- 2. Selected Shorts: A celebration of the short story. An eclectic selection of stories, new and classic, are read before live audiences by outstanding readers. Hosted by the affable Isaiah Sheffer.
- 3. Sound Opinions :: Lively, intelligent, and hilarious music commentary and interviews hosted by rock critics Jim DeRogatis and Greg Kot
- 4. Bookworm | The show describes itself as "intellectual, accessible, and provocative literary conversations" and "a must for the serious reader." I agree. Hosted by the brilliant Michael Silverblatt.
- 5. Speaking of Faith :: In-depth conversations about religion, meaning, ethics, and ideas. Host Krista Tippett brings to it a curious mind and a sense for storytelling.
WaM!
Transparency
- In the spirit of transparency, and under the new requirements from the Federal Trade Commission, know that Isak has received one or more complimentary books from the following publishers and their imprints:
Aflame Books
Bull City Press
Coffee House Press
Dalkey Archive
Dzanc Books
Farrar, Straus, and Giroux
Miami University Press
Milkweed Editions
MTV Books
Open Letter
Other Press
Random House
Short Flight / Long Drive Books
St. Martin's Press
Syracuse University Press
University of Georgia Press
Isak has also received complimentary or discount subscriptions to the following magazines:
Poets & Writers
The Boston Review
Know that Isak has never promised positive reviews, or even coverage, in exchange for any product or service. And it never will.
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