Monthly Archives: October 2011

Review: Writing in the Disciplines: A Reader and Rhetoric for Academic Writers Value Package

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Of course – if someone really wants text – I’ll be happy to forward it their way and/or to work out a trade :)
Writing in the Disciplines: A Reader and Rhetoric for Academic Writers Value Package
Writing in the Disciplines: A Reader and Rhetoric for Academic Writers Value Package by Mary Lynch Kennedy
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Reviewing textbooks isn’t an easy task, but I want to continue reviewing the books I am considering for class as well as those I read in my leisure so here goes:

There is a lot of great material in this text. I noted several essays that I’d like to use in my classes as well as exercises that would be helfpul.

That being said – I found the text would not be one I’d assign to my classes because it is a bit dense. I found myself skimming over sections because there is so much materail. If I’m skimming, you can guarantee my students will be doing the same.

This is, however, a really strong textbook and/or teacher resource for writing across the disciplines, but also could be a strong contender for a composition 2 class with a focus on argument/analysis.

If you are a teacher who has been mainly exposed to English based writings then this will be a nice resource (including a comparision of MLA and APA at the back of the book), but it may be a bit much for the lay reader although the essays the editors collected are wondefully diverse from the Mommy Debate to cloning.

Strong resource that I think I’ll hold on to :)

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Make Friday Write

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Back to Friday again, and I’m happily up early. I like when my body just wakes up so I can play some good old fashioned catch up.

I should have posted this last week, but I was saving it up! Meet my newest nephew Stephen! This is my brother and his wife’s first child so pretty exciting. He joins several lovely cousins :)  Oh and the doggie is Jax. He is getting on up in years, but I think he likes his new owner. Can’t wait to meet Stephen and see my other siblings for Thanksgiving. Road trip!

I really am playing catch up this week. I had papers and/or projects of some form due in all of my classes this week. We are winding up the semester, but there are all those little i’s to dot and t’s to cross. I’ve had to send out the -last day to drop- notices to people who have either never been to class or who have been but never turn in work *sigh*

Here is my poem post for the week. Sorry if it isn’t the Halloween you were expecting!

—Mummy says poem goes away!

-

As always with posting here, you are free to comment on my work and/or post your own and comment below (or link). I will take down my poem and/or any poems posted in links a week from today.

I managed to squeeze in some quick book reviews earlier this week, but I wanted to mention the terrific North Carolina Literary Review I finished earlier this week. Such a gorgeous looking literary magazine and then terrific writing inside. This issue was themed for environmental writers. Terrific!

I also read the current issue of the online magazine Pedestal which has some really terrific work in it this time.

In additional I read two online articles by writers that you might find interesting. Emma Bolden’s is on Facing the First Day of a Writing Class and Kirsty Logan’s is on How to build a creative career at a university. I know these both seem to have a teacher/student leaning, but I think there are tips in there for all kinds of learners. I fully believe in life long learning.

On tap for this next week is a big house clean up, working on submission packets (planning to do that now), teaching literary analysis, and lots of time spent helping students with registration I think.

And what are you up to? Have been up to? Planning to be up to?

Review: SuperFreakonomics

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SuperFreakonomics
SuperFreakonomics by Steven D. Levitt
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I, as many will probably say, am a fan of the original “Freakonomics.” So much so that I like to reference the book and movie in my classes on expository and argument based writing.

“Superfreakonomics” has the same, relativey easy-to-read writing style, but the material covered didn’t quite hold my interest as much as the first book. Some fo the material felt a bit like a re-hash from the first book (and from other writers such as Gladwell), but I did really enjoy the sections that dug into the global warming debate from new angles as well as the TV and violence being less about content and more about well … the mere presence of TV.

So, I think 3 out of 5 really fits this book. Not a bad read, but definitely prefer the first book.

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Review: Swamplandia!

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And here is a little fiction review.

Swamplandia!
Swamplandia! by Karen Russell
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is a hard one for me to review. I really loved Karen Russell’s short story collection for its imagination and strong use of creative language. And, Russell does not disappoint with her descriptive skills. For example she writes, “I came to hate the complainers, with their dry and crumbly lipsticks and their wrinkled rage and their stupid , flaccid old-people sun hats with brims the breadth of Saturn’s rings.”

“Swamplandia!” is very much a character driven novel which is perhaps why I started to weary a bit of the plot towards the end of the book. The second 1/4, in particular, when the characters (not a huge spoiler) start to venture away -at least temporarily- from their swampy home. This should have been an opening, the classic call to action, but most of the plots in this portion of the book felt too familiar even within the scope of Russell’s almost Floridian magical realistic style.

That being said, I still enjoyed the book. I was fond enough of the characters that I wanted to see where they ended up. The tone of the writing kept me going, but the plot – eh – may not be for everyone.

I look forward to seeing what Russell comes up with next.

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Uncommon Matters

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Want to discuss more poetry? Hear some read? I’ll be at the Lazy Lion Bookstore tonight (10-20-11) from 6-8 along with two other featured readers. Fuquay-Varina here I come!

–oh and today is National Writing Day!

Once again I am preparing to review/discuss two poetry books I recently finished reading that are oh so very different. But, are they?

First up is the shorter of the two: Common Symptoms of an Enduring Chill Explained by Ben Nardolilli (2011, Folded Word Press). This concise chapbook is gorgeously designed with the cover, fonts, and interior images tied expertly together. The poems also cohere well although these are a bit more on the cerebral side of poetry than I normally read. I don’t mean that in a bad way, but if you are a reader who likes to ponder a poem; who really likes to dig into extended metaphor then this one is probably right up your alley.

My favorite poem was the shortest. At two lines I’ll produce it in its entirety. From “Cardiac Manifestations” A thing of so many compartments / Demands a thing to hold, or it breaks.

That’ll leave you thinking for quite some time.

The longer collection I finished was the prize winning Family Matters: Homage to July, The Slave Girl by Shelby Stevenson. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Stevenson at the NC Writer’s Conference and I very much enjoyed chatting with him. He is one of those poets who you can tell gives a great deal of thought to story, line, and sound when constructing his work.

After reading these poems I debated researching the actual characters who appear in the text. I definitely get the impression that these are poems based on actual people (Stevenson grew up on a farm towards the coast of NC) who lived, worked, and died in and around the time of slavery. There is a multi-generational feel to this collection as the speaker looks back on his own memories of the former slaves as well as stepping into the voices of those who lived during slavery and reconstruction.

That is the impression I get from this book, but I don’t know how real these people are. They are definitely draw to be real. I did find, at times, that I wasn’t always as sure about who was speaking. There are quite a few characters in this book, and sometimes I felt a bit lost. There is a Whitman-esque grandeur to this book, however, that always brought me back to the words themselves such as this short bit from “Your Name is July”: Monuments – unheard, still.

That line is still resonating with me.

Filling Up

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Lately, I’ve worried a great deal about whether my writing time was just “up.” Was I done? Then, I thought back to the me that did give up writing for a good 5 years, and I think – No – I want to continue to write. So, when I felt like it, I put pen to paper or I put fingers to keys (when I try to type that I always want to type keys first? is that a poem waiting to happen), but mostly I just tried to fill “up” again.

What do I mean by fill up? For me, as a writer, I write to understand what I know. I want to join the conversations around me. It started, as a young child, by wanting to be part of the books I read, and the songs I sang. But, now, it extends into all forms of media that I find engaging.

For example, I recently finished watching the PBS documentary (all mentioned are on Netflix streaming) called Through Deaf Eyes which I found pretty fascinating. I think it was a pretty balanced presentation of the history and current status of deaf culture in America.

The other documentary I watched was Afghan Star. This is another I’d highly recommend. It is interesting to compare and contrast what is taboo in different cultures and/or just how bits and pieces of cultures touch on each other without always fully morphing into one or the other.

Have you watched anything recently you’d like to discuss? Anything on TV or in the movies that has made you want to write?

Join my conversation :)