“Sometimes when he was dealing with people, he felt like he was operating one of those claw machines . . . where you tried to scoop up a prize but the controls were too unwieldly…”

If you could ask one novelist to write a story about your life, who would you pick?  For me, it would be Anne Tyler, whose power lies in her ability to capture both truth and humanity in profound metaphors.  For example, the main character in this novel is a runner … Read More

“A better grading system would build in incentives for students to aim high, work hard, and do their best.”

Ever since I read Carol Dweck’s book Mindset five years ago, I have been looking for a new approach to grading.  I wanted to find a way to give grades that supported a growth mindset. I was looking for a method of giving feedback that led directly to improvement … Read More

“A survey by Hulton in 1946 produced the stunning figure of an average of fourteen readers per copy, or over 1 million per month.”

When times are sad and difficult, what do people do for fun? According to Julie Summers’ new book Dressed for War, during WWII, many people turned to Vogue for relief. Of course, critics, such as Welsh Labour MP Jim Griffiths said that publishing luxury magazines was “pernicious and damaging” … Read More

“Let me hasten to add that I am not at all like Jane Eyre, who must have given hope to so many plain women . . .nor have I ever thought of myself as being like her.”

When I read about “the unexpected joy of repeat experiences” during difficult times, I immediately thought of the pleasure I have in rereading novels by Barbara Pym.  Surely one of the ways we can cope with the stress of an international pandemic is to seek out the company of … Read More

“Born to wealth, with an inherited sense that it must be repaid with public service, he found himself increasingly repelled by those who went after money for money’s sake, or used it to buy power.”

Before Theodore Roosevelt became president at age 42, he had been a military hero, an author of 16 books, a governor of New York, and a cowboy. This wild mix of experiences and interests made him unpredictable.  Was he progressive?  Conservative? Sympathetic to workers? Or to the rich? He was … Read More

“There lay a man, flat on this back, his left leg turned grotesquely forward from the knee. His eyes and mouth wide open.”

On page 22 of Where the Crawdads Sing, we discover that Chase Andrews is dead.  Was it an accident or a murder? While that’s the question that drives the plot, my main question was: why was this book “the” sensation of 2019?  It has sold four-and-a-half million copies and has … Read More

“Silence surrounded her as she waited.”

In Olive, Again there is a lot of waiting and a lot of people dying. And yet, there is an underlying sense of urgency as the main characters struggle to figure things out, which is difficult work because it’s clear that they have more regrets than triumphs.  This is Elizabeth Read More

Best Books of 2019: Five Favorites

Here are the five books I’ve recommended most frequently in 2019:

Novel: It appears that Ann Patchett’s The Dutch House is on every “Best of 2019” list. What makes it so appealing? In addition to having likable, open-hearted characters in an interesting situation — which we can expect from Patchett … Read More

“How do I help these students transform themselves?”

David Gooblar – who teaches at the University of Iowa and writes a column for the Chronicle of Higher Educationhas written the book that I wish existed when I started teaching. He tells us what he has learned about college-level teaching, as one who started with the goal … Read More

“There are a few times in life when you leap up and the past that you’d been standing on falls away behind you . . .”

Ann Patchett continues “…and the future you mean to land on is not yet in place, and for a moment you’re suspended, knowing nothing and no one, not even yourself.” This is the protagonist’s description of how his life as a teenager changed when his father died.  There are many … Read More

“She parked her old Honda Accord in the minister’s spot and saw before getting out of her car that the Fellowship Hall’s lights were on already.”

I hesitate to read novels that are set in places and situations I know because I’ve been disappointed so often by inaccuracies. So, as a person who lives in the great midwest, has owned a Honda Accord, sometimes parks in the minister’s spot, and is upset when the Girl Scouts … Read More

“It was culture as class performance, literature fetishized for its ability to take educated people on false emotional journeys . . .”

“…so that they might afterwards feel superior to the uneducated people whose emotional journeys they like to read about.” This is how Sally Rooney describes a character’s reaction to a famous author who gives a reading from one of his books. Then, Rooney does something remarkable.  On the next page, … Read More

“This fear of fraud reveals a presumption about disabled people. . .that disabled people are fakers and malingerers, or milking the system for handouts.”

Katie Rose Guest Pryal taught at the university level for twelve years without ever considering seeking disability accommodations. As a law professor, she knew her disability would have been legally recognized. And yet, she did not “out” herself as a person with a psychological disability until she left academia and … Read More

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness…”

Charles Dickens’ famous opening sentence ends with the astonishing idea that the turbulent period leading up to the French Revolution was “like the present period.” The present period! Was he warning leaders against making the mistake of ignoring the horrible conditions of ordinary people? Perhaps. An exhibit in the Charles Read More

“He wasn’t sure what version of her Dr. Fletcher was seeing – the charming, beautiful, confident woman . . . or the sleep-deprived, hormonally flimsy, unoccupied housewife who had the audacity to say things like ‘It’s the most fun I’ve ever had.’”

Don’t let the title of this novel fool you. It’s not a simple beach-book about people having fun.  Instead, as Jane Smiley observed, it’s an “ambitious and brilliantly written” first novel that is sometimes amusing and sometimes shocking. It’s written from the perspective of seven characters.  My feelings changed … Read More