[Professor Potholm is also reading “The Campaigners” by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles.] These books come from two different series from which I read and re-read a half dozen selections every year. “Panicking Ralph” is from the Harpur and Iles mystery series of Bill James who does the most intriguing and engaging (with almost Shakespearean word pictures) on …
The Maine Woods, by Henry David Thoreau, is a classic book that I felt obliged to browse through as a resident of a large patch of woods in Northern Maine. During his several trips to Maine, Thoreau proves that, despite his plethora of inspirational quotes, he is a less than inspirational lumberjack, navigator, and boat-handler. …
The Sandman, by Neil Gaiman, is a tour de force in the graphic novel genre. Originally published as a series of comic books, the comics have been condensed into four bound volumes. This dark epic follows Morpheus, the personified Lord of Dreams, in his adventures (and misadventures) within his realm of dreams, as well as …
My recently formed book club read Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See for our first selection. It was interesting how differently we viewed this book. All of us in the group were glad we weren’t women living in China during that time. And yet, even though women’s suffering was the theme throughout …
Herman Melville’s “Benito Cereno” is a novella, a short novel. I read two of his novellas in high school (“Bartleby, the Scrivener” and “Billy Budd, the Sailor”). A friend recommended “Benito Cereno” to me promising that it was a penetrating meditation on morality and slavery in 19th century America. He was right. It is about …
Ian McEwan captures the life of a child, Briony, who struggles with growing up too quickly. Her notion between the real world is tainted by the fantasy world, only able to place people in the categories of heroes and villains. Briony is caught in a series of events where she is quick to become the …
A disgruntled princess, ax-wielding dryads, porcupine wranglers who dream of hitting it big on the Country Western charts, a catered hanging — this collection of straight-faced, angst-ridden whimsy, which I first read 20 years ago and have come back to several times, was my introduction to Donald Barthelme’s singular riffs on the ambiguities of life, …
I got really into John Ashbery this summer, and stumbled across this translation he did of Pierre Reverdy’s Haunted House. After reading the brief seventy pages, I came across one truth: Pierre Reverdy is out of his mind. The book has very little to do with a haunted house in any physical way, and the …
Sula is a book by Toni Morrison set in a Southern atmosphere post-slavery. It is centered around two friends, Sula and Nel, who are polar opposites of each other base on their upbringings. Nel was raised in a conventional home with values to match, while Sula lives with her mother and her grandmother in a …
Although no one but me would notice, I’m a little sheepish about recommending Marilynne Robinson’s new book, Home, given that in last month’s Bowdoin magazine I recommended the new president read Robinson’s earlier book Gilead. I do read other authors—really—but I love Robinson’s writing. Her language is exquisite and her stories are lovingly told. Home …