Monthly Archives: December 2015

Best of 2015 Books

2015 has been a wonderful year for publishers and readers. My “Best of 2015” list consists of the books that I am most likely to read again. In the memoir category, Norway’s Karl Ove Knausgaard’s fourth volume of My Struggle … Continue reading

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“Anders was often the only one not invited to come and stroke other children’s new puppies or kittens.”

They didn’t invite Anders Breivik to see their pets because they knew that he tortured his pet rats by poking them with pencils. One of Us: The Story of Anders Breivik and the Massacre in Norway provides layers of details … Continue reading

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“Poems arrive ready to begin. Poets are only the transportation.”

So often, I see my students take an adversarial stance when they sit down to write. They use phrases such as “grinding it out” and “forcing it” to describe how they work. Sometimes that’s been my experience, too. But does … Continue reading

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“What if we did take college teaching seriously?”

This book aims to answer that question by outlining a “sustainable, cost-effective way to support faculty who want to improve college teaching” (1). The lead author is Gail O. Mellow, president of LaGuardia Community College, who helped developed a system … Continue reading

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“To scatter beams of light on the darkness of your unknown past is my duty.”

A Beijing taxi driver is stalked by someone who claims to have been his soul mate in five of his past lives during the last 1300 years. It’s an interesting premise for this novel, which has received rave reviews from … Continue reading

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