Dennis

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
By Sherman Alexie

 

"I think the world is a series of broken dams and floods, and my cartoons are tiny little lifeboats."

Alexie's first young adult novel is a semiautobiographical chronicle of Arnold Spirit, aka Junior, a Spokane Indian. Born with water on the brain and being in the top of his class , Arnold is regularly the target of bullies. His love for drawing is his only outlet for escape from his bleak surrounding.

The artwork of Ellen Forney is a perfect match to the endearing and heartbreaking writing of Alexie. Told with the wit, humor and raw truthfulness of a 14 year old there are times when you are bursting laughing one page then sobbing the next.

A tour de force for Alexie's first jump into young adult writing. I highly suggest this read for teens who feel they are on the fringe and adults who grew up there.

James

 

 

 

 

 

Being Shelley

by Ann Wroe

Not a biography but an interpretation, a meditation, every sentence laden with a searching poetry. Perfect reading for Spring. Favorite line so far, page 109, from Shelley's letter, written age ten, and signed "I am not your obedient servant, P. B. Shelley."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Team of Rivals

by Doris Kearns Goodwin

Lincoln's Virtues: an Ethical Biography

by Wm Miller

Lincoln: a Foriegner's Quest

by Jan Morris

Lincoln's Sword

by Douglas Wilson

 

Think President's Day is so last week, or last month or whatever? Not if you take the Lincoln Bicentennial challenge and read the major new releases in paperback at Phoenix. Start with Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin. A linear narrative, and massive and balanced as it is, it doesn't contain the sharp humor and irony that Lincoln (and his readers) come to expect. There's a new genre of Lincolniana, exemplified by Wm Miller's Lincoln's Virtues: an Ethical Biography, which goes deeper into the Lincoln mind and the business of being Lincoln. Lincoln: a Foriegner's Quest, is an unexpectedly rewarding meditation on Lincoln's poetic spirit. Then there's Lincoln's Sword, by Douglas Wilson- a preeminent Lincoln scholar, who edited the manuscripts collected in Lincoln's time, and is our closest link to those who knew Lincoln. You have one year to be ready for Mr. Lincoln's 200th b'day. Perhaps we can meet in Springfield.